US 11,937,735 B2
Reconfigurable food warming assembly
Jill Hundley, Sheboygan, WI (US); Thomas David VanDerPuy, Sheboygan, WI (US); Jeffrey T. Zank, Germantown, WI (US); Kirk Michael Komendat, West Henrietta, NY (US); Kristin Blada, Howards Grove, WI (US); and Ian Robert Ecclestone, Oostburg, WI (US)
Assigned to The Vollrath Company, L.L.C., Sheboygan, WI (US)
Filed by The Vollrath Company, L.L.C., Sheboygan, WI (US)
Filed on Aug. 7, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/988,186.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/884,232, filed on Aug. 8, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0038018 A1, Feb. 11, 2021
Int. Cl. A47J 36/24 (2006.01); H05B 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC A47J 36/2483 (2013.01) [H05B 3/0076 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A food station, comprising:
a base configured to support a food product;
a frame coupled to the base, the frame including a longitudinal member having a length extending in a longitudinal direction; and
a heat strip module coupled to the longitudinal member, the heat strip module comprising:
a housing;
a heating element coupled to the housing and configured to emit energy to heat the food product, wherein the heating element has a length that extends along a main axis of the heating element from a first end of the heating element to a second end of the heating element and a width that is less than the length of the heating element; and
a reflector coupled to the housing and configured to redirect a portion of the energy emitted by the heating element downward toward the food product,
wherein the heat strip module is selectively rotatable relative to the longitudinal member about a substantially vertical axis between a first orientation in which the main axis of the heating element extends parallel to the longitudinal member and a second orientation in which the main axis of the heating element is not parallel to the longitudinal member, wherein the heat strip module is configured to emit the energy in both the first orientation and the second orientation, and wherein the substantially vertical axis is centered between the first end and the second end.