A gas fryer and associated methods of cooking food products are disclosed. The gas fryer includes an infrared burner and a fry pot including an interior casing defining a cooking chamber, with the interior casing including a bottom wall and opposing sidewalls that extend upwardly from the bottom wall. The opposing sidewalls include lower, central, and upper sidewall panels that are angled from one another to define a tapered profile that narrows towards the bottom wall. The tapering of a well defined at a lower chamber portions of the cooking chamber allows for a shallow depth at this portion of the fry pot and easy visibility and access for cleaning. Furthermore, the opposing sidewalls and a rear end wall of the interior casing include heat exchange fins on an external surface.

A fryer apparatus and method of frying food products includes a cooking chamber, a heater disposed external to the cooking chamber, a fuel system disposed external to the cooking chamber, a blower configured to propel an airflow toward a heater, and a fuel injector configured to inject fuel into the airflow to create an air-fuel mixture. The fuel system is configured to deliver an air-fuel mixture to the heater. The heater is configured to ignite the air-fuel mixture to provide an external heating source for the cooking medium within cooking chamber. The temperature of the cooking medium is controlled by varying the speed of the airflow.

An automatic fryer system includes a fry basket; a fryer unit having a fry vat for housing heated cooking oil and receiving the fry basket; the fryer unit including a rear wall having a fry basket hooking member located thereon for parking the fry basket; a horizontal drive system for moving the fry basket in a horizontal direction; a vertical drive system, operatively connected to the horizontal drive system, for moving the fry basket in a vertical direction; an end effector for grasping and holding the fry basket; a food product loading unit for loading food product into the fry basket; and a controller, in operational communication with the horizontal drive system; the vertical drive system, and the end effector, to control a location and an orientation of the fry basket.

An improved baffle assembly for heat exchanger tubes comprising a shaft and at least one opposing pair of expanding baffles positioned coaxially on the shaft, each expanding baffle comprising a central hub portion and a plurality of extension portions each radiating outward from the hub portion at complementary oblique angles so that the central hub portions of each baffle are spaced apart along the shaft and the distal ends of the extension portions of each baffle are brought into physical contact.

An air inlet device of an air fryer, which has a heating chamber, includes an upper housing, and an upper cover disposed above and covering the upper housing. The upper cover and the upper housing cooperatively define a flow guide channel therebetween. The flow guide channel has an air inlet opening for entry of air into the air inlet device, and a chamber entry opening located inwardly of the air inlet opening for flowing of the air into the heating chamber. The flow guide channel has a curved shape from the air inlet opening to the chamber entry opening.

(FIGURE I) The first drawing shows the entire charcoal grill with a circle indicating the location of the next drawing. The next drawing shows a close up view of the Perfecter Vent. The name is intended to describe the product as an improvement on any existing grill. The opening may have to be fitted to each model grill as they all have slightly different closure angles and thicknesses. The use is the same and the effectiveness is the same on any grill. The existing vents on grills are very effective and even perfect however this tool makes ventilation even Perfecter. This is not a real word but it means more perfect. The ventilation is more perfect because it creates an oven effect in the hood. Greater heat is contained in the lid of the grill in addition to the more perfecter amount of smoke. There is such a thing as to much smokey flavor. With the perfecter ventilation tool cooking temperatures are increased on all sides in addition to containing some of the smoke. By containing some of the smoke the charcoal is allowed to breathe just enough to maintain a good cooking temperature and a good amount of smoke. Without this product people achieve this same result by constant attention and checking and adjustment. This allows the operator to monitor the temperature on the thermometer from outside the grill and not release the heat and smoke every time checking is required. Experienced grill people have made mistakes so many times that they just know how long to leave the lid on for. In combination with a thermometer grilling will improve for all. The quality of the food will improve and the consistency of the food being cooked is also improved by this product because the charcoal cannot breathe too much to flare up but just enough to create the right temperature. This product improves health by supporting safe cooking temperatures, by having perfecter control of the temperature then food can be cooked more thoroughly.

(FIGURE II) This drawing shows a close up view of the product in place. The product it self is a flat piece of metal with a shape cut out of it which is placed in between the lid and the base of a grill. The shape allows the product to hold the lid open just slightly to allow heat and smoke to collect in the lid. All vents on the lid would be closed for this to have the best effect however existing vents could be utilized to control the temperature. The shape uses the weight of the lid to maintain its position. The product prevents the lid from falling off. The product does get hot however it can be lifted with a utensil such as tongs. It can be removed or placed with tongs or a handle may be developed later. It can be held temporarily wi

A fry basket with ergonomic handle is provided. The fry basket with ergonomic handle has a plurality of wires forming a wire frame. The wire frame defines a base receptacle that retains and receives a wire mesh basket therein. The base receptacle has a pair of open sidewalls, a lower front wall, a higher rear wall, and an upper open horizontal wall. The plurality of wires of the higher rear wall converge as they extend upwardly to form a generally vertical connection portion that connects the higher rear wall to a handle portion. The handle portion, in turn, extends rearwardly from the higher rear wall at a zero-degree angle with respect to at least one upper horizontal wire of the upper open horizontal wall. The handle portion also has a grip portion.

Work-saving improvements for food-process lines include (1) mounting alternate machines of a food process line on pivot hardware to speed up washing and maintenance operations, (2) mounting the machines on rolling riding gear in order to speed up the activities of building and re-building food process lines of a different series of machines, or (3) isolate the food process line in its own tunnel and hence its own climate-controlled atmosphere to reduce conflicts with running two food process lines side by side where one food process line is a source of air borne allergens.

Systems are disclosed for cleaning a fryer using a washing element coupled to a bottom wall of a cooking chamber. An upper portion of the washing element extends above the bottom wall of the cooking chamber and includes a plurality of spray jet nozzles that are separated at predetermined angles relative to one another around a periphery of the upper portion of the washing element to orient the plurality of spray jet nozzles so as to spray a plurality of pressurized streams of the cooking medium to predetermined areas of the cooking chamber, including at least one corner of the cooking chamber. Also disclosed is a fryer that includes a spreader bar that maintains an electric heating coil in the serpentine pattern. The spreader bar is coupled to the upper surface of the electric heating coil and is disposed at a predetermined distance away from the bottom wall.

The present invention relates to a water and oil type fryer minimizing the transfer of heat from a layer of oil for frying to a water layer, the water and oil type fryer comprising: an oil cask for frying having a connection pipe having a predetermined cross-sectional area ratio; a gas burner supplying heat to a heating flow path, or an electric heater directly supplying heat to oil for frying; a container for cleaning having a drain pipe, and simultaneously accommodating oil which is connected with oil in the oil cask through the connection pipe, and water which forms a boundary with the oil; and a sediment layer discharge pipe positioned below a boundary surface of oil and water.