Preservation of food by dehydration has been known since the early history of man. The early dehydration of food was typically carried out by placing the food product in an open container exposed to the air and to the sun. No doubt early many noticed that dehydration took place more rapidly on windy days.
In recent times, mechanical food dehydrators have been developed for use in the home as well as in industry. The known food dehydrators often include a plurality of shelves contained within a cabinet. The cabinet also includes a blower which forces a heated air stream across each of the shelves. Illustrative of such devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,954,239, 2,017,728 and 2,412,407.
One difficulty commonly occurring with known food dehydrators is lack of uniformity in the dehydration. In other words, foods located in certain areas of the dehydrator will dry more rapidly than food located in other areas of the dehydrator. Another common problem is the fact that the known dehydrators tends to be large and bulky thus being somewhat difficult to use and store in the home.