Holding or cooking oven
First Claim
1. In combination with a heating device and with a tray located within the heating device and having a rim that is presented upwardly around the interior of the tray, a self-supporting cover for establishing at least a partial closure over the rim of the tray, said cover comprising:
- first and second legs in an upright orientation and having lower margins for supporting the cover, the legs being spaced far enough apart to receive the rim of the tray between them; and
a cross wall attached to the legs above their lower margins and extending between the legs, the space between the legs and below the cross wall being open at at least one end of the cover, so that the rim of the tray may be inserted between the legs and below the cross wall at that end of the cover.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray. In other embodiments, the oven includes a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein, and a plurality of trays in the compartments, each compartment being sized for receiving only one tray per compartment. The compartments are isolated from one another in the cabinet whereby flavor from food in one tray in one compartment is prevented from transferring to food in trays in adjacent compartments.
-
Citations
46 Claims
-
1. In combination with a heating device and with a tray located within the heating device and having a rim that is presented upwardly around the interior of the tray, a self-supporting cover for establishing at least a partial closure over the rim of the tray, said cover comprising:
- first and second legs in an upright orientation and having lower margins for supporting the cover, the legs being spaced far enough apart to receive the rim of the tray between them; and
a cross wall attached to the legs above their lower margins and extending between the legs, the space between the legs and below the cross wall being open at at least one end of the cover, so that the rim of the tray may be inserted between the legs and below the cross wall at that end of the cover. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- first and second legs in an upright orientation and having lower margins for supporting the cover, the legs being spaced far enough apart to receive the rim of the tray between them; and
-
11. In combination with a heat sink having shoulders and a tray located within the heat sink, a cover for at least partially closing the tray while the tray is in the heat sink, said cover comprising:
- upright legs which are located over the shoulders of the heat sink and project upwardly away from the shoulders; and
a cross wall extending between the legs and the tray. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- upright legs which are located over the shoulders of the heat sink and project upwardly away from the shoulders; and
-
20. An oven comprising:
-
a cabinet;
a plurality of trays adapted to be inserted in the cabinet and withdrawn from the cabinet, each tray having a bottom wall, side walls extending upwardly from the bottom wall, and an open top;
self-supporting covers in the cabinet for respective trays, each cover having a generally horizontal cross wall and a pair of side walls extending downwardly from the cross wall at opposite sides of the cross wall, said cross wall having a width which exceeds the width of a respective tray to allow the tray to be positioned in the cabinet between the side walls of the cover with the cross wall extending over the open top of the tray;
each cover being releasably retained in the cabinet against withdrawal from the cabinet when a respective tray is removed from between the side walls of the cover and withdrawn from the cabinet, the side walls of the cover supporting the cover in the cabinet after the tray has been withdrawn from the cabinet; and
a heating element positioned in the cabinet to direct heat into trays in the cabinet. - View Dependent Claims (21)
-
-
22. An oven comprising:
-
a cabinet;
horizontal shoulders in the cabinet;
a plurality of trays adapted to be inserted in the cabinet and withdrawn from the cabinet, each tray having a bottom wall, side walls extending upwardly from the bottom wall, and an open top;
covers in the cabinet for respective trays, each cover having a generally horizontal cross wall and a pair of side walls extending downwardly from the cross wall at opposite sides of the cross wall over respective horizontal shoulders in the cabinet, said cross wall having a width which exceeds the width of a respective tray to allow the tray to be positioned in the cabinet between the side walls of the cover with the cross wall extending over the open top of the tray;
each cover being releasably retained in the cabinet against withdrawal from the cabinet when a respective tray is removed from between the side walls of the cover and withdrawn from the cabinet, the side walls of the cover resting on said respective shoulders after the tray has been withdrawn from the cabinet; and
at least one opening in the cross wall of at least one of said covers for venting the cover.
-
-
23. An oven comprising
a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein, a plurality of trays in said compartments, eash compartment being sized for receiving only one tray per compartment, said compartments being isolated from one another in said cabinet whereby flavor from food in one tray in one compartment is prevented from transferring to food in trays in adjacent compartments, each compartment having open ends for placement of said tray in the compartment and removal of said tray from the compartment, and a plurality of heaters, each heater being operable for heating a respective compartment.
-
38. An oven as set forth in claimm 23 wherein said plurality of compartments includes side-by-side compartments.
-
39. An oven comprising
a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein, a plurality of trays in said compartments, each compartment being sized for receiving only one tray per compartment, said compartments being isolated from one another in said cabinet whereby flavor from food in one tray in one compartment is prevented from transferring to food in trays in adjacent compartments, each compartment having open ends for placement of said tray in the compartment and removal of said tray from the compartment, a plurality of heaters for heating said plurality of compartments, the operation of each of said plurality of heaters being controlled independently of the other heaters.
-
44. An oven comprising
a cabinet having a plurality of compartments therein, a plurality of trays in said compartments, each compartment being sized for receiving only one tray per compartment, said compartments being isolated from one another in said cabinet whereby flavor from food in one tray in one compartment is prevented from transferring to food in trays in adjacent compartments, each compartment having open ends for placement of said tray in the compartment and removal of said tray from the compartment, a plurality of heaters for heating said plurality of compartments, each compartment being heated by one of said plurality of heaters located adjacent the compartment, the operation of at least one group of said plurality of heaters being controlled independently of another group of said plurality of heaters, and a cover in at least one of said plurality of compartments for covering a tray in the compartment.
Specification