Garland Commercial Industries, LLC

Dave Harter

Doug Jones

Jeffrey R Cook

Douglas Scott Jones

Robert J Wenzel

A microprocessor controlled grill apparatus for simultaneous two-sided cooking of food items. The grill apparatus includes a stationary lower cooking platen, and an upper cooking platen which is raised and lowered by a unique linear actuator. This actuator provides for two distinct types and phases of movement. The upper platen is lowered from its uppermost, angled open position first by an arcing movement which rotates the rear edge of the upper platen about a slide or thrust bearing and arcs the front edge of the upper platen downward until the upper platen is substantially parallel to but raised, or floating, above the lower platen and uncooked food. Next, the linear actuator lowers the upper platen toward the food, while keeping the upper platen horizontal and parallel to the lower platen. The microprocessor control of this apparatus allows the gap between the upper and lower platens to be calibrated to an extremely fine degree, which may be fixed or varied for preset cooking cycles for various standardized menu items, stored and accessed automatically.

Two-surfaced grill with computer controlled two-stage upper platen

Two-surfaced grill with computer controlled two stage upper platen

A unique instant-on feature for a cooking device that allows microprocessor control of the device after a period of idling. When activated, the instant-on enabler switch sends a signal to the microprocessor, which checks an internal clock to determine the amount of time the device has remained idle since the last cook cycle. This information is sent back to the instant-on enabler switch, which then selects among an appropriate array of cooking times. These times, longer than the initial pre-set cooking time, are based on testing and compensate for the degree of heat zone stratification in the cooking medium or surface caused by the extended idling. The instant-on enabler program immediately supplies additional heat to the cooking surface upon activation cooking cycle or operator input, allowing the maximum time for the cooking surface to reach proper cooking temperature.

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New Port Richey, FL, United States of America

Dave Harter