in fig1 is shown a cooking utensil 1 having a lid 3 with handle or knob 2 . there is a cooking bowl 6 having a base 6a mounted on drive plate 7 . an electrically heated insulated container 8 surrounds the bowl 6 as shown . insulation is by means of air chamber 8a ; and 8b represents the electrical heating elements . overall , the bowl 6 and vessel 8 are enclosed ( as shown ) by container 9 having shroud 5 at the top thereof . shroud 4 acts as a heat deflector . the unit is mounted on stand 10 and there is a support 11 ( see fig2 to 5 for better views thereof ). referring to all drawings , the unit has a base 13 and there is a motor / gearbox 12 for rotating vessel 6 through drive shaft 16 . as illustrated there is a &# 34 ; dog clutch &# 34 ; arrangement in the shaft 16 . the shaft 16 rotates in bush 17 . a boss 15 heads the shaft 16 for locating drive plate 7 thereon . an electric power cord 18 supplies current to the motor and heating elements 8b , via control ( for heating ) 19 . slots 20 provide for air inlet . air flow is as shown by the arrows in fig1 through slots 21 and exit ( outlet ) slots 14 . the unit 1 can be tilted to a 45 - 55 degree angle ( see fig4 ). the cooking utensil 1 does not require a continuously variable tilting device as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 301 , 717 , as it has been found that the preferred inclinations of the vessel are an upright position ( about 85 - 90 degrees ) and an inclined position ( about 45 - 55 degrees ). the angles refer to the inclination of the axis of rotation of container 6 to the horizontal . the speed of the motor can be varied by means of a speed controller ( not shown ) if desired , for cooking contents of different &# 34 ; viscosity &# 34 ;. preferably , the utensil is of a generally spheroidal shape . also , whilst the embodiment has been exemplified by reference to electrical heating , the elements 8b could in fact be steam tubes , or gas lines for natural gas or the like . in exemplary tests of the actual performance of the invention various foods were cooked using an aluminium cooking bowl and electrical heating means . a vegetable soup comprising carrots , potatoes , onions , turnips , celery , with a small amount of water was placed in the pot and rotated at ten revolutions per minute . at the expiry of ten minutes , the resulting soup was served to a panel of five and judged to be properly cooked , palatable , and to have retained the natural flavours . using a higher rate of revolutions viz . eighteen revolutions per minute , the test was repeated and at the end of six minutes , a soup of similar standard was obtained . by comparison preparing a vegetable soup with the same ingredients by conventional methods in a saucepan over an electric stove required some twenty to thirty minutes of cooking with spasmodic stirring to achieve a fully cooked result . by general consensus of the panel , the flavour and palatability of the conventional soup was inferior to the soup prepared by the device of the invention . like experiments were carried out by cooking chicken pieces in a small quantity of water and cooking oil . a properly cooked dish was available after only seven minutes at a speed of twenty - five revolutions per minute and ten minutes at a speed of fifteen revolutions per minute . in a like manner an excellent beef stew was prepared from diced beef pieces in less than eight minutes . having regard to the above examples and to the preparation of other meals it is apparent that the device of this invention has advantages including : 1 . the device cooks more efficiently and faster than cooking utensils in current use . 2 . the device can be used to mix foods before as well as during cooking . 3 . a wide variety of foods from stir - fried chinese cooking to english style custards can be cooked without any sticking to the container , or any burning . 4 . there is less danger of accidents during cooking from confined steam , or hot fat splashing . 5 . when cooking is finished there is no need to scrape the container or to remove it for cleaning -- the food is simply tipped out and the container can be readily cleaned in situ . 6 . if the device is of the electric type , it can be made completely automatically operated on pre - set controls , i . e . temperature , time of heating at various temperatures , speed and amount of rotation can all be pre - set . any suitable materials may be used in the device of the invention and e . g . the cooking bowl may be stainless steel , ceramic or aluminium . it is emphasised that this invention is to be given a wide connotation and is not to be restricted to the embodiments specifically described .
the invention concerns a utensil for cooking food . there is a container provided with an opening for insertion and removal of the foodstuffs to be cooked . the container is mounted on a stand and may be used at an angle of about 90 degrees or about 45 degrees . a speed control to permit stirring of the ingredients is provided . any suitable heating source may be used .