Annular Rotating Roaster

This invention relates to portable charcoal roasters.

Roasting is a popular activity when picnicing and camping. Unfortunately, conventional roasting methods have many defects, including scorching of the meat and smoke and fire produced by melted meat fat dripping on the burning charcoal. According to medical reports, the eating of meat scorched (charcoaled) by direct exposure to fire and the inhalation of cooking smoke are detrimental to human health and may be carcinogenic.

This invention affords an annular rotating charcoal roaster, which may be assembled with a cone-shaped flame separator, that keeps the flame from direct contact with the meat and prevents the dripping of melted meat fat directly on the burning charcoal. The invention device is simple and inexpensive and easily adaptable to mass production.

The roaster is portable and easily disassembled so that it may be cleaned, stored, and the like. It is adapted to be placed directly upon the ground or other suitable place, and therefore has no sealed bottom. A conical smoke separator having inwardly bent scales is optionally provided. A rotating geared assembly is provided on the top of the roaster for transverse movement of the meat being roasted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective and partially cut away view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the roaster comprises a body assembly 1 and a rotating geared assembly 2 removably mounted thereon. In FIG. 2, the body assembly 1 is clearly shown as comprising an outer roaster cylinder 3, an inner roaster cylinder 4 for concentric positioning within the outer roaster cylinder 3, and removable connecting rods 5 having a shallow inverted "U" configuration which connect and space apart the outer and inner cylinders. The connecting rods 5 pass through a plurality of apertures 9, in the outer cylinder 3 and inner cylinder 4, all such apertures being in about the same horizontal plane and in the depicted embodiment there are four connecting rods 5 spaced about 90.degree. apart and in a generally radial direction to the notional central axis of the inner and outer roaster cylinders. As shown, the apertures 9 are all about the same width as the connecting rods 5 but are elongated vertically, so as to facilitate insertion, rotation, and removal of the rods. Both the outer cylinder 3 and the inner cylinder 4 have several horizontal rows of ventilating holes 8 on their lower portions, beneath the apertures 9. The outer cylinder 3 and inner cylinder 4 may each be made of appropriate metal plate formed into a cylinder with the sides joined by rivets or welding. A grate 6 rests horizontally upon the top of the connecting rods 5. The grate 6 substantially covers the space between the inner wall of the outer cylinder 3 and the outer wall of the inner cylinder 4 and therefore is a disc with a cut-out circle at its center. The grate 6 has a plurality of ventilating holes through its surface. A flame separator 7 comprising an inversely tapered frustoconical cylinder may be placed on top of the grate 6. The flame separator 7 has an upper opening corresponding to the inner width of the outer cylinder 3 and a smaller lower opening corresponding to the outer width of the inner cylinder 4, so that it will fit between these cylinders and between the grate 6 and the plates 13. The flame separator 7 has a plurality of semi-circular scales 10 bent upward and inward toward its center and formed from the wall of the cone itself, so that each scale 10 forms an inwardly projecting ledge having an opening 11 beneath it. This construction acts to prevent any direct contact between the flames and the meat, while permittng heated air from the flames to travel through the openings 11 and roast the meat. The rotating geared assembly 2 is removably mounted on the top of the outer cylinder 3. The rotating geared assembly 2 comprises a plurality of operatively associated circular plates 13 which are geared with one another by means of teeth 16 on their respective edges. Each plate 13 has a central mounting hole 15 and the outer cylinder 3 has a plurality of spaced fastening rods 12 corresponding to the number of plates 13, preferably made of tubular metal, vertically mounted on the outside of its upper portion and projecting above the top of the outer cylinder 3 itself. These fastening rods 12 provide axes for the plates 13 which are rotatably and removably mounted thereon through their central holes 15. A turning handle 14 is epicentrically provided on one of the plates 13, which handle may be an upwardly projecting rod. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the rotating assembly comprises six plates 13. However, as would be known to a mechanic of ordinary skill any reasonable number of plates can be afforded, provided that they are mounted in the same plane so that their teeth intermesh and act as gears and provided that they constitute an even number. The necessity for an even number of geared plates 13 is dictated by their forming a circular configuration so that each plate/gear 13 is operatively associated with the plate/gear on either side. The plates 13 may have a plurality of perforations or may comprise a metal mesh center.

In operation, the outer cylinder 3 and inner cylinder 4 are first connected by the connecting rods 5 passed through apertures 9. Then the grate 6 is placed between the cylinders so that it rests upon the connecting rods 5. After charcoal is placed between the cylinders and ignited, the flame separator 7 may be slid over the inner cylinder 4, if desired. The plates 13 are then placed on the fastening rods 12 so that they form an interlocking gear assembly 2 operable by movement of the turning handle 14. Meat or other food to be roasted is then placed across the top of the completed gear assembly 2, so that turning the handle 14 will create forward or reverse transverse horizontal movement of the food, the direction being dependent upon whether the handle 14 rotates the plate clockwise or counterclockwise.