Pitco Frialator, Inc.

Gas Research Institute

G.s. Blodgett Corporation

Pitco Frialater, Inc.

Steven J Savage

John P Gardner

Karl M Searl

Steven J Cyr

Anthony F Reale

David W Tucci

Charles E Pierce

Nathaniel A Lambert

Mark E McCabe

Martin W Lawrence

George McMahon

Steven Gallerani

Kurt H Jensen

Rory A Longe

Michael McGinnis

Francis H Ingram

Robert L Brown

David H McFadden

Michael T Fecteau

Jared C Perkins

Anthony Patti

Thomas D Wendel

Roy A Amitrano

John T Pottenger

A system for automating the removal of cooking racks or trays laden with food items. The automatic rack lifting system includes a fryer assembly having a frypot and a liftable traveler assembly with a removable rack carrier or cooking carriage that carries a plurality of removable cooking baskets for food into and out of the cooking medium or oil disposed within the frypot. The system may further include lift arms removably secured to an actuation support structure. The automatic rack lifting system comprises a lift system for automated (e.g. under software program control) or manually controlled automatic lifting of a cooking carriage.

Automated rack fryer basket lift

A rack holder configured to securely hold a rack or tray used to hold food items during cooking is described. The rack holder may include bracket with a lower lip and a top lip. The bracket may be affixed to a support bar with an offset portion extending downward. The support bar may also include a handle support portion where one or more handles are affixed to the rack holder. The rack holder may provide a fitting engagement with a rack to remove the rack from a cooking environment and to transport the rack to another preparation station.

Rack holder

A burner assembly system is disposed in a rear side, i.e. back side, of a deep fryer. The burner assembly system includes an aperture disposed in a side of a bottom portion at the rear of a fryer cabinet of the controlled deep fryer. A burner at the rear of the fryer cabinet is coupled to the aperture and is adapted to receive fuel that enters through the aperture. An ignition assembly is disposed within the burner and ignites the received fuel. A flue is disposed at the rear of and within the fryer cabinet and receives combustion gases and heat from the burner created by the ignition of fuel. A heat exchanger is disposed within the flue at the rear of the fryer cabinet and is heated by heat conveyed through the flue from the ignition of fuel in the burner.

Deep fryer combustion burner system

A serviceable pump includes a motor disposed at an end of the serviceable pump and connected to a gear portion with a pump shaft. The gear portion receives fluid from and outputs fluid to a system such as a deep fryer cooking system. The gear portion includes at least one channel for receiving fluid, such as oil, to lubricate the gears and a fluid discharge aperture to push fluid into a cooling loop at a first end of the cooling loop. The cooling loop cools the fluid passing through the serviceable pump and is disposed between the motor and the gear portion. The cooling loop is connected to a seal assembly that surrounds the pump input shaft at a second end of the loop. The seal assembly allows the cooled fluid to pass along the pump input shaft.

Serviceable fluid pump

A substantially closed loop filtration and convection system is configured to move fluid/oil volume within a fryer vat. The vat has a flow directed inlet, which directs flow of cooking fluid in a direction across the bottom of the vat directing the flow of oil and crumbs/debris across the vat, up and across a flow separation portion toward and into a cleaning zone portion of the vat. A crumb tray or crumb/debris catch system is disposed in the cleaning zone adjacent to the vat.

Fluid convection fryer

A multi-bank cooking system includes multiple discrete cooking systems sharing common plumbing and integrated safety features. The multi-bank cooking system may include two or more rack-fryer systems, each with discrete frypots, operating mechanisms and cooking controllers. Each of the discrete cooking systems, may share a common plumbing system with integrated valves and controls receiving coordinated safety signals to facilitate safe and efficient operation of the system.

Multi-bank cooking system

A deep fat fryer with continuous oil filtering and purging of sediments therefrom during uninterrupted fryer operation is provided. The filter includes a cylindrical hollow housing with a first end and a second end and a hollow cylindrical screen with a longitudinal axis and first and second ends. The screen is disposed coaxially within the hollow housing to define an annulus therebetween. A piston mounted within the screen and reciprocatingly movable along the longitudinal axis between the first and second ends of the screen. A pump, seal, and associate motor are provided to provide continuous oil flow through the filter and the remainder of the fryer. A heat exchanger is provided downstream of the pump to transfer heat from the fryer to the oil flowing through the heat exchanger.

Continuously operating filtering apparatus

A detector configured to indirectly monitor a level of liquid within a container is provided. The detector includes a temperature sensor and a heat producing element proximate to the temperature sensor. A shell is disposed around the temperature sensor and heat producing element, the shell is configured to be disposed within a container and to provide a barrier between liquid disposed within the container and each of the temperature sensor and heat producing element. The heat producing element is configured to transfer heat generated therein to the shell, and the sensor is configured to measure a surface temperature of the heat producing element.

Oil level detection system for deep fat fryer

Rack handle

A self-cleaning burner system incorporates an automatic clean cycle when the burner is started up. Cycles may be programmed for once-a-day cleaning cycle or for other desired interval. On start-up, the cycle routes a small amount of fuel to the burner for ignition inside the burner to clean the burner surfaces. The system incorporates an igniter for fast, routine, and safe ignition of the fuel. Thus, small amounts of debris that accumulate on a surface burner are automatically ignited when the burner is started, keeping the burner clean and operating at a high state of efficiency at all times. The self-cleaning burner system may be incorporated into a fryer or other heating appliance for reliable, efficient operation.

Self cleaning burner system for heaters and fryers

Self-cleaning burner system for heaters and burners

Improved features for a filter system for a deep fat fryer are described. The fryer includes a movable filter pan disposed below the cooking tank which is fed by gravity when the tank is drained through a downspout. The downspout is curved and rotatable from a down position when it is in use/storage to an up position when it is not in use and a stabilizing clip is mounted on the downspout to secure a separate polishing tube when it is in the down or horizontal position to allow one handle to lift two pipes at the same time for removal of the filter pan. An inline removable filter is provided in the oil return line, and the return line is slidably supported on the side of the filter pan so that it can rise and fall with the debris in the filter pan.

Filter system for a deep fat fryer

Growing community of inventors

Concord, NH, United States of America

Steven J Savage