Advanced gum formation

Abstract

The invention relates to advanced gum formation. The present application relates to a method of forming a chewing gum, the method comprising providing a pair of rollers, shaping the chewing gum to a first thickness by an extruder, the first thickness being uniform; conveying the chewing gum directly from the extruder to the roller pair at a first speed without an accumulation device; shaping the chewing gum into a sheet of gum having a second thickness between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm by a pair of rollers, the at least one pair of rollers rotating at a linear second speed greater than the first speed; and conveying the chewing gum sheet from the discharge port of the roller pair at a third speed greater than the first speed.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the PCT international application PCT / US2015 / 031074 filed on May 15, 2015, which entered the Chinese national phase on November 10, 2016, and the invention patent application with Chinese patent number 201580024617.X and invention name “Advanced Gum Formation”. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to methods of making chewing gum and, more particularly, to methods of forming and / or shaping chewing gum. Background Art

[0003] Typically, the method for making and packaging gum products is very time-consuming and involves a large amount of mechanical equipment. The method for making and packaging gum products may include mixing and producing finished gum in the form of uneven output, extruding finished gum and forming it into bars, conditioning the bars of finished gum, extruding bars into the continuous thin sheets of finished gum, rolling the continuous sheet over a series of rollers to become a uniform reduced thickness, scoring the sheet and dividing it into each single scored sheet, conditioning a single sheet in a conditioning room, dividing the sheet into gum pieces and packaging gum pieces. Such a method for making and packaging gum products is disclosed in the U.S. Patent No. 6,254,373 of the former interest person assigned to the assignee and the U.S. Patent No. 12 / 352,110 assigned to the assignee; the teachings and disclosures of the patents and patent applications, as long as they are not contradictory to the present disclosure, are incorporated herein by reference as a whole.

[0004] Traditional shaping machinery adopts a series of shaping rollers arranged in sequence on conveyor usually, and the thickness of gum is progressively and progressively reduced to typical about 2 to 6mm from about 10 to 25mm. Although only used for shaping, these rollers are often referred to as rolling scoring rollers. Adopting a series of rollers in this way may be inefficient, because they occupy relatively large places in manufacturing plants. In addition, for preventing the adhesion of gum, often sprinkle suitable powder on rollers, and this has negative impact on local flavor and the maintenance / cleaning of forming environment. Such traditional production line also typically can make need to follow up a certain amount of cooling and / or conditioning, then pack, because warm soft product can not be packed well.

[0005] The present invention relates to the improvement and development of such existing systems and methods for making and packaging gum products. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present invention discloses a method for forming chewing gum, the method comprising providing a pair of rollers, shaping the chewing gum from an unformed material mass into a first chewing gum sheet having a first thickness by a first shaping device, the first shaping device being disposed upstream of the pair of rollers, conveying the first chewing gum sheet having the first thickness to the pair of rollers, and maintaining the chewing gum at the first thickness during conveyance between the first shaping device and the pair of rollers, and shaping the first chewing gum sheet into a second chewing gum sheet having a second thickness using the pair of rollers, wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness, and the second thickness is between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm.

[0007] The present invention also discloses a method of forming chewing gum, the method comprising providing a pair of rollers, conveying the chewing gum to the pair of rollers at a first speed, shaping the chewing gum into a gum sheet having a thickness between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm, and conveying the chewing gum sheet from the pair of rollers at a second speed greater than the first speed.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of shaping the chewing gum to include the first thickness is extrusion of the chewing gum, and the first shaping device is an extruder.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present invention, transporting is conveying the first chewing gum sheet from a forming device to a pair of rollers by at least one conveyor.

[0010] In some embodiments of the invention, conveying is delivering the first chewing gum sheet from the forming device to the roller pair without any intermediate conveying device.

[0011] In some embodiments of the invention, conveying is delivering the first chewing gum sheet directly from the extruder to the pair of rollers.

[0012] In some embodiments of the invention, the first thickness is at least 10 mm.

[0013] In some embodiments of the invention, the first thickness is from 10 mm to 50 mm.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, at least one roller in the pair of rollers includes at least one guide positioned to receive the chewing gum and guide the first chewing gum sheet to the gap between the pair of rollers.

[0015] In some embodiments of the invention, the roller pair comprises two vertically displaced rollers.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of shaping the first chewing gum sheet into a second chewing gum sheet having a second thickness includes driving a pair of rollers in opposite directions to pull the chewing gum through a gap between the pair of rollers and deforming the first chewing gum sheet to form the second chewing gum sheet.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present invention, deforming includes applying a uniform cross-web deforming force on the first chewing gum sheet to form a second chewing gum sheet.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present invention, the second chewing gum sheet having a second thickness comprises a cross-roll thickness variation of less than 10%, and a width greater than about 0.6 meters.

[0019] In some embodiments of the invention, after setting, the thickness of the second chewing gum sheet varies by less than 10%.

[0020] In some embodiments of the invention, forming and shaping produces a second chewing gum sheet having a width of between 0.6 m and 1.2 m.

[0021] In some embodiments of the invention, the second thickness is between 2 mm and 6 mm.

[0022] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises heating the first chewing gum sheet by heating at least one roller of the roller pair to reduce the viscosity of the chewing gum and increase the deformability of the chewing gum during setting.

[0023] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises cooling the second chewing gum sheet by a cooling system associated with the setting.

[0024] In some embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises conveying the second chewing gum sheet from the pair of rollers at a speed greater than a speed associated with conveying to the pair of rollers.

[0025] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises cutting or scoring the second chewing gum by a roller pair, the cutting or scoring producing a scored or separated chewing gum sheet.

[0026] In some embodiments of the present invention, the width of a first chewing gum sheet having a first thickness is the same as the width of a second chewing gum sheet having a second thickness.

[0027] In some embodiments of the present invention, the first shaping device is an extruder, and wherein there is no additional shaping device between the extruder and the pair of rollers.

[0028] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises forming the chewing gum upstream of the roller pair to include a first thickness, the first thickness being at least 10 mm.

[0029] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of forming the chewing gum to include a first thickness is extrusion of the chewing gum.

[0030] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of conveying to the pair of rollers is conveying the chewing gum from the forming device to the pair of rollers by at least one conveyor operating at a first speed.

[0031] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of conveying to the pair of rollers is delivering the chewing gum from the forming device to the pair of rollers at a first speed without any intermediate conveying device.

[0032] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of conveying to the pair of rollers is delivering the chewing gum directly from the extruder to the pair of rollers at a first speed.

[0033] In some embodiments of the invention, the conveyor includes at least one guide positioned to guide the chewing gum to the roller pair during transport.

[0034] In some embodiments of the invention, the roller pair comprises two vertically displaced rollers.

[0035] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of shaping the chewing gum into a gum sheet includes driving a pair of rollers in opposite directions to pull the chewing gum through a gap between the pair of rollers and deform the chewing gum to form the gum sheet.

[0036] In some embodiments of the present invention, deforming includes applying a uniform cross-web deforming force on the chewing gum to form a gum sheet.

[0037] In some embodiments of the present invention, the gum sheet comprises a cross-roll thickness variation of less than 10%, and a width greater than about 0.6 meters.

[0038] In some embodiments of the invention, after setting, the gum sheet expands in thickness by less than 10%.

[0039] In some embodiments of the invention, forming and shaping produces a gum sheet having a width of between 0.6 m and 1.2 m.

[0040] In some embodiments of the invention, the thickness of the chewing gum sheet is between 2 mm and 6 mm.

[0041] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises heating the chewing gum by heating at least one roller of the roller pair to reduce the viscosity of the chewing gum and increase the deformability of the chewing gum during setting.

[0042] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises cooling the gum sheet by a cooling system associated with the shaping.

[0043] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step of conveying from the pair of rollers is conveying the chewing gum sheet from the pair of rollers by at least one conveyor operating at a second speed.

[0044] In some embodiments of the present invention, forming is outputting the chewing gum from a chewing gum mixing device.

[0045] In some embodiments of the present invention, outputting includes outputting a chewing gum having a non-uniform first thickness.

[0046] In some embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises cutting or scoring the chewing gum by a roller pair, the cutting or scoring producing scored or separated chewing gum sheets.

[0047] In some embodiments of the present invention, the width of the chewing gum having the first thickness is the same as the width of the chewing gum sheet having the second thickness.

[0048] The present invention also discloses a method for forming chewing gum, the method comprising: providing a pair of rollers; shaping the chewing gum to a first thickness through an extruder, the first thickness being uniform; directly conveying the chewing gum from the extruder to the pair of rollers at a first speed without an accumulation device; shaping the chewing gum into a gum sheet having a second thickness through the pair of rollers, the second thickness being between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm, at least one pair of rollers rotating at a linear second speed greater than the first speed; and conveying the chewing gum sheet from a discharge port of the pair of rollers at a third speed greater than the first speed.

[0049] In some embodiments of the invention, at least one of the roller pairs includes at least one guide positioned to guide the chewing gum to the roller pair during transport.

[0050] In some embodiments of the invention, the step of conveying from the pair of rollers is conveying the chewing gum sheet from the pair of rollers by at least one conveyor operating at a third speed.

[0051] In some embodiments of the invention, the second speed is equal to the third speed.

[0052] In some embodiments of the present invention, the chewing gum provided to the roller pair at a first speed is formed.

[0053] In some embodiments of the invention, the extruder is a twin-screw extruder.

[0054] In some embodiments of the present invention, the chewing gum having a first thickness upstream of the roller pair has a first width, and the chewing gum having a second thickness downstream of the roller pair has a second width, and wherein the first width is the same as the second width and the second thickness is less than the first thickness. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, embody several aspects of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention. In the drawings:

[0056] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a gum manufacturing system according to a first embodiment;

[0057] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A plan view of the schematic diagram shown in ;

[0058] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a gum manufacturing system according to a second embodiment; and

[0059] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a gum manufacturing system according to a second embodiment.

[0060] While the invention will be described in conjunction with certain preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] The disclosure below will be described in detail according to specific embodiments of the present invention, and these specific embodiments provide improvements for forming chewing gum sheets. In an exemplary embodiment, the system described herein includes a group of rollers or a roller pair, and the roller group or roller pair are used to form chewing gum (referred to as chewing gum mass, chewing gum structure or simply chewing gum) into a continuous coil or sheet with desired thickness and width, and optionally temperature control is given to gum at the same time. It is contemplated herein that, for example, but not limited to, those rollers described in U.S. Patent Application No. 13 / 522,767, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. It is also contemplated that a mobile wall such as described in U.S. Patent Application No. 61 / 510,119, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0062] The chewing gum and chewing gum sheet discussed above include but are not limited to the composition from composite elastomer to finished gum (including composite elastomer and finished gum), which may include composite elastomer plus some composite adjuvants, gum base masterbatch, composite elastomer plus some subsequent gum ingredients, composite elastomer plus some gum base ingredients and some subsequent gum ingredients, gum base, gum base plus some subsequent gum ingredients, finished gum masterbatch and finished gum. Some compositions of chewing gum may have uneven texture and / or contain multilayer composition. Although most of the embodiments described herein relate to chewing gum (particularly finished chewing gum), other confectionery that does not contain elastic compounds may also be formed, shaped and / or adjusted using the system described below.

[0063] This system can be formed into gum sheet with chewing gum, and this gum sheet comprises required width and thickness, and the deviation of width and thickness is less than traditional production line.In addition, compared with the system comprising many pairs of rolling and scoring rollers of traditional production line, this system can produce gum sheet with much wider width, and also can save the need for dusting material.By saving the use of dusting material, the cleaning time for conversion can be reduced to a small part of traditional rolling and scoring line, thereby greatly reducing production downtime.Owing to not needing extra dusting material, this also reduces the total cost of running production line.Except these advantages that are better than traditional production line, the roller in this system can also be frozen (or in some embodiments, roller is heated), so that during the gum mass is deformed into required thickness and width, the gum material is allowed to cool down.Therefore, according to the system of some embodiments, can only form and cool or heat gum mass by a step, thereby confirm the many advantages that are better than traditional gum production line.

[0064] In addition, since the system can obtain different crystals of gum by rapidly cooling the gum, the gum product manufactured according to the embodiment of the present invention can be structurally different from the gum product produced by the conventional gum production line. In addition, compared with the gum produced by the conventional gum production line, the system eliminates the use of dusting materials, and the chewing gum product produced has the desired thickness and width, and the deviation of the thickness and width is relatively small, so the chewing gum produced has a more beautiful appearance.

[0065] See now Figure 1 and 2 , a gum manufacturing system 10 is shown for forming a chewing gum 12 into a chewing gum sheet 13 having a desired thickness. The gum manufacturing system 10 generally includes a gum mixing station 14, and a gum forming or shaping station 16 including a pair of rollers 18. Figure 1In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the gum mixing station 14 is a gum shaping device in the form of a forming extruder (which may be a low shear forming extruder) that mixes the chewing gum 12 into its final composition form and extrude the chewing gum 12 into a substantially uniform thickness (first thickness 17). Figure 1 The system shown in the figure also includes a conveyor 20 for transporting the gum 12 from the extruder 14 to the shaping station 16. Optional scoring rollers 21 and cutting rollers 22 may also be provided in the system 10. The manner in which the various elements of the system 10 described above interact with each other to produce the gum 12 will be discussed in more detail below, beginning with the gum mixing station 14.

[0066] exist Figure 1 and 2 In the exemplary embodiment shown in, the gum mixing station of the first gum shaping device 14 is a continuous extrusion mixer (or a series of continuous extrusion mixers). The extrusion mixer or extruder 14 can be a twin-screw extruder, a planetary screw extruder, another roller pair such as roller pair 18, or simply a pumping mechanism. The extruder 14 can mix the gum 12 into its final composition form before the gum 12 is sent to the shaping station 16, and extrude the gum 12 into a first thickness 17. In an exemplary embodiment, the gum 12 is extruded from the extruder 14 into a sheet form (i.e., the first sheet), and the sheet has a first thickness 17 of at least 10mm, more specifically 10mm to 50mm or at least 19mm, at least 20mm, at least 30mm, at least 40mm or at least 50mm. It should be recognized that the first thickness 17 of the first sheet may or may not be uniform, and if the first thickness 17 is not uniform, the thickness range discussed herein refers to the maximum thickness. It should also be appreciated that the gum 12 is unformed prior to being extruded from the extruder 14. For purposes of this disclosure, gum in an unformed form will be defined as gum at any stage prior to being extruded or ejected from the mixer 14 (e.g., gum or gum ingredients that have not reached any pre-extrusion / pre-ejection stage of the extruder or mixer 14, or gum or gum ingredients that are still being mixed or processed within the extruder 14).

[0067] Although the figure shows that the gum 12 is extruded from the extruder 14 disposed in a relatively horizontal position, it should be appreciated that the extruder 14 (or its die head / orifice) may also be disposed in a relatively vertical position so that the gum 12 is output downwardly from the extruder 14 onto one of the rollers 18 of the gum shaping station 16.

[0068] The gum 12 having a first thickness 17 is extruded onto a conveyor 20 for transport to a gum shaping station 16 (shaping station 16, like mixer / extruder 14, is also a gum shaping device). The gum 12 is shown as being extruded onto the conveyor 20 as something like a continuous brick or bread. However, it should be noted that the gum can be extruded in a non-continuous form and in other geometric shapes (such as, but not limited to, a rope shape).

[0069] like Figure 2 As shown in, gum 12 is conveyed along conveyor 20 at about a first speed (the first speed and other speeds will be discussed in more detail below). Chewing gum 12 arrives at shaping station 16 at the first speed. It should be noted that gum 12 is directly conveyed to shaping station 16 (transmitted by conveyor 20) from mixer / extruder 14, without adopting accumulation device such as hopper. During the conveying from mixer / extruder 14 to shaping station 16, chewing gum 12 is maintained at a substantially constant first thickness 17. It should be noted that, although adopting collecting device such as hopper can be considered as advantageous, because it helps to control fluctuations and guide gum 12 to roller 18, simply gum is directly conveyed to shaping station 16 from extruder 14 without using collecting device and has some unexpected advantages. For example, when some forms of gum are collected by the hopper that is arranged on roller to 18 upstreams, the formed gum sheet may have inconsistent width. Additionally, gum is sometimes found to accumulate in the hopper, resulting in inefficiencies and irregularities. Direct supply of gum 12, particularly gum 12 having a first thickness that is likely to be uniform, helps to reduce some of these problems.

[0070] As noted above, the shaping station 16 includes a pair of shaping rollers 18. The gum shaping station 16 is used to perform shaping and potential temperature control (i.e., cooling or heating) and to reduce the thickness of the gum substantially at the roller pair 18, thereby reducing the need for progressive shaping of the gum by a series of rolling and scoring rollers.

[0071] After arriving at the forming station 16, the gum 12 passes between the roller pairs 18, which in this embodiment are the upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28. The two rollers of the roller pair 18 include guides 25a and 25b, respectively, which are positioned to receive the gum 12 and guide the gum 12 to the gap 30 between the two rollers. The roller pair 18 is driven by an external force, for example, by a motor that is operably connected. In an exemplary embodiment, each roller in the roller pair 18 is provided with a motor, and the rotation speed of each roller in the roller pair 18 can be independently controlled by the motor. The gum 12 leaves the extruder 14 and travels along the conveyor 20 with a first width, which can be between about 25mm and 1m, or may be wider, to accommodate the gum sheet 13 produced. The width of the gum 12 leaving the extruder can be the same as the width of the sheet 13 leaving the rollers 26, 28, or less than the width of the sheet 13 leaving the rollers 26, 28. It may be desirable to obtain wider sheets of gum 12 having a width exceeding about 0.6 m in order to be able to provide a large gum mass volume so that the mass can be manipulated at lower speeds while still producing an adequate amount of output.

[0072] The chewing gum 12 may fall from the conveyor 20 to the lower roller 28 by gravity. Figure 1 In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the gum 12 is placed on the lower roller 28 and is guided by the lower roller 28 to the upper roller 26 and the gap 30 between the upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28. The counter-rotating upper and lower rollers 26 and 28 pull the gum mass 12 between the roller pairs 18 through the gap 30 to form and shape the gum mass 12 into a gum sheet 13, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0073] exist Figure 1 In the embodiment shown, the roller pair 18 comprises a rotating shaft that may be offset horizontally. The roller pair 18 may also be offset vertically so that horizontal and vertical displacement of the shaft and the roller pair itself facilitates the formation of the gap 30.

[0074] The roller pair 18 and the gap 30 are configured to apply a compressive and / or deforming force to the gum 12 to form a gum sheet 13 having a second thickness 32, which may also be substantially uniform and between about 0.3 mm and 10.0 mm. The desired second thickness 32 at least substantially corresponds to the height or spacing of the gap 30. The upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28 rotate in opposite directions to pull the gum 12 through the gap 30. This pulling or dragging action of the roller pair 18 on the gum 12 causes the gum to be dragged through the gap 30. Figure 1 In the exemplary embodiment shown, the upper roller 26 rotates in a counterclockwise direction, while the lower roller 28 rotates in a clockwise direction. As the gum 12 is pulled through the narrowest distance of the gap 30, the gum mass 12 is deformed between the roller pairs 18, and this deformation / shaping is substantially ductile.

[0075] It should be appreciated that the gum 12 is deformed from a sheet having a first thickness 17 (at least 10 mm) to a sheet having a second thickness 32 comprised between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm by only passing through the roller pair 18. In fact, in one exemplary embodiment, the first shaping device (at Figure 1 The extruder 14 and the roller pair 18 are only responsible for shaping the gum 12 from the unformed mass to the second thickness of 0.3 mm to 10 mm, and shaping to the first thickness 17 is the only intermediate stage between extrusion from the extruder 14 (the gum is an unformed mass before extrusion) and shaping to the second thickness 32 by the roller pair 18. Indeed, in the embodiment shown in the drawings, the system 10 does not have any shaping device between the extruder 14 and the roller pair 16.

[0076] As the gum mass 12 passes between the upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28, the roller pair 18 compresses and / or deforms it to achieve a generally uniform thickness, such that the cross-web variation in thickness of the gum sheet 13 is preferably within about 20%, more preferably within about 10%, and most preferably within about 5%, or less. For example, if the expected thickness 32 of the gum sheet 13 leaving the roller pair 18 is 6 mm, the gap 30 between the upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28 (particularly the minimum distance of the gap) is adjusted so that the thickness across the width of the gum sheet 13 is preferably between about 4.8 and 7.2 mm, more preferably between about 5.2 and 6.6 mm. Thus, significant precision and accuracy can be achieved when forming chewing gum using the roller pair 18. The elasticity, viscosity and resilience of a given gum formula can cause the rebound and shrinkage of gum to change, so it is expected that there will be some deviations in the gum thickness produced by various gum formulas. The gum sheet 13 with substantially uniform thickness 32 can be expanded or shrunk in its thickness subsequently, specifically depending on the formula of the gum. In addition, the gum sheet 13 with substantially uniform thickness 32 can be shaped, textured and / or printed subsequently, which can change substantially uniform thickness.

[0077] The roller pair 18 may be configured to have various diameters and widths (the width and / or diameter of the upper roller 26 being the same or different than the width or diameter of the lower roller 28), depending on the physical properties of the gum, the desired second thickness 32, the desired final width of the gum sheet 13 exiting the roller pair 18, and the desired temperature of the gum sheet 13. Figure 1In the illustrated embodiment, the lower roller 28 has a larger diameter than the upper roller 26. However, in other embodiments, the upper roller may have a larger diameter than the lower roller, or the rollers may have the same diameter. Ideally, the lower roller 28 has a diameter between about 0.5m and 3m and a width between about 0.6m and 1.3m; the upper roller 26 has a diameter between about 0.25m and 1m, and the width is similar. As shown, preferably, the roller that carries the gum for a few degrees of rotation is relatively large in diameter to achieve a certain cooling / heating and / or shaping effect, as discussed later.

[0078] Although narrower rollers are also possible, rollers with a width between about 0.6m and 1.3m or wider provide the opportunity to produce gum ribbons or sheets that are approximately the same in width, typically at least slightly narrow. Therefore, roller pairs 18 can bring significant improvements in gum capacity compared to conventional thickness reduction processes involving roller-pressed scoring rollers. Therefore, roller pairs 18 can provide a gum sheet 13 with a width of 50mm to 50cm, or greater than 50cm (the width of the gum sheet 13 is measured in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the gum moves through the system 10), and compared to conventional shaping extruders with progressively reducing rollers, roller pairs 18 can provide finished shaped gum ribbons or sheets with a width of 125%-300% (or wider), as noted throughout this article, while also significantly reducing the energy used. Therefore, the roller pair 18 can also provide gum strings with a width of less than 50 mm, or 20 mm to 50 mm, and 25 mm to 45 mm (gum with a width of less than 50 mm is defined as a string or may be defined as a strip). In addition, the roller pair 18 can prepare a gum sheet 13 with a desired width and a relatively small width deviation. In one embodiment, the roller pair 18 can prepare a gum sheet 13 with a desired width and a width deviation preferably within 20%, more preferably within 10%, and most preferably within 5% or less. When the gum material is wider, if necessary, the speed of the gum forming operation can be greatly reduced while still processing the same amount of gum as a traditional rolling and scoring line, or a higher speed can be used to obtain a larger gum batch production volume.

[0079] The roller pair 18 rotates at a desired speed to effectively pull the chewing gum 12 through the gap 30 and deform the chewing gum 12 into the gum sheet 13. Thus, the roller pair 18 operates at a desired rotational speed to pull the chewing gum 12 through the gap 30. In an exemplary embodiment, the second speed is greater than the first speed at which the chewing gum reaches the forming station 16 (as mentioned above, these speeds will be discussed in more detail below). Figure 1 and 2In the exemplary embodiment of , the chewing gum 12 is transported to the forming station 16 by the conveyor 20, wherein the second speed is also the speed of the conveyor 20. More details about the forming station 16 and system elements downstream of the forming station 16 will be discussed below.

[0080] Figure 1 and 2 The roller pair of the forming station 16 shown in FIG. 1 can be configured to have a smooth or contoured surface texture. The roller pair 18 can also be configured to have any desired actuation device, such as but not limited to a servo mechanism, which controls the vertical positioning of the rollers 26 and 28 relative to each other, thereby adjusting the gap 30.

[0081] The upper roller 26 and the lower roller 28 can be operated at different rotational speeds to produce the desired second speed described above, with the rotational speed of the second roller matching the speed of the second conveyor. The two rollers 18 can be operated at the same rotational speed or at different rotational speeds, and the rotational speeds of the two rollers are selected according to the physical properties of the gum input, the amount of heat transfer required through the two rollers, and the speed at which the gum 12 reaches the forming station 16 (i.e., the first speed mentioned above). In an exemplary embodiment, the lower roller 28, which can be configured to have a larger diameter than the upper roller 26, is configured to operate at a lower rotational speed than the smaller upper roller. In addition, the relative rotational speeds of the rollers 26 and 28 can be adjusted to produce a desired quality of the gum sheet 13, such as surface characteristics, thickness tolerance, temperature, etc.

[0082] In an exemplary embodiment, rollers 26 and 28 may be configured to run at the same linear speed or at different linear speeds, and the linear speed is measured on the tangent line of the surface of the roller. In one embodiment, a roller is set at a constant linear speed, and the linear speed of another roller may change between ± 30% of the constant linear speed of the roller. For example, the linear speed of lower roller 28 may be set at 3m / min, and the linear speed of upper roller 26 may be controlled between 2.1m / min and 3.9m / min. In such an embodiment, the linear speed of upper roller 26 may be adjusted within a set range to realize a smoother surface of gum and to minimize the wrinkling of gum. Alternatively, upper roller 26 may be set at a constant linear speed, and the linear speed of lower roller 28 may be controlled within a desired range. Depending on the characteristics of the gum and the desired thickness and width of the gum sheet 13, the linear speed of one roller may be varied within a range of ±40%, ±30%, ±20%, or ±10% relative to the linear speed of the other roller to maximize smoothness and minimize wrinkling and other irregularities on the gum surface. In a different embodiment, rollers 26 and 28 having different diameters may be configured to operate at the same linear speed (e.g., the same speed on the tangent; but different angular speeds because the smaller roller rotates faster). It is worth noting, however (and as mentioned above), that the operating speed (i.e., surface speed) of roller pair 18 is greater than the gum 12 reaching roller pair 18 (at Figure 1 and 2 In fact, after the gum passes through the gap 30, its thickness will be reduced from thickness 17 to thickness 32, so that the cross-sectional area of ​​the gum sheet 13 is reduced. In order to achieve the cross-sectional area reduction, the speed of rollers 26 and 28 should be relative to the speed of the gum arriving (at Figure 1 and 2 For example, if the conveyor 20 is running at a speed of 20 m / min and the final thickness 32 is about 20% thinner than the first thickness 17, the speed of the rollers 26 and 28 should be 25 m / min.

[0083] The material and the setting of roller pair 18 will now be described in more detail.It should be appreciated that the size configuration of rollers 26 and 28 and material and its supporting structure are engineered to minimize or eliminate the deflection of rollers 26 and 28.Rollers 26 and 28 are configured to provide a substantially uniform cross-coil spacing 30 (gap) from one end of the roller to the other end between rollers 26 and 28. However, when rollers 26 and 28 deform gum mass 12, some high viscosity and / or low elasticity gum compositions can apply higher stress to rollers.Some very viscous gum structures can apply large stress on rollers 26 and 28.This stress can cause rollers 26 and 28 to deflect, which then causes uneven spacing, and brings undesirable uneven cross-coil thickness.

[0084] Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, by providing additional structural support and / or by supporting rollers at both ends closer to rollers to strengthen rollers 26 and 28, the deflection of rollers is minimized or eliminated. In one embodiment, strengthen and support rollers 26 and 28 so that when processing high viscosity and / or low elasticity gum mass 12, the maximum deflection between rollers remains below 0.5mm, preferably below 0.1mm. In addition, it is also possible to minimize or eliminate the deflection of rollers by increasing the diameter of rollers, or forming rollers with stronger materials to withstand the stress applied by gum mass. For wider rollers, greater strength or rigidity are needed to withstand stress, and at this moment, rollers with larger diameters can help provide enough roller rigidities, minimizing deflection. Therefore, considering the physical properties of gum mass 12 and required gum sheet thickness, carefully select the ratio of the diameter of rollers to width, thereby minimizing the deflection of rollers.

[0085] As another option, the physical properties of the gum mass 12 can be adjusted to minimize the deflection of the rollers 26 and 28 during deformation and shaping. For example, the temperature of the gum from the mixer 14 can be increased to improve the deformability of the gum mass 12 entering the roller pair 18. In other embodiments, one or both of the rollers 26 and 28 can be heated to transfer heat to the gum mass 12, thereby reducing the viscosity of the gum sheet 13 and improving its compressibility and / or formability. Applying certain pressure and heat to the gum mass 12 can bring various effects to the final gum product.

[0086] like Figure 1 and 2As shown in the exemplary embodiment of , it should be recognized that due to the relatively thin state of the gum and due to the conductive heat transfer, the lower roller 28 that carries the gum to rotate a few degrees plays a role in quickly and efficiently transferring heat from or to the gum sheet 13. To promote this heat transfer, in one embodiment, at least the lower roller (preferably the upper roller and the lower roller) can be cooled or heated. In some embodiments, the roller pair 18 can be provided with an internal channel through which a heating or cooling fluid such as temperature-controlled water or a fluid with a lower freezing point flows to heat or cool the roller. Therefore, the surface temperature of the roller can be adjusted from about -15°C to 90°C. In one embodiment, the surface temperature of these rollers can be controlled to be between about 0°C and 90°C by circulating a cooling fluid or a heating fluid with a temperature between about 0°C and 90°C in the rollers 26, 26a and 28, 28a. According to one embodiment, the forming rollers are cooled to a surface temperature between about 5°C and 25°C; and preferably around 15°C. This has several advantages, since the gum is cooled very early in the process, subsequent conditioning / cooling can be reduced or eliminated, and the emission of heat sensitive ingredients such as flavors can be reduced. In a different embodiment, the forming rollers are heated to a surface temperature between about 40°C and 60°C, which can facilitate the formation of the gum sheet and reduce thickness variations in the gum sheet.

[0087] In an exemplary embodiment, a gum mass 12 having an average temperature between about 40°C and 60°C is fed between a pair of forming or sizing rollers 18. One or both of the rollers 26, 28 are heated to a surface temperature between about 30°C and 70°C, more preferably between about 40°C and 60°C, so as to closely match the temperature of the finished gum mass 12. Heating the rollers in this way facilitates the formation of the gum carried by the lower roller 28 and controls the viscosity of the gum. In some embodiments, if the surface temperature of the rollers 26 and 28 is too high, the gum may become too sticky and adhere to the rollers after being heated. If the surface temperature of the rollers is too low, the local viscosity of the gum will increase to the extent that the gum becomes too hard to form or the gum may not be able to stay on the lower roller 28. Therefore, depending on the formulation of the gum, the surface temperature of the rollers can be set to help prevent the gum from adhering to the rollers and facilitate the formation of the gum.

[0088] The gum coil formed, shaped and cooled or heated using rollers 26, 28 can have a temperature gradient over the entire thickness 32 of the gum sheet 13. This is because the gum sheet 13 (most of which is an elastomer) is not a good conductor of heat, so the temperature of the middle part of the gum can be different from the temperature of the surface in direct contact with the roller. When the rollers, especially rollers 26 and 28, are kept at different temperatures, this temperature gradient may be enlarged. For example, in one embodiment, the upper roller 26 is heated to a surface temperature of about 50°C, and the lower roller 28 is cooled to a surface temperature of about 5°C, wherein the gum having an average temperature of about 40°C is formed, shaped and conditioned into a gum sheet 13 having a thickness of about 2 mm (measured at thickness 32). In this embodiment, the gum sheet 13 may have a large temperature gradient, wherein the temperature of the gum surface in contact with the lower roller is close to the surface temperature of the lower roller, i.e., about 5°C; the temperature of the gum surface in contact with the heated upper roller is close to the surface temperature of the upper roller, i.e., about 50°C; and the temperature of the gum sheet 13 between the upper and lower rollers varies between about 5°C and about 50°C. In such embodiments, the crystallization of the cooled gum surface may be significantly different from the crystallization of the heated gum surface, since the gum sheet subjected to low temperature conduction cooling by the cooling rollers may result in a very different crystallization than the gum sheet subjected to slow cooling (e.g., convection cooling). Even in embodiments where both rollers 26 and 28 are cooled to the same temperature, the gum sheet 13 may have a temperature gradient across the thickness of the gum sheet, but the temperature gradient is much smaller than the temperature gradient of the gum sheet 13 formed by rollers at different temperatures.

[0089] The temperature variation of the input gum entering the gum forming station 16 can have a significant impact on the temperature consistency of the gum sheet 13. This is because the temperature change of the gum sheet 13 caused by the heat conduction of the forming roller to 18 only occurs in a short period of time, and in contrast, the traditional cooling and conditioning of the gum carried out by convection can be up to several hours or even several days. Therefore, the temperature variation of the input gum mass can be converted into the temperature variation of the gum coil of fast cooling, such as cooling by cooling rollers such as rollers to 18 in less than a minute. Therefore, some embodiments may include the measure that the temperature variation of the input gum mass is controlled within the required range. For example, the mixing extruder for preparing the input gum structure can be equipped with a precise temperature control module, thereby extruding gum within the required temperature range. In other embodiments, in this system (such as system 10), an optional conditioning unit can be included between the mixer and the gum forming station 16 for conditioning the mass 12 to the required temperature range.

[0090] The cooled forming rollers 26 and / or 28 can effectively reduce the temperature of the relatively thin gum sheet 13 because the gum sheet is carried by the cooled forming rollers and heat transfer occurs. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, a relatively large diameter roller can be provided, wherein the gum sheet 13 is carried to rotate at least about 1 / 4 of a circle (at least about 90 degrees and at most about 180 degrees), thereby providing a longer residence time to facilitate heat transfer from the gum sheet and into the cooling rollers by contact and conduction. The cooling fluid passing through the rollers can well maintain the surface temperature of the forming rollers at about 5°C to 25°C; and preferably at about 15°C. The cooled forming roller (multiple) has a cold metal surface with high thermal conductivity, which effectively reduces the temperature of the relatively thin chewing gum by promoting heat transfer from the gum sheet 13 to the cold metal surface, and the thickness of the gum is preferably less than 10mm; more preferably 05 to 6mm. The heat transfer roller may advantageously be one or both of the pair of forming rollers, or may also be independently a separate roller that transfers the gum.

[0091] In an exemplary embodiment, the upper roller 26 has a diameter of about 0.5 meters and the lower roller 28 has a diameter of about 1 meter, and the rollers are cooled to about 15°C. The use of roller pair 18 also makes it possible to eliminate the need to sprinkle talc or other particulate anti-sticking agents used in more conventional rolling and scoring operations on the gum. This can avoid the need for dust collection equipment used in traditional roller pressing and scoring production lines; and can be used to produce more aesthetically pleasing products with brighter colors, because the dusting operation will dull the color of the final product. In addition, by eliminating the use of dusting materials, the cleaning process of the gum manufacturing line (such as system 10) can be greatly facilitated, because the use of powders and many rollers in traditional rolling and scoring lines will leave a lot of material, thus requiring a lengthy cleaning process. According to some embodiments of the present invention, the cleaning time for conversion in some traditional rolling and scoring gum production lines, which was originally several hours, such as 10 hours, can be reduced to a few minutes. Thus, embodiments of the present invention may increase the productivity of a gum manufacturing line by significantly reducing cleanup / changeover time as compared to conventional rolled and scored gum lines.

[0092] Now turn to an exemplary embodiment that can effectively replace the above-mentioned powder. It should be understood that the upper roller 26 can be equipped with an oiling roller 50 for the purpose of lubricating the upper roller with a release agent (such as food grade vegetable oil or mineral oil), which acts to prevent the gum from sticking to the roller. Similarly, the lower roller 28 can also be equipped with an oiling roller 52 to lubricate the lower roller. Therefore, the gum forming system 16 does not require a powder release agent such as talc or polyol. Although in Figure 1 and Figure 2In the embodiment of the present invention, each roller is equipped with an oiling roller, but in other embodiments, only one of the upper and lower rollers may be equipped with an oiling roller; or, if the surface tension or adhesion of the upper and lower rollers is low enough to allow the gum sheet 13 to be released without the help of a release agent, and the gum sheet 13 is not sticky enough to facilitate the subsequent scoring, cutting and packaging processes, then both rollers may not be equipped with an oiling roller. In addition, other lubrication systems (e.g., spray bars or dip basins) may be used to apply suitable liquid lubricants.

[0093] For the upper roller 26, a scraper may also be provided near the gap 30 to ensure that the gum sheet 13 is separated from the surface of the upper roller, thereby making it easier for the gum sheet 13 to move to the lower roller. A scraper may also be provided near the bottom of the lower roller 28 to separate the gum sheet 13 from the surface of the lower roller 28 located downstream of the gap 30 onto the conveyor belt 56. In some embodiments, the conveyor belt 56 may be adapted to be cooled or heated to further condition the continuous gum sheet 13 to a temperature similar to that of the rollers discussed above. In addition, the conveyor belt may be operated at the same linear speed (i.e., a second speed) as the placement roller (in an exemplary embodiment, the lower roller), which is greater than the linear speed at which the gum 12 arrives at the forming station 16 (at the lower roller). Figure 1 and 2 The first speed of the conveyor 20 is reached.

[0094] The system 10 may also include a smoothing roller 58 located downstream of the forming station 16. The conveyor 56 moves the gum sheet 13 having a final (or at least approximately final) thickness toward the smoothing roller. The smoothing roller is preferably arranged at a distance of about 0.5m to 3m from the lower roller 28, and more preferably about 1m to 1.5m. The smoothing roller can remove surface defects, kinks, and further reduce the thickness of the gum sheet 13, but generally, any further reduction in thickness can be limited to a reduction of 10% or less, so that the final thickness or approximately final thickness of the gum sheet 13 is not affected (in fact, for the purposes of the present invention, a reduction in thickness of 10% or less will be considered to not affect the "approximately" final thickness of the gum sheet 13), while achieving the advantage of not requiring progressive reduction. Figure 1 and Figure 2The illustrated embodiment outputs a continuous gum sheet 13 having a thickness 32 that is within 10% of the desired final thickness of the final gum product (and the approximate final thickness as defined above), and the flattening roller is configured to adjust the thickness of the gum sheet 13 by no more than 10% (i.e., only by flattening, so that the approximate final thickness is also not affected). For example, in an implementation where the desired final thickness of the stick gum product is 2.0 mm, the gap 30 can be adjusted to enable the continuous gum sheet 13 to have a generally uniform thickness of about 2.1 mm. In this implementation, the flattening roller is arranged relative to the conveyor belt 56 to remove defects and kinks in a manner that can reduce the generally uniform thickness to about 2.0 mm. It should be noted that any conveyor located downstream of the flattening roller can run faster than a conveyor located upstream of the flattening roller.

[0095] exist Figure 1 and 2 In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the system 10 also includes a scoring roller 21 and a transverse dividing or cutting roller 22 (and a compression roller, if used) located downstream of the gap 30. The scoring roller 21 and the transverse dividing roller 22 score the gum sheet 13 and can be divided into a single scoring sheet. The scored sheet can then be transferred to a cooling tunnel for further conditioning (but since the roller pair 18 provides an enhanced cooling capacity, the cooling tunnel is no longer necessary). Afterwards, the gum can be transported to further processing and packaging equipment for the production of packaged gum products, which may be in a single production line with a system 10 or other such systems. In certain embodiments, the scoring roller 21 and the dividing roller 22 can be replaced by other gum forming schemes, such as ink delivery rollers, punching and shearing machines, granulators or other similar gum forming equipment (prerequisite is that the sheet is cooled to a sufficient degree). In this way, the gum manufacturing system 10 or other such systems can produce chewing gums with various final shapes, such as thick slices that can be packaged later, or sugar pills that can be coated later.

[0096] Although the system 10 is shown as a continuous production line including a gum mixing system 14, in other embodiments, one or more of these components of the gum manufacturing system 10 or other such systems may be placed in different areas of the manufacturing plant, or even in different manufacturing plants. For example, in one embodiment, the gum mixing system 14 is located in one plant, while the conveyor 20, the gum forming system 16 and other subsequent components, such as scoring and dividing rollers and packaging components are located in another different plant, wherein the mixed gum mass 12 is transferred from one plant to another for subsequent processing.

[0097] like Figure 3, it should be appreciated that the system 10 may omit the conveyor 20. In such an embodiment, the mixing station 14 may output the gum 12 directly to the forming station 16 (in an exemplary embodiment, directly onto the lower roller 28), the gum being output at the first speed discussed above, which is less than the speed of the roller pair 18. Figures 1 to 3 The extruder / mixer 14 in any of the figures may be a single mixer or multiple mixers (e.g., single or multiple continuous mixers) equipped with different mixer components and / or mixer feed systems for processing gum ingredients to prepare chewing gum. Figure 4 As shown in , the mixer 14 can be one or more batch mixers (or perhaps a melting system that can melt previously formed gum into a state in which the gum can be subsequently formed). In such an embodiment, the gum 12 can be removed from the batch mixer 14 to a conveyor 20 and transported on the conveyor to a forming station 16 having an irregular thickness 70.

[0098] Finally, although Figures 1 to 4 The roller pairs 18 shown in each of the figures are described and illustrated as being used to shape or form the gum 12 into a sheet 13, but it should be appreciated that the rollers 18 may also be used to cut or score the gum 12 into scored or separated sheets or strips during or after the forming / shaping process. For example, one or both of the rollers 26 and 28 may be equipped with one or more scoring / cutting blades disposed across or around one or both of the rollers 26 and 28 that score / cut the sheet 13 in a direction perpendicular to the machine direction (thereby producing a cut or scored sheet) or in the machine direction (thereby producing a cut or scored strip).

[0099] All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

[0100] In the case of describing the present invention (especially in the case of the attached claims), unless otherwise specified herein or the context clearly contradicts, the use of the terms "one", "a", "said" and similar indicators should be understood to cover both singular and plural meanings. Unless otherwise specified, the terms "comprising", "having", "including" and "containing" should be interpreted as open terms (i.e., meaning "including but not limited to"). Unless otherwise specified herein, the description of the numerical range herein is intended only as a shorthand method for individually referring to each individual numerical value falling within the range, and each individual numerical value is incorporated into this specification as if it is individually described herein. Unless otherwise specified herein or the context clearly contradicts, all methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order. Unless otherwise stated, the use of any and all examples or exemplary language (e.g., "such as") provided herein is intended only to better illustrate the present invention, rather than to limit the scope of the present invention. No language in this specification should be interpreted as indicating that any non-claimed element is necessary for the implementation of the present invention.

[0101] Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described herein, including the best mode of implementing the present invention known to the inventor. To those skilled in the art, after reading the foregoing description, variations of those preferred embodiments will become apparent. The inventor expects that those skilled in the art will appropriately adopt these variations, and the inventor intends that the present invention be implemented in other ways except the specific ways described herein. Accordingly, subject to the applicable legal permission, the present invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter stated in the attached claims. In addition, unless otherwise specified herein or the context clearly contradicts, the present invention encompasses any combination of all possible variations of the elements described above.

Claims

1. A method of forming a chewing gum, the method comprising: Providing a roller pair; shaping the chewing gum to a first thickness by an extruder, the first thickness being uniform; conveying the chewing gum directly from the extruder to the pair of rollers at a first speed without an accumulation device; shaping the chewing gum into a gum sheet having a second thickness between about 0.3 mm and 10 mm by the roller pair, at least one roller of the roller pair rotating at a linear second speed greater than the first speed; and The chewing gum sheet is conveyed from a discharge outlet of the roller pair at a third speed greater than the first speed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first thickness is at least 10 mm.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of shaping the chewing gum to include the first thickness is extrusion of the chewing gum.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying to the pair of rollers is delivering the chewing gum from a forming device to the pair of rollers at the first speed without any intermediate conveying device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying to the pair of rollers is delivering the chewing gum directly from the extruder to the pair of rollers at the first speed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one roller of the pair of rollers includes at least one guide positioned to guide the chewing gum to the pair of rollers during the conveying.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the roller pair comprises two vertically displaced rollers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of shaping the chewing gum into the gum sheet comprises driving the pair of rollers in opposite directions to pull the chewing gum through a gap between the pair of rollers and deform the chewing gum to form the gum sheet.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said thickness of said gum sheet expands by less than 10% after said shaping.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying from the pair of rollers is by conveying the chewing gum sheet from the pair of rollers by at least one conveyor operating at the third speed. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second speed is equal to the third speed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the chewing gum provided to the roller pair at the first speed is shaped.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the extruder is a twin-screw extruder.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the chewing gum having the first thickness upstream of the roller pair has a first width and the chewing gum having the second thickness downstream of the roller pair has a second width, and The first width is the same as the second width, and the second thickness is smaller than the first thickness.

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