Electric heat exchange cooking apparatus

Claim 1

An electric cooking system for use, selectively, with one at a time of plurality of different cooking receptacles, comprising, in combination, a heat exchange member, said heat exchange member having an upper heat exchange surface, housing means for supporting said heat exchange member, a layer of thermal insulation between the underside of said heat exchange member and said housing means, a plurality of cooking receptacles, each for a different cooking purpose, each of said cooking receptacles having a heat exchange undersurface area, a heat collector base member fixed with respect to said heat exchange undersurface, said heat exchange undersurface having substantially the same surface configuration as that of said upper heat exchange surface, means for releasably interconnecting said heat collector base members and their respective associated cooking receptacles, one at a time, with said heat exchange member so that their respective heat exchange surfaces are in intimate contact, said heat exchange member being circular and of cast metal, an electrical heating element embedded in said cast metal, said electrical heating element being of elongated configuration bent to define substantially circular, concentric, inner and outer electric heating element portions within said cast metal, a cylindrical electrical sensor projecting upwardly through a central opening in said cast metal and being thermally insulated from said cast metal, resilient means urging the upwardly-projecting surface of said electrical sensor into intimate abutting contact with the heat exchange surface of a selected cooking receptacle interconnected with said heat exchange member, means for measuring the temperature sensed by said electrical sensor, and means for energizing said heating element.