I don't know either at this point...
Apparently, the motor drives a cam/follower system turning the current on and off to the burner at varying times depending on the setting of the dial to maintain a desired temperature. To maintain a higher temperature, the motor turns on the burner more frequently than it would for a lower temperature. To see the actual operation, I would have to destroy the switch bank or try to follow the description in the patent. The patent drawing is quite a bit different than what I actually have so it's hard to "see" what the operation looks like. I do think that the on/off of the circut depends on how well the burner element maintains heat between cycles to keep the desired temperature. If it looses heat too quickly, there would be definite spikes between high and low. (On/off)...