Food cooking utensil with lid-cooling means

• US 5,029,519 A
• Filed: 05/16/1989
• Issued: 07/09/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ITT Industries - Belgium S.A.
• Original Assignee: ITT Industries - Belgium S.A.
• Inventors: Boyen, Lodewijk J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Simone, Timothy F.
• Application Number:
  US07/352,428
• Time in Patent Office: 784 Days
• Field of Search: 99/325, 99/341, 99/348, 99/447, 99/467, 99/468, 99/473-476, 99/483, 99/517, 219/400, 126/21 A, 126/369, 220/903
• US Class Current: 99/341
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/38 for withdrawing or condensing cooking vapors from cooking utensils
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 37/1209 electrically heated

Abstract

The food cooking utensil comprises a vessel (2) which is intended to contain the foods to be cooked in a liquid and is provided with a lid (31), at least one opening (23) for the admission of air into a space, at least one outlet opening (24) for the air introduced into the space, and means (25) for producing a current of air between said inlet opening or openings and said outlet opening or openings.

The utensil according to the invention is characterized in that at least a part of said space (22) is bounded by two walls (32, 33) of the lid (31) which are spaced apart so that the air circulating in said space (22) through the action of said means (25) absorbs heat and lowers the temperature of the lid (31).

Claims

1. Food cooking utensil comprising:

a vertically disposed vessel (2) adapted to contain food to be cooked in a liquid;

a lid (31) mounted on said vessel and having a temperature which rises above ambient air temperature during cooking of the food, said lid having spaced apart outer and inner lid walls (32,

     33) which form a space between said lid walls;

first inlet opening means (34,

     52) in said lid (31) for introducing ambient air into said space between said lid walls;

outlet opening means in the lid for evacuating from the utensil the air introduced into said space; and

cooling means (25) for producing a current of ambient air between said first inlet opening means and said outlet opening means in only a substantially horizontal direction so that said ambient air circulates through said space, absorbs heat from the lid and lowers the temperature of the lid.

2. Utensil according to claim 1, further comprising:

a casing (3) surrounding the vessel (2), said casing (3) being spaced apart from said vessel (2) to define a chamber (43); and

second inlet opening means in said casing for introducing ambient air into said chamber (43);

said chamber (43) communicating with said first inlet opening means so that the ambient air flows from said chamber (43) into said space between said lid walls.

3. Utensil according to claim 2, comprising baffles (62) between said lid walls and in said chamber.

4. Utensil according to claim 3, characterized in that said casing has inwardly directed cooling fins (63).

5. Utensil according to claim 4, characterized in that a filter is provided between said lid walls.

6. Food cooking utensil comprising:

a vessel (2) which is adapted to contain food to be cooked in a liquid and which has a lid (31) whose temperature rises above ambient air temperature during cooking of the food;

at least one inlet opening means for the introduction of ambient air into a space;

at least one outlet opening means for evacuation of the ambient air introduced into the space; and

cooling means (25) for producing a current of ambient air between said inlet opening means and said outlet opening means, wherein at least a part of the space is bounded by two walls of the lid which are spaced apart so that the air circulating in the space between said two walls through the action of said cooling means is heated by the lid and lowers the temperature of the lid (31);

said utensil further comprising a sight window (49) having an upstream edge (50) and a downstream edge (51) lying opposite one another, characterized in that said inlet opening means comprises a first opening (52) for the introduction of air into the vessel (2) and located adjacent to the upstream edge (50) of the sight window (49), and that said outlet means comprises a second opening (53) for the evacuation of this air and located adjacent to the downstream edge (51) of said sight window (49), so that, through the action of the cooling means (25) producing the current of air, a layer of air is displaced over that face (54) of the sight window (49) which is directed towards the vessel (2).

7. Utensil according to claim 6, further comprising a casing (3) surrounding and spaced from said vessel (2), and wherein said inlet opening means comprises a third opening (23) in said casing (3) for the introduction of the ambient air into the space between said casing (3) and said vessel (2), said second and third openings being in air communication with each other.

8. Utensil according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said outlet opening means comprises another opening (24), located in said lid, for evacuating heated air from the utensil, said another opening (24) being in air communication with said second opening.

9. Utensil according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that a deflector (55) is located close to the upstream edge (50) of the sight window (49), on the side of that face (54) of the latter which is directed towards the vessel (2), in such a manner that the air enters through the aforesaid first opening (52) towards said face (54) of the sight window (49), thereby bathing said face (54).

10. Utensil according to claim 9, characterized in that the sight window (49) is carried by an inner wall (33) of the lid (31), which wall is spaced apart from an outer wall (32) of said lid (31), so that a chamber (47) si formed in the lid (31) between the outer wall (32) and inner wall (33) of the lid, the second opening (53, 57) being located in the inner wall (33) of the lid (31).

11. Utensil according to claim 10, characterized in that the second opening (53, 59) is composed of outlet slots (59) parallel to one another and leading into another chamber (60) of the space (22) between said inner and outer walls, said another chamber directing the current of air towards one end of the lid (31), which end communicates with a duct (27) in which a suction device (26) is mounted.

12. Cooking utensil according to claim 11, characterized in that a filter (40, 48) is mounted in the aforesaid duct (27) upstream or downstream of the suction device (26).

13. Cooking utensil according to claim 11, characterized in that the sight window (49) has a substantially rectangular shape and two long sides, said first opening (52) being adjacent to one of the long sides of the sight window (49), and at least one of said outlet slots being adjacent to the other long side of the sight window (49).