GB2445622A

GB2445622A - Compact cooker

Info

Publication number: GB2445622A
Application number: GB0700715A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andy Langdon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-01-15
Filing date: 2007-01-15
Publication date: 2008-07-16
Anticipated expiration: 2027-01-15
Also published as: GB2445622B; GB0700715D0

Abstract

A compact cooker which may be used out-of-doors, such as for a barbecue, for cooking food mounted on a vertical spit. The cooker is formed with two casings 1 and 2 and a tray 13 is provided for collecting meat juices and fat dripping from food mounted on the spit. The spit extends through an opening in the tray. An electric motor 18 is mounted beneath the tray and is adapted for coupling to the spit to turn it about a generally vertical axis. Casing 2 houses a radiant gas burner is adapted for coupling to a portable gas supply. It has a first operative position in which it is mounted upright to provide a vertically confronting relation with food supported on the spit. The spit is further adapted to be demounted from its generally vertical position. The burner has a second inoperative position in which it may be positioned when the spit is demounted. The burner confronts the tray in this second position. May be used for cooking a doner kebab.

Description

I

COMPACT COOKER

This invention relates to compact cookers, and, more particularly but necessarily exclusively, to such cookers that may be used out of doors, for example for a barbeque.

Compact cookers that may be used out of doors, for example for barbeques are very popular in warmer parts of the World, notably California and Australia, and are increasingly popular in Europe. The present invention seeks to address a gap in the market for compact cookers which, to the best of Applicant's knowledge, has never previously been satisfied.

Traditional barbeques involve a generally horizontal cooking surface above burning charcoal or, by extension, a gas fired equivalent, on which cooking surface food may be grilled (broiled). Some such barbeques also incorporate a spit suitable for roasting small chickens using the heat from the horizontal barbeque. The axis of the spit will be horizontal so that the meat as turned, usually by a small electric motor which may be battery driven, is exposed on all sides to radiant heat from the hot charcoal or gas fired equivalent. The fat and meat juices typically drip into the barbeque and are wasted.

To the best of Applicant's knowledge no previously commercially available barbeque or other compact cooker capable of being used out of doors is suitable for the typical Turkish style of cooking with a Donner kebab. A Donner kebab is formed from minced, usually sheep, meat, which is formed into a cylindrical mass that is mounted on a vertical spit to rotate in front of a vertical, usually gas fired, source of radiant heat so that the meat is gradually cooked from the outside. As the outermost layers are cooked, they are shaved off revealing less cooked layers beneath which in turn are then exposed to the radiant heat until the entire cylindrical mass is used up.

Described hereinbelow is a preferred embodiment of compact cooker for cooking food mounted on a vertical spit, the cooker comprising: a rotational spit adapted for mounting vertically; a tray for collecting meat juices and fat dripping from food mounted on the spit, the spit extending through an opening in the tray; an electric motor mounted beneath the tray and adapted for coupling to the spit to turn it about a vertical axis; and a radiant gas burner adapted for coupling to a portable gas supply and having a first operative position in which it is mounted upright to provide a vertically confronting relation with food supported on the spit; the spit being further adapted to be demounted from its vertical position; and the burner having a second inoperative position in which it may be positioned when the spit is demounted, the burner in said second position confronting the tray.

The cooker may be provided with a two-part casing, the first such casing having the electric motor mounted therewithin, and having a top surface having a first section which is open and across which the tray is detachably mounted and a second section which is closed; and the second casing providing the radiant gas burner and having an open side through which radiant energy from the gas burner is emitted when the burner is operative. In one arrangement the first and second casings are coupled by a piano hinge which extends along an edge the said open face makes with another side of the second casing and along the junction between the first and second sections of the first casing, so that, in the first operative position of the radiant gas burner, the said another side of the second casing sits on the second section of the first casing, and so that in the second inoperative position of the radiant gas burner, the open face of the first casing lies in confronting relation with the tray.

In an alternative arrangement, the first and second casings may be detachable from each other, being provided with location means enabling the second casing to sit upon the second section of the first casing in the first operative position and to lie in confronting relation with the drip tray in the second inoperative position of the burner.

Provision is preferably made both for mounting a Donner kebab on the spit and for mounting shish kebabs between two end plates carried by the spit on individual shish kebab skewers. Each such skewer may be provided with an escapement wheel adapted to be rotated by a fixed increment on each rotation of the spit as a whole, said incremental rotation being caused by engagement of the escapement wheel with a projection as the skewer associated with the said escapement wheel skewer moves into confronting relation with the projection as the spit as a whole is rotated about its axis.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings in which, by way of

example:

Fig. 1 is a perspective exploded view of an embodiment of compact cooker; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cooker of Fig. 1 being used to cook a Donner kebab; Fig. 3 is a view generally similar to Fig. 2 showing the compact cooker in use cooking shish kebabs; Fig. 4 shows the cooker of Figs. I to 3 in a second inoperative condition; Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the cooker in the condition of Fig. 4 with the mesh removed to show the rear of a burner unit and associated gas connections; Fig. 6 is schematic circuit diagram of the gas connections; and Fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a barbeque unit in which a variation of the compact cooker of Figs 1106 is incorporated.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 5, there is shown a stand-alone compact cooker adapted to be sufficiently portable in a holdall or similar bag to be carried to a desired position out of doors at which the cooker may be used. The cooker is formed with two casings 1 and 2, here of simple box-like fonn. Persons skilled in this art will appreciate that the casings could be formed with a more rounded form.

Casing 2 houses a radiant gas-fired burner, which may be of conventional form, and which is adapted for coupling to a portable gas supply by a universal gas fitting 3 connected by hose 4 to coupling 5 on a rear face 6 of casing 2 (see Fig. 4), and as explained in more detail with reference to Figs 5 and 6 below. Casing 2 mounts a radiant ceramic burner 7 therewithin that is gas-fired and controlled by a thermocouple, which is connected to a cut-out for the gas supply, as explained with reference to Fig. 6 below. Such burners on a larger scale are conventionally used in Turkish restaurants for cooking Donner kebabs. Smaller size radiant ceramic gas burners of this kind suitable for use in a compact cooker of the kind illustrated in the present drawings are readily available, for example from Intergas, Eskisehir, Turkey and have been used as simple radiant gas space heaters out of doors. Burner 7 is provided with a hand operable control 8 incorporating a piezo-electric ignition system for igniting a gas pilot 9 and a gas volume control enabling the heat output to be adjusted.

Casing 1 has a top surface 10, one end 11 of which is closed, and the other end 12 of which is open. Open section 12 is adapted to mount a drip tray 13 having a grill 14 thereacross. An opening 15 is provided through the bottom of the drip tray 13 to allow an elongate element 16 to extend generally vertically therethrough to be received in an output opening 17 of a small electric motor 18 which is suitably battery driven, the battery being housed within the bottom of casing 1. Suitably an on- off switch 19 controlling power to the electric motor 18 is provided on an external surface of the casing. Elongate element 16 is here a tube of square cross-section and is received within the hollow interior of a larger square cross-section tube 20 to which a first plate 21 is mounted. A second plate 22 is mounted to one end of a hollow square cross-section tube 23, dimensioned to fit within open end 24 of square cross-section tube 20 with element 16 within tube 23, and has a central opening 25.

Thus, a Donner kebab 26 of suitable axial extent may be mounted over tube sitting on lower end plate 21 (Fig. 2).

A cantilever arm 27 is mounted to top surface 28 of casing 2 so as to extend horizontally forwardly above open face 29 of casing 2 which is protected by a grill and through which the radiant heat is emitted. A through opening 31 is provided adjacent the distal end of cantilever arm 27 to locate the upper axial end of the spit.

This is achieved by means of a location finger 32 provided with an integral handle 33, which finger extends through opening 31 and axially into an open end 34 of tube 16. The whole assembly of the spit and drip tray and associated parts may be readily disassembled as shown in the exploded view of Fig. I to enable these elements to be cleaned after use.

In an alternative arrangement, element 16 comprises a solid rod of square cross-section. In that case, its axial length is slightly less so that finger 32 may be received through opening 31 and into upper end 24 of tube 20.

Although kebabs such as shish kebabs mounted on skewers may be cooked by means of a conventional barbeque by simply placing them upon the barbeque grill, the embodiment of compact cooker described in detail herein is also adapted for cooking such shish kebabs as an alternative to a Donner.

Referring again to Fig. 1, it will be seen that lower plate 21 includes a plurality of shallow locating wells 35 in its surface. Each of these is adapted to locate one end 36 of a shish kebab skewer 37, the other end 38 of which may be located in a slot 39 formed in upper plate 22. A plurality of food portions 40, such as fish, meat or vegetable nortions, may be strung on individual skewers 37 in conventional fashion and the individual skewers may then be located by means of wells 35 and slots 39 to form an assembly generally as shown in Fig. 3.

The shish kebab assembly slides on to elongate element 16 and its upper end is located by means of finger 32 extending through opening 31 into upper end 34 of element 16 if formed as a tube, or into opening 25 of second plate 22 when element 16 is a shorter solid rod, to complete the assembly.

As can be seen in Figs. 1 and 3, each skewer is formed with a star shaped member 41 which effectively serves as an escapement for incremental rotation of its respective skewer 38. This is achieved by the escapement 41 coming into contact with a finger 42, similar to finger 32, which extends through a second through opening 43 in cantilever arm 27 into the path of escapement members 41 as the spit is rotated. As each escapement 41 comes into contact with finger 42 it is rotated by a single increment so partially turning its associated skewer. As a result, as the spit assembly shown in Fig. 3 is rotated by motor 18, the individual shish kebab skewers are repeatedly rotated by an increment each time they come into contact with finger 42 so that the food cooks on all sides.

When the compact cooker is to be packed up for transport, the elements of the spit are disassembled when cold, and may then be cleaned, and are stored within casing 1. Meanwhile, the gas supply to radiant gas burner 7 having been cut off, casing 2 with the radiant gas burner may be moved into a second inoperative position shown in Fig. 4. To allow this, a piano hinge 44 (Fig. 5) is suitably formed along the edge between the open front face 29 of casing 2 and a lower surface 45 which, in the first position, may simply sit on surface 11. To allow for the additional thickness of the piano hinge 44 and to ensure that casing 2 may stand upright on surface 11, one or more stops or abutments are preferably provided on surface 11 or lower surface 45. An upstand or plate 46 serving this purpose is shown in Fig. 5. After demounting of the spit assembly, open front face 29 may be brought into confronting relation with the drip tray 13 and its grill 14 and cantilever arm 27 brought into confronting relation with front surface 47 of casing 1, by rotation on the piano hinge 44. In this confronting relation, a threaded element fits through a through opening in cantilever arm 27, here a third through opening 48 intermediate openings 31 and 43, to be received in a threaded aperture 49 in front surface 48 and is tightened by means of a generally wheel shaped handle 50 on the end of the threaded element.

As can also be seen from Fig. 4, rear face 6 of casing 2 not only mounts inlet for the gas supply but also an openwork mesh 51 which allows ventilation to the rear of casing 2, allowing the casing quickly to cooL after the gas supply has been cut off enabling the whole cooker to be quickly packed down into the configuration shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Openwork mesh 51 is omitted in Fig. 5 in order to show the gas connections.

Referring to this Figure and to Fig. 6, gas is supplied via universal gas fitting 3 and hose 4 from an LPG container 52 to coupling 5 on rear face 6, which connects to main gas valve unit 53, which in turn is controlled by gas control knob 8. Gas is supplied by line 54 to a safety cut-off valve 55, and thence via line 56 to gas pilot 9.

Cut-off valve 55 may be gravity operated so that gas to the pilot is automatically cut off as the casing 2 is moved from its first position (Figs. 1 to 3) to its second position (Figs. 4 and 5) even if the user has forgotten to isolate main gas valve unit 53 from container 52. The main gas supply passes via line 57 from main gas valve unit 53 to gas element 58 of radiant ceramic gas burner 7.

Although the stand alone compact cooker shown in Figs. I to 5 is the preferred embodiment, a compact cooker of similar form may be incorporated into a larger unit, for example as an option, as shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7 shows a large gas-fired wheeled barbeque in which the portable gas supply may be stored within a cabinet 59 in the lower half of the unit The barbeque includes a conventional horizontal gas-fired barbeque grill 60, an optional built in gas ring 6land an embodiment of compact cooker 62 of the kind described hereinabove but here consolidated with the remainder of the gas-fired barbeque unit. As in the arrangement of Figs. I to 5, a vertical spit 63 extends through a lower drip tray 64 and is adapted to mount either a Dormer kebab in the fashion shown in Fig. 2 or a plurality of shish kebabs in the manner shown in Fig. 3, or a chicken, and may thus replace a horizontal chicken rotisserie of the kind often provided on a gas-fired barbecue In this arrangement, the motor for turning spit 63 may be located within a shelf unit 65 of the barbeque that extends laterally of the barbeque unit. Since the elements of the spit, when disassembled may be stored within cabinet 59, there is less need for a substantial casing I beneath the drip tray as in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 5. However, radiant gas unit 66 of compact cooker 62 should again be moveable, for example by providing a piano hinge, between the operative position shown in Fig. 7 and a second inoperative position in which it lies in confronting facial relation with the drip tray 64.

As an alternative to a hinged arrangement, whether in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 5 or in that of Fig. 7, the casing or unit mounting the radiant gas burner may be detachable as a whole from the remainder of the apparatus, being provided with locating means that enable it to be mounted either in its operative vertical position shown in Figs. I to 3 and 7 or in its second inoperative position (for example as shown in Figs. 4 and 5) in which it lies in confronting facial relation with the drip tray.

Claims

Claims 1. A compact cooker for cooking food mounted on a vertical spit,

the cooker comprising: a rotational spit adapted for mounting generally vertically; a tray for collecting meat juices and fat dripping from food mounted on the spit, the spit extending through an opening in the tray; an electric motor mounted beneath the tray and adapted for coupling to the spit to turn it about a generally vertical axis; and a radiant gas burner adapted for coupling to a portable gas supply and having a first operative position in which it is mourned upright to provide a vertically confronting relation with food supported on the spit; the spit being further adapted to be demounted from its generally vertical position; and the burner having a second inoperative position in which it may be positioned when the spit is demounted, the burner in said second position confronting the tray.
2. A cooker according to Claim 1, provided with a two-part casing comprising a first casing and a second casing; the first casing having the electric motor mounted therewithin, and having a top surface having a first section which is open and across which the tray is detachably mounted; and the second casing providing the radiant gas burner and having an open side through which radiant energy from the gas burner is emitted when the burner is operative.
3. A cooker according to Claim 2, wherein the first and second casings are coupled by a piano hinge which extends along an edge the said open face makes with another side of the second casing and along the junction between said first section and a second closed section of the top surface of the first casing, so that, in the first position of the radiant gas burner, the said another side of the second casing sits on the second section of the first casing, and so that in the second position of the radiant gas burner, the open face of the second casing lies in confronting relation with the tray.
4. A cooker according to Claim 2, wherein the first and second casings are detachable from each other, being provided with location means enabling the second casing to be supported with said open side substantially at right angles to said first section in said first position and to lie in confronting relation with the drip tray in the second position of the burner.
5. A cooker according to Claim 4, wherein the second casing has another side extending substantially at right angles to said open side; said top surce has a second closed section alongside said first section; and said another side is supported by said location means to sit on said second section in said first position.
6. A cooker according to any of Claims 2 to 5, wherein said second casing has an arm extending therefrom so as to be cantilevered above said drip tray in said first position, said arm including an opening for locating the vertically upper end of the spit.
7. A cooker according to Claim 6, wherein said spit is of generally square cross-section; and wherein a tube of generally square cross-section mounting a plate at one end for support of the lower end of a Donner kebab is adapted to be slipped over said spit before location of the vertically upper end of said spit by said arm, whereby a Donner kebab may be rotated by said spit in confronting relation to said burner.
8. A cooker according to Claim 6, further comprising at least one shish kebab skewer; a first tube of generally square cross-section mounting a plate at one end, the plate being provided with a plurality of shallow wells disposed about the axis of the tube each adapted for locating a first axial end of a respective one of said at least one shish kebab skewer; a second tube of generally square cross-section mounting a second plate; the second tube being adapted to fit within the first tube from the end opposite said first plate, and said first and second tubes being adapted to be slipped over said spit before location of the vertically upper end of said spit by said arm; and said second plate including a plurality of slots each adapted for locating a second axial end of a respective one of said at least one slush kebab skewer; whereby a plurality of slush kebabs may be rotated about the axis of said spit in confronting relation with said burner.
9. A cooker according to Claim 8, wherein each said shish kebab skewer mounts an escapement wheel adjacent an end thereof; each said skewer being adapted to be rotated about its axis by a fixed increment once in each complete rotation of the spit about the axis of the spit by engagement of its escapement wheel with a projection.
I 0. A cooker according to Claim 9, wherein said projection comprises a finger adapted to depend through an opening in said arm.
11. A cooker according to any preceding Claim, integrated into a gas fired barbeque.
12. A compact cooker for cooking food mounted on a vertical spit, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.