US2970589A - Food hydration and cooking assembly - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 7, 1961 w. w. CUSHMAN FOOD HYDRATION AND COOKING ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 25, 1958 INVENTOR Walton W C'uslunalz ATTORNEY United States Patent FOOD HYDRATION AND COOKING ASSEMBLY Walton W. Cushrnan, Webb City, Mo. (6428 Lumar Drive SE., Washington 22, D.C.)

Filed Feb. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 717,537

2 Claims. (Cl. 126-195) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My present invention relates to a food hydration and cooking assembly and method. It has to do particularly, although not exclusively, with such an assembly which is of a portable nature capable of being moved about from place to place for use with the engines of various types and kinds of motorized vehicles, employing heat from the exhaust gases of such engines to effect the hydration and cooking of the food.

The use of dehydrated foods has become widespread within recent years by both military and civilian groups.

In connection with military bivouacs, for example, field kitchens, as such, are seldom ever used and since dehydrated foods are used in place of freshly cooked foods, it is desirable to provide some kind of portable means for hydrating and cooking, or Warming, the dehydrated food to be served to the personnel at the site of the bivouac. Accompany the personnel are usually a number of motorized Vehicles of various kinds and types.

It is, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention to provide'new and improved means and a method for hydrating and cooking, or warming, dehydrated foods of various kinds.

Another object of the invention is to provide means as specified in the preceding paragraph which is capable of utilizing heat from the exhaust gases from the engine of any one or more of the motorized vehicles included in the bivouac, or maneuver, to hydrate and cook, or warm, the dehydrated food for the personnel of the bivouae.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved food hydrator and cooker, or warmer assembly, which can be easily and quickly attached to and disconnected from the exhaust manifold of an engine without requiring any change or alteration of either the assembly or exhaust manifold, and without requiring the use of any special tools or equipment for the purpose.

Another object is to provide an assembly as mentioned above which includes a baffled steam and liquid-containing chamber into and through which exhaust gases pass to provide heat for cooking or warming food located within a chamber or vessel immediately adjacent the baffled steam and liquid-containing chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide an im proved assembly as aforesaid having flexible, liquidcooled or tempered, conduit means for attaching or connecting the assembly to an engine exhaust manifold; it being a further object of this invention to provide an assembly of the foregoing character which is of relatively simple construction, easily assembled and disassembled, and one which can be mass-produced at relatively low cost.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following descripice tion and appended claims, when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly broken away, of one adaptation of the hydration and cooking assembly of the present invention, being shown detachably connected with the tail pipe of an engine exhaust manifold.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of an internal combustion engine showing the assembly connected to the exhaust pipe intermediate the ends of said pipe.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on a reduced scale taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale taken substantially along the line 44 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the assembly and connecting means, illustrating the details of the food and exhaust gas-receiving chambers and of the liquidcooled flexible conduit means, showing the in operation location of the liquid.

With particular reference to Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5 of the drawing, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this form, the assembly is adapted to be detachably connected to the tail pipe of the exhaust line of a vehicle engine such, for example, as that shown at in Fig. 2.

In Figs. 1 and 5 the assembly is shown as including a vessel or recptacle 14 which may or may not be divided into sections or compartments (not shown). The Vessel 14- is removably mounted upon a hollow base member 15 having a surrounding flange 16 within which the bottom portion of vessel 14 rests or seats, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. A removable lid or cover 17, having a handle 18 riveted at 19 to the lid, rests and fits within an upper flange 16a on the vessel 14. The bottom wall 20 of the base unit 15 has an upright tubular stack or pipe 21 fixed thereto and which extends upwardly above said bottom wall and into the hollow base 15. It also extends below the bottom wall as shown at 22 to depend therefrom, see Fig. 5. The tubular inlet stack, or member 21, 22, has a series of spaced holes or openings 21a therein, see Figs. 4 and 5 and is rigidly fixed to thebase in any suitable manner, as by a weld line, or solder 23. The bottom wall 20 carries a similar outlet stack or tube 24 which is imperforate and which also extends above and below said bottom wall. It may be secured to the bottom 20 by a weld line or solder 25. These exposed, or depending members 22 and 24 provide means for the attachment and support of flexible tubing which may be formed from plastic, such as silicone tubing, as explained below.

When the vessel 14 is positioned or nested upon the base member 15, a space or chamber 8 is provided between bottom wall 14a of vessel 14 and the bottom wall 20 of the base member 15. This space 8 serves as the liquid and steam generating and circulating chamber for the assembly, as will be explained later.

The space or chamber 8 between the members 14 and 15 is provided with baflle means for breaking up and directing, or controlling, the flow or travel of exhaust gases which are conducted to the said space from the exhaust side or manifold 11 of an internal combustion engine 9 with which the assembly of the invention is connected.

In the present embodiment, the baffie means is shown as being attached, carried by, and thus removable with, the food-receiving vessel 14, such being attached to the bottom wall 14a, thereof, see Fig. 5. As shown, a short sleeve or tube 26 is welded, or otherwise attached to the underface of bottom wall. 14a and depends therefrom.

The lower end of tube 26 is welded to a foraminous disklike plate or member 27 having an oil-center opening therein to receive the stack 21, 22. Tube 26 has a series .of openings orperforations 26a formed therein near its lower end and the plate 27 has a plurality of perforations or openings 27a therein and a secondofi-center hole or opening which is adapted to telescope over the second stack 24. When members 14 and 15 are assembled, as shown in Fig. 5, the short' tube 26 is spaced from the upstanding stack 21 to permit the circulation of liquid, steam and gases in the space above and surrounding the stack 21. The perforate disk 27 is suspended in a substantially horizontal plane in a position above and slightly spaced from the bottom wall 20 of unit 15, as shown.

Exhaust gases from an engine, such as 9, pass through exhaust tail pipe 12a and enter a flexible hose, preferably a'plastichose, such as silicone tubing. As seen in Fig. 5, this tubing is double, i.e., an outside tube 28 and a spaced inside tube 29, are held in spaced relationship by an interposed spirally arranged wire or spring 30. The upper end portion of the inside tube 29 is telescoped within the stack 21, 22 and held in place by an expansion lock ring,'or the like 31. The upper end portion of the outside, or larger diameter tube is telescoped over the stack lower portion 22 and held thereto by a compression or clamping ring, or the like 32.

The lower end portion of the inside tube 29 is telescoped within the larger end of a tapered single tube section or member 35 and held in position by an expanding ring or member 34. The outside and longer tube member 28 has its lower end portion telescoped over the larger end of tube section 35 and is held in position by a compression ring, clamp, or band 33. Thus, the section 35 is clamped to the two tubes by the rings or bands 33 and 34.

The purpose of using the tapered tube section 35 is to permit the assembly to be quickly and easily brought into communication with the exhaust of an engine. An exhaust pipe, such as is shown at 12 in Fig. 2, usually has what is referred to as a tail pipe 12a, also seen in Fig. 1, and in connecting the assembly, the tapered tube section 35 is simply telescoped within the tail pipe 12a, as shown. By virtue of such, a quick and satisfactory connection can be effected and the assembly can, of course, be readily disconnected.

Fig. 2 of the drawing illustrates a modified manner of connecting the cooking assembly to an exhaust line. In this embodiment, the tapered tube section 35a is telescoped into a T-coupling 13 in exhaust pipe line 12. When disconnected, a threaded closure plug (not shown) would supplant the tube section 35a to seal the exhaust line.

The cooking assembly of the present invention is of a portable type and the size of the vessel 14 and its supporting base member, or boiler 15, may be varied in accordance with requirements. .In use, water or other liquid is placed in the hollow base 15 in a quantity sufficient to reach a level as indicated at W in Fig. 5. The tapered end tube section 35 is frictionally connected to the exhaust line 12, 13, or 12a, with the single tubing 36 having its discharge end (not shown) located at a distance from the cooking assembly so as to carry off the spent exhaust gases as they issue from the chamber 8 of the base unit 15. Some of the liquid in base 15 flows through openings 21a into the space between the dual tubes 28 and 29. This liquid helps to maintain the temperatures to which the tubing is subjected by the exhaust gases (indicated by arrows, Fig. at a low enough degree to prevent damage to said tubing.

By reason of the arrangement of the bafile plate or disk 27, the positioning of the stacks 21 and 24 and the short tube 26, together with the presence of the liquid in chamber 8, as clearly shown in the drawing, the normally excessive heat of the exhaust gases entering from dual tubing 28, 29, will be reduced or dissipated, due to its bubbling action through the water, or other liquid in boiler and its required circuitous course, or path through the liquid on its way to be discharged through the outlet stack 24 and discharge tubing 36. The level of water in the chamber 8 will remain substantially constant due to the presence of condensation of the liquid in the exhaust gases. Moreover, water, or other liquid will always be present in the space between the tubes 28 and 29.

When the dehydrated food is placed into the vessel 14, a suitable quantity of water, or other desirable liquid, is emptied into the vessel along with the food.

I claim:

1. In a portable food hydration and cooking assembly whose heat is derived from the exhaust gases of an engine having a conventional exhaust manifold, the combination of a hollow base, a food-receiving receptacle mounted on said hollow base and having a bottom wall within the base, inlet conduit means attached to the base and adapted to be connected to the engine exhaust manifold for conducting exhaust gases into the hollow base, separate outlet means also attached to the base for conducting the exhaust gases away from said base, and foraminous bafile means including a disk-like perforate plate attached to and supported by the receptacle bottom wall and being disposed within the base in substantial parallelism to and spaced above the bottom wall of said base for directing and distributing the exhaust gases throughout said hollow base, said base containing a body of liquid which is maintained at a substantially constant level by the condensation of liquid in the exhaust gases and through which the incoming gases must pass before escaping therefrom whereby to provide a rapid heat buildup and maintain the temperature of said liquid at sub the base, inlet conduit means attached'to the base. and

adapted to be connected to the engine exhaust manifold for conducting exhaust gases into the hollow base, sepa rate outlet means also attached to the base for conducting the exhaust gases away from said base, and foraminous baflle means including a perforate plate suspended from the bottom wall of the food-receiving receptacle disposed within the base and being located adjacent the bottom wall thereof, said plate having oif-center openings therein, exhaust gas inlet and outlet stacks carried by the bottom wall of the hollow base and being in registry with said off-center openings, said bafile means serving to direct and distribute the exhaust gases throughout said hollow base, said base containing a body of liquid which is maintained at a substantially constant level by the condensation of liquid in the exhaust gases and through which the incoming gases must pass before escaping therefrom whereby to provide a rapid heat build-up and maintain the temperature of said liquid at substantially the boiling point of water for hydration purposes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 252,787 McCall Jan. 24, 1882 377,607 Foster Feb. 7, 1888 572,254 Gold Dec. 1, 1896 592,017 McCauley et al. Oct. 19, 1897 707,908 Dunham et a1 Aug. 26, 1902 861,550 Strang July 30, 1907 (Other references on following page) I UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Patchell et a1. Ian. 23, Richheimer Dec. 24, Parsons Apr. 21, Henschel Ian. 13, Maihack May 18, Brescka Apr. 2, Alessandro Oct. 24, Hurd Jan. 19, Dean Oct. 23.

Images