Dual conveyor oven

Abstract

The oven of the present invention is a low profile, dual .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.oven including an oven cabinet, two closely spaced .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and an air heating and circulation system. The .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and the oven cabinet are adapted so that the .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.can be easily removed .[.from the.]. from the front or side of the oven cabinet. The oven cabinet houses the .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors.Iaddend., ducts and manifolds which all can be easily removed for cleaning or other maintenance. Each of the .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.include separately controlled drive motors capable of driving .[.the.]. each of .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.at different speeds and in different directions. The air heating and circulation system features a transverse mounted burner tube, side mounted return air ducts, a central return air opening, common shaft mounted side fed dual centrifugal fans and hot air manifolds. The hot air manifolds are fed from the rear by the dual centrifugal fans and are adapted to surround the two closely spaced .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and supply those closely spaced .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.with hot cooking air within a space having a very limited vertical dimension.

I claim: 
     
       1. A low profile .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.oven comprising an oven cabinet, two .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors.Iaddend., a fan box, an air heater, air return passages, two sets of manifolds and two centrifugal fans; said oven cabinet adapted for supporting said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors.Iaddend.,   said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.each having a direction of travel and each disposed transversely within the front of said oven cabinet one over the other;   said fan box disposed behind said oven cabinet, said heater for heating hot cooking air, said air return passages in communication with said oven cabinet and said fan box for returning air from said oven cabinet to said fan box and said heater for reheating;   said two sets of manifolds each having three hot air manifolds adapted to surround said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and provide hot cooking air thereto; and   said centrifugal fans adapted for rotation about a generally common axis of rotation substantially parallel to said direction of travel of said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors.Iaddend., said centrifugal fans also having three channeled plenums for directing hot cooking air into each of said three hot air manifolds of said two sets of manifolds.   
     
     
       2. A low profile .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.oven as set forth in claim 1 further comprising an oven cabinet having an openable front panel and two side walls, each of said side walls having a bottom cantilevered portion a top cantilevered portion and a center cantilevered portion adapted to receive said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.from the front or either side of said oven cabinet.   
     
     
       3. A low profile, dual .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.oven comprising an oven cabinet, two closely spaced .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and an air heating and circulation system; each of said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.having a drive means;   said oven cabinet having an openable front panel and two side walls, each of said side walls having a bottom cantilevered portion a top cantilevered portion and a center cantilevered portion adapted to receive said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.from the front or either side of said oven; and   said air heating and circulation system having a fan box, burner tube mounted in said fan box for heating hot cooking air, side mounted return air ducts and a central return air opening, at least two side fed centrifugal fans mounted on a common shaft, plenums and hot air manifolds, each of said side fed centrifugal fans adapted to draw air in along said common shaft and expel a stream of air in to each of said plenums, each of said plenums adapted to distribute hot cooking into said hot air manifolds, said hot air manifolds adapted to surround said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.and supply said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.with said hot cooking air, said hot cooking air returning through said side mounted air ducts and through said return air opening to said fan box for reheating by said burner tube.   
     
     
       4. The low profile, dual .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.oven of claim 3 further comprising .[.conveyer.]. .Iadd.conveyor .Iaddend.drive means wherein each of said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.are separately driven by a separately controlled drive motor capable of driving each of said .[.conveyers.]. .Iadd.conveyors .Iaddend.at different speeds and in different directions. .Iadd.5. A low profile conveyor oven for cooking a food product as it moves on a conveyor, comprising: an oven cabinet having front and back walls, said walls with openings therein for passage of the conveyors;   at least two conveyors positioned longitudinally in the cabinet and extending through said openings;   a fan box positioned along the back wall containing heating and air circulation systems;   at least one centrifugal fan positioned in said box rotating on a shaft substantially parallel to said conveyor's direction of travel, said fan capable of drawing air through its ends said discharging a hot stream laterally toward and along said conveyors;   at least one plenum chamber connected to the fan discharge flow dividing the flow into at least three paths;   at least hot air manifolds in said oven cabinet connected to said plenum chamber extending substantially over, under and between said conveyors supplying jets of cooking air toward both the bottom and top of the conveyors;   return passages in said oven chamber connected to said fan box; an air heater in said fan box; and   separate drive means connected to each conveyor for driving the conveyors. .Iaddend..Iadd.6. A low profile conveyor oven as set forth in claim 5 wherein the front wall of the oven cabinet has an openable panel for removal of the conveyors and said two side walls, each have cantilevered portions open to the front wall which are adapted to receive said support     
     
     
        said conveyors. .Iaddend..Iadd.7.  A low profile dual conveyor oven of claim 5 wherein the conveyor drive means on each conveyor are separately driven by separately controlled drive motors capable of driving each of said conveyors at different speeds and in different directions. .Iaddend..Iadd.8. The low profile, dual conveyor oven of claim 5 wherein said air return passages include ducts mounted within said oven cabinet with outlets approximate said side wall openings. .Iaddend..Iadd.9. A low profile conveyor oven for cooking a food product as it moves on a conveyor, comprising: an oven cabinet having front and back walls, side walls with openings therein for passage of a conveyor;   at least one conveyor positioned longitudinally in the cabinet and extending through said openings;   the front wall of the cabinet having an openable panel for removal of the conveyors and the two side walls having cantilevered portions open to the front wall which are adapted to receive and support said conveyor. .Iaddend..Iadd.10. A low profile conveyor oven as set forth in claim 9 including removable support members positioned between the free ends of the cantilevered portions of the side walls defining one side of the side wall openings. .Iaddend..Iadd.11. A low profile conveyor oven for cooking a food product as it moves on a conveyor, comprising:   an oven cabinet having front and back walls, side walls with openings therein for passage of the conveyors;   at least one conveyor positioned longitudinally in the cabinet and extending through said openings;   a fan box positioned along the back wall containing heating and air circulation systems;   at least one centrifugal fan positioned in said box rotating on a shaft substantially parallel to said conveyor's direction of travel, said fan capable of drawing air through its ends and discharging a hot stream laterally toward and along said conveyor;   at least one plenum chamber connected to the fan discharge flow dividing the flow into at least two paths;   at least two hot air manifolds in said oven cabinet connected to said plenum chamber extending substantially over and under said conveyor supplying jets of cooking air toward both the bottom and top of the conveyor;   return air passages in said oven cabinet connected to said fan box; an air heater in said fan box; and   separate drive means connected to each conveyor for driving the conveyor. .Iaddend.