Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Treating unshelled egg – Removal or puncture of shell
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-19
2003-11-18
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Treating unshelled egg
Removal or puncture of shell
C426S479000, C426S518000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06649203
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the processing of eggshells, and more particularly to such methods and apparatus which are particularly adapted for effectively separating the eggshell membrane from the outer eggshell in a manner that the separated fractions can be used effectively in food products and possibly other uses.
BACKGROUND ART
It is necessary that egg-breaking facilities must dispose of their waste eggshells in some manner, and many companies pay to have their eggshells trucked away to a garbage dump.
In other instances, the eggshells are put to use after being processed in some manner and one prior art method is as follows. After the eggs are cracked and the yolk and albumin are removed, there remains the cracked eggshell, comprising the outer eggshell portion along with the membranes attached thereto, and residual egg liquid. These eggshells are first placed in a centrifuge to get rid of the extra liquid, which can be used for some commercial purposes. In some instances, after liquid removal, the eggshells are used as landfill. In other instances, the eggshells are dried and ground, after which these are used by putting these back into a feed product for chickens.
The way this is accomplished in this prior art method is to first place the eggshells with the membrane in a rotary drum dryer, and this removes the water and also acts as a pasteurizer. From the dryer the eggshells are directed into a hammer mill, which may be conventional. The action of the hammer mill is such that this reduces eggshells to a relatively fine powder.
Then, in accordance with the prior art process, this powdered material, which combines most of the outer eggshells and the membrane are removed from the hammer mill and directed by a suitable conveyor to a collecting system. From there, the powder is taken to a location to be incorporated in the chicken feed product.
A search of the U.S. Patent literature disclose a number of patents which relate to the removal of eggshells from the eggs (the albumen and yolk), where the egg is either already cooked or raw. These patents are the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,290 (Fujii) discloses a method for peeling the shell from boiled eggs, where a hard-boiled egg is carried through a pipe by a fluid stream that breaks up the shell while the membrane remains unbroken. Then the shell membrane is broken by applying a whirling water stream and a centrifugal force generated by the circular motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,856 (Zwiep et al) shows a process and apparatus for shelling eggs. The apparatus can be more easily understood by examining FIG.
4
and the text beginning in Column 4, line 51, and continuing on through the first half of Column 5. The hard-boiled eggs first come into the hopper 11, then go through a vibrating chute 13 to crack the egg shell, then go through an orifice section where the shell (including the membrane) is stripped from the egg, then through scrubbing section 17, and finally through the table 19, which has a wire or grill surface. There is a spray at 21 which provides a final cleaning action. The meats 18 of the eggs (less the shells) are directed through a gathering chute 22. The trap or basket 23 gathers and separates the shell debris 16 from the process fluid. The shell fragments and the membrane fall into the container 23, and there is no other discussion as to how these are handled.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,525 (Driggs) Shows and apparatus for peeling eggs where the eggs are placed into a rotating cylinder. After the peeling cycle has been completed, so that the shell and the membrane are separated from the egg, the eggs and the shells are then deposited upon a rack which is designed” . . . so that the eggs will roll over the rack to a collecting point while the cracked and broken shells will pass through the rack to a separate collection point. (Column 6, lines 30, 31-33).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,458 (Whitman) Shows an “apparatus for deshelling hard-cooked eggs”. The eggs first go through an apparatus which cracks the eggshells, and then the removal of the shells is accomplished in the manner shows in
FIG. 6
, where the eggs are advanced along two rolls 73 and 75 by the belt 85. Jets of water are sprayed on the eggs by the pipes 95 to assist in the removal of the eggshells (presumably with the membrane).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,535,980 (Yeamans) discloses a “hard-boiled eggshell remover” where the eggshell is crushed in a tapered cylinder. In Column 2, beginning on line 7, the last part of the process is described as follows:
“After a few turns of the crank handle, the entire eggshell will be loosened and will fall off and the bare egg, with a clean, whole surface, is then ready to be removed from between the blades and replaced by another egg in its shell.”
U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,812 (Patterson) Shows a centrifugal separator where the raw eggs are deposited into a rapidly rotating basket 12. The egg product flows outwardly through the holes, while the shells are retained within the basket 12. The egg material then flows downwardly through the passageway 21 into a collecting reservoir 23. When sufficient eggshells have accumulated in the basket 12, then the machine is stopped and the basket 12 emptied of the eggshells.
U.S. Pat. No. 498,488 (Power) discloses a machine and method for “extracting the contents of eggs” where the raw eggs are placed in a centrifuge which breaks the raw eggshells and separates the whites and yolks from the shells.
Also, there was disclosed in this search three patents relating generally to hammer mills and their operation. These three patents are the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,258,537 (Calkins) discloses a hammer mill having an improved construction of a screen to provide for portions of different mesh over the outlet opening of the grinding chamber of the mill.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,440,927 (Boss et al) shows a grinding mill of the hammer-type for grinding feed and the like with a screen which is adapted for remote control adjustment through a wide range.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,169,684 (Erickson) shows a hammer mill for grinding grains, coal, rock and like materials. This relates more to a novel feeding mechanism which will not become clogged by foreign matter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The methods and apparatus of the present invention are particularly well adapted to the processing of eggshells so as to separate the components of the eggshell into a form where these could be used as commercially viable products. The present invention comprises several embodiments of the method, and also an apparatus particularly adapted for use in the present invention.
A first embodiment of the present invention is able to separate the eggshell components in a manner that membrane portions can be isolated as a separate product, and also the outer eggshell (comprising essentially calcium carbonate) can be isolated in a near pure form. Further, there can be generated a residual product made up of remaining outer egg shell particles along with some of the membrane.
In this first embodiment, the eggshells (comprising both the outer egg shell portions and the membrane portions) is dried to reduce the moisture content of the eggshells, and also cause at least some separation of the membrane portions from the outer eggshell portions.
Then a first amount of the membrane portions is separated from the eggshells to leave a remaining eggshell component that comprises an outer eggshell component and the remaining membrane portions. The separated membrane portions, could then be used as a commercial product, such as, for example, for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The remaining eggshell component is directed to a processing chamber of a processing apparatus at an impacting zone. Then the remaining eggshell component is impacted in the chamber to reduce particle size of at least the outer eggshell component to form smaller, outer eggshell particles.
The smaller outer eggshell particles are collected at a collecting location, and a substantial portion of the remaining membrane portions are separa
Fredrikson & Byron , P.A.
MFI Food Canada, Ltd.
Yeung George C.
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