Patent ID: 7836875

Claim:
An oven for cooking a food product by hot gas and microwave energy, said oven comprising: an oven cavity including opposing left and right side walls; a conduit means associated with the oven cavity for the circulation of the gas to and from the oven cavity; an electromagnetic energy source for producing microwave energy; a blower for causing circulation of the gas; a heater for heating the gas; left and right microwave waveguides in the oven cavity for launching the microwave energy into a cooking chamber of the oven cavity between the waveguides; a left gas transfer system associated with the conduit means in the oven cavity, said left gas transfer system comprising an upper left discharge plate adjacent the left side wall, above the left waveguide extending up toward a top wall of the cooking chamber, and a lower left discharge plate adjacent the left side wall, below the left waveguide extending down toward a bottom wall of the cooking chamber; a right gas transfer system associated with the conduit means in the oven cavity, said right gas transfer system comprising an upper right discharge plate adjacent the left side wall, above the right waveguide extending up toward the top wall of the cooking chamber, and a lower right discharge plate adjacent the right side wall, below the right waveguide extending down toward the bottom wall of the cooking chamber; the upper left and right discharge plates having upper discharge plate apertures in communication with said conduit means, and the lower left and right discharge plates having lower discharge plate apertures in communication with said conduit means; wherein the left and right upper discharge plate apertures are directed in downwardly convergent directions to cause gas from the apertures in the upper left discharge plate to collide with gas from the apertures of the upper right discharge plate upon an upper surface of a food product in the cooking chamber; and wherein the left and right lower discharge plate apertures are directed in upwardly convergent directions to cause gas from the apertures in lower left discharge plate to collide with gas from the apertures of the lower right discharge plate upon a lower surface of a food product in the cooking chamber.