Claims
- 1. Apparatus for continuously cooking a snack food product in the absence of cooking oil, comprising
- means for preparing slices of the snack food product to be cooked,
- first conveyor means serving to receive the slices and means serving to dispense the slices in a single layer upon the first conveyor means,
- an oven housing having a product inlet and a product outlet,
- second conveyor means extending through said oven housing inlet and outlet and serving to carry the slices therethrough for cooking treatment, said second conveyor means comprising upper and lower conveyor belts of air permeable construction arranged in a vertically spaced apart relationship wherein the lower conveyor belt supports and carries the slices in a substantially non-overlapping, single layer and the upper conveyor belt confines and limits vertical movements of the slices during treatment thereof,
- high intensity heat transfer means arranged in said oven housing above and below said second conveyor means serving to transmit high intensity heat energy to the slices in the temperature range of about 1200.degree. to 1600.degree. F.,
- first and second arrays of air impingement delivery slots arranged in said oven housing, respectively, above and below said second conveyor means and being disposed in lateral arrays therealong in the direction of slice movement through said oven housing,
- means serving to supply a first process vapor to issue from said air impingement delivery slots and including means to reheat and recirculate the first process vapor following contact with the slices,
- means serving to collect the slices into a multi-layer pack,
- and drying means serving to supply a second process vapor into such multi-layer pack and including means to reheat and recirculate the second process vapor following contact with the slices in the multi-layer pack.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said high intensity heat transfer means includes infrared burner means which comprise a first burner set and a second burner set sequentially disposed along the length of said second conveyor means,
- and means for regulating said burner sets so that said first burner set operates at a substantially higher heat transmission rate than said second burner set.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said drying means comprises a housing,
- third conveyor means extending through said housing serving to convey the multi layer pack therethrough and including a conveyor belt of air pervious construction, and
- means serving to drive said second process vapor and circulate such vapor generally normal to said conveyor belt for drying treatment of the multi layer pack.
Parent Case Info
This is a division, of application Ser. No. 08/475,485 filed Jun. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,973.
US Referenced Citations (19)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
34 43218 |
May 1986 |
DEX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
475485 |
Jun 1995 |
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