US 2,005,223,906 · Filed 2004-04-12

The Robot Wok That Stirs, Heats, and Deodorizes Itself

Imagine a high-tech wok that stirs your food automatically while heating it from both the bottom and top, then filters out the cooking smell and moisture on its own. It's like having a robot chef who handles all the annoying parts of stir-frying—the constant stirring, the steam, the smoke—while you just add ingredients through a special chute.

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a complete cooking apparatus that combines a heated container with an automatic rotating blade, overhead heating, steam and odor removal, and a mechanism for adding ingredients mid-cook. What's protected here is specifically the combination of bottom heat, top heat, motorized stirring, and the integrated venting and air-blowing system all working together as one unit.

Why it matters

This patent protects an invention that reimagines stir-frying as a mostly automated process rather than a hands-on cooking technique. By combining motorized stirring with dual-sided heating and built-in ventilation, it targets busy home cooks and commercial kitchens looking to reduce labor and improve cooking consistency. The patent essentially carves out ownership of the idea of a self-stirring wok with environmental controls.

Real-world use

If this apparatus were manufactured, you'd use it like a high-end rice cooker—dump ingredients in, press start, and the machine handles heating and stirring while filtering out cooking fumes that would normally fill your kitchen.

Original USPTO abstract

A stir-frying apparatus ( 100 ) with an overhead-heating device ( 128 ). Apparatus ( 100 ) comprises a container ( 102 ) for holding foods, a lid ( 120 ) covering on top of container ( 102 ), a bottom heating device ( 118 ) installed underneath container ( 102 ) and an overhead heating device installed on lid ( 120 ), a stirring blade ( 136 ) rotatably and removably installed inside container ( 102 ) for stirring foods, a power-drive assembly ( 140 ) operationally coupled with blade ( 136 ) for driving blade ( 136 ) through repeating stirring cycles, a coupling device ( 134 ) for coupling assembly ( 140 ) and blade ( 136 ), a venting device ( 200 ) for filtering and deodorizing cooking fumes, a blowing device ( 202 ) for forcing fresh air into apparatus ( 100 ) for the removal of moisture from therein-side, and an ingredient adding conduit ( 250 ) for use of adding ingredients during a frying process.

Patent details

Publication number
US 2,005,223,906
Filing date
2004-04-12
Grant date
Application — not yet granted
Assignee
Zhaoxia Xu / Zheng Peng
Inventor(s)
XU ZHAOXIA, PENG ZHENG
CPC class
A47J36/165

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