Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Automatic control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-10
2001-03-13
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Automatic control
C099S341000, C099S390000, C099S419000, C099S4210HH, C099S426000, C099S427000, C099S446000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199473
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to grilling appliances such as used for grilling various types of food articles, e.g., chicken, but also flat-type food articles, e.g., steaks, hamburgers, etc.
The present invention is particularly applicable to grilling appliances of the type which include an impaling member mounted within a grilling compartment for impaling a food article to be grilled, and a circular array of electrical heaters surrounding the impaling member for heating the food article impaled thereon. This type of grilling appliance is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,575,196, 4,810,856, 4,715,273, 1,819,301 and 1,612,252, and in Austrian Patent 217,592, wherein the impaling member is either stationary or is rotated within the grilling compartment with respect to the electrical heaters to evenly grill the outer surface of the food article; and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,994, wherein the electrical heaters are sequentially energized to produce a rotating heating front which rotates around the food article to evenly grill its outer surface.
OBJECTS AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed primarily to the type of grilling appliance illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,994, and provides a number of important improvements as will be more particularly described below.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a grilling appliance, comprising: a housing defining an internal grilling compartment for receiving food articles to be grilled; an impaling member mounted within the grilling compartment for impaling a food article to be grilled; a circular array of electrical heaters surrounding and spaced from the impaling member for heating a food article when impaled thereon; and an electrical system for sequentially energizing the electrical heaters to produce a rotating heating front which rotates around a food article when impaled on the impaling member; each of the electrical heaters being shaped in the form of a loop extending for a part of the circumference of the grilling compartment and having a pair of parallel mounting legs at one end joined by a U-section at the opposite end.
According to further features in the described preferred embodiment, each of the electrical heaters is vertically mounted to the housing with its pair of mounting legs located at the lower end, and its U-section at the upper end, of the respective electrical heater. In addition, each of the electrical heaters further includes an intermediate section joining the legs and loop of the respective electrical heater and extending in the circumferential direction outwardly of the legs on both sides of the respective electrical heater. Preferably, each of the electrical heaters is an electrical resistance-heating element.
It is been found that the foregoing features enable a significant reduction to be made in the number of electrical heating elements required to produce the rotating heating front. Thus, whereas the grilling appliance illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,994 utilized six electrical heating elements, each in the shape of a linear heating lamp, the grilling appliance of the present invention can utilize merely three electrical heating elements when constructed as described above.
According to further features in the described preferred embodiment, the appliance includes a further electrical heater centrally of the impaling member, and a mounting member having a plurality of radially-projecting legs around the further electrical heater for receiving the impaling member and for spacing it from the further electrical heater. Such a construction permits different types of impaling members to be applied, e.g., a relatively large diameter impaling member for chicken, and a relatively small diameter impaling member for beef, lamb, and the like.
According to still further features in the described preferred embodiment, the appliance further includes a cage removably mounted within the grilling compartment, in place of the impaling member, for receiving relatively flat-type food articles to be grilled. The cage includes a plurality of compartments arrayed around the circumference of the cage facing the circular array of electrical heaters, each of the compartments being configured to receive a flat-type food article and including a wall movably mounted to open and closed positions to permit introduction and removal of food articles therefrom.
The latter features enable the grilling appliance to be conveniently used for grilling flat-type food articles, such as hamburgers, steaks and the like.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1612252 (1926-12-01), Beverly
patent: 1819301 (1931-08-01), Noble
patent: 1993353 (1935-03-01), Young
patent: 2581570 (1952-01-01), Amanatides
patent: 2687080 (1954-08-01), Dorin
patent: 2897776 (1959-08-01), Black et al.
patent: 4270444 (1981-06-01), Geissmann
patent: 4715273 (1987-12-01), Riesselmann
patent: 4810856 (1989-03-01), Jovanovic
patent: 5106642 (1992-04-01), Ciofalo
patent: 5539184 (1996-07-01), Su
patent: 5575196 (1996-11-01), Masel et al.
patent: 5665258 (1997-09-01), Hsu
patent: 5907994 (1999-06-01), Dotan
Dotan Simon
Parezki Offer
Barish Benjamin
Home Care Technologies Ltd.
Simone Timothy F.
LandOfFree
Grilling appliance does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Grilling appliance, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Grilling appliance will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2492543