Patent ID: 8895096

Claim:
A continuous oven comprising: an oven floor; an oven ceiling; a left side panel; a right side panel; wherein said oven floor and said oven ceiling are attached by said left and right side panels, thereby defining an oven cavity; at least two cascading conveyors located in said oven cavity, wherein said at least two cascading conveyors comprise a first upstream conveyor and an adjacent second downstream conveyor, wherein each of said at least two cascading conveyors comprise a start end and a finish end, wherein each finish end is elevated compared to said start end, wherein the start end of said first upstream conveyor is at substantially the same height as the start end of said second downstream conveyor, wherein the finish end of the first upstream conveyor is at substantially the same height as the finish end of the second downstream conveyor, wherein product is dropped from a higher elevation at the finish end of said first upstream conveyor onto a lower elevation at the start end of said second downstream conveyor, wherein each of said at least two cascading conveyors comprise a length and a height, wherein said length is greater than said height; a partition located in said oven cavity, thereby separating said oven into an upstream end and a downstream end, and wherein air flows solely downwardly in a first vertical direction in said upstream end, and wherein air flows solely upwardly in a second vertical direction in said downstream end, wherein said first and second vertical directions are opposite to one another, and wherein said partition comprises a pass-through device positioned proximate the oven floor and below the at least two cascading conveyors; an upstream conduit positioned above the upstream end and having a width at least as wide as a width of the upstream cascading conveyor, the upstream conduit connected to the upstream end via a first plurality of substantially uniformly spaced openings to provide the air flow downwardly in the first vertical direction substantially uniformly across the width of the upstream cascading conveyor; and a downstream conduit positioned above the downstream end and having a width at least as wide as a width of the downstream cascading conveyor, the downstream conduit connected to the downstream end via at least one opening to receive the air flow moving upwardly in the second vertical direction.