Patent ID: 7261101

Claim:
A steam oven, comprising: a cabinet to define a cooking cavity therein; a steam generator to generate overheated steam; a plurality of steam feed pipes to guide and supply the overheated steam generated by the steam generator into the cooking cavity, including outlet ends placed at a plurality of predetermined positions in the cooking cavity so as to evenly distribute the overheated steam into the cooking cavity, the plurality including an upper steam feed pipe, including an outlet end connected to the cooking cavity at an upper wall thereof to discharge the overheated steam from the steam generator into the cooking cavity through the upper wall in a downward direction, a lower steam feed pipe, including an outlet end connected to the cooking cavity at a lower wall thereof to discharge the overheated steam from the steam generator into the cooking cavity through the lower wall in an upward direction, and a side steam feed pipe, including an outlet end connected to the cooking cavity at a sidewall thereof to discharge the overheated steam from the steam generator into the cooking cavity through the sidewall in a sideward direction; and a controller to control steam fed by the plurality of steam feed pipes, so that steam is first fed into the cooking cavity by the upper, lower, and side steam feed pipes until a selected cooking temperature is achieved therein, then steam is fed into the cooking cavity by only the lower steam feed pipe, and then steam is fed into the cooking cavity by only the upper steam feed pipe.