Conveyor oven
First Claim
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1. A conveyorized oven comprising:
- an insulated oven housing having at least one pair of spaced apart openings and an elongate heating tunnel located between each pair of openings;
conveyor means extending between each pair of said openings and adapted for moving a product to be heated from one of said openings to the other of said openings through said heating tunnel, said conveyor means comprising a bed of live rollers and said oven further comprising motor means coupled to said rollers for revolving said rollers whereby product may be moved through said heating tunnel;
heating element means located along the floor of said heating tunnel and adapted for heating product carried through said heating tunnel by said conveyor means, said heating element means comprising a plurality of elongate electrical resistance heating elements and wherein said resistance heating elements are disposed between said live rollers;
fan means;
duct means coupled to said fan means and including outlet means within said heating tunnel above said conveyor means; and
,air heating means for heating air flowing through said duct means whereby product carried through said heating tunnel by said conveyor means is heated by heated air as well as by said heating element means.
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Abstract
A conveyorized, electrically heated oven provides controlled top and bottom heating for pizza or other food products. Cooking is accomplished in two ways. The top of the food is cooked with heated air circulated within the oven, while the bottom of the food is heated by electric heating elements located between live conveyor rolls. Heated air within the oven is recirculated. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, two parallel conveyor lines are provided, with controls to permit use of one or both lines. Because of the heat recirculation system, the oven does not require a heat vent and energy consumption is reduced.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A conveyorized oven comprising:
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an insulated oven housing having at least one pair of spaced apart openings and an elongate heating tunnel located between each pair of openings; conveyor means extending between each pair of said openings and adapted for moving a product to be heated from one of said openings to the other of said openings through said heating tunnel, said conveyor means comprising a bed of live rollers and said oven further comprising motor means coupled to said rollers for revolving said rollers whereby product may be moved through said heating tunnel; heating element means located along the floor of said heating tunnel and adapted for heating product carried through said heating tunnel by said conveyor means, said heating element means comprising a plurality of elongate electrical resistance heating elements and wherein said resistance heating elements are disposed between said live rollers; fan means; duct means coupled to said fan means and including outlet means within said heating tunnel above said conveyor means; and
,air heating means for heating air flowing through said duct means whereby product carried through said heating tunnel by said conveyor means is heated by heated air as well as by said heating element means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A conveyorized oven comprising:
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an insulated oven cabinet including a generally planar and horizontal top surface, said oven cabinet having at least one pair of aligned and spaced apart openings in opposed vertical walls thereof and a heating tunnel between each of said pair of openings; a conveyor assembly slidably and removably disposed in said cabinet and extending between each of said pair of openings and for an extended distance beyond each of said opposed walls, said conveyor assembly having a bed of live rollers and a motor coupled thereto for conveying a product from one end of said conveyor assembly to the other end thereof through said oven cabinet, electrical resistance heating element means being located on said conveyor assembly intermediate those pairs of adjacent live rollers which lie within said oven cabinet, control means provided for varying the speed of said conveyor assembly and the temperature of said resistance heating elements; air heating means and a housing therefor; fan means coupled to said air heating housing means; duct means coupled to said fan means and said air heating housing means for conveying heated air from said fan means to each of said heating tunnels and returning heated air from said heating tunnels to said fan means whereby air is recirculated within said oven, said duct means having outlet openings within said cabinet and arranged for directing heated air downwardly toward each of said conveyor assemblies and inlet openings within said cabinet and arranged for directing heated air from said heating tunnels to said air heating housing means. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A conveyorized oven for heating food products and the like comprising a box-like insulated oven housing having generally planar, horizontal and spaced apart top and bottom surfaces and two pairs of opposed and vertical walls disposed therebetween, said oven having at least two elongate and parallel tunnels extending between one pair of said opposed vertical walls, an elongate conveyor and bottom heating assembly disposed within each of said tunnels and supported on the floors thereof, said assemblies extending beyond the walls of said oven, said assemblies each including a bed of live rollers and heating elements located between those pairs of rollers which lie within said tunnels, motor means and chain and sprocket means coupling said motor means and said rollers to rotate same, blower means disposed beneath said housing having duct means coupled thereto, said duct means including air injection and air return portions, said air injection portion including ductwork between said blower means and the roof of said tunnels and a manifold coupled thereto, said manifold including legs extending from the center portion of said oven toward said one pair of said opposed vertical walls and terminating within said housing and including outlet slot means at the ends of said legs and adapted for injecting air downwardly toward said conveyor and bottom heating assemblies and inwardly toward the center of said housing, said air return portion including air inlet slot means above each of said conveyor and bottom heating assemblies and generally over the middle thereof and collection manifold means to convey return air to said blower means, air heating means located in the return portion of said duct means and control means for separately and independently controlling the speed of each of said conveyors, the temperature of said heating elements located in said conveyor and bottom heating assemblies and for controlling the air heating means and the blower means.
Specification