Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Diverse cooker types
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-27
2004-08-17
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Diverse cooker types
C099S340000, C099S448000, C099S450000, C099S482000, C126S00900B, C126S0250AA
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776084
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a barbecue.
2. The Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,076 mentions a barbecue whose height is adjustable by means of specific devices. This barbecue is equipped with a vertical, square cross-sectional center part which, at its corners, has horizontal cutouts placed at an offset to one another in the vertical direction. A gridiron can be inserted in these cutouts.
DE-A1-20 41 614 mentions a charcoal barbecue which is equipped with a pan mounted on a support. This pan has holes for air circulation and can be detached, rotated and locked, if required, and it includes a container for fuel, which is open at the top and does not have any contact to the ground. This container is made of perforated sheet metal or a similar material, and it can be moved in the direction of the transverse axis of the barbecue. Furthermore, this barbecue has a cover which is not closed at the front and which slopes to the rear like a roof. This cover can be attached to the pan and is provided as a separable means for attaching a rotating spit or gridiron.
DE-U1-296 12 848 mentions a barbecue consisting of a frame and several accessories connected to this frame. These accessories include a gridiron, a pan for the coals and a plate which is attachable to the frame and where you can place food, for example. The frame consists of at least two two-segment stands with a connecting segment and a free segment each. The stands are non-rigidly connected to one another by means of the connecting segments and have uniform locking elements. The accessories are sector-shaped and are also equipped with locking elements which can be connected to the corresponding locking elements of the stands. The stands and the accessories form a basic barbecue module which can optionally be expanded by at least another stand of the same kind and at least another sector-shaped accessory. Based on the number of accessories, the barbecue device forms a full circle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,508 mentions a barbecue equipped with a barbecuing surface which can easily be installed and removed.
Moreover, DE-C-501 633 mentions a barbecue equipped with a coal grate supported by a frame. The height of this grate is adjustable and attachable to the frame. A removable gridiron is mounted on the top of the frame.
Usual charcoal barbecues have a coal pan mounted on a base. At the top of the barbecue a gridiron is provided on which the food to be barbecued is placed.
Problems of usual barbecues are that after a certain time of barbecuing, coal has to be replenished to ensure that the heat required for barbecuing is provided. For the replenishing procedure it is essential to remove the gridiron from the barbecue and place it at an appropriate place, ensuring that the food is not exposed to smoke. As the gridiron is hot and as appropriate places for depositing it are usually not available, this depositing procedure causes problems. The gridiron cannot be placed on the barbecue again until the coals replenished are red-hot.
Further problems of usual barbecues are that food which is done but not required at the moment has to be deposited at a place where it neither burns nor cools down too quickly. Thus, the food is often placed at a side of the gridiron or it is often put in a dish made of aluminum. But in practice, the temperature is also very high there so that the food becomes dry, resulting in a loss of quality.
Furthermore, food of different kind is often barbecued simultaneously. But as food of different kind is not done at the same time, the problems mentioned above are intensified.
There is a number of barbecues which are equipped with a gridiron whose height is adjustable in relation to the coal pan. If required, the food can be moved towards or away from the red-hot coals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is based on the task of finding a way to avoid the disadvantages mentioned above.
This task is achieved by a barbecue as presented herein.
Its advantages include the following features: when the food is done, it has not to be moved piece by piece to a place where the temperature is lower but it can be removed from too much heat by simply rotating the gridiron in relation to the coals. If required, it is also possible to rotate the gridiron in relation to the coals so that the food is subjected to a higher temperature. Furthermore, the pans can be filled with coal whenever this is required, ensuring that the barbecuing process is not interrupted.
When coals have to be replenished, this can be done without interrupting the barbecuing process: one of the coal pans is removed from its rest, this coal pan is filled with coal, and then it is placed again on its rest. The barbecuing process does not need to be interrupted as the remaining coals in the other pans are still able to provide for the heat required for the barbecuing process.
To make a part of a gridiron available for depositing food which is done but must not become too dry, it is possible to leave one of the coal pans empty. Thus, the food which is done can be placed in the region vertically above this coal pan.
To account for the different ranges of temperature required for food of different kind, the available gridirons can be attached to the cylinder-shaped top part of the barbecue at different heights.
A barbecue according to this invention can be disassembled quickly and easily, and as a set of components it can be transported in a space-saving manner.
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Collard & Roe P.C.
Simone Timothy F.
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