Electrical system for food service devices
AssigneeAladdin Industries, Incorporated
InventorHoward Bourner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A food service device including a food-carrying cart which can be stored inside a refrigerator is provided with elements for heating the food before meals are served. The electrical system is comprised of switching devices which actuate the heating elements depending upon the presence and orientation of food trays on the shelf of the cart; a self-aligning coupling which can supply electrical power to the cart's heaters when the cart is placed in the refrigerator; and a timer which controls the duration of time the electrical heaters are energized to warm the food prior to service, and provide a keep-warm timing sequence for holding the heated food within a refrigerated environment.
Claims8
In apparatus for storing, refrigerating and heating food items, including covered trays, a movable cart having a plurality of shelves to receive the trays, a refrigerator for receiving the cart with trays therein, and wherein said trays are formed with dish holding compartments and openings for receiving other dishes and said shelves have electrical heating areas positioned under said openings and dishes in said openings are disposed thereon to be heated before serving, the improvement in an electrical control and supply apparatus for the heater areas comprising:
- a switch means adjacent to each of the one or more shelves to control the application of electrical power to the heating areas of said shelves, said switch means including a sensing lever having a free end projected into an area above the shelf where a covered tray placed on a shelf may engage a sensing lever to operate said switch means, wherein a cover for each tray extends over a portion of each tray whereby when a covered tray has a first orientation on a shelf the cover will engage said sensing lever to actuate said switch means, and when a covered tray has a second orientation on a shelf the cover will not engage said sensing lever.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.