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US 5,241,899 AGranted
On-site cooking apparatus
OwnerHarvey G. Kuhlmaninventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerHarvey G. Kuhlmaninventor
Estimating the term…
A pasta cooking apparatus includes a generally rectangular cabinet including an upright cooking tank and a sauce heating chamber with a common wall, with an opening permitting water flow therebetween. The cooking water temperature and the sauce heating water are separately temperature controlled for heating thereof. A sauce chamber abuts the heating chamber and includes various sauce containers. Transfer hoses extend from the containers, through the heating chamber into nozzles located above the cooking tank. A self-contained conveyor unit within the cooking tank has an endless chain with equi-spaced pasta baskets. The cover has a top run above the tank. The baskets are pivotally mounted. The baskets are inverted in the upper run and then reset. A dish table rotates beneath the horizontal run and successive baskets drop the pasta into an aligned dish which then rotates beneath the nozzles. The unit has a 34 inch width to allow it to move through conventional doorways in small fast food restaurants. The conveyor table and pumps are driven with hydraulic motors to permit thorough cleaning of the total self-contained cooking apparatus.
A small portion food cooking apparatus for cooking individual food portions of single serving size, comprising a cooking tank having a generally open top, a hot water bath in said cooking tanks for cooking food, a closed loop conveyor mechanism mounted within the tank, said loop conveyor mechanism having a lower loop run passing through the hot water bath in the tank and a generally horizontal upper run passing in upwardly spaced relation to the bath, a single row of a plurality of spaced food containers coupled to the conveyor mechanism to establish a sequence of individual food portions of single serving size, each container being a substantially closed container having a releasable cover unit and having small spaced openings within the walls of the container and said cover unit, a cover release unit in said upper run operable to automatically open the cover and discharge cooked food and to receive an uncooked food, a cover closure unit in said upper run to close said cover, said lower loop run including a serpentine path through said bath to maintain each container within the bath with water flowing through the openings in said walls and cover and for a time selected for thoroughly cooking of the said food within each container, said horizontal upper run including an unload station and a load station for transfer of cooked from each container and to each container of uncooked food, and a sauce delivery station adjacent said unload station for application of sauce to said cooked food.
A small portion food cooking apparatus for cooking individual food portions, comprising a cooking tank having a generally open top, a closed loop conveyor mechanism mounted within the tank, said loop conveyor mechanism having a lower loop run passing through the hot water bath in the tank and a generally horizontal upper run passing in upwardly spaced relation to the bath, a plurality of spaced food containers coupled to the conveyor mechanism, each container being a substantially closed container having a releasable cover unit, a cover release unit in said upper run operable to automatically open the cover and discharge cooked food and to receive an uncooked food, a cover closure unit in said upper run to close said cover, said lower loop run including a serpentine path through said bath to maintain each container within the bath for a time selected for thoroughly cooking of the said food, said horizontal upper run including an unload station and a load station for transfer of cooked and uncooked food, and including an index table having a plurality of food dishes with said dishes receiving of cooked food from at least one of said containers at said unload station, a sauce supply having a discharge unit adjacent said conveyor mechanism for selectively discharging one of a plurality of different sauces, a first drive unit for said index table, a second drive unit for said loop conveyor mechanism, and a control for actuating said first and second drive units in timed relations to fill a dish with cooked food and thereafter supply a selected sauce to the cooked food.
A small portion food cooking apparatus for cooking individual food portions, comprising a cooking tank having a generally open top, a closed loop conveyor mechanism mounted within the tank, said loop conveyor mechanism having a lower loop run passing through the hot water bath in the tank and a generally horizontal upper run passing in upwardly spaced relation to the bath, a plurality of spaced food containers coupled to the conveyor mechanism, each container being a substantially closed container having a releasable cover unit, a cover release unit in said upper run operable to automatically open the cover and discharge cooked food and to receive an uncooked food, a cover closure unit in said upper run to close said cover, said lower loop run including a serpentine path through said bath to maintain each container within the bath for a time selected for thoroughly cooking of the said food, said horizontal upper run including an unload station and a load station for transfer of cooked and uncooked food, and said loop conveyor mechanism includes a separate self-contained support frame which is adapted to closely fit in self-supporting relation within said tank and permitting removing of the loop conveyor mechanism from said tank as a unit.
A small portion food cooking apparatus for cooking individual food portions, comprising a cooking tank having a generally open top, a closed loop conveyor mechanism mounted within the tank, said loop conveyor mechanism having a lower loop run passing through the hot water bath in the tank and a generally horizontal upper run passing in upwardly spaced relation to the bath, a plurality of spaced food containers coupled to the conveyor mechanism, each container being a substantially closed container having a releasable cover unit, a cover release unit in said upper run operable to automatically open the cover and discharge cooked food and to receive an uncooked food, a cover closure unit in said upper run to close said cover, said lower loop run including a serpentine path through said bath to maintain each container within the bath for a time selected for thoroughly cooking of the said food, said horizontal upper run including an unload station and a load station for transfer of cooked and uncooked food, and including a cabinet, said tank secured within said cabinet and including side and bottom walls, heat insulation secured within said walls to retain the temperature of the hot water while maintaining the exterior surface of said walls at a relatively cool level, a sauce chamber within said cabinet in laterally spaced parallel relation to said tank, a plurality of different sauce containers secured within said sauce chamber, an individual discharge pump unit secured to each sauce container, an air conditioning unit coupled to cool the sauce chamber to maintain the sauces at a selected temperature, a temperature controlled heating chamber located between said tank and said sauce chamber, and sauce lines extending from said pump units through said heating chamber for heating of the sauce from said sauce chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.