Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Automatic control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-06
2001-06-26
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Automatic control
C099S339000, C099S341000, C099S427000, C099S44300R, C099S483000, C099S451000, C219S388000, C219S400000, C126S01900R, C126S02100R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250210
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The insant invention relates to the area of ovens for commercial and other large volume cooking, such as restaurant ovens. More particularly, the invention relates to an oven for the high efficiency cooking of several pizzas or other food items at the same time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been ovens for cooking food items, such as pizzas, in large quantities. A problem with these ovens has been that the persons operating the same must periodically rotate and reposition the items to achieve even and uniform cooking. Also, and even more importantly, has been the fact that pizza ovens and the like, as known in the prior art, require between ten and fifteen minutes to accomplish satisfactory and complete cooking thereof. Accordingly, a restaurant or so-called pizza parlor has been inherently limited in its capacity to furnish completed pizzas to customers by the period required for the cooking of a pizza therein; resulting in the revenue and income of a typical pizza restaurant being more a limitation related to the cooking speed of their ovens than the customer base itself. In addition, prior art pizza ovens do not utilize available heat efficiently and, resultantly, significant thermal values escape from the door of such prior art units thereby diminishing the cooking capacity of the oven, and increasing the energy demands thereof, increasing cooling requirements for the restaurant, and causing undue discomfort.
The prior art, as is best known to the inventor, is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,055 (1996) to Nevin, et al, entitled Pizza Oven. Such art however does not combine overhead radiant heating with underside conductive heating through use of a rotating heat reservoir as is set forth herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The instant high efficiency carousel pizza oven is an oven of the open cavity or open input type which permits food access and fluid communication with the atmosphere through a proximal or front opening within the oven housing. The present oven is preferably defined in terms of a method which employs a solid rotating thermal reservoir in the nature of a circular panel capable of storing large amounts of thermal energy per unit of mass. Rotation of the panel assures that hot spots will not develop thereby eliminating scorching of food items cooked thereon. Provided beneath said panel, in thermal communication therewith, and preferably along a radius thereof situated substantially normal to an axis of rotation of said panel, is a flame burner which furnishes greater heat to the panel as a function of increase in distance from said axis to thereby provide cooking of uniform heating to the rotating panel as a function of increase in circumference relative to distance from the axis. Thereby, thermal values are very efficiently transferred from the gas burner flames to the panel which, through conduction, provides heating to the pizza through the bottom surface thereof. In a further step, there is provided an infrared energy source positioned within the oven but over said rotating panel to thereby provide heat into the region above the plane of rotation of said panel, this while directly striking the toppings of that pizza, this within a narrow area of said plane which is characteristic of the line of site function of heating by radiation. The relative intensities of the above forms of heat transfer are balanced through the use of a thermostat sensor located beneath the rotating panel. In such balancing, it is recognized that the heating by conduction which occurs beneath the rotating panel entails the use of a lower temperature, however with greater heat or energy content, while the infrared heat source positioned over said panel, i.e., the rotating thermal reservoir, entails use of a higher temperature, however in a much lower amount of total heat or energy in that the primary function of the latter is to provide cooking to the pizza toppings which is a more delicate cooking function than is that of baking of crust of the pizza from beneath.
The present inventive method also makes use of heating by convection through the provision of a geometry at a rear or distal region of the oven which, in combination with said infrared element, creates a region of high temperature which is optimal for high efficiency cooking of food types such as pizza. Further integral to the present method, and associated with the use of such a region of high temperature cooking, is the passing, at a rate of 0.5 to 3.0 rpm of the food item into and out of such region to preclude scorching thereof while gaining benefits of taste. Further heating by convection is accomplished by circulating otherwise unused heat, beneath the rotating panel, radially outwardly and then upwardly beyond the periphery of the panel and into the region thereabove. This is further accomplished through internal venting and circulation means within the top of the oven. As such, three forms of heat transfer, namely, conduction, radiation and convection are employed in a balanced fashion in the context of open cavity fluid communication with the atmosphere in order to provide the within objects the advantages thereof.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of cooking, having particular application in commercial pizza service establishments, which operates at improved efficiency, providing increased food access, improved taste, and reduces energy consumption for both the oven itself and cooling of the ambient work station.
It is another object to provide a food item cooking oven for cooking of each food item therein evenly and without need of opening a door or entrance thereof to rotate or reposition food items and wherein the efficiency of the oven is not compromised when food items are removed from or repositioned therein.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel method of heating to provide a cooking oven which is reliable and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
It is yet a further object to provide a method of cooking which employs a rotating thermal reservoir as a cooking substrate and, in combination therewith, balanced means of conduction heating of the bottom of said panel, heating the top of the food items to be cooked, and heating by convection throughout the oven, this inclusive of a region of high temperature cooking into which the food periodically passes in and out of to thereby obtain the benefits of high temperature cooking without risk that food items to be cooked may become scorched or overcooked.
The above and yet other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the hereinafter set forth Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description of the Invention and Claims appended herewith.
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patent: 3524403 (1970-08-01), Treloar
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patent: 4924763 (1990-05-01), Bingham
patent: 4934260 (1990-06-01), Blevins
patent: 4951648 (1990-08-01), Shukla
patent: 5454295 (1995-10-01), Cox et al.
patent: 5492055 (1996-02-01), Nevin et al.
patent: 5560285 (1996-10-01), Moreth
patent: 5605092 (1997-02-01), Riccio
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patent: 5872351 (1999-02-01), Sowerby
Remco Technologies International Inc.
Silverman M. K.
Simone Timothy F.
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