Patent Publication Number: US-RE37147-E

Title: Method for heating and subsequently supporting or displaying food

Description:
This application  application is an application for reissue of U.S. Pat. No.  5 , 635 , 234 , which is a divisional of application Ser.  Application No. 08/214,144, filed on Mar. 16, 1994 and entitled “Rack For Supporting Food”, now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to wire racks for supporting food, and more particularly to an improved wire rack for supporting food such as fried chicken in a pressure fryer and subsequently supporting and  or displaying that food in a single rack bun pan or a double rack bunn  bun pan. 
     In the fried chicken industry, as in many other food service industries, the food is prepared in several stages including a frying stage and a display stage. In the frying stage, pieces of chicken are placed on wire racks which are subsequently placed in high pressure fryers. One of the most popular fryers used in the industry is the pressure fryer made by Henny Penny. In the display stage, the rack supporting the fried chicken is removed from the pressure fryer and taken to the display area, where customers are able to view the fried chicken. Ideally, the rack supporting the fried chicken is placed directly into a single rack bunn  bun pan or double rack bunn  bun pan. However, this is often not possible because the racks required for the popular Henny Penny pressure fryer do not fit in all bunn  bun pans. Although the racks required for Henny Penny fryers (hereinafter Henny Penny racks) are capable of fitting side by side in a double rack bunn  bun pan, a Henny Penny rack will not fit into a single bunn  rack bun pan. 
     The incompatibility of the Henny Penny rack with the single bunn  rack bun pan creates several problems. For example, businesses using the popular Henny Penny fryer system must stock an additional inventory of racks just for subsequently supporting or displaying chicken in the single bunn  bun pans, which results in increased inventory costs. Furthermore, instead of placing the Henny Penny rack loaded with fried chicken directly into the bunn  bun pan, a production crew member must transfer each piece of chicken from the Henny Penny rack to the separate support or display rack. This added step of transferring chicken from one rack to another results in increased labor time, which may be significant when one considers the volume of chicken being prepared. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to have a rack that may be used in the Henny Penny fryer system as well as in both a single rack bunn  bun pan and double rack bunn  bun pan. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved wire rack capable of fitting into the Henny Penny or similar fryer system. 
     It is a further object of the invention that the same improved wire rack fit into both a single rack bunn  bun pan and a double rack bunn  bun pan. 
     To these ends, an improved wire rack is provided. The rack has a rectangular frame comprising a lower border rod and an upper border rod, with the lower rod defining a lower rectangular peripheral edge and the upper border rod defining an upper rectangular peripheral edge. The upper rectangular peripheral edge has a larger circumference than the lower rectangular peripheral edge, with means defining tapered side walls between the upper rectangular peripheral edge and the lower rectangular peripheral edge. In the preferred wire rack, the side walls are defined by means comprised of detents which are formed in the upper border rod and extend downwardly to contact with the lower border rod. 
     The support surface for the food is created largely by a plurality of support members in the form of a plurality of parallel straight wires extending between and attached to opposite sides of the lower border rod. 
     In order to elevate the support surface, the improved rack further includes legs extending downward from the lower border rod. The legs may be created and positioned in several different ways. For example, in one form of the invention, the legs comprise detents formed in the lengthwise sections of the lower border rod. In another embodiment, the improved rack may have an additional plurality of parallel wires running the length of the rack and extending between and attached to opposed sides of the lower border rod. In this case, the legs are created by forming detents in these additional parallel wires. 
     One of the advantages of the improved wire rack is that it may be used in the Henny Penny or a similar fryer system as well as both a single rack bunn  bun pan and double rack bunn  bun pan. The improved rack may be used in all three environments largely because the lower border rod has a slightly decreased width and length relative to the upper border rod. Because of this slightly decreased width and length, the lower border rod is able to fit into the single rack bunn  bun pan. 
     Another advantage of the improved rack is that it is capable of holding essentially the same amount of food as the prior art racks despite the slightly reduced width and length of the lower border rod. This advantage is achieved by having tapered side walls formed between the upper border rod and lower border rod, with the 
     upper border rod having essentially the same width and length as the border rods used in the prior art. 
     These and other objectives and advantages will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment and from the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of two racks sitting side by side in a double rack bunn  bun pan. In this view, the racks are displayed along their widths and the pan is displayed along its length. 
     FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of a rack resting unevenly in a single rack bunn  bun pan. In this view, both the rack and bunn  bun pan are shown along their respective widths. 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of a standard display  rack positioned in a single rack bunn  bun pan. Both the rack and pan are displayed along their respective widths. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an improved wire rack according to the invention, disposed above a single rack bunn  bun pan. 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an improved wire rack according to the invention, positioned in a single rack bunn  bun pan. Both the rack and pan are displayed along their respective widths. 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of two improved wire racks according to the invention situated side by side within a double rack bunn  bun pan. The inventive racks are viewed along their widths, while the double rack bunn  bun pan is displayed along the length of the pan. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to appreciate fully the inventive aspects of the improved wire rack, it is helpful to take a detailed look at some of the features of the racks used in the prior art. 
     In the fried chicken business, the food goes through several stages of preparation, including a frying stage and a display stage. In the frying stage, pieces of chicken are placed on wire racks and those wire racks are then placed in holding racks which are inserted into pressure fryers, as for example fryers made by the Henny Penny Corporation. The Henny Penny fryers, prevalent throughout much of the industry, cannot accommodate all types of racks. In order to be compatible with these fryers, the racks must fit into special holding racks which then fit into the pressure fryers. Racks previously designed specifically for the Henny Penny Pressure fryer are shown in FIG.  1 . These racks  11  (hereinafter Henny Penny racks) are shown side by side in a double rack bunn  bun pan  17 . Each Henny Penny rack  11  has an upper border rod  29  and a lower border rod  31  in vertical alignment. In addition, each Henny Penny rack  11  has legs extending downwardly along the length of the lower border rod  31 , formed by detents in the lower border rod  31  itself. 
     When two Henny Penny racks are removed from Henny Penny fryers, the racks  11  may be placed directly into a double rack bunn  bun pan  17  (FIG.  1 ). The positioning of the rack legs  13  is such that the racks  11  may be positioned comfortably within the double rack bunn  bun pan  17 , with all legs  13  resting comfortably on the base  21  of the pan  17 . 
     However, the Henny Penny rack  11  is not compatible with a single rack bunn  bun pan  23  (FIG.  2 ). If an operator attempts to remove a Henny Penny rack  11  from a Henny Penny pressure fryer and place it directly into a single bunn  bun pan  23  for subsequently supporting or displaying the fried food, the rack  11  simply will not fit. The reason for this problem is that the Henny Penny rack  11  is too wide for the single rack bunn  bun pan  23 . If the legs  13  along one side of the rack  11  are placed on the base  27  of the single rack bunn  bun pan  23 , the legs  13  on the other side of the rack  11  will rest on the side wall  25  of the pan  23 , putting the rack  11  in a cocked and unstable position (FIG.  2 ). 
     Businesses within the food industry that use these frying systems have compensated for this rack-bunn bun pan incompatibility by using a separate rack for subsequently supporting or displaying foods in a single rack bunn  bun pan. FIG. 3 illustrates such a separate, standard display  rack  33  positioned in a single rack bunn  bun pan  23 . The display rack  33  has an upper border rod  41  and lower border rod  43  in vertical alignment with one another, similar to the upper border rod  29  and lower border rod  31  of the Henny Penny rack  11 . The standard display  rack  33  is able to fit into a single rack bunn  bun pan  23  because of a few differences in rack design relative to the Henny Penny rack  11 . The legs  39  on the display  rack  33  are notably taller than the legs  13  on the Henny Penny rack  11 . This increased leg height elevates the upper border rod  41  and lower border rod  43 , preventing them from resting on the side walls  25  of the single rack bunn  bun pan  23  (FIG.  3 ). Furthermore, the legs  39  are positioned significantly inward from the side walls  25  of the single rack bunn  bun pan  23 , and therefore are able to rest comfortably on the base  27  of the pan  23  (FIG.  3 ). Although the standard display rack  33  works well for subsequently supporting or displaying the food in a single or double rack bun pan, the rack  33  is incompatible with the holding racks of the Henny Penny pressure fryer. Therefore, when single rack bunn  bun pans  23  are used to support or display food, the food preparer cannot simply take the Henny Penny rack  11  and place it in a single rack bun pan  23 . Instead, the preparer must remove each one of the food items from the Henny Penny rack  11  and place them on the standard display  racks  33 . Furthermore, the business must stock two separate inventories of racks, one for frying and another for supporting or displaying. 
     The improved wire racks of this invention avoid these incompatibility problems, and are capable of being used in the Henny Penny fryer system as well as in both a double rack bunn  bun pan and single rack bunn  bun pan. Such an improved wire rack is shown in FIGS. 4,  5 , and  6 . The improved rack  51  has a rectangular frame  53  comprising a lower border rod  55  and an upper border rod  57 . The lower border rod  55  defines a lower rectangular peripheral edge  59  and the upper border rod  57  defines an upper rectangular peripheral edge  61 . The upper rectangular peripheral edge  61  has a larger circumference than the lower rectangular peripheral edge  59 , with a means for defining tapered side walls  63  between the upper rectangular peripheral edge  61  and the lower rectangular peripheral edge  59 . In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the side wall defining means comprises detents  65  formed in the upper border rod  57  and extending downwardly to contact the lower border rod  55 . These detents  65  preferably are welded to the lower border rod  55 . 
     In addition, the inventive rack  51  includes a plurality of support members  67  in the form of a plurality of parallel straight wires extending between and attached to opposed sides of the lower border rod  55  so as to create a support surface of  for the food. In a preferred form of the invention, the support members  67  are wrapped about and welded to the opposed sides of the lower border rod  55  (FIG.  4 ). The wire rack  51  further includes legs  69  extending downward from the lower border rod  55 . In one form of the invention, the legs may comprise detents  71  on the lower border rod  55 . Alternatively, the legs  69  may comprise detents  71  formed in a plurality of parallel wires  73  extending between and attached to opposed sides of said  the lower border rod  55  (FIGS.  4 - 6 ). Preferably, the parallel wires  73  are welded to the lower border rod  55 . 
     In use, the improved wire rack  51  is compatible in all three operating environments. The rack  51  may be used in the Henny Penny fryer system because it dimensionally fits within the holding rack of the fryer. Furthermore, the inventive rack  51  may be used in both a double rack bunn  bun pan  17  and a single rack bunn  bun pan  23  (FIGS.  5  and  6 ). This versatility exists because of the tapered side walls  63  and the positioning of the legs  69 . The tapered side walls  63  and legs  69  allow the rack  51  to rest squarely either in tandem with another rack  51  in a double rack bunn  bun pan  17  or alone in a single rack bunn  bun pan  32 . In addition, the improved rack  51  offers this multiuse flexibility while supporting essentially the same amount of food as the prior art racks. This is so because the length and width of the upper border rod  57  of the wire rack  51  is substantially the same as the length and width of the upper border rod in both the Henny Penny rack  11  and the standard display rack  33  (FIGS.  1 - 6 ). 
     This invention is not limited to the description discussed above, but on the contrary, is intended to cover the various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.