Compact smoking oven with a rotatable food support

A compact smoking oven comprises  with a rotatable food support having a box-shaped  housing having  with a peripheral wall composed of two wall portions spaced from one another and including an inner wall portion provided with a plurality of throughgoing openings, a container for accommodating wooden chips and having at least one wall provided with a plurality of openings, a heating unit for the container so that when the container is heated and wooden chips inside the container are heated a smoke is produced which exits the container through the openings in the container, then enters a space inside the peripheral wall and exits the space through the openings of the inner wall portion into an interior of the housing, and means for  having a rotatable and removable holder for a food product to be smoked by the smoke.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a compact smoking oven.

Smoking ovens are known in the art. The known smoking ovens are formed as industrial installations which have great sizes, are provided with powerful and voluminous mechanisms and parts for smoking a significant quantity of food products, and are very expensive. It is desirable to provide a compact smoking oven which can be used in households by individual users and which do not require special skills for smoking food products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a compact smoking oven which can be used in households by an individual user and does not require any special skills for smoking food products.

In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a compact smoking oven which has a box-shaped housing having a peripheral wall composed of two wall portions spaced from one another and including an inner wall portion provided with a plurality of throughgoing openings, a container for accommodating wooden chips and having at least one wall provided with a plurality of openings, means for heating the container so that when the container is heated and wooden chips inside the container are heated a smoke is produced which exits the container through the openings in the container, then enters a space inside the peripheral wall and exits the space through the openings of the inner wall portion into an interior of the housing, and means for holding a food product to be smoked by the smoke.

When the smoking oven is designed in accordance with the present invention it is compact, has a simple construction, is easy to operate, and can be used in households by an individual user who does not have any special skills for smoking.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A smoking oven shown inFIGS. 1 and 2has a housing with a peripheral wall1, a top wall2and a bottom wall3. The peripheral wall1is formed as a double wall and has an outer wall portion1′ and an inner wall portion1″ which is provided with a plurality of perforations4. The smoking oven further has a container5for accommodating wooden chips. The container5has an upper wall6which is also provided with a plurality of perforations. The lower wall of the container6is inserted into an inner space of a housing8of heating means. The heating means also include a heating element9formed for example as an electrical heating element connectable with a source of electric current (not shown). A lower grill10is located on a support11and in turn supports a tray for fat collection and for heat distribution, and a louver13for food defrosting is arranged on the tray12.

The smoking oven further has a food product supporting means which is formed as a rotatable disc14provided with a plurality of hooks. The disc is connected with a shaft which is rotated by a motor15. The motor15is accommodated in an upper compartment16which is separated from the interior of the housing by the upper wall2. Fans17are accommodated in the compartment16and are rotatable by electric motors18.

The interior of the housing is closeable and operable by a door19which has a double wall and an inner space20between two wall portions of the double wall and an exit opening21.

The smoking oven in accordance with the present invention as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2operates in the following manner:

A food product to be smoked is introduced into the interior of the housing and is suspended on the hooks of the rotatable support14. Wood chips are introduced into the interior of the container5and the container is placed through the upper opening of the heater housing8so that the lower closed wall of the container5is located at a distance above the electrical heating element9of the heater. Electric current is supplied to the electrical heating element, the electrical heating element heats the air inside the heater housing8, the heated air heats the bottom wall and the peripheral wall of the container5, through the openings6. The smoke is deflected toward the openings of the inner wall portion of the peripheral wall of the housing into the inner space between the inner wall portion1″ and the outer wall portion1′, then the smoke passes through the openings4of the inner wall portion1″ and enters the interior of the housing so as to smoke the food product suspended on the support14. At the same time, the fans17are rotated by the motors18, cool the air and cause flow of air over the upper wall2of the housing so as toheatcoolthe upper wall and also into the interior space20of the double wall19so as to cool the double wall and to provide gas tightness of the interior of the housing. Fat from the food product is collected in the tray.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 3, the food product supporting means include two discs14′ and14″ provided with a plurality of hooks and rotatable independently from one another.

In the embodiment ofFIGS. 4 and 5, the food product supporting means include four discs24provided with a plurality of hooks, and the grouped so that two discs24are located in one compartment of the housing while two other discs24are located in another compartment of the housing separated from the first mentioned compartment by a partition25. The housing has two doors26which provide access to a corresponding compartment.

In the embodiment shown inFIGS. 6 and 7, the food product supporting means include a plurality of rods26provided with hooks27and connected with a door28. The container for wood chips29, the heater30as well as the tray31are also connected with the door28. After smoking the door is displaced outwardly of the housing, and the food product supporting means26,27are also located outside of the housing so as to remove the smoked product and to put a new smoked product on the hooks.

In the embodiment ofFIGS. 8A-8B, a heater is formed as a gas heater32connected with a source of gas and having one outlet opening at its right end inFIG. 4or a plurality of openings distributed over the pipe23. A heat accumulating element34inFIGS. 9-10formed for example as a metal plate is located above the flame and separated from the latter by a flame distributing element35which is formed for example as a concave sheer provided with a plurality of perforations. The combination of the elements34,35provides for a uniform distribution of the heat to the container5which accommodates the wooden chips.

In the embodiment ofFIGS. 11A, the food product supporting means in addition to the rotatable disc14provided with a plurality of hooks also has a plurality of horizontal rods36. As can be seen fromFIGS. 12A-12C, the rod36A can be turned around its axis by a motor37.

In the embodiment shown inFIGS. 13A-13Bthe food product supporting means include two discs41and42which are rotatable by not shown electric motors and a plurality of rods43mounted on the discs spaced from one another in a circumferential direction. As can be seen fromFIG. 14A-14C, one end of each rod is inserted through the slot of the disc41and locked there by a turnable flap, while the other end of the same rod extends through a corresponding opening in the disc42. As can be seen fromFIGS. 15A-15B, each rod is provided with a flywheel44which is fixedly connected with the respective rod, while the rods are turnably mounted in the slots and openings of the discs41and42. When the discs are rotated about their joint axes, the rods43are rotated about these axes as well. At the same time, since the flywheel44tends to retain its vertical position, it turns each rod with which it is connected around its own axis. Thus, during rotation of the discs, the food product on the rods gradually turns so that each portion of the food product is uniformly heated.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 16, the food product supporting means include a grill45composed of two grill portions46and47pivotally connected with one another by a pivot axle48. The grill portions46and47can be opened so as to insert a food product, and then closed so as to enclose the food product in their interior, and then locked by locking means49in the closed position.

FIGS. 17A-17Eillustrates a container5for accommodating wooden chips, as can be seen, the container5has an upper wall50provided with a plurality of openings51, a peripheral wall52provided with a holding flange53, and a lower wall54. The holding flange53is provided with means55for connecting the container with the housing of the heater located underneath the container, for example, formed as threaded openings for screws and the like.

FIGS. 18A-18Care different plan views, side views and sections of the tray.

FIGS.11A-11C11Barea plan view,a side view anda front view, showinga section of a tray12with a louver13for food defrosting,of the compact smoking oven.

In all embodiments, the housing1, the compartment16, the container5, the door28, the unit10-12are designed as in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1-2.

FIGS. 19-21show front views andFIGS. 22A and 22Bshow perspective views of the inventive smoking oven with different directions of air flow to provide sealing of the oven door.