Stoves and furnaces – Liquid heater – Open-top vessel that may include lid
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-18
2004-05-18
Cocks, Josiah (Department: 3749)
Stoves and furnaces
Liquid heater
Open-top vessel that may include lid
C126S390100, C099S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06736130
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fryer in which cooking oil filled into an oil vat is heated by a burner to cook foods.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 10
shows a conventionally known fryer
100
, which is provided with an oil vat
110
for containing cooking oil for deep frying foods such as French fries or chicken, and in which burners
120
are operated to heat the cooking oil from outside the oil vat
110
.
The oil vat
110
can be divided broadly into opposing left and right side wall portions
115
, a vertically formed front wall portion (not shown in the drawing), a rear wall portion
114
in opposition to the front wall portion, and a bottom wall portion
111
.
The side wall portions
115
of the oil vat
110
are each made of an upper side wall portion
115
c
forming a vertical wall, an oblique middle side wall portion
115
b
sloping downward from the upper side wall portion
115
c
, and a lower side wall portion
116
a
extending vertically from the bottom end of the middle side wall portion
115
b
. The region enclosed by the upper side wall portions
115
c
, the middle side wall portions
115
b
, the front wall portion, and the rear wall portion
114
serves as the cooking zone X.
A narrow vat portion
112
is formed in the lower part of the oil vat
110
, surrounded by the left and right lower side wall portions
115
a
and the bottom wall portion
111
, and extending in the depth direction.
A pair of burners
120
for heating the cooking oil is provided on the left and right side of the lower side wall portions
115
a
. The region below the burners
120
in the narrow vat portion
112
is formed as a cold zone Y that is scarcely heated, and can hold oil sediment generated by the foods during cooking, preventing deterioration of the cooking oil.
An exhaust duct
130
is provided outside the oil vat
110
. The exhaust duct
130
conveys combustion gas from the burner
120
to the rear wall portion
114
via the middle side wall portion
115
b
, and discharges the combustion gas outside the fryer.
The fryer
100
, however, is provided with burners
120
on both the left and right side of the oil vat
110
, which together with related parts make the fryer expensive.
Also, even though the combustion gas rises from both the left and the right side of the narrow vat portions
112
(lower side wall portion
115
a
) and flows toward the bottom wall (middle side wall portion
115
b
) of the cooking zone, primarily only the left and right side wall portions are used for the exchange of heat between the combustion gas and the cooking oil, so the thermal efficiency is not very high.
An additional problem is that in fryers in which the oil vat
110
is partitioned into left and right vats by a partitioning plate
153
(known as a “split vat” type fryer), the narrow cold zone Y becomes even narrower, making it difficult to clean out the oil sediment.
It is a primary object of the fryer of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problems and to provide an inexpensive fryer, and a further object thereof to improve thermal efficiency and make cleaning easier.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A fryer according to claim
1
of the present invention for solving the above problems is characterized by including:
a box-shaped oil vat into which cooking oil is filled and having left and right side wall portions, a front wall portion, a rear wall portion, and a bottom wall portion, wherein the bottom wall portion is sloped downward in a rearward direction, and an oil sediment holding portion for holding oil sediment is formed at a lower end of the bottom wall portion;
a burner, which is provided in opposition to the oil vat bottom wall portion from the outside and which heats the bottom wall portion by combustion; and
an exhaust duct for heat exchange, which brings combustion gas from the burner into contact with the left and right side wall portions and the rear wall portion of the oil vat, after which it is discharged to outside the fryer.
In a fryer according to claim
2
of the present invention, the fryer according to claim
1
is further provided with a predetermined gap extending from left to right between the lower end of the bottom wall portion of the oil vat and the rear wall portion of the oil vat, and the oil sediment holding portion is formed in this gap.
In a fryer according to claim
3
of the present invention, the fryer according to claim
2
is further provided with a partitioning plate for partitioning the oil vat having the oil sediment holding portion extending from left to right into left and right oil vat portions, and wherein the left and right oil vat portions are independently heated by the burner.
In the fryer according to claim
1
of the present invention with the above configuration, the bottom wall portion of the oil vat is heated by combustion with the burner, and the combustion gas generated at that time is conveyed from the bottom wall portion of the oil vat to the left and right side wall portions and the rear wall portion, and then discharged outside of the fryer.
Thus, because an exhaust duct for conveying the combustion gas around the oil vat is provided and secures a sufficient heated area, the cooking oil can be sufficiently heated simply by providing a single burner.
Oil sediment generated from the foods during cooking is guided along the downward sloping oil vat bottom wall portion and toward the rear of the oil vat, and is accumulated in the oil sediment holding portion that is formed to the lower end of the oil vat bottom wall portion.
In the fryer according to claim
2
of the present invention, the oil sediment holding portion extends along the rear wall portion of the oil vat, so that a united wide space for disposing a burner along the oil vat bottom wall portion is formed in front of the oil sediment holding portion, and the cooking oil is sufficiently heated.
Oil sediment that sinks to the oil vat bottom wall portion drops into the oil sediment holding portion without stopping.
The fryer according to claim
3
of the present invention is configured having a split type oil vat in which the oil vat has been divided into left and right vat portions by a partitioning plate, and because the oil sediment holding portion extends to the left and right, the partitioning plate is provided intersecting the oil sediment holding portion in the direction in which it extends. Thus, the width of the oil sediment holding portion is not narrowed, and it is easy to clean out the inside of the oil sediment holding portion.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1994555 (1935-03-01), Wilson
patent: 2652767 (1953-09-01), Childs
patent: 4091801 (1978-05-01), Lazaridis et al.
patent: 4397299 (1983-08-01), Taylor et al.
patent: 4848318 (1989-07-01), Brewer
patent: 4913041 (1990-04-01), Taber et al.
patent: 4976609 (1990-12-01), Grob et al.
patent: 5101558 (1992-04-01), Grob et al.
patent: 5544567 (1996-08-01), Davis et al.
patent: 5724887 (1998-03-01), Hakvoort
patent: 6044839 (2000-04-01), Furuhashi
patent: 6073541 (2000-06-01), Oiwa
patent: 6182561 (2001-02-01), Garner et al.
patent: WO 96/39070 (1996-12-01), None
patent: 0 919 173 (1999-06-01), None
Cocks Josiah
Paloma Industries Limited
Pearson & Pearson LLP
LandOfFree
Fryer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Fryer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fryer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3228234