Patent Application
20070186786
The present application relates generally to steam cookers used to steam food products, and more particularly to a steam cooker including a door and a pan bumper for protecting the door's peripheral sealing member.
Steam cookers have been successfully employed by restaurants, hospitals and other food service operations to prepare quickly and conveniently large quantities of food. Many such cookers are used in high volume situations. Steam cookers of this type include a cooking chamber, which is sized to receive multiple cooking pans containing food products to be cooked; a door; and a gasket placed around the periphery of the door to prevent steam leakage. Under such circumstances, nothing is in place to prevent the cooking pans from colliding with the door gasket and causing damage, such as nicks or cuts. Such repeated collisions can result in a need for gasket replacement. It would be desirable to provide a steam cooker with a feature to avoid such gasket damage.
In one aspect, a steam cooker includes a cooking chamber having an access opening with a frame disposed thereabout, a door movable between an open position and a closed position relative to the access opening, a steam generator for providing steam to the cooking chamber, a sealing member positioned at least partly between the frame and an interior side of the door when the door is in the closed position and at least one pan bumper vertically-oriented and positioned toward a hinged side of the door. The at least one pan bumper extends from the interior side of the door and is disposed for contacting and moving a protruding pan when the door is moved from the open position to the closed position so as to prevent contact between the protruding pan and the sealing member.
In another aspect, a steam cooker includes a cooking chamber having an access opening, a door providing access to the cooking chamber, the door movable between an open position and a closed position relative to the access opening, a steam generator for providing steam to the cooking chamber, a sealing member positioned on an interior side of the door to limit egress of steam when the door is in the closed position and at least one pan bumper vertically-oriented and positioned toward a hinged side of the door. The at least one pan bumper extends from the interior side of the door and is located to protrude into the access opening when the door is in the closed position, the pan bumper protruding further away from the interior side of the door than the sealing member.
Steam cookers conventionally cook foods by the use of hot steam and may be powered by a steam generator which is either gas fired or electrically powered. In a typical operation of a steam cooker containing a steam generator, the cooker is pre-heated to a predetermined temperature for a period of time to allow the steam generator to reach a peak temperature for vaporizing water into steam. The vegetables or other food items to be steamed are loaded into cooking pans and placed in the cooking chamber and the cooker door is closed. After closing the door, a timer is turned to the desired cook time and steam enters the cooking chamber. When the preset time has elapsed, the steam supply is automatically stopped and the pans of food may be removed. For additional cooking events, the procedure is repeated except that it is generally not necessary to pre-heat the cooker since the previous steaming cycle provides sufficient heat.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the steam generator 12 includes a heating chamber, separate from the cooking chamber 30, where water is heated to generate steam and a steam superheater (not shown) capable of superheating the steam generated in the heating chamber under relatively low pressure conditions. In some embodiments, the cooker 10 operates in a temperature range between about 190 degrees F. and about 250 degrees F. Although the steam cooker 10 shown in
Internal racks 60 to enable a number of cooking pans 65 to be slid in and out of the chamber. Steam cooker 10 is designed to accept a variety of combinations of cooking pans 65. In one example, cooking chamber 30 is capable of accepting four rectangular, flat-bottomed cooking pans having a size of about 12 inches×20 inches and a depth of about 6 inches. In another example, cooking chamber 30 is capable of accepting sixteen rectangular, flat-bottomed cooking pans having a size of about 12 inches×20 inches and a depth of about one inch.
The door 40 is hinged about a vertical axis by hinges 42 arranged alongside a vertical edge of the opening of the cooking chamber 30. The door 40 includes a sealing member 70 that is positioned at least partly between the frame of the cooking chamber 30 and the interior side of the door 40 when the door 40 is in the closed position. In one embodiment, the sealing member 70 is arranged around the interior periphery of the door 40 in order to prevent or limit the escape of steam from the chamber opening. In operation, the sealing member 70 comes into contact against the framing of the cooking chamber 30. In one example, sealing member 70 comprises silicon rubber. However, one skilled in the art would recognize that any suitable material capable of withstanding elevated operating temperatures may be used to provide an appropriate peripheral seal.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the pan bumper 80 protrudes further away from the interior side of the door 40 than the sealing member 70 as shown in
The illustrated pan bumper 80 is parallel and proximate to the vertically extending portion of the sealing member 70 located on the hinged side of the door 40. In this embodiment, the extent of the pan bumper is limited, as the pan bumper does not extend alongside the remainder (for example, top, bottom and door latch side portions) of the sealing member 70. Any suitable material that is durable and capable of withstanding elevated operating temperatures may be used for the pan bumper.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
