Timothy G Sparks

US Patent:

57165378, Feb 10, 1998

Filed:

Sep 19, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/531235

Inventors:

Foster L. Talge - Kansas City MO
Jay L. Howard - Vassar KS
David E. Keepper - Lake Winnebago MO
Timothy L. Sparks - Gardner KS

Assignee:

The Rival Company - Kansas City MO

International Classification:

F27D 1100

US Classification:

219432

Abstract:

An electric cooker includes a unitary cast metal cooking vessel and a generally cylindrical base ring sized to mate with a perimeter flange of the cooking vessel. The base ring includes a number of support legs integrally molded therein for support of the cooker as well as a receptacle opening into a first side opening in the base ring for accommodating a pair of power terminal pins via a removable pin attachment block. A base plate, preferably made of metal, includes a center hole positioned to mate with a center boss formed in the cooking vessel bottom and a number of slots are formed in the periphery of the plate to accommodate the molded legs of the base ring.

US Patent:

41402120, Feb 20, 1979

Filed:

Aug 19, 1977

Appl. No.:

5/826066

Inventors:

Timothy F. Sparks - Prairie Village KS
Timothy J. Tierney - Overland Park KS
John S. Hunter - Wichita KS

Assignee:

Vacsol Corporation - Kansas City KS

International Classification:

B01D 310
C10G 700

US Classification:

196114

Abstract:

A simplified, essentially maintenance-free yet highly efficient distillation tower and method for waste oil rerefining is provided which allows direct vacuum distillation of additive-supplemented waste oils without chemical pretreatment thereof and yields a highly refined intermediate oil suitable for immediate use or final polishing, along with a valuable bottoms fraction usable in greases or asphalts, for example. The tower includes an upright, cylindrical chamber with a tangential waste oil inlet and cooperating internal baffle for creating a whirling oil flow pattern therewithin, along with means for maintaining the proper temperature conditions within the tower for maximizing vaporization and recovery of hydrocarbons from the waste oil while also preventing undesirable decomposition or cracking of the oil. In preferred forms, temperature maintenance is effected by heating the walls of the tower through the use of heating tape or plate coils; however, this same result can be achieved by flooding the tower with an excess of waste oil whereby the chamber is heated by the presence of the excess hot oil. The tower also preferably includes an apertured partition dividing the chamber into adjacent subchambers, along with a pressure-equalizing conduit in communication with the respective subchambers; this construction facilitates rapid and effective separation of the tower bottoms during processing.