Food warmer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to food warmers.
In a first aspect of the invention, a heating plate is provided having a surface for supporting an article to be heated.
A plurality of heating clusters are attached to the surface and form a partitioned heating plate.
Each heating cluster comprises a temperature control device, such as a thermostat, and at least one heating device positioned near the thermostat or a plurality of heating devices spaced about the thermostat.
Each heating element is operably connected to the temperature control device which in a preferred embodiment is a thermostat.
In the case of a heating device which is either an electrically resistive heating element or Peltier cooler type element, the thermostat is operably controlled by the heating element by being electrically connected to the thermostat.
In the case of a heating element which is a flame combustion heating element, the heating element is operably controlled by the thermostat by controlling a supply of a combustible fuel to the heating element.
Other heating devices are also possible.
In another aspect of the invention, the heating elements are disposed within a single plane and the thermostats are located within the plane.
In a further aspect of the invention, the heating plate comprises two plates, each made of a different material.
In another aspect of the invention, the heating cluster comprises three heating elements spaced about a thermostat at a spacing of 120 degrees.
In another aspect of the invention, adjacent heating clusters are rotated a certain distance to provide maximum coverage of heating elements over the surface area of the heating plate.
Other aspects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the following drawings.