A.j. Antunes & Company

Vega, Francisco

Buchler, James R.

Patel, Bhupendra R.

Patel, Jignesh

Panasik, Cheryl L.

Cucchi, Robert Lewis

Vega, Ignacio

Patel, Dipan

Ignacio Vega

Bhupendra Patel

Cheryl L Panasik

Dipan Patel

Jignesh Patel

Francisco Vega

Scott P March

James R Buchler

Robert Cucchi

Bhupendra R Patel

Robert Lewis Cucchi

Damper mechanisms are provided in conjunction with housings of various different appliances and are disposed at first positions at which the dampers effectively close off or seal the interior regions of the appliances within which various heated, refrigerated, or frozen environments have been established. Such damper mechanisms can be moved to second positions so as to permit food items to be inserted into, or extracted from, the various housings of the appliances, but will automatically return to their first positions so as to again close off or seal the interior regions of the appliances. In this manner, thermal energy is preserved whereby the appliances are enabled to operate at peak energy efficiency.

Energy conservation damper mechanisms for use in conjunction with food preparation or food storage equipment

Food service equipment comprises a multiple-pass feeder conveyor and toaster which comprises an upper inclined food product infeed conveyor ramp for causing the food products to proceed in a first direction extending from the rear of the appliance toward the front of the appliance and onto the upper run of a first upper endless conveyor. The upper run of the first upper endless conveyor conveys the food products into a semi-circular return product feeder which causes the food products to be conveyed in a second opposite direction extending from the front of the appliance toward the rear of the appliance and into an entry space defined by means of the lower run of the first upper endless conveyor and the upper run of a second lower endless conveyor, the two conveyors being synchronized together. The pair of conveyors convey the food products between heated platens respectively associated with the two conveyors whereby the food products are cooked or toasted. Additional pairs of conveyors can also be incorporated within the system, in a vertically stacked array, so as to effectively increase the length of travel experienced by the multiple food products without increasing the footprint of the equipment. In addition, upper and lower heated platens are operatively associated with the first and second upper and lower endless conveyors, and the upper heated platen is movably mounted within the food service equipment so as to move upwardly and downwardly and thereby permit different food products, having different thickness dimensions, to be conveyed through the food service equipment.

Food service equipment comprising a multiple-pass feeder conveyor and toaster with floating platen to accommodate different food products having different thickness dimensions

Food service equipment comprises a multiple-pass feeder conveyor and toaster which comprises an upper inclined food product infeed conveyor ramp for causing the food products to proceed in a first direction extending from the rear of the appliance toward the front of the appliance and onto the upper run of a first upper endless conveyor. The upper run of the first upper endless conveyor conveys the food products into a semi-circular return product feeder which causes the food products to be conveyed in a second opposite direction extending from the front of the appliance toward the rear of the appliance and into an entry space defined by means of the lower run of the first upper endless conveyor and the upper run of a second lower endless conveyor, the two conveyors being synchronized together. The pair of conveyors convey the food products between heated platens respectively associated with the two conveyors whereby the food products are cooked or toasted. The cooked or toasted food products are discharged onto a lower inclined food product discharge ramp which is disposed substantially parallel to the first inclined food product infeed ramp such that the finished food products are conveyed in a third direction, parallel to the first direction, toward a finished food product platform from which the finished food products may be removed for serving to diners. Additional pairs of conveyors can also be incorporated within the system, in a vertically stacked array, so as to effectively increase the length of travel experienced by the multiple food products without increasing the footprint of the equipment.

Food service equipment comprising a multiple-pass feeder conveyor and toaster

A baffle plate filtering system is disclosed which is adapted to be operatively associated with an external housing wall of a piece of machinery or equipment, through which cooling air is to be ingested or inducted in order to cool internal operative components of the machinery or equipment, wherein the baffle plate filtering system will effectively prevent the ingestion or induction of ambient particulates, contaminants, grease, dirt, and the like into the internal regions of the machinery or equipment such that the operative components of the machinery or equipment do not become contaminated or fouled by means of the ambient particulates, contaminants, grease, dirt, and the like.

Baffle plate filtering system for preventing ambient air contaminants from entering machinery or equipment in order to protect internal components of the machinery or equipment from being contaminated or fouled

A grilling appliance is disclosed for preparing various different types of food wherein the food is conveyed through the appliance, from a food insert end of the appliance to a food removal end of the appliance, by means of continuously movable flow-through upper and lower cooperating conveyors operatively associated with platen-type heating members over which the upper and lower conveyors are conveyed so as to be heated by the platen-type heating members and thereby, in turn, heat, brown, or carmelize the food as desired or required. Multiple independently controlled conveyor sets define multiple independently controlled conveyor cooking lanes within the appliance.

Conveyor-type grilling appliance for cooking or re-thermalizing food with multiple independently controlled sets of conveyors defining multiple independently controlled cooking lanes

A cooking assembly, and a cooking station employing the cooking assembly, is disclosed. The cooking assembly comprises a flexible ring which is conformable to any one of a plurality of different predeterminedly structured templates, any one of which can be interchangeably utilized upon a food station, in order to provide cooked foods with predeterminedly different shapes or configurations as may be desired.

Cooking assembly comprising a flexible ring conformable to predeterminedly shaped templates of a cooking station for providing cooked foods with predeterminedly different shapes, and the cooking station employing the cooking assembly

Growing community of inventors

Countryside, IL, United States of America

Ignacio Vega