Patent Abstract:
A poultry cooking device including a metal plate having a plurality of fingers partially cut therefrom. The fingers are folded such that they extend upwardly from the metal plate and leave a plurality of apertures in the metal plate when moved from their original positions. The fingers are located about the metal plate such that they define a keeper for snugly receiving a beverage container upon which a chicken can be impaled and cooked. The apertures are positioned around the keeper to hasten cooking and enhance flavor.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to apparatus for preparing foods and beverages and, more particularly, to spit or impaling-type cookers.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Barbecuing whole chickens upon upright and open beverage containers formed of aluminum has become a rage. By partially filling the beverage containers with liquids such as beer or wine, the chickens are basted from the inside out as heat from barbeque grills cause the liquids to vaporize and fill the interior cavities of the chickens. Not only do the liquid vapors impart a nice flavor to the cooked chicken meat but such also prevent the meat from drying out. Chicken cooked in this manner is nearly always perfect.  
         [0003]     Keeping chickens oriented in an upright manner on beverage containers has proven to be something of a tricky problem. Chickens, unfortunately, are not evenly balanced. Furthermore, typical beverage containers have a bottom with a surface area of only a few square inches which is not nearly enough to solidly support a chicken. Thus, light bumps to grills can tip over and spoil chickens perfectly balanced on beverage containers. Some have proposed implements that essentially expand the surface area at the bottom of a beverage container to make such less prone to tipping over, but these implements have not seen widespread use because of their complex and cumbersome natures.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     In light of the problems associated with the known implements for cooking chickens upon beverage containers, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a poultry cooking device that will effectively support a chicken impaled upon an upright beverage container that is uncomplicated in its construction, is intuitive to use, and is inexpensive to manufacture. The device can be used in association with: a barbecue grill, an oven, a stovetop, or an open fire.  
         [0005]     It is another object of the invention to provide a poultry cooking device of the type described that is formed by cutting and bending a single metallic sheet. The device is lightweight, virtually unbreakable and durable enough to withstand repeated use.  
         [0006]     It is a further object of the invention to provide a poultry cooking device of the type described that can be employed to simultaneously cook a pair of chickens on an outdoor barbecue grill. If desired, each chicken can be internally basted with a different liquid.  
         [0007]     Still another object of the invention is to provide a poultry cooking device of the type described that channels poultry drippings onto a heat source such as barbecue briquettes during the cooking process to minimize the effort required to clean-up the device after use and to enhance the barbecue flavor imparted to the poultry by generating smoke. Simultaneously, the device directs heat and smoke to the one or more chickens that it supports for even cooking.  
         [0008]     It is a further object of the invention to provide a poultry cooking device of the type described that can be employed to easily carry one or more chickens to and from a grill. Once on the grill, the device can be easily moved about to optimally cook one or more chickens.  
         [0009]     Briefly, the poultry cooking device in accordance with this invention achieves the intended objects by featuring a plate having a number of apertures therein. The apertures have inner ends that are positioned closely adjacent to one another and outer ends that are positioned remote from one another. The inner ends of the apertures define a closed geometric form. Additionally, a number of fingers extend upwardly from the plate, with a respective one of the fingers being secured to the plate at the inner end of each of the apertures.  
         [0010]     The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The present invention may be more readily described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a poultry cooking device in accordance with the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a side elevational view of the poultry cooking device of  FIG. 1  with portions broken away to reveal details thereof and, also, supporting a beverage container upon which a chicken is impaled.  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the poultry cooking device.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the blank used to form a poultry cooking device. 
     
    
       [0016]     Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the accompanying drawings.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]     Referring now to the FIGS., a poultry cooking device in accordance with the present invention is shown at  10 . Device  10  includes a plate  12  having a pair of container keepers  14  positioned along the length thereof. Each keeper  14  has number of upstanding fingers  16  spaced from one another so as to snugly, yet releasably, receive the bottom of a beverage container  18 . Adjacent each of the fingers  16  is an aperture  20  that permits heated air to pass upwardly to a chicken  22  impaled on container  18  and, also, allows any juices flowing from chicken  22  to drain downwardly through plate  12 .  
         [0018]     Plate  12  is rectangular in outline and is sufficiently sized to steadily support a pair of containers  18  upon which a pair of chickens  22  is impaled. To bear such a load, plate  12  is reinforced around its periphery by longitudinal and lateral fins  24  and  26 . As shown, a pair of longitudinal fins  24  is secured to the front and back of plate  12  with each of longitudinal fins  24  extending downwardly from plate  12 . A pair of lateral fins  26 , however, is secured to the opposite sides of plate  12  with each of lateral fins  26  extending upwardly and outwardly from plate  12 . To permit device  10  to be more easily grasped and carried, an outwardly extending tab  28 , oriented substantially parallel to plate  12 , is secured to the outer end of each of lateral fins  26 . Thus, each lateral fin  26  and its associated tab  28  serves as a handle for device  10 .  
         [0019]     A hole  30  is placed in one of lateral fins  26  so as to permit device  10  to be suspended from a support (not shown) for convenient storage when not in use.  
         [0020]     Each container keeper  14  includes four fingers  16  arrayed such that their linear bottoms define an imaginary square “A,” i.e., a closed geometric form, whose sides have a length that is substantially equivalent to the diameter of container  18  and are inclined about 45° to the sides of plate  12 . This configuration permits fingers  16  to be made, as will be more fully described below, relatively large in size and without substantially weakening plate  12 . Of course, the number of fingers  16  provided to each keeper  14  is largely a matter of design choice with any number of fingers  16  capable of retaining a container  18  atop plate  12  being suitable.  
         [0021]     Each finger  16  is substantially flat and triangular in outline, being wide at its bottom and tapering to a narrowed top for enhanced rigidity and strength. The bottom of each finger  16  has a length that is about one-half of the diameter of container  18 . The height of each finger  16  is about one-half of the height of container  18 . Due to the relatively large dimensions of each finger  16 , it is very difficult to dislodge a container  18  from a keeper  14  with a sideways below even while the container  18  is supporting a chicken  22 . Always, container  18  must be elevated a substantial portion of its height above plate  12  to remove such from the grasp of fingers  16 .  
         [0022]     An aperture  20  is positioned adjacent to each one of the fingers  16  and extends outwardly from each keeper  14 . Each aperture  20  is triangular in outline, having substantially the same shape as the finger  16  that borders such at its inner end. As shown, each aperture  20  is wide at its inner end and tapers to a narrowed outer end to ensure that the principal flow of air through plate  12  will take place immediately adjacent to each keeper  14  to speed the cooking of chicken  22 .  
         [0023]     Device  10  is formed by cutting and folding portions of a planar blank  32  formed from a single piece of sheet metal. First, fingers  16  are made by cutting a plurality of V-shaped notches  34  at suitable locations in blank  32  and, then, folding the material within notches  34  to an upright position along retainer fold lines  36  that “close” the open ends of notches  34 . It is the voids left within notches  34  by the production of fingers  16  that form apertures  20 . Next, the boundaries of plate  12  are defined by folding longitudinal fins  24  downwardly along longitudinal fold lines  38  at the front and back of plate  12  and further defined by folding lateral fins  26  upwardly along lateral fold lines  40 . Finally, tabs  28  are provided to device  10  by folding the outer ends of lateral fins  26  downwardly along handle fold lines  42 .  
         [0024]     The use of device  10  is straightforward. First, one or a pair of open containers  18  are partially filled with a liquid such as beer, wine or water. Then, the bottoms of containers  18  are fitted within keeper  14 , fingers  16  holding containers  18  firmly atop plate  12 . Next, one or a pair of previously cleaned chickens  22  are impaled upon containers  18  so that such appear to be seated upon plate  12 . Afterward, device  10  is placed within a barbecue grill or oven (not shown) and chickens  22  are cooked until done. Any juices flowing from chickens  22  will pass through apertures  20  to a heat source within the grill or oven and produce smoke that will impart an appealing flavor to chickens  22 . Heated air and smoke from a heat source will flow upwardly through apertures  20 , cooking chickens  22  rapidly and flavorfully. Simultaneously, the liquid within containers  18  will boil and fill chickens  22  with moisture, thereby basting chickens  22  from their interior during cooking.  
         [0025]     Once chickens  22  are fully cooked, device  10  is lifted from the barbecue grill or oven by grasping tabs  28 . Chickens  22  are, then, removed from containers  18  and carved, served and consumed in a conventional manner. Later, after being permitted to cool down, containers  18  are withdrawn from keepers  14  and discarded. Finally, device  10  is washed with soap and water and, by means of hole  30 , suspended from a support to dry and to be reused when desired.  
         [0026]     While the invention has been described with a high degree of particularity, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereto. Therefore, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0