Reinforced cooking pan and skirt assembly

Abstract

A generally rectangular metal cooking pan and skirt assembly in which the pan is mounted above the skirt and is joined thereto. Disposed within the skirt is a gas or electric heating unit which generates heat that is applied to the pan to cook meat or other food placed therein. Because of thermal stresses created in the pan by the applied heat in the course of a cooking operation, the pan is susceptible to warpage and possible damage. To constrain such warpage there is provided a reinforcing bar extending diagonally across the rectangular skirt and being welded at its end to opposing diagonal corners of the skirt. The diagonal bar defines a constraining bridge that maintains the geometry of the assembly in the course of a cooking operation to prevent it from exceeding its elastic limit and permanently deforming the assembly.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.