The claims are that the heating element is set between 2500F and 4500F (claim 1b). The bread itself is held away from the element (sheets 2, 3), separated by air (which is not a great heat conductor), for between 3 and 90 seconds (claim 1c). Sheet 4 indicates that the 'cut fuzz & peaks' of the exposed face of the bread becomes toasted.
This patent describes a method of toasting bread using an electronically-controlled fast toaster.
Instead of hand-waving about the conductivity of air, what would have helped is a citation that clearly states how hot the heating element of toasters themselves get. (Really. Because I could not find a good cite either :-P)
The best I coud do was wiki answers: The heating element of toasters reaches 1100 - 1200 F [1].
If the answers.com link is not trustworthy, consider this: The most common alloy used for the heating elements in toasters is Nichrome [2]. Nichrome is used because it has a "high" melting point of 2550 F [3].
Not only does the temperature range required by this patent not make toast, it would melt the heating element in most toasters. The spec of the patent itself requires some kind of halogen lamp heaters.
It's pretty clearly not a "patent on toast". "Burnt to a crisp" toast, maybe, but not toast.
The claims are that the heating element is set between 2500F and 4500F (claim 1b). The bread itself is held away from the element (sheets 2, 3), separated by air (which is not a great heat conductor), for between 3 and 90 seconds (claim 1c). Sheet 4 indicates that the 'cut fuzz & peaks' of the exposed face of the bread becomes toasted.
This patent describes a method of toasting bread using an electronically-controlled fast toaster.