French frying machine having rotary food-conveying drum

Claim 1

In a French frying machine which includes a cabinet, an open top cooking well defined in part by an arcuate bottom wall, and means for circulating hot cooking oil through said well; that improvement which comprises a generally horizontally disposed, cylindrical, food-conveying drum removably supported in said cabinet for axial rotation and having a lower segment thereof positioned within said cooking well in closely spaced, concentric relation to the bottom wall of said well, said drum including a pair of axially spaced apart, circular and perforate end members connected by a plurality of axially extending, U-shaped walls disposed in nonradial relation to the axis of said drum and defining thereon a series of longitudinally extending, circumferentially spaced, outwardly opening pockets into which one or more pieces of food may be placed for rotational traverse through the cooking well of said machine, the pockets of said drum being so arranged as to cause food positioned therein to be discharged outwardly therefrom by gravity as said pockets clear the cooking well of said machine during rotation of said drum; and means in said machine detachably engaging said drum and for driving said drum in axial rotation.