Patent Publication Number: US-2006011072-A1

Title: Omelet pan

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
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     DESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED APPENDIX  
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates generally to the field of cooking utensils and more specifically to an omelet pan.  
      Metal pans for cooking have been used over heating sources for many hundreds of years. They are traditionally placed over gas burners or electric elements to cook a variety of foods. More recently, cooking pans have been designed for specific cooking applications such as pancake pans and wok pans.  
      Cooking an omelet presents certain unique challenges because the cook needs to flip a portion of the flat cooked egg over on itself to cover the internal contents of the omelet. During this operation the cook must cleanly brake away the perimeter portion of the flat cooked egg and flip the correct portion of the egg over using a spatula without tearing it.  
      Herman Furletti, in his patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,318, now expired, has designed an omelet pan with a built in spatula being rotatably fixed to the handle of pan. However, there are deficiencies in this design in that it readily transfers heat to the handle portion of the pan. It also has a tendency to trap cooked egg under the spatula member thereby burning that portion of the egg. Additionally, the spatula portion is not easily removable thereby making it difficult to clean. Furthermore, the operation of flipping the egg requires two hands, one to hold the pan handle and the other to flip the spatula handle. Additionally, the Furletti design shows only one spatula flipping member which may be sufficient for making omelets, but is not capable of making crepes which need to be folded on opposing sides. Finally, the flat nature of the overall pan bottom makes it difficult to make room for omelet filling that is normally placed in the central portion of the omelet.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The primary object of the invention is to provide a cooking pan that allows the user to easily and neatly fold a portion or portions of a cooked flat cooked egg mixture to make a perfect omelet or crepe without the need for a spatula.  
      Another object of the invention is to provide a cooking pan that allows the user to easily and neatly remove an omelet or crepe from the pan.  
      Another object of the invention is to provide a cooking pan that includes a centrally located depressed portion that provides a place to add filling to an omelet or crepe.  
      Another object of the invention is to provide a cooking pan that includes removable flipping portions for easy cleaning.  
      A further object of the invention is to provide a copper whisk that further improves the quality of an omelet.  
      Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.  
      In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed an omelet pan comprising a metal oblong shaped cooking pan including side walls. One or more flat flipper members reside at the bottom of the pan. A handle member is partially hollow and houses mechanical force transferring members that terminate in a pair of flipper actuation tabs. The pan includes a centrally located depressed portion for holding the contents of an omelet. The flat flippers conform to the perimeter of the bottom portion of the pan and terminate at the boarder of said depressed portion. Each flipper has an engagement post located at the side of the flipper that is closest to said recessed pan portion. The mechanical force transferring portion includes a receptacle for removably receiving said flipper engagement post. The flat flippers each have a spring biased rotation post parallel to and opposing said engagement post thereby making said flippers removable and replaceable for cleaning purposes. The flat flippers have a major portion of their central area removed so that the cooking omelet resides primarily at the pan bottom and the flipper is frame like so that it has just enough remaining material to flip the omelet. The bottom of the pan includes a plurality of downwardly facing ribs on either side of said depressed portion so that said pan can rest evenly on a standard stove burner. The pan includes a flange about the perimeter of the sidewall that can accept a lid.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a section view of the invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a top view of the mechanical flipping mean  
       FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the flipper to pan interface.  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an omelet spatula  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an omelet whisk.  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an alternate pan wall configuration.  
       FIG. 8  is a top view of an alternate flipping mechanism  
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the pan with lid in place.  
       FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the pan with a steamer plate in place.  
       FIG. 11  is a perspective view of the pan with an egg poacher tray in place.  
       FIG. 12  is a bottom view of the invention.  
       FIG. 13  is a side view of the invention,  
       FIG. 14  is a top view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 1  we see a perspective view of the invention  100 . The omelet pan consists of a cooking pan portion  200  that has a bottom where the central area is depressed  14  and the right and left bottom side of the pan include flippers  10 ,  12  shown here in a partially rotated position. The flippers  10 ,  12  have major cut out areas  85 ,  87  leaving ribs  13  so that a cooking egg can directly communicate with the pan bottom. The area  80  between the pan assembly  200  and handle assembly  2  includes a mechanical force transference assembly that terminates in actuation tabs  4 ,  6 . When the user pulls back on either of the actuation tabs  4 ,  6  the respective flippers  10 ,  12  are caused to rotate thereby producing flipping action. Note that pan bottom  85 ,  87  includes recesses  15  that allow the flippers  10 ,  12  to lie within the recesses so that the top plane of flippers  10 ,  12  is on the same level as the top plane of pan bottom  85 ,  87 . Cutouts  82  in the handle allow actuator tabs  4 ,  6  to slide unimpeded.  FIG. 2  shows a section view of the pan assembly  200 . In this view we can clearly see the relationship of flippers  10 ,  12  to pan bottom comprised of flat portions  13 ,  15  and depressed portion  14 . Points  17  and  19  show the rotation locations that cause flippers  10 ,  12  to rotate as shown by direction lines  64 ,  66 . Downwardly extending ribs  70  help transfer heat from the cooking surface  30  and associated heat source  32  to the pan bottom. In this view omelet  22  can be seen as well as omelet additives  20 .  FIG. 3  shows a top view of the invention  100  with the cover of hollow portion of handle  80  removed exposing mechanical transfer assembly  50 . Of course, a variation of the present design could include only one flipper rather than two. This variation can be seen in  FIG. 8 . However, my experiments show that flipping a right and left portion of cooked egg over onto a central cooked portion containing omelet additives such as cheese, vegetables, fruit or meat produces a superior omelet. Additionally, a cook may choose to prepare crepes in this pan  100 . Crepes of course generally require the left and right side of the crepe material to be flipped in upon a central area. Referring to  FIG. 3  we see that flippers  10 ,  12  have extensive cut out portions  85 ,  87  that allow the majority of the omelet to cook directly on the pan surface rather than the flippers  10 ,  12  themselves. In this way, egg material has less of a chance of becoming trapped between the flippers  10 ,  12  and the interior surface of the pan  13 ,  15 . Additionally, egg material is cooked more evenly because the heat from the stove does not have to travel through both the pan bottom and the flipper material.  FIG. 3  shows one standard mechanical transfer system  50  which causes a pull back on actuation tabs  4 ,  6  make flippers  10 ,  12  rotate. In this configuration flipper  10  includes a hex shaped post  64  that removably engages with socket  65  located in first gear member  52 . Gear  52  interacts with spur gear  54  which in turn interacts with spur gear  56  which has a miter gear  58  fixedly mounted on a common shaft  59 . Mating miter gear  63  if fixedly connected to pinion gear  60 . Actuation tab  4  is integral with rack  62  so that when actuation tab  4  is pulled back, the above described gears interact with each other to cause flipper  10  to rotate. A mirror image of gear system  50  if found on the right side of the unit  51  so that pulling back on actuation tab  6  causes flipper  12  to rotate. Other standard mechanical transfer means may be employed to rotate flippers for example, in  FIG. 8 a  radial rack  800  interacts with a pinion gear  802  to cause the flipper  804  to rotate. Notice also that flipper  804  is solid with no cut outs. This configuration is seen as an alternate but inferior embodiment.  FIG. 4  shows, in a partial exploded view, flipper  10  has a hex shaped shaft  64  that can removably engage with socket  65  located in first gear  52 . At the opposite end of flipper  10  a shaft member  92  can engage with socked  92  located in the pan wall  16 . Cutout area  95  allows remaining metal material  90  to flex so that shaft  92  can snap into aperture  93 . The user can remove flipper  10  for cleaning by inwardly flexing metal material  90  and sliding hex shaft  64  from aperture  65 .  FIG. 6  shows a specially shaped spatula that can easily remove the finished omelet from the omelet pan  100 . The width of the spatula as shown by dimension line  500  is the same width of depressed pan area  14 .  FIG. 9  shows a lid  900  that can be constructed of glass or metal. Vent aperture  902  allows some moisture, in the form of steam, to escape thereby allowing the items cooking in the pan  200  to remain moist but not watery. Knob  904  is made of material that does not easily transmit heat such as phenolic plastic. Lid helps an omelet cook more quickly and evenly. A further alternative embodiment  700  can be seen in  FIG. 7  where a cutout portion  702  to pan side wall  16  allows the spatula to more easily enter the pan for even easier and less damaging omelet removal. In this embodiment, the lid  900  would include a downwardly facing filler wall that would fit snuggly into the cut out area  702 .  FIG. 6  shows a specially designed whisk where the tines of the whisk  602  are made of copper. Copper produces a chemical reaction with egg material that gives the resulting omelet more body and improves flavor. The above description and illustrations show that the present invention comprises a novel and complete system for making perfect omelets or crepes.  FIG. 12  shows a bottom view of the invention  100  where downwardly directed heat transfer ribs  70  can be clearly seen.  FIG. 10  shows the addition of a steamer plate  102  that fits between the flippers  10 ,  12 . This plate  102  allows the user to fill the depressed area below the plate  102  to be filled with water so that when pan lid  900  is in place the pan  100  can be used as a steamer pan for cooking vegetables, fish and meat.  FIG. 11  shows another insert  111  that also fits between flippers  10 ,  12 . The depressions  113  in the insert  111  are sized for making poached eggs. In this configuration, water is placed in the central recess  14  of pan  100  thereby creating a steam effect for proper poaching.  FIG. 13  shows a side view of the invention  100  with flippers  10 ,  12  partially rotated.  FIG. 14  shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention  140  where a single flipper  142  can be actuated by actuation tab  146  thereby making a more traditionally shaped omelet. Depressed area  144  helps hold omelet filling as described in the preferred embodiment.  
      While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.