Pet food product bandolier
AssigneeMars, Incorporated
InventorsJames Suttle, Robert Brandt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Aspects of the present invention are directed to methods for manufacturing shaped, comestible articles. Multiple comestible articles are connected by flash, and stress lines in the flash surround the articles. The comestible articles are subsequently separated from the flash at the stress lines. Additional aspects of the present invention are directed to an intermediate comestible product. In certain embodiments, the intermediate comestible product comprises multiple articles, web-like flash connecting the articles, and stress lines formed in the flash and about each article.
Claims23
A method for manufacturing shaped, comestible articles comprising:
- a. providing a pair of rollers, at least one of the rollers having cavities, each cavity at least partially surrounded by a rim;
- b. feeding a comestible material, having a temperature greater than its glass transition temperature, to the rollers;
- c. rotating the rollers to compress the material such that (i) material fills the cavities to form shaped articles (ii) material forms flash connecting the shaped articles together, and (iii) each rim forms a stress line in the flash about each article;
- and
- d. cooling the flash to reduce the temperature of the stress line to less than its glass transition temperature.
An intermediate comestible product comprising:
- a comestible material, comprising multiple shaped articles, web-like flash connecting the articles together and having a thickness of between about 5 and about 20 thousandths of an inch, and stress lines formed in the flash having a thickness of between about 0.005 and 0.01 inches, wherein each article has a thickness of between about 0.060 inches and about 0.75 inches and a length of between about 0.5 and 1.5 inches.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.