Inventors:
Lawrence Graham - Corinth TX
Ponnattu Kurian Joseph - Irving TX
Todd Charles McNeel - Flower Mound TX
Kenneth R. Brocker - Plano TX
Stephen N. Forti - Stoneham MA
Edward J. Goldman - Foxborough MA
Malcolm E. Taylor - Pepperell MA
Edward L. Dickinson - Littleton MA
Patsy Anthony Coppola - Bedford MA
Richard F. Terrazzano - Salem NH
Andrew C. Harvey - Waltham MA
Assignee:
Recot, Inc. - Pleasanton CA
International Classification:
A47J 3712
US Classification:
99353, 99404, 99407, 99416, 99443 R, 99448, 99472, 4254051, 425437, 425453
Abstract:
Apparatus and method for cooking snack food pieces features a drum-type fryer which transports individual, die-cut piece preforms through hot oil contained within a cooking tank defined between the periphery of the drum and a housing in which the drum is contained. Vacuum transfer and feed rollers transfer the individual piece preforms from a die-cutting roller assembly onto the drum for cooking, and a similar roller transfers the cooked snack food pieces from the drum to a take-away conveyor for subsequent, downstream processing. The pieces are retained by suction against molding surfaces of frying mold elements distributed over the periphery of the frying drum.