Electric heating – Microwave heating – Cookware
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-02
2001-01-16
Leung, Philip H. (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Microwave heating
Cookware
C219S732000, C219S762000, C099SDIG014, C426S243000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06175105
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with a container that provides improved cooking properties in a microwave oven. More specifically, the invention relates to a bowl having geometric features which improve the efficiency and uniformity of microwave cooking of food products containing liquids and which enhance boiling uniformity while preventing boil over of the contents.
2. The Prior Art
Microwave cooking is frequently associated with uneven heating and boiling over of liquid contents. One of the ways of minimizing these problems is to cook for a brief time, stir, cook again, stir again, and so forth until the cooking is complete. Consumer preference, however, is to cook the product once and remove it from the microwave oven in a condition that is ready to eat.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art by providing a combination of geometric features which enhance the efficiency and uniformity of microwave cooking by taking into account the dielectric properties of the liquid-containing food products being cooked and the geometry of the container in relation to the microwave wavelength. The design also causes the liquid contents to cook with boiling while preventing boil over.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The container of the invention is in the form of a bowl having a bottom portion and a side panel and the bowl is dimensioned to preclude the establishment of a resonance phenomena (standing wave), which would result in an unpredictable microwave heating, by having a base in the shape of a torus with a diameter large enough to minimize or preclude internal resonance in a liquid-containing food. The diameter also is small enough to permit effective microwave cooking of the contents.
The bottom portion of the bowl comprises a central segment and an outer segment with the central segment being in the form of a push-up in the shape of a section of a sphere. The push-up extends to a bottom panel along a first bottom radius and the bottom panel extends to the side panel along one or more than one additional bottom radii (i.e., at least a second bottom radius). Accordingly, the outer segment is comprised of the first bottom radius, the bottom panel and one or more than one additional bottom radii. In one embodiment, the first bottom radius and the one additional bottom radius (i.e., the second bottom radius) are the same and the radius extends continuously from the push-up to the side panel forming a curved bottom panel.
The side panel of the bowl is tapered outwardly from the bottom as it extends toward an opening at the top of the bowl and a rim is provided at the top in the form of a flange with a rolled outer edge to provide a surface for adhering a lid and to add structural strength.
Externally at the bottom of the bowl a bottom rib is optionally provided to raise the bowl slightly off the shelf of the microwave oven so that heat loss from the bowl to the shelf of the oven is minimized.
The bowl can be disposable or reusable and is produced by conventional processing techniques for molding of any suitable plastic material, for example, injection molding, thermoforming and the like.
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European Research Search Report No. EP 99 10 8581.
Beall Nelson J.
Gaeta Stephen A.
Meiners M. Debbie
Rubbright Harry A.
Bestfoods
Leung Philip H.
Norris & McLaughlin & Marcus
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