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US 9,801,397 B2Granted
Comestible products, apparatus for comestible production
AssigneeCadbury UK Limited
InventorsPeter Clarke, Sarah Marshall, Clive R T Norton
Life of this patent
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AssigneeCadbury UK Limited
InventorsPeter Clarke, Sarah Marshall, Clive R T Norton
Estimating the term…
The apparatus (100) includes a die head (118) for extruding a main comestible material to form an extrudate body. A plurality of nozzles (160, FIG. 7) is located within the die head for introducing a comestible fluid into the extrudate body to form a plurality of filled capillaries. A control system (182) is capable of selectively connecting at least one of the nozzles to any one of at least two different fluid filling sources (150A, 15 OB). The control system may be capable of connecting each of the nozzles independently to different fluid sources or the nozzles may be arranged into two or more groups of flu idly interconnected nozzles that can each be independently switched between different fluid sources. The apparatus can be used to form products in which the fillings in the capillaries are varied or in which an image is formed in cross section. The apparatus can also be used to switch production between products having different fillings without stopping extrusion.
An apparatus for producing a comestible product, the apparatus comprising a die head defining flow path leading to a die aperture for extruding a main comestible material to form an extruded body, a plurality of nozzles within the flow path for introducing a comestible fluid into the extruded body to form a plurality of filled capillaries in the extruded body, and a control system for selectively connecting each of the plurality of nozzles independently, wherein the control system is configured so as to be able to independently connect each of the plurality of nozzles to any one of at least two different sources of comestible fluid material, wherein each of the plurality of nozzles is associated with a dedicated nozzle valve that is controllable by the control system, and wherein each dedicated nozzle valve is controllable independently of any other nozzle valve to connect the respective nozzle to any one of the at least two different sources of comestible fluid material while the main comestible material is being extruded through the die aperture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.