Pressure cooker

Claim 1

A pressure cooker comprising a tank positioned within a housing, said tank having plural walls and a floor, the floor of said tank sloping downwardly toward the center thereof from the bottom edges of at least two of said walls, a cover receivable in sealing relation with the top of said tank, a plurality of generally linear strip electrical resistance heater elements mounted to said plural walls on the exterior surfaces thereof, said strip heater elements being spaced one from the other and being disposed generally parallel one to the other, said heater elements being disposed generally parallel to the bottom edges of said at least two walls, and the lowest of said heater elements on each of said at least two walls being spaced above the bottom edge of said wall from which said floor slopes downwardly, a heat reflector panel associated with each of said plural walls, said panel having a coefficient of heat reflectivity between about 0.7 and about 1.0, said heat reflector panels being spaced from said tank walls so as to define an air space between said panels and said tank walls around the periphery of said tank, and said plural walls, said heater elements and said reflector panels functioning to define a hot air blanket for each of said plural walls when said cooker is in use to enhance control and homogeneity of the cooking temperature within the tank as established by said heater elements, an electric circuit that includes said heater elements, said electric circuit cooperating with said heater elements for applying heat to said tank, and insulation interposed between said heat reflector panels and said housing.