Hamburger bun storage device

A hamburger bun storage device has a supporting frame on which a bun-toasting and heating element is disposed. The heating element is preferably a planar member superposed above a parallel planar conveyor mounted on the frame to advance in a predetermined direction. The heating element is movable up and down; i.e. toward and away from the associated conveyor. A drawer enclosure is disposed on the heating element on the side thereof opposite the conveyor and is open only in a direction transverse to the predetermined direction and at the side of the frame. A drawer is slidable in the drawer enclosure between an open position and a closed position in which a drawer end plate is in abutment with the frame.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In devices for the preparation of hamburger buns, it is customary to toast 
the separate bun crowns and bun heels and to do so shortly before they are 
needed for assembly with a cooked hamburger in order that the resulting 
product will be relatively fresh and warm. It is often difficult to 
accomplish this because the buns tend to be made out of sequence with the 
cooking of the hamburger patties and because the buns tend to lose 
temperature very rapidly unless they are carefully taken care of. The 
problem becomes aggravated when a relatively large number of buns are 
needed in a relatively short time. In the present arrangement, advantage 
is taken of heat available in the hamburger bun toasting device for 
providing storage for already toasted buns, whether heels or crowns or 
both, and to keep such bun portions at an elevated, satisfactory 
temperature for a protracted period of time, at least long enough to 
maintain their temperature at a high point when the buns are to be 
utilized. For doing this, the mechanism is arranged to utilize what 
normally would be waste heat in the toasting apparatus and to do so 
without any substantial enlargement in size of the customary toasting 
device or in its complexity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
While a hamburger bun storage device pursuant to the present invention can 
be embodied in a large number of different ways and can be embodied singly 
if desired, it has with some success been embodied as shown herein, in 
which the mechanism is preferably duplicated to take care of hamburger 
buns which have been severed into crown portions and heel portions. 
Although the duplicated mechanisms are substantially identical, they serve 
well to toast the separate bun portions, and the description herein is 
intended to apply to both available portions. 
In one form of device, there is provided a frame 6 having support legs 7 
resting upon a floor 8 in the usual way. The frame is made up of the 
customary shapes of angle and plate members and preferably is 
substantially enclosed on all sides, including the top by panels 9 and 10. 
Disposed on the frame are cross shafts 11 and 12 serving to support a 
lower conveyor chain 13 extending from a feed opening 14 to a discharge 
opening 16. The chain is arranged to be driven in a direction so that its 
upper run 17 advances in the direction of the arrow 18 in FIG. 1, this 
being a predetermined direction of advance. 
Situated on the frame just above the conveyor chain 13 is a planar heating 
element 21 or platen preferably supplied with electricity and maintained 
at an elevated, toasting temperature. The element 21 is generally 
rectangular in plan of nearly the same size as the frame 6 although 
somewhat smaller in length and width.The platen is substantially parallel 
to the upper run 17 of the conveyor chain. The platen at its corners is 
supported on adjusting cams 23. The platen corners preferably have 
extended angles 24 secured thereto, each of which is effective to rest on 
a selected flat face 26 of a multi-faced subjacent cam 23. Conveniently, 
the two cams on one side of the device are both fixed on a longitudinal 
adjusting rod 27. At one end of the machine the rod has a hand lever 28. 
The structure is duplicated at both sides of the device, as shown in FIG. 
2. 
An attendant, by rotating the rod 27, or rods 27, can cause the platen to 
move up or down and to rest stationarily on any selected ones of the flat 
as straight faces of the cams. In this fashion the lower planar face of 
the heating element is moved toward or away from the subjacent conveyor 
and toward or away from the exposed faces of any bun heels or crowns 
resting on the conveyor and being advanced thereby. 
Particularly pursuant to the present invention, there is disposed on each 
of the vertically movable platens 21, as an example, a drawer enclosure 31 
or preferably a pair thereof is a generally rectangular box having a top 
plate 32, an end plate 33, a pair of side plates 34 and a bottom plate 36, 
but is devoid of any other end plate. The top plate 32, the side plates 34 
and the bottom plate 36 preferably extend transversely or in a direction 
perpendicular to the direction of advance 18. The plates terminate 
substantially at the edge or side of the frame, affording extending 
substantially through a drawer opening 37 in the panel 10 at such 
location. 
As shown in FIG. 2, there is substantial vertical clearance between the top 
and bottom of the drawer enclosures 31 and the openings 37 in the side 
wall 10 on the frame 6 to allow vertical movement of the drawer enclosures 
31. 
By disposing a drawer enclosure 31 in this fashion, there is provided a box 
in effect isolated from the surrounding atmosphere yet disposed upon the 
heating element 21 or platen in such a fashion that heat which does not 
flow toward the buns below is able to rise into the interior of the drawer 
enclosure 31 and to elevate the temperature thereof a substantial amount. 
This heat would normally be wasted and dissipated to the atmosphere. In 
the present instance, such heat is conserved and is utilized to maintain 
the bun temperature at the desired value. 
The drawer enclosure 31 is augmented, if desired, by a slidable drawer 38 
of the usual construction and having a drawer plate 39 at one end thereof, 
the plate 39 being inturned so as to abut snugly against the planar side 
of the frame panel 10 in any vertical location of the drawer plate 39 when 
the drawer is closed. With this arrangement, the drawer can be slid in and 
out easily and when closed is substantially airtight against the side of 
the frame panel so that there is little or no local air circulation and 
substantially no loss of heat from that region panel 10 in any vertical 
location of the drawer plate 39 despite the momentary vertical position of 
the drawer. 
The arrangement of the drawer, as illustrated, is the preferred one, and 
the drawer itself can contain, as shown in the upper portion of FIG. 2, a 
particular bun tray 41 of the sort shown in our copending application 
entitled "Staging Cabinet And Tray Combination" filed June 12, 1978 with 
Ser. No. 914,358. This tray 41 is a sheet metal device having downturned 
sides 42 and upturned edges 43 as well as central embossments 44 carrying 
perforations 46. The tray simply rests in the bottom of the drawer and 
serves as a means for simultaneously inserting or removing a dozen buns or 
bun portions therefrom. 
If desired, the drawer itself need not be utilized, but, as shown in the 
upper left-hand portion of FIG. 1, a tray itself may be slid directly into 
and out of the drawer enclosure 31. This is not quite as thermally 
efficient as having a drawer and having the drawer closed, but is 
sometimes easier for rapid operation. 
Also as shown in the drawings the pair of drawers and drawer enclosures 
utilized above the upper heating element 21 is augmented by a 
substantially duplicate construction disposed just above the lower heating 
element 21. That is, there is a duplicate heating element or platen, there 
is a duplicate conveyor, and there are duplicate drawer enclosures, each 
provided with its own sliding drawer if desired. 
With this arrangement it is possible to feed in buns and heels to the two 
conveyors, and when the buns and heels are released from the other end of 
the machine in toasted condition they can be placed immediately on trays 
either standing alone or standing in removed drawers, which then can be 
placed into the drawer enclosures on the frame by a transverse or lateral 
movement no matter what the momentary vertical position of the platens 21, 
keeping them in a warm environment until the drawers are opened and the 
buns, either crowns or heels, are removed for use. 
In view of this arrangement, with no additional floor space, with very 
little additional mechanism, and with substantially no additional heat, 
energy is conserved by providing the toasted heels and crowns with an 
appropriate environment for relatively protracted storage and without 
substantial deterioration in temperature and without substantial drying or 
other change in moisture content, so that when needed the buns are 
immediately available in optimum condition for combining with hamburger 
patties.