Patent ID: 7380548
Filing Date: 2008-06-03
Classification: F24C

Abstract:
1. A stove apparatus comprising: a frame assembly bounding an area at a base thereof adapted to receive a burner assembly comprising a burner for supporting a flame, said burner assembly for operating on liquid fuel, and said flame being generated from the liquid fuel; a heating cavity assembly mounted on said frame assembly and having an interior, and four side walls, and a bottom wall having an opening therein; a collar structure mounted in said heating cavity assembly around the bottom wall opening and upstanding from the bottom wall said collar for conducting hot gases from the burner into the interior of the heating cavity assembly; front, rear, first and second side panels mounted on said frame assembly to enclose the side walls of said heating cavity assembly, further comprising a thermostatic controller mounted in a selected one of said panels, said controller comprising temperature detection means for tracking the temperature within said heating cavity member and for controlling the intensity of the burner flame to maintain the temperature within the heating cavity member proximate a selected level; a diffuser plate mounted on said heating cavity assembly and covering an open top portion thereof, said diffuser plate having an underside and an upper surface, said diffuser plate being contiguous with, and shaped complimentarily to the four side walls of the heating cavity assembly, said diffuser plate being disposed over the burner and the collar structure, said diffuser plate having perforations extending therethrough for passage therethrough of heated gases rising from the burner, said diffuser plate having grooves extending substantially from a first end to a second end of said diffuser plate, and at least a portion of the grooves intersect at least a portion of said perforations, said perforations comprising first perforations proximate a center portion of said diffuser plate, second perforations larger than said first perforations nearer the ends of said diffuser plate, and third perforations larger than said second perforations and disposed nearer than said second perforations to the ends of said diffuser plate; and wherein said diffuser plate is configured to receive the heated gases rising from the burner and through the collar structure and impinging on the underside of the diffuser plate at a central portion of the plate; upon contact with the underside of the diffuser plate, the heated gases in part pass through said first perforations and in larger part disperse outwardly from said central portion of the plate toward the first end and the second end of the plate; said outwardly dispersed heated gases passing through the second perforations, in a greater portion than the heated gases passing through the first perforations; the heated gases continuing to disperse outwardly toward the first end and the second end of the plate and passing through the third perforations in a greater portion than the heated gases passing through the second perforations; whereby the heated gases are dispersed along the underside of the diffuser plate by the grooves and through the perforations for distributing the gases substantially evenly proximate the upper surface of the diffuser plate; and a griddle plate mounted above said diffuser plate and spaced therefrom, and having an undersurface opposed to the diffuser plate upper surface, and having an upper surface for cooking operations; and wherein the first, second and third perforations are sized such that the heated gases reaching the upper surface of the diffuser plate are in a region between the upper surface of the diffuser plate and undersurface of the griddle plate, and the heated gases are in greater quantity and higher pressure at the first end and at the second end of the diffuser plate than at the center of the plate; whereby the heated gases flow, in the region between the upper surface of the diffuser plate and the undersurface of the griddle plate, from outward of the griddle plate inward toward a center of the griddle plate for evenly heating the undersurface of the griddle plate and for having a substantially even heat across the upper surface of the griddle plate.