Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Packaged or wrapped product – Packaged product is animal flesh
Reexamination Certificate
1995-06-02
2001-02-06
Garbe, Stephen P. (Department: 3727)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Packaged or wrapped product
Packaged product is animal flesh
C385S119000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06183791
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the packaging of bone-in cuts of meat as well as processed meats. In particular, this invention relates to a heat shrinkable bag with a heat shrinkable protective patch which prevents or reduces the likelihood that a bone will completely puncture and rupture a thermoplastic vacuum bag and patch combination.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of heat shrinkable thermoplastic as flexible packaging materials for vacuum packaging various foodstuffs including meat is well-known. Such plastic materials, however, while in general quite successful for packaging meat understandably have difficulties in successfully packaging sharp or bony products. For example, attempts to package bone-in primal cuts of meat usually result in an unsatisfactorily large number of bag failures due to bone punctures. The use of cushioning materials such as paper, paper laminates, wax impregnated cloth, and various types of plastic inserts have proved to be less than totally satisfactory in solving the problem. The preparation of special cuts of meat or close bone trim with removal of offending bones has also been attempted. However, this is at best only a limited solution to the problem since it does not offer the positive protection necessary for a wide variety of commercial bone-in types of meat. Furthermore, removal of the bone is a relatively expensive and time consuming procedure.
An example of the prior art method of protecting a thermoplastic bag from puncture is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,870 issued on Jun. 23, 1959 to Meyer S. Selby et al. In the Selby patent the exposed bone in a bone-in cut of meat is covered with a wax impregnated cloth and the thus protected meat is placed in a heat shrinkable plastic bag. Another example of the prior art methods of protecting a thermoplastic bag from puncture is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,403 issued on Jul. 11, 1988 to Daniel J. Ferguson. The Ferguson patent teaches a method of providing an external multi-layer protective patch for a heat shrinkable thermoplastic bag, said patch being located on what becomes the side of the bag after the product is loaded into the bag. While this patent provides bone caused rupture protection along a small area of the side of the bag such as for example, turkey leg bone punctures, it does nothing to protect a bag containing a end-bone piece of meat such as a ham shank. Another side wall patch teaching may be found in Australian published patent application abstract AU-A-11228/88 published Aug. 4, 1988.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one object of the present invention to provide a heat shrinkable bag having a heat shrinkable patch material located such that it will minimize and eliminate the puncturing of flexible, heat shrinkable vacuum bags by sharp bones.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat shrinkable patch for a thermoplastic vacuum bag which is relatively strong and tough and which can be readily adhered to either the outer surface or the inner surface of a thermoplastic vacuum bag.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a heat shrinkable patch for a thermoplastic vacuum bag which is located such that it protects large areas of the thermoplastic vacuum bag from puncture by end-bone meat cuts.
Accordingly, one form of the present invention relates to a method of making a heat shrinkable bag having a protective heat shrinkable patch attached thereto comprising: (a) producing an oriented, heat shrinkable, thermoplastic tubing In a lay flat configuration: (b) applying at least one heat shrinkable patch to one surface of the tubing using an adhesive sealing means: (c) and forming a bag from the heat shrinkable patch adhering thermoplastic tubing: thereby producing an oriented, heat shrinkable, thermoplastic bag having a heat shrinkable patch attached in a desired position thereon.
Another form of the present invention relates to a method of making a heat shrinkable bag having a protective heat shrinkable patch attached thereto comprising: (a) producing an oriented, heat shrinkable, thermoplastic tubing in a lay flat configuration: (b) applying at least one heat shrinkable patch to one surface of the tubing using an adhesive sealing means: (c) inflating and rotating the heat shrinkable patch adhering tubing of step (b) a desired number of degrees; (d) flattening said inflated and rotated tubing of step (c) back to a lay flat configuration with the heat shrinkable patch relocated in a desired postion on the tubing; (e) and forming a bag from the heat shrinkable patch adhering thermoplastic tubing: thereby producing an oriented, heat shrinkable, thermoplastic bag having a heat shrinkable patch attached in a desired position thereon.
Preferred forms of the invention, as well as other embodiments, objects, features and advantages of this invention, will be apparent from the following detailed description which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2891870 (1959-06-01), Selby et al.
patent: 2911305 (1959-11-01), Ramsey, Jr.
patent: 3454441 (1969-07-01), Spruyt
patent: 3741253 (1973-06-01), Brax et al.
patent: 4119267 (1978-10-01), Kydonieus
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patent: 4425268 (1984-01-01), Cooper
patent: 4456646 (1984-06-01), Nishimoto et al.
patent: 4457960 (1984-07-01), Newsome
patent: 4534984 (1985-08-01), Kuehne
patent: 4539236 (1985-09-01), Vilutis
patent: 4606922 (1986-08-01), Schirmer
patent: 4755403 (1988-07-01), Ferguson
patent: 4765857 (1988-08-01), Ferguson
patent: 4770731 (1988-09-01), Ferguson
patent: 4975688 (1990-12-01), Gonzales
patent: 5020922 (1991-06-01), Schirmer
patent: 5234731 (1993-08-01), Ferguson
patent: 5302402 (1994-04-01), Dudenhoeffer et al.
patent: 11228/88 (1988-08-01), None
patent: 654460 (1951-06-01), None
patent: 2 057 392 (1981-04-01), None
patent: 2 291 402 (1996-01-01), None
Brady Sean Allen
Williams Gregory Kenneth
Cryovac Inc.
Garbe Stephen P.
Hurley Jr. Rupert B.
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