Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Normally noningestible chewable material or process of... – Packaged – structurally defined – or coated
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-07
2001-04-10
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
C426S414000, C426S516000, C426S517000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06214389
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to improved making, processing and packaging of slab/stick-type chewing gum products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The process of making and packaging of slab/stick-type gum products is time-consuming and involves significant manual handling. Slab/stick-type gums, such as Trident® gum produced by Warner Lambert, are typically processed in batch kettles, divided into chunks by hand, formed into a wide, flat continuous sheet by an extruder machine, and then passed through rolling, scoring, and cutting machines. The sheets of scored gum are maintained in cooled conditioning rooms before they are wrapped and packaged. The sheets of gum product are taken to a packaging machine where they are first divided into elongated strips and then into individual pieces of gum and subsequently wrapped and packaged.
Some chunk-style gum products, such as bubble gum products, are formed into a rope-like configuration and fed directly from an extruder into a packaging machine. The product is roll formed into a generally square cross-sectional configuration and divided into individual pieces by a cutting mechanism. The individual pieces are then wrapped and packaged. One process which forms ropes of gum is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,594.
Heretofore, it has not been possible to utilize a continuous processing and packaging system for slab/stick-type chewing gum products packaged on standard slab gum wrappers. This is due to the fact that standard packaging machines require precisely sized and conditioned gum pieces for wrapping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and process for the preparation and packaging of slab-type and stick-type chewing gum.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and process for continuously extruding, processing, and packaging of a slab/stick-type chewing gum product. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method which eliminates much of the wasted time and manual handling of certain chewing gum products.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and process for forming a final chewing gum product into an elongated tape or ribbon of material, cooling and maintaining that tape within certain cross-sectional dimensions, and then feeding that strip directly to a wrapping and packaging machine. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which sizes and maintains a final chewing gum product in a flat tape-like configuration so that it can be fed directly to a standard packaging machine.
The present invention provides an apparatus and process for improved production, processing, and packaging of slab-type and stick-type chewing gum products. The gum product is preferably produced by a continuous extrusion process. The resultant molten gum product is formed into a continuous tape or ribbon of material by a second extrusion apparatus. The strand of gum material is passed through a cooling apparatus and into a final sizing mechanism. The sizing apparatus maintains the material in a precisely dimensioned size and shape configuration. The sizing apparatus includes a plurality of parallel and perpendicular rollers that form the continuously fed gum material to a final size and finish of high dimensional tolerances. The resultant material exiting from the sizing apparatus has the final specified cross-sectional size and shape.
Thereafter, the cooled and precisely formed continuous strip of material is fed into a cutting and packaging machine where the gum product is divided into individual pieces of gum product and individually wrapped. The wrapped individual pieces of gum product are formed into packs by the packaging machine, and the packs of gum material are subsequently assembled together in sets for commercial sale.
The present invention achieves some or all of the following advantages over present systems for producing and packaging slab/stick-type chewing gum products: faster cycle time, less work in progress, ability to process and package multiple flavors at the same time, improved process control, reduced labor expense, reduction of labor intensive repetitive operations, reduced material handling, and less complexity.
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Degady Marc
Friberg Anita
Hoffman Earl Roger
Warner-Lambert & Company
Yeung George C.
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