Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Normally noningestible chewable material or process of... – Packaged – structurally defined – or coated
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-24
2001-08-28
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Normally noningestible chewable material or process of...
Packaged, structurally defined, or coated
C425S104000, C425S233000, C425S235000, C426S512000, C426S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280780
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
Method, system and apparatus for forming coated center-filled gum products, particularly for continuously forming individual pieces of liquid-filled gum from a continuous rope or strand which can then be coated with a hard shell material.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Liquid or center-filled gum and other confectionery products are in popular demand today. These products have a solid exterior portion and a soft or liquid-type center. The outer portion can be chewing gum or bubble gum of some type, while the liquid center portion can be a flavored material typically having a syrup-like consistency.
There also are products having a chewing gum or bubble gum core with a hard sugar or sugarless shell on the exterior. These products include, for example, Chiclets®, Clorets®, and Dentyne-Ice®. Both liquid-filled and coated gum products are in popular demand and commercially successful today.
There are numerous mechanisms and systems known today for forming liquid-filled gum, coated gum products, and other confectionery products. One of these systems is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,963 to Graff et al.
Due to difficulties in manufacturing processes, three-phase gum products having a liquid-filled center portion, a second layer of chewing gum or bubble gum material, and a hard outer shell or coating have not been widely introduced or accepted. Significant problems are present relative to maintaining the liquid-filled center portion intact without leaking and providing commercially acceptable finished surfaces on the final coated products.
One of the problems in particular with coated pellet-type gum products is that they have a tendency to stick together during tumbling and coating creating a large percentage of waste or unacceptable commercial products. Often two or more products join together during the coating process, or products initially joined but later separated still have unsatisfactory surface irregularities.
There is a need for producing three-phase liquid-filled gum products with hard coated shells in a more efficient and commercially acceptable manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method, system and apparatus for producing coated center-filled gum products. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for continuously producing pieces or pellets of center-filled gum products from a continuous rope or strand of gum material and then covering the pellets with a hard sugar or sugarless coating.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved high speed tablet-forming mechanism which produces pellet-type center-filled gum products which can be coated in a more efficient and commercially satisfactory manner.
These and other objects are met by the unique and inventive gum forming apparatus, system and process in accordance with the present invention. The invention includes an extrusion, sizing, pellet-forming, and coating system which produces coated center-filled pellet-type gum products on a faster, more efficient and less costly basis.
The gum forming system includes an extruder and center-fill system which provides an extruded center-filled rope or strand of chewing gum or bubble gum material. The rope of material is sized in a rope sizer mechanism and then relaxed on a forming table in order to supply a rope having a desired cross-sectional size and shape to a forming mechanism. The sized rope of material is introduced into a high-speed tablet-forming apparatus with two sets of rotating chains. The chains include mating die groove members which together form die cavities of the desired pellet-shape. The dies and resulting pellets have significant curvatures on the upper and lower surfaces.
The formed pieces of liquid-filled gum material are then transported to a cooling tunnel where they are tumbled and cooled to an appropriate temperature for coating. Thereafter, the conditioned pellets are tumbled and coated in a coating tunnel or mechanism which applies a multi-layer hard sugar or sugarless coating on the pellets. The curved surfaces on the pellets prevent them from sticking together in the coating mechanism.
With the present invention, coated liquid-filled pieces of gum material are formed in a faster and more efficient manner.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4975288 (1990-12-01), Hager et al.
patent: 5391387 (1995-02-01), Peters
patent: 5716652 (1998-02-01), Barkalow et al.
Degady Marc
Kuncewitch Thomas J.
Niekerk Miles Van
Warner-Lambert & Company
Yeung George C.
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