Abstract:
A system for roasting fowl includes a vertical roaster for supporting the fowl and a detachable handle for carrying the vertical roaster.

Description:
PRIORITY  
       [0001]     The present invention claims priority under 35 USC section 119 and is based upon patent application Ser. No. 60/661,118 filed on Mar. 12, 2005. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,916 to Kuhling discloses a support element for supporting fowl during storage and for use during cooking processes having an overall conical shape.  
         [0003]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,320 to Demaree discloses a device for improving the process of cooking fowl in a heated chamber.  
         [0004]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,131 to Holland discloses a roasting stand adapted for use in imparting flavoring steam to a chicken during the cooking process with an indoor oven or outside grill.  
         [0005]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,896 to Heide discloses a collapsible cooking stand or apparatus.  
         [0006]     Fowl which includes primarily chicken has been a food staple throughout the world for centuries. There are various methods for cooking fowl which includes boiling, under pressure, deep-fried, pan-fried, microwave, barbecued or roasted or any combination. The reason for choosing one method over another is primarily taste which may include the qualities of flavor, tenderness, texture and appearance imported by the cooking process. Various additives may also be used in the process to affect the taste of the cooked fowl such as spices, fruits or vegetables, stuffing, marinades or sauces. The additives desired and ease with which the additives can be applied may also affect the desirability of the different processes. Other factors include simplicity, available equipment, and available material such as oil for deep frying. A great improvement on the process for cooking fowl is the vertical roaster which is a rack that allows the fowl to be placed in a pan or over a grill in the vertical position. While retaining the advantages of regular roasting such as good appearance, and responsive to additives resulting in good flavor and good texture, the vertical roaster allows fat to drain from the fowl during the cooking process resulting in a very low residual fat content. One additive that is particularly popular is commercial beverages. More particularly, the beverages which are available in the standard sized can such as soda and beer. One aspect of the cooking process is separating the fowl from the beverage can. Since the beverage can may not be necessarily empty at the end of the cooking process, the foul and the beverage can must be carefully separated in order to avoid spilling the liquid left in the beverage can and also from contaminating or separating the cooked fowl. While cooking, it may be necessary to turn the fowl in order to achieve a uniform cooked fowl. When the fowl is nearly cooked, the meat is tender and has a potential to fall from the vertical roaster if handled unnecessarily. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to move the cooked fowl from the location in which the fowl is cooked to the location where the fowl may be prepared for individual serving.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     A vertical roaster includes a wire frame roasting rack that serves as a mounting surface for a part or whole processed chicken or fowl. The vertical roaster is designed to facilitate the preparation for cooking, transporting to and from the cooking site, cooking, carving and serving of the finished cooked product. A handle is designed to be detachable connected to the vertical roaster so that the handle can be removed while the fowl is being placed on the vertical roaster or when the fowl is cooking. Additionally disclosed is an alternate handle assembly designed to employ a sphere at the apex of the vertical roaster and a lifting tool, a metal cooking tray with a carousel, a cooking pan which may be disposable and may be formed from aluminum foil, and a cuff which may be disposable and may be formed from aluminum foil which when attached to the beverage can will provide stability and increase safety.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which, like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of the vertical roaster;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of a cooking tray;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates a cross-sectional view of a handle;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  illustrates a front view of the handle;  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective view of the handle;  
         [0014]      FIG. 6  illustrates a top view of the handle;  
         [0015]      FIG. 7  illustrates a perspective view of the center tray ring;  
         [0016]      FIG. 8  illustrates a sectional view of the cooking pan which may be disposable;  
         [0017]      FIG. 9  illustrates another perspective view of the cooking tray;  
         [0018]      FIG. 10  illustrates a cross-sectional view of a beverage cuff;  
         [0019]      FIG. 11  illustrates a top and cross-sectional view of a cutting tray;  
         [0020]      FIG. 12  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the vertical roaster;  
         [0021]      FIG. 13  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the vertical roaster;  
         [0022]      FIG. 14  illustrates a top view of the vertical roaster;  
         [0023]      FIG. 15  illustrates a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the vertical roaster;  
         [0024]      FIG. 16  illustrates a top view of the lifting tool;  
         [0025]      FIG. 17  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the lifting tool  
         [0026]      FIG. 18  illustrates a perspective view of the lifting tool;  
         [0027]      FIG. 19  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the prongs of the lifting tool;  
         [0028]      FIG. 20  illustrates a perspective view of the vertical roaster; and  
         [0029]      FIG. 21  illustrates a reusable cup;  
         [0030]      FIG. 22  illustrates a fowl mounted on the vertical roaster.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0031]      FIG. 1  illustrates a vertical roaster  100  for roasting fowl and other types of food which may be a rigid structure and which may be constructed from steel wire. The vertical roaster  100  is generally shaped as a cage and is referred to as a birdcage. The vertical roaster  100  includes a plurality of supports  102  which are substantially vertical when the vertical roaster  100  is normally positioned. Each of the supports  102  includes an inclined section  112  and a curved section  114  which extends to the base ring  104 . The vertical roaster  100  rests on the base ring  104  which is positioned below a center ring  106  which is connected to the support  102  to assist in the stability of the vertical roaster  100 . Typically, the center ring  106  has a diameter which is slightly larger than the diameter of a beverage can and which could be sized to any convenient diameter. Additionally, the vertical roaster  100  includes a top ring  108  which is positioned above the center ring  106  and connected to the support  102  to assist in the stability of the vertical roaster  100 . The supports  102  come together to form a vertical section  116  which is covered by a sleeve  110 . The diameter of the sleeve  110  is sufficiently smaller than the diameter of the vertical roaster  100  to provide for an ‘arrow head’ for the vertical roaster  100  to allow for convenient insertion into the fowl. A traverse pin  112  is positioned near the top of the sleeve  110  to allow for a detachable connection to a handling tool  300  so that the fowl can be moved from one location to another location without removing the fowl from the vertical roaster  100  and also without interfering with the insertion of the fowl onto the vertical roaster  100 . The handle  300  can be detached from the vertical roaster  100 ; the sleeve  110  can be inserted into the fowl, and the fowl can be supported by the supports  102  including the inclined section  112  and the curved section  114 . The handle  300  can be reattached to the pin  112  so that the fowl can be moved or turned.  
         [0032]      FIG. 2  illustrates a cooking tray  200  which has been adapted to support the vertical roaster  100  and includes a base  202  having holes  208  to allow the liquid such as fat from the fowl to drain from the vertical roaster  100 . The cooking tray  200  includes a handle  204  which runs along the width of the cooking tray  200 . Furthermore, the cooking tray  200  includes a side section  206  around the periphery of the cooking tray  200  and a tray center ring  210  which allows the vertical roaster  100  to be rotated on a carousel  212  so that the fowl can be evenly cooked.  
         [0033]      FIG. 3  illustrates the handle of  300  which can be detachedly connected to the vertical roaster  100  and includes a cylinder  308  having a hand grip  310  at proximal end of the cylinder  308  and having a sleeve  304  at the distal end of the cylinder  308 . The cylinder  308  includes a spring mechanism  306  to bias the sleeve  304  to move along the cylinder  308  and to lock the pin  112  of the vertical roaster  100 . The sleeve  304  includes a horizontal channel  302  to accept the pin  112  which may be shaped as an inverted t or l and includes a seating pocket  302  to lock the pin  112 .  
         [0034]      FIG. 4  illustrates the handle  300  and a pin  112 .  
         [0035]      FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective view of the handle  300  and shows the slot  502  for the pin  112  in the sleeve  304 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 6  illustrates a top view of the handle  300 .  
         [0037]      FIG. 7  illustrates a perspective view of the table center ring  210  which shows an apparatus  702  including wheels which may be constructed from Teflon coated stainless steel to turn a carousel or tray.  
         [0038]      FIG. 8  illustrates a cooking pan  800  which may be made from disposable aluminum foil to cook the fowl or other types of food. The cooking pan  800  includes a center section  806  having a first diameter adapted to seat a beverage can which may be aluminum, an outer section  802  on a different plane with respect to the center section  806  and which includes an upward projecting element  810  to position the vertical roaster. The upward projecting element  810  is shown as a continuous circle. The outer periphery of the tray  800  is shown including an inclined section  804 .  
         [0039]      FIG. 9  illustrates a perspective view of the cooking tray  200  with the tray center ring  210  and the carousel  212 .  
         [0040]      FIG. 10  illustrates a beverage cuff  1000  which may be constructed from disposable aluminum foil having a top surface  1002  having a diameter approximately the diameter of a beverage can and a bottom  1004  having a larger diameter than the top surface  1002  which when placed on the cooking pan  800  will seat inside the upward projecting element  810 .  
         [0041]      FIG. 11  illustrates a transporting/cutting surface or tray  1100  including the groove  1106  and an inclined segment  1102  positioned on each side of the tray  1100 . While the tray  1100  is illustrated as rectangular, other shapes are within the scope of the invention, and the tray  1100  could be constructed from the Lucite, plastic or other appropriate material. Additionally, Lucite or plastic strips could be fastened adjacent to the groove  1106  to form a locking mechanism.  
         [0042]      FIG. 12  illustrates a front view of the vertical roaster  100  while  FIG. 13  illustrates a sectional view along sectional line A-A.  FIG. 14  illustrates a bottom view of the vertical roaster  100  while  FIG. 20  illustrates a perspective view of the vertical roaster  100 .  
         [0043]      FIG. 15  illustrates another embodiment of the vertical roaster  100  having a handle which is detachedly connected to the vertical roaster  100 .  FIG. 15  illustrates a vertical roaster  1500  which does not include the sleeve  110  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The vertical section  106  of support  102  extends to a sphere  1502  or other suitable device such as a cylinder or rectangle to allow the vertical roaster  1500  to be easily lifted.  
         [0044]      FIG. 16  illustrates a top view of the lifting tool  1600  to lift the vertical roaster  1500  by placing the fork including the prong  1602  of the lifting tool number  1600  under the sphere  1502 .  
         [0045]      FIG. 17  illustrates a side view of the lifting tool  1600  including an inclined section  1702  of the prong  1602  to prevent the vertical roaster  1500  from slipping off the prong  1602 .  
         [0046]      FIG. 18  illustrates a perspective view of the lifting tool  1600 .  
         [0047]      FIG. 19  illustrates the fork  1602 .  
         [0048]      FIG. 21  illustrates a reusable cup  2100  which is similar in shape to a beverage can. The reusable cup  2100  includes a container  2102  for holding a liquid to flavor the fowl and a top  2104  including holes  2106  to allow the liquid to escape from the container  2102 .  
         [0049]      FIG. 22  illustrates the fowl mounted on the vertical roaster  100  and accessories.  
         [0050]     While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed.