Cooking time control system
OwnerLouis S. Polsterinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This system controls the cooking time of foods such as french fried potatoes that are cooked in a medium, typically hot fat that may change in temperature during cooking. A platinum resistance temperature transducer senses the temperature of the medium and is connected to circuitry that produces a voltage indicative of the cooking rate of the food at the sensed temperature. This voltage controls the frequency of a train of cooking rate pulses that are counted, starting when cooking is begun. When a preset number of pulses have been counted, an indicator goes on to show that cooking is complete.
Claims32
Apparatus for indicating the completion of cooking of a commodity in a cooking medium having variable temperature, comprising:
- temperature sensitive probe means for detecting the temperature of said medium during cooking and for providing a signal indicative of the cooking rate of said commodity at the detected temperature,
- cooking rate pulse generating means for producing a pulse train having a pulse rate proportional to said signal,
- a counter, and count control means for causing said counter to count said cooking rate pulses starting when cooking is begun, and
- cooking complete count detector means for detecting when said counter has reached a certain preset count, detection of said preset count indicating that cooking of said commodity is complete despite variation during cooking of the temperature of said cooking medium.
Apparatus for indicating the completion of cooking of food in a cooking medium contained in a cooking vessel, comprising:
- a temperature transducer situated to sense the temperature of the medium in said vessel during cooking,
- cooking rate slope control circuitry responsive to the output of said transducer for providing a signal that is proportional to the cooking rate of said food at the sensed temperature,
- cooking rate pulse generating means for providing a pulse train having a pulse rate proportional to said signal from said slope control circuitry,
- a start switch,
- a counter connected to count said pulses from said pulse generating means beginning when said switch is actuated, and
- cooking complete count detector, responsive to the contents of said counter, for providing a "DONE" signal upon detecting that said counter has reached a certain preset count indicating that cooking is complete.
Apparatus for determining the completion of cooking of a food in a vessel, the temperature within said vessel being variable during cooking, comprising,
- a temperature transducer for sensing the temperature, within said vessel, to which said food is exposed,
- cooking rate means, responsive to the temperature sensed by said transducer, for providing a signal that is proportional to the cooking rate of said food at the sensed temperature, and
- means for integrating said cooking rate signal, and for providing a "DONE" signal when the integral reaches a certain preset value indicative of completion of cooking.
A system for controlling the time of cooking of a food in a cooking medium, comprising:
- first means, responsive to the temperature of said cooking medium, for generating a pulse train having a pulse rate proportional to the cooking rate of said food at the temperature of said medium, and
- second means, connected to receive said pulse train from said first means, for indicating that cooking is complete by detecting when a preset number of pulses have been received subsequent to the start of cooking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.