GARY LEE MERCER
Pilots at Lakengren Dr, Eaton, OH

6454176, Sep 24, 2002

Sep 28, 2000

09/671700

Douglas A. Burkett - Eaton OH
James W. Meeks - Arcanum OH
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH
Craig J. Vagedes - Dayton OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

B01F 302

236 44A, 392403, 454239

A holding cabinet with closed-loop humidity control system and method for controlling humidity in a holding cabinet are disclosed. According to an embodiment, the method comprises determining a relative humidity set point; activating a heater in a fluid pan; determining if a fluid is present in the fluid pan; measuring the relative humidity in the cabinet; and maintaining the relative humidity within a predetermined range. According to another embodiment, a holding cabinet with a closed-loop humidity control system includes a holding cabinet; an air temperature probe for measuring an air temperature within the holding cabinet; a humidity sensor for measuring a humidity within the holding cabinet; a heater for heating air within the holding cabinet to a predetermined temperature; an air fan for circulating the air and for introducing air from outside the holding cabinet; and a water pan for holding water within the holding cabinet.

5556567, Sep 17, 1996

May 9, 1994

8/239524

Tim A. Landwehr - West Alexandria OH
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH
Joseph P. Miklos - Germantown OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

H05B 650

219779

A control system for controlling the heating of a product in a dielectric oven comprises at least one dielectric heating circuit including an electromagnetic energy source, such as a triode vacuum tube, having an anode and a resonant circuit including at least one inductor and at least a pair of capacitors. Each capacitor includes two capacitor plates and one of these capacitor plates is moveable, such that each pair of capacitors forms a variable capacitor in which the product to be heated is a dielectric. The system also includes at least one ammeter for measuring actual anode current at the anode. A motor is used to increase or decrease a distance between the plates of at least one of said capacitors, thereby adjusting the electromagnetic energy delivered to the product. A processor receives ammeter measurements, whereby the distance between the pair of capacitor plates is adjusted to increase or decrease the actual anode current. The processor also receives, stores, and retrieves a requested anode current and compares the requested anode current to the actual anode current to determine whether to increase or decrease the distance between the pair of capacitor plates.

2013009, Apr 25, 2013

Oct 21, 2011

13/278971

Keith LAMBERT - Lebanon OH, US
Gary L. MERCER - Eaton OH, US
Tim A. LANDWEHR - West Alexandria OH, US

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

A47J 37/12, B01D 37/04

210744, 99408, 99330

A fryer apparatus includes a cooking chamber, at least one heating element in the cooking chamber, a filter pan that filters cooking medium from the cooking chamber, a drain valve that controls flow of cooking medium from the cooking chamber, and a filter pump that pumps filtered cooking medium from the filter pan to the cooking chamber. Inlet orifices are disposed in the cooking chamber, and selectively eject filtered cooking medium into the cooking chamber. A controller controls the drain valve to adjust the rate of flow from the cooking chamber, and selectively activates at least inlet orifice of the plurality of inlet orifices to eject filtered cooking medium into the cooking chamber. The controller is configured to control the drain valve and the selective activation of the at least one inlet orifice to maintain a substantially constant level of cooking medium in the cooking chamber throughout a filtering operation.

5352865, Oct 4, 1994

Nov 9, 1992

7/972771

Douglas A. Burkett - Eaton OH
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

H05B 102

219486

A method and apparatus is disclosed which automatically adjusts the on-time of preferably quartz lamp heating elements in an oven having both quartz lamp and electric heating elements. In such an oven having dual heating elements, the temperature of the oven's cavity increases when numerous food items (loads) are rapidly cooked in succession. The present invention allows a dual heating element oven to automatically compensate for these increases in temperature by preferably shortening a predetermined on-time of the quartz bulbs. The on-time is continuously compensated using a microcomputer, dependent upon the current oven temperature. The microcomputer preferably uses at least two clocks to shorten the predetermined on-time of the quartz bulbs.

5317130, May 31, 1994

Aug 19, 1991

7/746910

Doug Burkett - Eaton OH
Gary Mercer - Eaton OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

H05B 102

219497

A method and apparatus is disclosed which automatically adjusts the on-time of preferably quartz lamp heating elements in an oven having both quartz lamp and electric heating elements. In such an oven having dual heating elements, the temperature of the oven's cavity increases when numerous food items (loads) are rapidly cooked in succession. The present invention allows a dual heating element oven to automatically compensate for these increases in temperature by preferably shortening a predetermined on-time of the quartz bulbs. The on-time is continuously compensated using a microcomputer, dependent upon the current oven temperature. The microcomputer preferably uses at least two clocks to shorten the predetermined on-time of the quartz bulbs.

2011016, Jul 14, 2011

May 12, 2010

12/778631

Trent ABNEY - Eaton OH, US
Steve WERTS - Eaton OH, US
Tim LANDWEHR - Eaton OH, US
Gary SUMMONS - Eaton OH, US
Gary MERCER - Eaton OH, US

A47J 37/12

99408

A cooking apparatus includes a first and second cooking vessel, a drain manifold connecting the first and second cooking vessel to a drain container for storing cooking medium, a first drain valve and second drain valve configured to connect the first and second cooking vessel with the drain container. A first drain lever selectively opens and closes the first drain valve, and a second drain lever selectively opens and closes the second drain valve. A first and second drain lever indicator indicate an operational status of the first and second drain valves, respectively. A controller monitors the first and second drain valve. When the first drain valve is open, the second drain lever indicator indicates a warning when the second drain lever is operated. When the second drain valve is open, the first drain lever indicator indicates a warning when the first drain lever is operated.

6322831, Nov 27, 2001

Sep 28, 2000

9/670713

Ned M. Mote - Laura OH
William M. Casey - Kettering OH
James D. King - Kettering OH
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

A47J 3712

426231

The invention is a basket lifting apparatus having a supporting beam mounted substantially perpendicular and adjacent to an upper rear edge of a vat and a pair of supporting chamber extending perpendicular to the supporting beam and above and parallel to the upper rear edge of the vat. A motor is suspended from each of the supporting chambers, and a drive shaft from each motor extends into the associated supporting chamber. A jacking screw is rotatably mounted on and extends below each of the supporting chambers. A combination of gears and a drive chain transfers the rotational movement of the drive shaft to rotational movement of the jacking screw, and a shielding sleeve engages threads on the jacking screw, such that the sleeve is raised or lowered by the rotational movement of the jacking screw. Each sleeve includes a fixing pin or bolt for engaging a basket mounting hinge.

7363502, Apr 22, 2008

Apr 10, 2002

10/119195

Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH, US

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

H05B 1/02

713184

In one embodiment of the present invention, a system for powering up a controller is described. The system includes a power source, a heat generator adapted to receive power from the power source, and a controller adapted to receive power from the power source and adapted to detect a power interruption from the power source and the controller. The controller includes a clock for continuously monitoring a current time and a current date, software for copying the current time and current date, and a memory for storing the current time and the current date. The controller also includes software for calculating a length of time between the detected power interruption and a power restoration from the power source to the controller, and a password system for preventing unauthorized power restoration from the power source to the heat generator when the length of time is greater than a predetermined length of time.

2008012, May 29, 2008

Nov 27, 2006

11/563656

Joseph J. Tiszai - Fairfield OH, US
Robert T. Wood - Tipp City OH, US
Robert W. Stirling - Dayton OH, US
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH, US
Douglas A. Burkett - Eaton OH, US
Tim A. Landwehr - West Alexandria OH, US

HENNY PENNY CORPORATION - Eaton OH

A47J 37/12

99334

An automatic cooking medium level control system for a cooking apparatus, e.g., a fryer, may include a cooking vessel having a first temperature sensor at a first level of the cooking vessel and a second temperature sensor at a second level of the cooking vessel. A reservoir holding a cooking medium, such as cooking oil, may be in fluid communication with the cooking vessel. A controller may monitor temperature data from the first and second temperature sensors to determine whether the level of cooking oil in the cooking vessel has lowered. Upon determining that the cooking oil level has lowered, the controller may actuate a supply mechanism, such as a pump, which may be disposed on a fluid communication path between the reservoir and cooking vessel, which may enable the introduction of cooking medium from the reservoir to the to the cooking vessel.

5688422, Nov 18, 1997

Apr 28, 1995

8/430718

Tim A. Landwehr - West Alexandria OH
Gary L. Mercer - Eaton OH

Henny Penny Corporation - Eaton OH

H05B 102

219491

A cooking device for cooking food comprising a cavity, a heating element disposed in the cavity, a temperature sensor for determining the temperature in the cooking device and a fan operable in at least three modes, an OFF mode, a HI mode and a LO mode to move air in the cooking device. A fan control device is provided to operate the fan in LO mode by pulsing the fan on for a first predetermined mount of time every second predetermined amount of time to ensure continuous movement of the fan.