Waffle maker

Abstract

A waffle maker has upper and lower baking plates each of which is powered with at least one heating element for baking waffle. A power control unit responds to a temperature sensing unit to control power applied to the heaters and to maintain the heating plates both before and after each baking cycle at a manually pre-selected temperature. A manually adjustable timer controls the duration of the baking cycle.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A waffle maker comprising an upper waffle forming plate and a lower waffle forming plate, at least one heating element in each of said waffle forming plates, each of said waffle forming plates having a recessed waffle forming surface, said plates having a closed waffle baking condition with said waffle forming surfaces disposed toward each other, each of said waffle forming surfaces having a raised pattern of spaced metallic projections to act as a mold which in combination result in a waffle being formed between said surfaces with the formed waffle thereby having thin vertical and horizontal ribs that join to form pockets, said waffle forming surfaces of said plates being spaced apart in said closed position to create an overall spacing between said recessed waffle forming surfaces on the order of one inch and to create vertical and horizontal waffle ribs which are less than 0.3 inches thick with the vertical ribs of the waffle being at an angle of less than 20°. 
     
     
         2 . A waffle maker according to  claim 1  including a latching structure connecting said upper waffle forming plate to said lower waffle forming plate in such a manner that allows but limits said upper plate to rise only a predetermined amount when said plates are in said closed baking position to thereby limit the maximum thickness of the horizontal ribs of the waffle. 
     
     
         3 . A waffle maker comprising an upper waffle forming plate and a lower waffle forming plate juxtaposed to each other to form a waffle therebetween, each of said waffle forming plates having at least one heating element, latching structure connecting said upper and lower waffle plates to each other to restrict the amount of separation of said upper plate from said lower plate when said plates are in a waffle baking and forming position, said upper and lower waffle forming plates having waffle forming surfaces which are disposed toward each other in said waffle baking position, said recessed waffle forming surface of each of said plates having a pattern of spaced metallic projections to act as a mold which in combination create a waffle therebetween which has a complementary shape with horizontal ribs, said latching structure restricting said amount of added separation during baking to less than 50% of the thickness of the horizontal ribs, each of said waffle forming plates having a perimeter molding and/or cooperating structure to create slotted exhaust ports of varying width “d” at different locations along the perimeter of said waffle forming plates Whereby the flow of excess waffle batter and steam is controlled to flow to the exterior of said waffle maker only through said perimeter exhaust ports. 
     
     
         4 . A waffle maker according to  claim 3  wherein the weighted average width “d” of said perimeter exhaust ports when baking is within the range of 15 and 40% of the thickness of the horizontal web of the waffle being created by the total spacing between said waffle forming surfaces. 
     
     
         5 . A waffle maker comprising at least one pair of waffle forming plates, each of said plates having at least one heating element for baking waffles, each of said plates having a waffle forming surface disposed toward each other when said waffle forming plates are in a waffle baking position, each of said waffle forming surfaces having a surface pattern to act as a mold which in combination create a baked waffle with thin vertical walls and thin horizontal webs with the angle of the vertical sides of the vertical walls being less than 20° and with the thickness of the walls at their base being less than 0.3 inch and the thickness of the horizontal webs being less than 0.2 inch whereby the amount of material being baked in the baked waffle is decreased and has a crispier texture to reduce the amount of contiguous interior waffle material remaining in the un-browned condition in the baked waffle. 
     
     
         6 . A waffle maker comprising upper and lower waffle baking plates, each of said plates having at least one heating element for baking waffles, said upper and lower waffle plates being disposed toward each other in a waffle baking position when said heating elements are heated to a predetermined baking temperature, said lower plate being supported by an injection molded thermoplastic supporting member made of a plastic with a softening temperature less than said predetermined baking temperature, said supporting member having an outer perimeter, a nominally vertically mounted air baffling member within said outer perimeter and made of a material capable of withstanding said predetermined baking temperature to create a conduit for ambient cooling air to enter between said baffle member and said outer perimeter of said supporting member and to direct the cooling air to exhaust between the perimeter of said lower waffle plate and said outer perimeter of said supporting member to thereby protect said supporting member from excessive heat from said lower waffle plate.