Patent ID: 7728261

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising: a cooking chamber, one or more heating elements, a water supply which is fed from an external water supply source, a water supply pipe having a water outlet coupled to the cooking chamber, one or more intermediate water storage reservoirs having a predetermined interior volume that is adapted to be filled with water provided from the water supply, the intermediate water storage reservoir or reservoirs being fed by the external water supply source, a multi-port distributing valve having an entrance port coupled to said water supply, an exit port coupled to said storage reservoir, an exit port coupled to said water supply pipe, and operating for filling and emptying the intermediate water storage reservoir, the interior volume of the intermediate water storage reservoir or reservoirs being adapted to be controlled by said multi-port distributing valve to be intermittently blocked in regard to the filling and intermittently blocked in regard to the emptying, and the water from the interior volume of the intermediate water storage reservoir or reservoirs being adapted to be emptied into the cooking chamber via the water outlet for the purposes of generating steam.