Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with container – enclosure – or support for material...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-01
2004-02-03
Pelham, Joseph (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with container, enclosure, or support for material...
C219S214000, C219S396000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06686563
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present application is generally related to the food service industry and is particularly related to food preparation and dispensing.
There have been many efforts directed to warming ovens for heating prepared foods. U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,224 to Witt discloses a food warming oven with transparent heating shelves. Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
thereof, the food warming oven
10
includes a plurality of transparent heating shelves
12
for warming and holding food items
14
within serving pans
16
. The food warming oven
10
includes a rectangular base
18
, and a frame
20
that extends upwardly from base
18
. Shelves
12
are removably connected to frame
20
and are positioned above base
18
. The base
18
, sidewalls
24
, rear wall
28
and top section
30
define a food display area
52
for the food items
14
. Hinges
56
pivotally attach a generally transparent lid
58
to a forward end
34
of base
18
. The lid
58
substantially covers the food display area
52
without contacting the shelves
12
or the food items
14
. The hinges
56
allow the transparent lid
58
to pivot about an axis positioned at the forward end
34
of base
18
for easy cleaning of the transparent lid
58
and display area
52
.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,611 to Penard discloses a container for heating and reheating dishes. Referring to
FIG. 4
thereof, the container includes a heat insulating box
13
having shelves
14
that carry plates
15
. The plates
15
hold trays
16
for dishes containing food M that is reheated or kept hot in the container. The plates
15
are connected by conductive wires to a current source via switches that enable the whole plate or part thereof to be switched on. The container includes a perforated partition
17
defining a compartment including a cold-generating device
18
and fans
19
.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,041 to Davis et al. discloses a food serving system for delivering prepared meals to locations remote from the point of preparation. Referring to
FIG. 1
thereof, a cart
10
has a pair of fixed axle wheels
12
and a pair of pivotally supported wheels
14
to enable the cart to move freely in any direction. A pair of handles
16
are provided at the top of an end panel
18
. The cart has three separate tray compartments
20
,
22
, and
24
each subdivided by a number of shelves
26
that support food trays in the compartments. Sliding doors
42
close each of the compartments
20
,
22
, and
24
. The cart
10
includes a power pack and control circuit section
44
mounted between partitions
32
and
34
. The power pack and control circuit section
44
is designed to supply the energy needed to energize the heat transfer devices on shelves
26
.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,934 to Wells et al. discloses a hot countertop self-service food station. Referring to
FIG. 1
thereof, the self-service food station
10
includes a countertop oven display assembly
12
and a cooled condiment server
14
. The condiment server
14
includes a rear condiment envelope
16
with top loading openings
18
and lower gravity feed product removal openings
20
. A front display wall is provided on the front side of the condiment envelope
16
. Condiment server
14
has a forwardly projecting body with a stepped configuration including a middle tier receptacle area
24
and a lower tier receptacle area
26
. Middle tier receptacle area
24
includes recessed areas for receiving rectangular metal bays
28
adapted to hold condiments
34
. Lower tier area
26
includes a pair of bays
36
and
38
equipped with hand pump dispensers
40
for serving catsup and mustard. Napkins may be stored in a central receptacle area
42
in lower tier
26
. Condiment server
14
includes a refrigeration element in the body portion thereof to keep the items chilled.
Wells' oven display assembly
12
includes a lower food-receiving oven portion
44
and an upper frame and marquis portion
46
. Lower food-receiving oven portion
44
includes a glass-walled or windowed oven body
48
having a pair of parallel, spaced apart upstanding sidewalls
50
and
52
interconnected by a bottom wall
54
and opposed top wall
56
. Oven body
48
has a double-door pass-through body design including a hinged front door panel
58
and a hinged rear door panel
60
. Oven body
48
defines a generally rectangular heated compartment
64
adapted to receive a hot oven display rack
66
for displaying and storing a variety of pre-cooked, pre-heated foods in different sized packages, such as packages
68
and
70
shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
respectively. As shown in
FIG. 1
, in a fully stocked condition, display rack
66
holds hot food packages
68
and
70
in a matrix array defined by three columns
72
and three rows
74
so that nine individual packages are displayed through the front door panel
58
. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,203,255 and 5,464,279 to Wells et al. are related to the above described U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,934.
In spite of the above advances, there remains a need for a food delivery system that combines a food preparation compartment and a self-serve compartment into a single integrated unit. There also remains a need for a food delivery system that saves space atop countertops in retail establishments. There is also a need for a system that speeds up the process when a retail customer seeks to purchase a ready to eat finished food product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with certain preferred embodiments of the present invention, a combination food preparation and self-serve delivery system includes a housing, a food preparation compartment located in a rear section of the housing, the food preparation compartment including a first heating element for heating food placed in the food preparation compartment, and a self-serve compartment located in a front section of the housing for holding finished food product. The self-serve compartment preferably includes a second heating element for heating the finished food product placed therein, the first and second heating elements being separate from one another and being adapted to operate independently of one another. As a result, the food placed in the food preparation compartment may be maintained at a temperature that is different than the temperature of the finished food product held in the self-serve compartment.
In certain preferred embodiments, the self-serve compartment is located directly in front of the food preparation compartment, and both the self-serve compartment and the food preparation compartment are integrated into a single housing. Integration into a single housing saves valuable retail countertop space and also creates a direct association between the finished food product in the self-serve compartment and the food being heated in the food preparation compartment.
In certain preferred embodiments, the combination also includes a rack located in said self-serve compartment for holding the finished food product spaced away from and over the second heating element. The rack preferably includes a plurality of rows tiered one above the other. Each row has a plurality of slots, each slot being adapted for holding at least one of the finished food products. The top of the self-serve compartment preferably slopes in a downward direction so that the self-serve compartment has a lower overall silhouette than the food preparation compartment. As a result, the finished food product stored in the self-serve compartment is highly visible, thereby capturing the attention of retail customers and enhancing sales. In many instances, retail customers do not wish to go through the process of making a finished food product such as a hot dog on a roll. Typically, this requires a customer to take a hot dog roll from a container, grab tongs for selecting a hot dog, open the oven or hot dog grill, place the hot dog in the roll, return the tongs to storage, close the hot dog grill, and place the hot dog roll and hot dog on a plate. The present invention does not require these burdensome tasks for the retail customer because the prepare
Pearlman Wade
Poland Richard L.
Creative Serving Incorporated
Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
Pelham Joseph
LandOfFree
Combination food preparation and self-serve delivery system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Combination food preparation and self-serve delivery system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Combination food preparation and self-serve delivery system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3352737