Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Hollow or container type article – Polymer or resin containing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-07
2003-12-23
Nolan, Sandra M. (Department: 1772)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Hollow or container type article
Polymer or resin containing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06667084
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The invention concerns cooking utensils and waste containers for household use, particularly for use in the kitchen.
For both cooking utensils and waste containers there is a common problem of sticking of food and the potential for contamination.
Waste containers are offered on the market in the most varied designs and serve for the purpose of receiving household wastes and particularly kitchen wastes of various kinds, especially waste food products. It is thus unavoidable that both liquid and paste-like wastes are introduced into the container, which necessarily leads to contamination. This is countered in part by providing the waste containers with an additional inner container of sheet metal or plastic or by the use of plastic bags. However, the problem of contamination is only solved inadequately in this way. Insert containers become contaminated and, as a practical matter must be cleaned after every use. The use of plastic bags as liners is also problematical as they can be easily torn by sharp objects such as cans and glass.
As for utensils for cooking and household use, particularly containers for food storage or cooking utensils such as skillets or frying pans and baking tins, these also come in contact with food which must be kept from sticking but can also contaminate the utensils. A coating, which is comprised of an adhesion-reducing, polymeric material can be used to reduce sticking and the potential for contamination.
“Anti-stick” coatings (especially polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)) in different degrees of quality are used particularly for frying pans and cooking and baking tins of the general prior art. However, further development or improvement of these articles has stagnated for several years and is only characterized by new superlatives in marketing promotions.
The object of the invention with respect to the cooking utensils is to clearly improve known, common coatings with respect to their effectiveness and to open up new fields of application.
The object of the invention with respect to waste containers is to make available waste containers, in which contamination and the troublesome cleaning made necessary by contamination are reduced to a minimum.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The objects of the invention are attained by use of coatings on known utensils or containers.
The waste container of the present invention is characterized in that at least its inner lining is comprised of a dirt-repelling layer of an adhesion-reducing polymeric material. This special inner layer introduces a clearly reduced tendency to contamination of containers. This effect is clearly increased by providing this layer with a microscopically “rough” surface (i.e. a non-smooth surface like the surface of a lotus blossom) in another embodiment of the invention (as defined below).
Another additional covering layer of silicone on the microscopically “rough” (i.e. non-smooth) surface reduces the uptake of contamination to practically zero.
With respect to the utensils for cooking and household use, particularly frying pans and baking tins, these are provided a coating, which is comprised of an adhesion-reducing, polymeric material, characterized in that the layer is provided with a filler with a particle size≧the layer thickness of the coating in order to produce the microscopically “rough” (i.e. non-smooth) surface.
As compared with known applications of an anti-sticking layer, as for frying pans and baking tins, a strikingly noticable improvement is introduced in the anti-sticking behavior even in the case of difficult foods, with the inventive coating. The invention also introduces a clear improvement in the handling of many normal household utensils (e.g., ladling spoons, pan turners, vegetable spoons, salad bowls, bowls, mixing bowls). Even storage containers (e.g., containers for the refrigerator and freezer) are made less sensitive to contamination and can be clearly cleaned more easily, when carrying a coating according to the present invention.
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Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Leifheit AG
Nolan Sandra M.
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