ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,376,701, issued on Aug. 5, was assigned to Accu Temp Products Inc. (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
"Griddle" was invented by Lawrence P. Zepp (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Dale Taylor (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A steam chamber has enhanced planarity of its cooking surface, and a method for making the same via friction welding is provided. An array of stays within the steam chamber are friction welded to the undersurface of the upper plate, opposite the cooking surface, thus minimizing the heat affected zone and distortion of the cooking surface as compared, for example, to arc welding. A lower plate includes an array of holes sized and...