Vertical electric cooker and smoker and smoke box

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10426176-B2
Application number	US-201615075813-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2016
Priority date	Mar 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A vertical electric cooker and smoker having lower air intake vents and upper exhaust vents which together create a more balanced flow and distribution of smoke and reduce the operating pressure of the system to allow a much larger load of wood chips to be used without refilling. A smoke box is also provided for holding and properly combusting the larger quantity of wood chips in an oxygen deficient environment. The smoke box has a false bottom and discharges the smoke through a circuitous exhaust flow path. Also, the electric heating elements of the cooking and smoking apparatus are contained in an assembly which provides an air gap beneath the smoker box and also shields the smoker box to prevent the wood chips in the smoker box from becoming overheated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for cooking and smoking food comprising:
a vertically extending cooking and smoking chamber having a left side wall, a right side wall, a back, wall, a front opening, and a bottom floor;
a door positioned on the front opening for closing and opening the front opening; and
a smoke box which is received in the cooking and smoking chamber and which comprises:
a container;
an interior combustion area defined by the container for combusting woodchips or other pieces in an oxygen deficient environment to produce smoke;
a removable lid assembly configured to cover the container, including:
a lower lid piece:
an upper lid Piece:
a middle lid Piece positioned between the upper lid Piece and the lower lid Piece:
a longitudinally extending inner flow gap formed between the lower and middle lid pieces adjacent to the interior combustion area, the inner flow gap having a longitudinal upstream end portion, a longitudinal downstream end portion opposite the upstream end portion, and one or more smoke inlet openings on the lower lid piece located in the upstream end portion of the inner flow gap which are in communication with the interior combustion area to receive a smoke stream from the interior combustion area;
a longitudinally extending second flow gap formed between the middle and upper lid pieces which is parallel to and outside of the inner flow gap, the second flow gap having a longitudinal upstream end portion, a longitudinal downstream end portion opposite the upstream end portion of the second flow gap, one or more smoke inlet openings on the middle lid piece located in the upstream end portion of the second flow gap which are in communication with the downstream end portion of the inner flow gap to receive the smoke stream from the inner flow gap, and one or more smoke discharge openings on the upper lid piece located in the downstream end portion of the second flow gap to discharge the smoke stream from the second flow gap;
a lower flow obstructing rail piece in the inner flow gap; and
an upper flow obstructing rail piece in the second flow gap.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising two air intake vents and two exhaust vents wherein a first of the air intake vents is provide through a lower portion of the right side wall, a second of the air intake vents is provide through a lower portion of the left side wall, a first of the exhaust vents is provided through an upper portion of the right side wall, and a second of the exhaust vents is provided through an upper portion of the left side wall.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein:
the first air intake vent comprises one or a series of openings extending horizontally across at least 30% of a horizontal width of the right side wall and
the second air intake vent comprises one or a series of openings extending horizontally across at least 30% of a horizontal width of the left side wall.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the first and the second air intake vents each have an open flow area in a range of from 1.0 to 4.0 inches 2 .

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the first and the second exhaust vents each have a flow area in a range of from 4.0 to 9.0 inches 2 .

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the first and the second exhaust vents each have a louvered cover.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein:
the cooking and smoking chamber has an uppermost food support rack positioned therein and
the first and the second exhaust vents are positioned at an elevation above an elevation of the uppermost food support rack.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus further comprises a smoke box placement station in the cooking and smoking chamber and a plurality of spacing elements which extend upwardly from a bottom plate of the smoke box placement station, the smokebox being placeable on top of the spacing elements to provide an air gap between a bottom of the smoke box and the bottom plate of the smoke box placement station.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the smoke box further comprises:
the container having actual bottom having no openings therethrough and
a false bottom in the interior of the container spaced above the actual bottom of the container such that a bottom air space is defined in the container between the false bottom and the actual bottom of the container, the false bottom having no openings therethrough.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein
the lower flow obstructing rail piece comprises a flow obstructing rail which extends laterally in the inner flow gap at a longitudinal location between the upstream end portion and the downstream end portion of the inner flow gap and which has a series of holes therethrough for flow of the smoke stream through the flow obstructing tail in the inner flow gap and
the upper flow obstructing rail piece comprises a flow obstructing rail which extends laterally in the second flow gap at a longitudinal location between the upstream end portion and the downstream end portion of the second flow gap and which has a series of holes therethrough for flow of the smoke stream through the flow obstructing rail in the second flow gap.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein
the flow obstructing rail in the inner flow gap is an upstream flow obstructing rail,
the lower flow obstructing rail piece comprises a downstream flow obstructing rail, which extends laterally in the inner flow gap downstream of, and parallel to, the upstream-flow obstructing rail and has a series of holes therethrough which are not in alignment with the holes of the upstream flow obstructing rail,
the flow obstructing rail in the second flow gap is an upstream flow obstructing rail and
the upper flow obstructing rail piece comprises a downstream flow obstructing rail which extends Literally in the second flow gap downstream of, and parallel to, the upstream flow obstructing rail in the second flow gap and has a series of holes therethrough which are not in alignment with the holes of the upstream flow obstructing rail in the second flow gap.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein:
the upstream and downstream flow obstructing rails in the inner flow gap are spaced a longitudinal distance of from 0.25 to 0.5 inch apart.

Assignees

• Bradley W C Co

Inventors

• Dixon William A
• Adallah Sleiman Assaad
• Mcquagg Mark Stephen

Classifications

• A23B4/048

  with addition of chemicals other than natural smoke · CPC title

• A47J37/0629

  with electric heating elements · CPC title

• A23B4/0523

  Smoke generators using wood-pyrolysis or wood-friction · CPC title

• A23B4/052

  Smoke generators {; Smoking apparatus} · CPC title

• A23B4/056 Primary

  Smoking combined with irradiation or electric treatment, e.g. electrostatic smoking {; Apparatus therefor} · CPC title