A method and apparatus for placing an item of food into a cooking vessel capable of quickly achieving an effective frying temperature after placement into the hot cooking oil of a deep fryer is disclosed. The retractor consists of a fiber optic central rod surrounded by flexible wires designed to create an open space for visualization and surgical work within an illuminated surgical field. An eccentric mechanism for eccentrically locating the intermediate gear is provided in order that a center axis of the intermediate gear is moved toward at least one of the axes of the driving gear and the driven gear while maintaining a parallel relation. The use of ellagic acid andor tannic acid increased the overall deposition of elastic fibers in healthy and damaged skin cells. To produce an apparatus that allows guarding of danger zones in a simple and reliable manner, stationary monitoring device is present, which is selectively activatable and forms a dynamically movable protection zone around the movable danger zone.