Burger King Corporation

Richard L Keller

James W Finkowski

Robert F Meyer

Glenn O Rasmussen

Thomas P Kempf

Ronald N Phillips

A french fry cooking apparatus for deep-frying french fries includes a cooking unit having a plurality of frying baskets. Mounted above the cooking unit is a refrigeration unit which includes a first conveyor upon which a supply of frozen french fries is stored. The first conveyor discharges the fries onto a second conveyor which dispenses a metered quantity of fries to a delivery mechanism. The delivery mechanism includes a shaft and a rotatable directional chute for directing the frozen fries from the second conveyor into any one of the plurality of frying baskets. The frying baskets are pivotally attached to the cooking unit and are each movable by way of a drive unit between a loading/draining position for receiving fries from the chute and for draining oil from deep fried fries, a cooking position for deep frying the fries, and a dump position for discharging the deep fried fries from the frying basket. Deep fried fries are discharged onto a further conveyor which takes the fries to a holding bin. The fries are then distributed from the holding bin to customers as per their orders. Frozen french fries are loaded onto the first conveyor by way of a loading mechanism having a loading bin.

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Plymouth, MN, United States of America

Richard L Keller