Patents; Several kitchen inventions try to save time and space and reduce guesswork with automation.
By Sabra Chartrand
Published: April 16, 2001
THE typical American kitchen hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. A stove, an oven and a refrigerator were appliance mainstays for most of the 20th century; then the dishwasher became commonplace, followed by the microwave oven. Once each of these machines was introduced, it did not change much, except perhaps to become more economical and quieter.
Now they are often run by computer chips, which are changing the way these universal appliances do their jobs.
The next time the milk is low in the refrigerator, the grocery store may deliver a new gallon before it is entirely gone. Masahiro Sone, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., has won a patent for a refrigerator with an inventory processing system that keeps track of what is inside and what is about to run out and can ring up the grocery store to order more.
Mr. Sone thinks convenience stores and the rise of Internet shopping mean people are looking for more ways to trim time from their shopping responsibilities. He hopes his invention will eliminate the need for a person to go to the store or even take the time to place an electronic grocery order.
The invention also tracks nonperishable items in cupboards. Both the refrigerator and cupboard sections have an array of sensors, an inventory processor with a display, and a telecommunications system. The sensors interpret the quantity or weight of food items.
For example, the weight of a carton of milk can be used to determine how much is left, and thus when milk should be reordered, Mr. Sone writes in his patent. Other sensors may simply detect an item's presence.
Mr. Sone says weight sensors work best with items like milk and laundry detergent, which diminish over time, and presence sensors work best with canned goods, which are removed in their entirety.
As soon as the weight or quantity falls below a particular level, the sensor transmits that information to the processor, where a list of ''desired items'' is compared with the list of ''actual items.'' Anything from the desired list that is missing from the actual inventory goes on the grocery list.
The telecommunications system uses a modem to place the grocery order directly to a store or through a World Wide Web site.
The processor can also add food like eggs, butter or milk to the grocery list if the ones in the refrigerator have been there so long that they have spoiled. Users can modify their ''desired list'' at any time or create a list for special orders.
Mr. Sone won patent 6,204,763 for the Japanese company Jujitsu.
Hate microwave cooking directions? Two inventions are intended to make microwave ovens smart enough to figure out how to cook food so that users don't have to bother with instructions.
Ford Bowers, who lives in Zephyrhills, Fla., has won a patent for a microwave that reads bar codes printed on prepared food packages.
The bar-code reader is set inside the microwave and aimed over the center of its turntable. With a push of a button, the turntable rotates until the bar-code reader detects the symbol.
''Once the bar code is detected, the microprocessor controller loads preset cooking instructions corresponding to the particular product codes of food items and operates the microwave oven according to those instruction,'' Mr. Bowers writes. The microwave automatically sets the power level and timer. Mr. Bowers won patent 6,124,583.
Four inventors have been granted a patent for a microwave oven that can detect how much food is inside and cook it appropriately.
The invention means a person ''does not need to determine the amount of the food by himself,'' or set the cooking time or microwave level.
''The food is cooked under the exact conditions set by the microwave,'' the inventors write in their patent. Those are determined by starting the machine and then measuring the voltage produced by the magnetron, the energy-generating element in a microwave oven. The voltage produced indicates the volume of food inside the oven, and the processor controlling the cooking conditions adjusts them accordingly.
Chul Kim, Tae-soo park, Kwang-seok Kang and Won-woo Lee won patent 6,215,112 for the Samsung Electronics Company.
A sink is not an appliance, but designers at the Maytag Corporation think it could be. They have patented a cooking system that turns a sink into a boiling basin. The patent says it has a ''water inlet and a water outlet'' -- otherwise known as a faucet and drain -- and ''an energy source for heating water introduced into the basin.'' It comes with its own custom colander for holding the food while it cooks.
The inventors point out that poultry, shrimp, eggs, pasta and vegetables are often cooked in boiling water, sometimes in a microwave, but most often in a pot of water on a stove burner.
''Obviously, the use of a surface element to perform this operation makes this surface element unavailable for another cooking operation to be performed at the same time,'' they write in perfect patent application language.
They did not design a dedicated boiler, like a steamer or deep-frying cooker, because that would have created just one more small appliance to store. Instead, they wanted their invention to be ''integrated into a kitchen counter top.''
The sink is filled with water, and the heating element is switched on. Once the water boils, food in a colander is submerged. When it is cooked, ''the container can simply be lifted out of the basin, with any water dripping from the food items being simply caught in the sink,'' the inventors say.
Sage Baker, Simon Potter, Jody Goodman, Michael Cattaui, Jeremy Howard, Luke Michas, Michael Lye, Marc Harrison and Jane Langmuir designed the ''boiling sink cooking system'' for Maytag in Newton, Iowa, and won patent 6,192,791.