Baking oven for bread

Claim 2

An oven for finishing and crusting partly baked bread, comprising: a baking chamber having a pair of opposite end walls respectively provided with an entrance slot and an exit slot for elongate loaves of partly baked bread; endless conveyor means disposed between said end walls within said chamber with an upper run substantially at the level of said entrance and exit slots for transporting said loaves from the former to the latter, said conveyor means including a multiplicity of closely juxtaposed rollers independently rotatable about axes perpendicular to the transport direction, said rollers having axially spaced end members interconnected by peripherally separated loaf-supporting members defining along said upper run a generally horizontal supporting surface with downwardly converging gaps; drive means for moving said conveyor with codirectional rotation of said rollers at least along said upper run whereby loaves cradled in said gaps are continuously turned about their own axes on passing from said entrance slot to said exit slot; and heat-radiating means in said chamber above said upper run.

Claim 3

An oven as defined in claim 1 wherein said conveyor means comprises a pair of parallel endless transport chains fitted with equispaced bearings, said rollers being provided with shafts having extremities journaled in said bearings, said drive means including a toothed wheel on each roller shaft and a rack extending along said upper run for periodic engagement with the toothed wheel of each roller shaft.

Claim 4

An oven as defined in claim 2 wherein said rack forms a substantially horizontal reach of an ancillary endless chain, said drive means including a transmission linking said ancillary and transport chains for displacement of said reach against said transport direction.

Claim 5

An oven as defined in claim 1 wherein said end members and loaf-supporting members form a squirrel cage.

Claim 6

An oven as defined in claim 1 wherein said loaf-supporting members have a length substantially equaling that of said entrance and exit slots.

Claim 7

An oven as defined in claim 1, further comprising a heat shield disposed in said chamber underneath said upper run.

Claim 8

An oven as defined in claim 1 wherein said entrance and exit slots are provided with chutes approaching said upper run.

Claim 9

An oven for finishing and crusting partly baked bread, comprising: a baking chamber having a pair of opposite end walls respectively provided with an entrance slot and an exit slot for elongate loaves of partly baked bread; endless conveyor means disposed between said end walls within said chamber with an upper run substantially at the level of said entrance and exit slots for transporting said loaves from the former to the latter, said conveyor means including a pair of endless transport chains fitted with equispaced bearings and a multiplicity of closely juxtaposed rollers with shafts having extremities journaled in said bearings for independent rotation about axes perpendicular to the transport direction, said rollers defining along said upper run a generally horizontal supporting surface with downwardly converging gaps; a tooThed wheel on each roller shaft; an ancillary endless chain with a substantially horizontal reach forming a rack extending along said upper run for periodic engagement with the toothed wheel of each roller shaft; drive means for moving said conveyor with codirectional rotation of said rollers at least along said upper run whereby loaves cradled in said gaps are continuously turned about their own axes on passing from said entrance slot to said exit slot, said drive means including a transmission linking said ancillary and transport chains for displacement of said reach against said transport direction; and heat-radiating means in said chamber above said upper run.

Claim 10

An oven for finishing and crusting partly baked bread, comprising: a baking chamber having a pair of opposite end walls respectively provided with an entrance slot and an exit slot for elongate loaves of partly baked bread; endless conveyor means disposed between said end walls within said chamber with an upper run substantially at the level of said entrance and exit slots for transporting said loaves from the former to the latter, said conveyor means including a pair of endless transport chains fitted with equispaced bearings and a multiplicity of closely juxtaposed rollers with shafts having extremities journaled in said bearings for independent rotation about axes perpendicular to the transport direction, said rollers defining along said upper run a generally horizontal supporting surface with downwardly converging gaps; a tooThed wheel on each roller shaft; an ancillary endless chain with a substantially horizontal reach forming a rack extending along said upper run for periodic engagement with the toothed wheel of each roller shaft; drive means for moving said conveyor with codirectional rotation of said rollers at least along said upper run whereby loaves cradled in said gaps are continuously turned about their own axes on passing from said entrance slot to said exit slot, said drive means including a transmission linking said ancillary and transport chains for displacement of said reach against said transport direction; and heat-radiating means in said chamber above said upper run.

Claim 11

An oven as defined in claim 8 wherein said chamber has thermally insulated sidewalls provided with endless slots traversed by said extremities, said transport chains and drive means being disposed outside said chamber along said sidewalls.

Claim 12

An oven as defined in claim 9, further comprising an outer housing spacedly surrounding said chamber and forming a pair of lateral compartments for said transport chains and drive means, said housing being further provided with ducts alongside said chamber for the circulation of cooling air past said compartments.

Claim 13

An oven as defined in claim 10 wherein said ducts are provided with blower means and are in communication with said chamber for deviating part of the air delivered by said blower means into the interior of said chamber.

Claim 14

An oven as defined in claim 11 wherein said heat-radiating means form an array of radiators overlying said rollers, said array being separated from said entrance slot by a preheating zone swept by a convection current of hot air from the interior of said chamber.

Claim 15

An oven as defined in claim 12 wherein said radiators are infrared lamps elongated transversely to the transport direction.