Raytheon Company

Other

Wesley W Teich

Robert F Bowen

George Freedman

Kenneth W Dudley

Thomas J Martel

Joseph R Adamski

E Eugene Eves, Ii

Josef Slanik

Peter W De Ruyter

Noel Almey

Lawrence G Clawson

John S Sklenak

Alfred C Lange

There is provided a method and apparatus for forming meat analog products and for texturizing a doughmass wherein the ingredients are mixed, passed through a conduit having a decreasing cross-sectional area while the doughmass is heated therein, the heating being done such that a greater heat intensity is applied to the center of the doughmass than to the doughmass adjacent the walls of the conduit.

Process and apparatus for making meat analogs

A method and apparatus for ultrafast microwave tissue fixation using a single mode resonant waveguide constructed with an aperture near one end. The waveguide is also constructed to provide a uniform E field and maximum power field below the aperture. Tissue is placed into a vial filled with fixation solution. The vial and tissue are then inserted through the aperture into the waveguide. Microwave energy is then applied to the tissue which becomes fixated within a short period of time.

Method and apparatus for ultrafast microwave tissue fixation

A utensil for supporting microwave heatable material in a microwave oven is provided with a microwave responsive illuminator including a light source connected to a suitable antenna for receiving microwave energy and directing it to the light source. The oven has an energy distributor disposed for varying localized field intensities of microwave energy in the oven to promote uniform cooking of the heatable material. When the localized field intensity of the microwave energy adjacent the antenna rises periodically above a predetermined value, the antenna receives sufficient energy to cause illumination of the light source. When the localized field intensity falls below the predetermined value, the antenna receives insufficient energy for maintaining the illumination and the light source is extinguished. Thus, the energy distributor, in addition to promoting uniform cooking of the heatable material, also causes intermittent illumination or flashing of the light source to enhance attractiveness of the utensil. Further, the use of an antenna to receive varying amounts of microwave energy from the oven eliminates the requirement for sophisticated auxiliary circuitry to produce intermittent illumination or flashing of the light source.

Light enhancing means for microwave utensils

A dryer having a cylindrical lint screen connected to and extending from the rear of a rotating clothes drum. The drum is defined by a circumferential wall having perforations or air exit ports. A casing surrounds the drum thereby defining an air recirculation passageway from the perforations radially through the screen. Airborne lint is deposited on the screen as air passes therethrough en route to either the drum air inlet or the exhaust outlet. The lint is incinerated as the screen rotates past the drying air heat source.

Clothes dryer with a lint incinerator

A method and apparatus for regulating a microwave oven to a predetermined output power level. The anode current or a voltage corresponding to it is monitored to provide a signal indicative of the actual output power of the magnetron. Time is divided into a sequence of equal time intervals, each interval corresponding to fixed number of ac line cycles. In accordance with the signal, the number of ac cycles to be supplied to the power supply for each interval to regulate the output power towards the regulated level is determined. The determined number of cycles are supplied by switching at the zero current crossings between the line and the power supply. The switching is executed so that the supplied ac cycles are distributed substantially uniformly over the particular time interval.

Regulated microwave oven and method, using uniformly spaced, integral

A microwave cooking container comprising a conductive layer to which is bonded a layer of material having high hysteresis loss at microwave frequencies. When subjected to microwave radiation the hysteresis loss material heats to its Curie point where its loss is substantially reduced while the dielectric loss is minimized by being effectively shielded by its proximity to the surface of the conductive layer. The conductive layer may be a metal dish cover whose outer surface supports a plastic bonded ferrite and whose inner surface contacts a food body in a metal dish. The Curie point region of the ferrite is lower than the degradation temperature of the plastic. Overlapping the walls of the dish and cover forms a microwave seal to prevent microwave heating of the dish contents.

Microwave heating method and apparatus

A microprocessor controlled microwave oven having a scale for providing a signal corresponding to the weight of a food body in the cavity to the microprocessor. Through a control panel, the operator inputs a second signal corresponding to the initial temperature of the food body. From these signal inputs, the microprocessor calculates the microwave exposure time period to raise the temperature of the food body to a predetermined temperature or to cook the food body. In accordance with the time period, the microprocessor then controls the magnetron through one or more active cycles as selected.

Cook-by-weight microwave oven

An appliance for heating seeds, nuts, grains and the like such as popcorn kernels, for example, by means of microwave radiation, comprising a bowl which is transparent to microwave energy and which has in its lower region an area of restricted size for holding unheated seeds in a clump, the area of the bowl above the restricted area being larger to allow heated seeds to expand, and means for directing the microwave energy upon the clump of seeds.

Seed heating microwave appliance

A microprocessor controlled microwave oven having a scale for providing a signal corresponding to the weight of a food body in the cavity to a microprocessor which calculates the microwave exposure time period as a nonlinear function of the weight. Generally, as the weight of the food body is increased, the time period of exposure per weight unit is decreased by a factor equal to the weight of the food divided by the weight of the food plus a constant where the constant may preferably be 0.1.

Heating time coupling factor for microwave oven

A microwave oven feed system having the output probe of the magnetron inserted directly into the microwave enclosure. A rotating feed structure positioned within the enclosure couples the microwave energy from the probe into a directive radiation pattern towards the food. The feed structure may be located in a well extending from the enclosure and separated from the processing cavity by a layer of microwave transparent material, the functions of the layer being to provide thermal isolation and to provide a protective covering for the feed structure. A microwave choke around the periphery of the well prevents leakage of microwave energy from the enclosure. The choke may be elevated from the floor of the cavity to prevent food drippings and spilled soups from running into the feed structure well.

Microwave oven feed system

A microwave oven having four small holes in the floor of the cavity so that weight of food bodies within the cavity can be coupled by four nonconductive support columns protruding through the holes to a scale below the cavity. The scale may provide an analog signal which is a function of the weight. The signal may be converted to a digital input for a microprocessor which calculates the heating time for that weight over an input temperature range.

An expresso coffee maker for use in a microwave oven. The water is stored in a microwave transparent reservoir or container which is adjacent to the pot. The pot and reservoir are coupled in a fixed spacial relationship by a collar. The collar includes a strainer which presses against a layer of coffee grounds when the collar is rigidly secured to the reservoir. The compressed coffee grounds in combination with the strainer form a pressure resistant seal over the opening of the reservoir. The water in the reservoir is heated by microwave energy. The pressure rises to a level sufficient to force steam and water through the coffee grounds into the pot.

Microwave expresso coffee maker and process

A microwave heating system having a rotary multiport microwave radiator positioned in a cavity and having radiating ports at different distances from the axis of rotation which direct overlapping radiation patterns at a body to be heated. A combination heater may be used having a resistive heater positioned in regions around the outside of the rotary structure to supply heat to the body.

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Wayland, MA, United States of America

Wesley W Teich