Abstract:
A horizontal carousel conveyor carries cone-shaped foods and other specialty-shaped foods through an oven, rotating the food on a heating station as it passes by heating elements and through the oven.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Restaurants and food service providers that provide unusual or unique foodstuffs often have a competitive advantage over business that do not otherwise distinguish themselves. Because most restaurants and food service providers cook or heat foodstuffs for consumption before they are sold or served to a customer, the ability to quickly and properly heat or cook a unique food item can be important to the success of a food service business. 
         [0002]    As used herein, the term “pizza cone” refers to an edible cone, the interior of which is filled with pizza fillings, such as meats, cheeses and other ingredients. The cone part of a pizza cone is usually made from pizza dough, however, cones made from other types of dough can also be filled with pizza fillings or other foods. 
         [0003]    Because of its shape, a pizza cone is particularly difficult to heat and/or cook. If a cone is place on its “side” for cooking, fillings inside the cone will spill or fall out of the cone as temperature rises. If a cone is inverted so that the open end is downward and placed on a flat surface for heating, the contents will also spill when the cone is removed from a heating surface to be turned upright. The best way to heat a filled cone is to heat the cone while it is upright, i.e., with the pointed, narrow end of the cone downward, in order to keep fillings in the cone as it the cone is heated. 
         [0004]    A problem with heating and/or cooking edible cones is that their conical shape makes it difficult to evenly heat a cone from top to bottom. A cone is also difficult to heat around its perimeter. An oven that can uniformly heat a cone from top to bottom and uniformly heat a cone completely around its perimeter would be an improvement over the prior art. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  shows a front elevation view of an oven for baking cones and cone-shaped foods; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of the front side of an oven showing a view of a horizontal carousel conveyor that carries cone-shaped heating stations used to carry cone-shaped foods through the oven; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3A  shows one embodiment of a heating station for use in cooking or heating cone-shaped foods; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3B  shows a second embodiment of a heating station for use in cooking or heating cone-shaped foods; 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  shows a perspective view of the oven shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  with the oven&#39;s upper housing removed to show the routing of the carousel conveyor and an inclined heating element used to heat cones; 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  shows a perspective view of the oven&#39;s base unit as viewed from the left side of the oven with the top of the oven&#39;s base unit removed to show details of the horizontal carousel conveyor; 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  shows a perspective view of the oven&#39;s base unit as viewed from the front of the oven with the top of the base unit removed to show additional details of the carousel conveyor; 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  shows the attachment of the links to each other and how the links of the carousel conveyor ride in and are guided by roller bearings; 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  shows the mounting of a heating station to a link of the carousel conveyor; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 9  depicts the mounting holes in the heating station base, by which the heating station is attached to a conveyor link; and 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a rectangular-shaped oven  10  particularly suited for baking cone-shaped dough and/or batter in order to cook cone-shaped foodstuffs such as pizza cones and ice cream cones. As set fort more fully below, the oven  10  can be readily adapted to cook other shaped food stuffs. 
         [0016]    As best seen in  FIG. 1 , the oven  10  has an upper housing or box  12  having four sides, (left  14 , right  16 , front  18 , and rear, not shown) and a top  20 . The sides and top are insulated to keep heat within the oven&#39;s interior and to keep the exterior surfaces of the sides and top cool to the touch. 
         [0017]    The upper housing  12  is attached to the top surface  22  of a base unit  24 . In one embodiment, the upper housing  12  is attached to the base unit  24  by a hinge that is attached to the base unit  24  along the top rear edge (not shown) of the base unit  24  and the lower rear edge of the upper housing  12 . The hinge between the upper housing  12  and the base unit  24  allows the upper housing  12  to be pivoted upwardly in order to provide access to the interior of the oven  10 . 
         [0018]    The base unit  24  has a left side  26 , a right side  28 , a rear side (not shown), a front side  30 , a top  22 , and a bottom  32 . As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , the width of the upper housing  12  and the width of the base unit  24  are substantially equal such that the left and right sides of the upper housing  12  and the base unit  24  are substantially co-planar. 
         [0019]    While the width of the upper housing  12  and the base unit  24  are the same, the depth of the base unit  24 , is greater than the depth of the upper housing  12 . The greater depth of the base unit  24  over the depth of the upper housing  12  provides a shelf surface  34  that extends forwardly of the front side  18  of the upper housing  12 . In one embodiment, the front shelf  34  extends past the front side  18  of the upper housing  12  by about six inches. 
         [0020]    In the embodiment of the oven  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the front side  18  of the upper housing  12  is provided with a viewing window  36  by which an operator can view the cooking progress of cones or other food stuffs passing through the oven  10 . The viewing window  36  is preferably made from a translucent, heat-tolerant glass or other translucent heat-tolerant material, such as quartz. 
         [0021]    Importantly, the front side  18  of the upper housing  12  is provided with two passage ways or openings  38  and  40 . The openings  38  and  40  are spaced apart from each other in the front side  18  so as to be located proximate to the left-hand side  14  and the right hand side  16  respectively. 
         [0022]    A motor-driven, variable speed conveyor mechanism enclosed in the base unit  24  provides a closed-loop, horizontal carousel conveyor  42  (hereafter conveyor  42 ) by which heating stations  44  attached to the conveyor are carried through the oven  10  in order to cook foodstuffs in or on a heating station. As shown, the heating stations  44  are vertically-oriented and sized, shaped and arranged to hold cone-shaped items upright, i.e., with the narrow, pointed end downwardly. The heating stations  44  pass into the oven  10  through a first one of the openings ( 38  or  40 ) and out from the oven through the other opening ( 34  or  32 ). As can be seen in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  4 , the several heating stations  44  attached to the conveyor  42  travel in the same, substantially-horizontal geometric plane enabling the heating stations  44  and cones carried on them to pass one or more vertically-oriented heating elements in the oven  10 . 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the heating stations  44  in one embodiment are cone-shaped wire baskets  45  having a geometric center axis of symmetry (not shown). When the basket  45  is attached to a mandrel  50  that is attached to a link of the conveyor  42 , the center axis of symmetry extends upward, orthogonal to the upper surface  22  of the base unit  24 . In a second embodiment, the heating stations  44  are cone-shaped wire springs  46 , which have a geometric central axis (not shown) about which the coils of the springs are wound. By placing a cone-shaped food item within a cone-shaped basket or a cone-shaped coil, heat is able to reach the cone to cook it as the basket or coil preserves the integrity of the cone. 
         [0024]    As can be seen in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the heating stations are attached to a heating station carrier mandrel  50 . As can be seen in  FIGS. 6 ,  7  and  8 , the mandrel  50  is then attached to an individual link  52  of the conveyor  42  so that as the conveyor  42  wends its way around the base unit  24 , the heating station  44  also moves around the base unit  24 . As best seen in  FIGS. 9 and 10 , two holes  52  and  54  in the heating station mandrel  50  allow the heating station  44  to be attached to conveyor links by machine screws, rivets or sheet metal screws thereby enabling their removal for service. In an alternate embodiment, however, the heating station mandrel  50  could be welded to a link. 
         [0025]      FIG. 4  shows a perspective view of the interior of the oven  10 , i.e., with the upper housing  12  detached and removed from the base unit  24  to reveal details of the conveyor&#39;s routing through the oven  10 . As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , a heater element  60  is mounted to a triangularly-shaped sheet metal heater support bracket  62 . Although a single inclined heater element  60  is shown, alternate embodiments of the oven  10  include the use of multiple inclined heater elements. In one alternate embodiment, one or more heater elements are provided both inside and outside the conveyor loop. In yet another embodiment, no heater element is within the loop and one or more heater elements are provided outside the conveyor loop. 
         [0026]    The heater element  60  can be implemented using a gas burner, electrically heated quartz, a resistive heating element, or a combination of any two or more of them. The heater support bracket  62  is attached to the top surface  22  of the base unit  24  so that the hypotenuse side  64  of the bracket  62  is closest to the conveyor  42 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , the heating stations  44  pass between the heating element  60  and the rear or back side of the oven&#39;s upper housing  12 . Heat from the heater element  60  is therefore directed rearward, i.e., toward the rear side or back of the oven&#39;s upper housing  12  and away from the viewing window  36  in the front side. The rear-ward direction of the heating element  60  away from the window  36  tends to reduce the transmission of infrared heat from the oven. 
         [0027]    The hypotenuse side  64  of the heater support bracket  62  is shown in the figure to be inclined at an angle θ with respect to the top surface  22  of the base unit  24 . The angle θ corresponds to the angle formed by the “sides” of the cooking stations  42  with respect to the upper surface  30  of the base unit  24 . By inclining the heater element  60  to the inclination angle of the cooking stations  42  or the inclination of a shaped food stuff, heat from the heater element  60  is directed horizontally toward foodstuffs on the heating stations  44  that pass in front of the heating element  60 . In most cone applications, the angle θ is between about 10 and 30 degrees. 
         [0028]    An advantage to inclining the heating element  60  is that foodstuffs carried on the heating stations that are also “angled,” are heated more uniformly. Put another way, if the heater element  60  was not inclined and if the axis of a cone passing in front of the heating element  60  was also not inclined, evenly heating a cone-shaped foodstuff would be problematic. If the heating element  60  were vertical and if the cone&#39;s axis was also vertical, the wide part of a cone would be too close to the heating element  60 , or the narrow pointed end would be too far from the heating element to evenly heat a cone from top to bottom. Portions of a cone farther away from the heating element  60  would either be undercooked while portions of a cone close to the heating element  60  would be overcooked or over heated. By inclining or tilting the heating element  60  as shown, horizontally-directed heat from the heating element  60  enables a cone shaped foodstuff or a cone filled with foodstuffs to be heated more uniformly from top to bottom. 
         [0029]      FIG. 6  shows a top view of the base portion  24  of the oven  10  but with the top surface  22  removed to expose details of the horizontal conveyor  42 , which is formed from several vertical belt links  52  joined to each other by vertically-oriented hinge joints  64 . As can be seen in the figure, the belt links  52  are rectangular plates. The vertical orientation of the hinge joints allows the links  52  to form a continuous belt, which can travel horizontally around a pathway and thus move items, such as heating stations that carry food stuffs, in a horizontal plane. 
         [0030]    The assembled belt links  52  that form the continuous, closed loop horizontal conveyor  42  ride in journals of bearings  66  that are placed around the interior of the base unit  24  to define the conveyor&#39;s pathway. The conveyor&#39;s links  52  are held upright and under a moderate tension by pliable rollers  68  located at each corner  70  of the base unit  24 . 
         [0031]    The tension exerted on the conveyor  42  is provided by the resilient material from which the rollers  68  are formed. The amount of tension exerted on the conveyor  42  keeps the conveyor  42  frictionally engaged to the rollers  68 . 
         [0032]    Inasmuch as the conveyor  42  is part of an oven, oven components, including the conveyor, are made from heat-tolerant materials. In one embodiment, the links  62  of the conveyor were made from aluminum plate. The pliable rollers were formed from polyester. 
         [0033]    The conveyor  42  is driven by a motor located beneath the bottom of a plate  76  so as to be protected from heat emanating from the upper portion of the oven. The motor is preferably a variable speed motor in order to provide some control over foodstuff heating other than by the heat energy provided by the heating element  60 . 
         [0034]    Referring now to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the structure of a heating station  42  is shown in greater detail. The heating station  42  has the cone-shaped basket or coil attached to a mandrel  50 , the top of which is formed to have relatively large diameter wheel  80  having a central axis of rotation. The outer circumference of the wheel  80  is formed to have a chamfer into which a heat-resistant nylon or neoprene O-ring  82  is placed. When a heating station  42  is attached to a conveyor link  52 , the O-ring  82  will frictionally engage a sheet metal drive plate  84  that runs along the pathway traced out by the O-rings  82  as the mandrel is carried around the pathway of the conveyor  42 . The drive plate  84  is adjustable and moved inwardly so that the O-rings ride against the drive plate to cause the wheel  80  and the attached heating station  42  to rotate as the heating station  42  moves. Thus, when the conveyor  42  moves, the heating station  42  rotates, so long as there is a drive plate  84  that is engaged by the O-ring  82 . 
         [0035]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , the drive plate extends from the left side of the base unit  24 , across the back of the base unit  24  and part way up the right side  28  of the base unit  24  in order to rotate the heating stations  42  as they move through the upper housing  12  of the oven  10  and past the heating element  60 . 
         [0036]    While the description above is of one embodiment, the true scope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.