Patent ID: 8920744

Claim:
A food sterilization apparatus, comprising: a heat-sterilizing chamber for heat-sterilizing a food; an opening and closing part having a first opening and a second opening for passing the food there through; a steam supplying part for supplying steam inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber; a first steam discharging part for discharging the steam from the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber after the heat-sterilization of the food; a second steam discharging part for discharging some of the steam in the heat-sterilizing chamber during the heat-sterilization of the food; an air discharging part for discharging air in the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber; and a sealing cover supported movably along a parallel line between the first opening and second opening of the opening and closing part, wherein the sealing cover seals with the second opening of the opening and closing part solely by absorption force of the air to make the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber in a sealed state when the air in the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber is discharged through the air discharging part and wherein the sealing cover seals with the first opening of the opening and closing part solely by a pressure of the steam to make the opening and closing part and the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber in a sealed state when the steam is supplied from the steam supplying part to the inside of the heat-sterilizing chamber and wherein the sealing cover does not include an external driving force member providing for parallel movement between a sealed state with the first opening and a sealed state with the second opening, and wherein the opening and closing part is located inside of the food sterilization apparatus and provides for the sealing cover to come into sealed engagement with the first opening and second opening of the opening and closing part from the inside of the opening and closing part.