Roller grill assembly for cooking human food

In a grill assembly for cooking human food, said assembly having a housing having a support frame, said support frame having a wall with a flat inner surface and a flat outer surface, the wall having an opening therethrough, and a tubular cooking member for rotatable mounting to the support frame, said tubular member having a cylindrical outer surface, improvements comprising:

• a sealing assembly comprising a bearing member comprised of plastic, and a sealing member comprising an O-ring comprised of rubber-like material having an outer curved surface, and wherein the bearing member has a bore therethrough for receiving the tubular member therethrough, said bearing member bore having a section which has an annular recessed shape with a semi-circular surface shaped to receive the outer curved surface of the O-ring, so that the bearing member and O-ring can be placed about the tubular member with the inner surface of the O-ring pressed against the surface of the tubular member;
• and the outer surface of the O-ring fitting against the semi-circular surface of the bore section, the bearing member further comprising an annular rim section with a flat annular surface for engaging the flat outer surface of the wall, the bearing member further comprising a sleeve that extends through the wall opening, the sleeve having an outwardly projecting flange shaped to fit against the inner surface of the wall.

A grill assembly for cooking human food comprising:

• (a) a housing, said housing comprising a first support frame and a second support frame;
• said support frames each having a wall with first and second surfaces, each wall having a plurality of circular openings therethrough;
• (b) a plurality of tubular cooking members having cylindrical outer surfaces rotatably mounted with said support frames, and means for heating the tubular cooking members;
• (c) means for driving the tubular cooking members to rotate relative to the frames, comprising;
• (i) a drive chain;
• (ii) a drive member rotatably mounted to the first support frame, the drive member comprising a sprocket for engaging the drive chain so that rotation of the drive member in engagement with the drive chain pulls the drive chain;
• (iii) an idler member rotatably mounted to the first support frame, said idler member having a sprocket for engaging the drive chain so that movement of the drive chain in engagement with the idler engagement means rotates the idler member;
• (iv) the tubular members each having a sprocket for engaging the drive chain so that movement of the drive chain in engagement with the tubular members sprockets rotates the tubular members relative to the support frames, and
• (d) means for powering the rotation of the drive member, comprising an electric motor, so that the motor can rotate the drive member so that the drive member pulls the chain to move in a direction from the tubular members thence toward and about the idler member and thence toward the drive member;
• and
• (e) a sealing assembly comprising a bearing member comprised of plastic, and a sealing member comprising an O-ring comprised of rubber-like material having an outer curved surface, and wherein the bearing member has a bore therethrough for receiving the tubular member therethrough, said bearing member bore having a section which has an annular recessed shape with a semi-circular surface shaped to receive the outer curved surface of the O-ring, so that the bearing member and O-ring can be placed about the tubular member with the inner surface of the O-ring pressed against the surface of the tubular member;
• and the outer surface of the O-ring fitting against the semi-circular surface of the bore section, the bearing member further comprising an annular rim section with a flat annular surface for engaging a surface of a frame wall, the bearing member further comprising a sleeve that extends through the wall opening.