Alcan International Limited

Novelis, Inc.

Hormel Foods Corporation

Melville D Ball

Bryan C Hewitt

Robert Arthur Innes

Gary J Smith

John Anthony Hunter

Claude P Lorenson

Laurie A Coady

Carl A Wollam

Richard M Keefer

Harry Sang

Robin C Furneaux

Matthew J Fairlie

Alexander P Davidson

Phillip L Minerich

Neil Louis Brockman

Cindy M Lacroix

Robert G Jones

Werner H Kuenzi

Christine E Gallerneault

A cold rolling process for impressing a pattern on a surface of a sheet metal article involves passing the sheet article through a pair of rolls and engaging a patterning feature with isolated areas of a surface of the sheet article, at a localized pressure to plastically deform at least the surface of the sheet article. A rolling pressure is maintained on other areas of the sheet article that is less than the bulk elastic yield strength of the metal. A cold rolling apparatus is also described having a pair of rolls, each with partially cylindrical outer surfaces. The rolls have a gap between the cylindrical parts. One of the rolls has a localized surface region that is displaced relative to the surface of the roll. When the localized region is brought near the other roll, a spacing exists that is narrower than the gap. One of the rolls has a localized patterning feature that aligns with the localized surface region to impress a pattern into the sheet article. The gap allows the rolls to engage opposite surfaces of the sheet article while imparting compression less than a bulk elastic yield strength of the metal.

Roll embossing of discrete features

A process of producing an article having a surface provided with an optical diffraction grating such that the surface generates visible color when illuminated with diffuse white light. The process involves deforming a starting material to produce the article having the surface and, during the deforming step, impressing a diffraction relief pattern on the surface by a tool provided with a bearing surface having a corresponding surface relief pattern of parallel lines that contacts the surface of the article under pressure. While the diffraction relief patter is being impressed, the surface is caused to slide in a direction of movement relative to the bearing surface of the tool. The invention also relates to the article.

Process of producing diffraction gratings on the surface of articles

A process and apparatus, including a separate coating head, for coating a strip article with a coating material. The process involves coating a strip article with a film of coating material by passing the strip article through a coating apparatus having at least one floating coating head provided with a coating face facing and extending laterally across a surface of the strip article to be coated. The coating head exudes a coating material and floats on the coating material as it meters the coating to a film of the desired thickness. The coating face of the coating head has a preferred coating profile between its opposite ends, and wherein distortions of the preferred coating profile during coating of said strip article are substantially prevented by modifying heat flux to or from selected parts of the coating head to compensate for distortions caused by differences of temperature within the coating head. The apparatus provides means of modifying heat flux to prevent such distortions of the coating profile. A removable coating head also includes such means of modifying the heat flux.

Process and apparatus for profile control of direct coaters

A process of producing an elongated coated strip article having a layer of coating material on each opposite surface of the strip article, in which the ratio of layer thicknesses on opposite sides of the strip article may be set or varied. The process comprises simultaneously applying layers of solidifiable liquid coating materials on the opposite sides of the strip article by advancing the strip article in a direction along a path between opposed coating heads, at least one of which is a floating coating head, having material delivery slots and metering lands for delivery and metering of the liquid coating materials to the opposite surface to form the layers. The ratio of the layer thicknesses may be adjusted when required by varying the path of strip article advance between the floating coating heads to cause changes in angles formed between the strip surfaces and adjacent metering lands on opposite sides of the strip article. The invention also provides apparatus for carrying out the process.

Control of coating thickness in sheet article coaters

A method of applying a multi-layer coating to a surface of an elongated strip article (10) of variable thickness or surface height. The method involves applying at least two layers (12a, 12b,) of different coating materials in the form of solidifiable fluids directly onto the surface (10a, 47, 48) of the elongated metal strip article and reducing the layers to a desired thickness by causing the applied coating materials to encounter at least one coating surface (27) that is movable substantially perpendicularly relative to the strip article and is urged towards the strip article in opposition to hydrodynamic force generated by the coating materials on the at least one coating surface. Differences of thickness or surface height of the strip article are therefore accommodated unduly varying the coating thickness. In the method, one layer (12b) is coated on top of another (12a) in such a way that an outer coating layer is applied on an immediately underlying layer before the immediately underlying layer solidifies. The invention also relates to apparatus for carrying out the method.

Multi-layer coating of elongated strip articles

An microwave container with synergistic active elements provides more uniform heating than prior art containers, and is more tolerant of variations in food product, load and heating conditions. The active elements (which are conductive and microwave opaque) include an annular ring in the base of the container, a band extending from the base of the side walls up the walls to a level approximately even with the anticipated fill level in the container, a lip extending from the bottom of the side walls onto the base, and at least one, preferably three cooperative active elements in the lid of the container. These containers can be used for thawing and cooking frozen, uncooked meats and other foods, with which prior art containers produced unsatisfactory results.

Container for active microwave heating

Peelable laminated structures and process for production thereof

Susceptors used for browning or crisping food prepared in microwave ovens and processes for the production of such susceptors. The susceptors are produced by laminating an anodizable metal (e.g. aluminum, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, titanium or tungsten) onto a suitable non-metallic substrate (e.g a heat resistant polyester film, a paperboard sheet or a glass, plastic or ceramic article) and anodizing the metal layer to form an anodic film covering a residual metal layer of suitable thinness to generate heat by resistance heating when irradiated by microwaves. The anodic film acts as a barrier to prevent the migration of any degradation products to the foodstuff undergoing the heating procedure. The susceptors can be used as wrappings for food items, as package inserts or as internal coatings on food containers and the like.

Susceptors for browning or crisping food in microwave ovens

A microwave tunnel oven receives a series of packages each comprising a container and a load in the container to be heated by microwave energy. The oven has a conveyor with a series of carriers each for receiving one of the packages and conveying it through the oven. The improvement comprises modifying the microwave field in the load during its irradiation in the oven in a manner to generate higher order modes of microwave energy in the load to enhance the uniformity of heating throughout the load. The structure for achieving the field modification is divided into two parts, one part being formed on the conveyor and the other part being formed either on the package or on a subsidiary conveyor that extends parallel to the main conveyor.

Microwave tunnel oven having means for generating higher order modes in

A container for heating a substance, e.g. food, in a microwave oven has a bottom transparent to microwave energy. The container is supported on a stand that contains one or more electrically conductive plates (or apertures in an electrically conductive sheet) that generate at least one mode of microwave energy of higher order than the fundamental modes. The stand also serves to support the container above the higher order mode generating plates (or apertures) so that the undersurface of the substance is spaced from them by a uniform predetermined distance. The arrangement has the known features of 'bottom heating', i.e. taking advantage of the natural heat flow in the substance, while achieving more uniform heating of the substance by virtue of the higher order mode or modes. As an alternative to or in addition to the generation of higher order modes, the stand may embody elements that modify the microwave pattern in a manner than enhances the coupling of microwave energy into the undersurface of the substance to be heated.

Microwave heating device with microwave distribution modifying means

A product comprises a shallow container and a load located therein for heating by microwave energy. This product is designed either to be used with, or itself to incorporate, a structure for generating or enhancing at least one mode of the microwave energy of an order higher than a fundamental mode that is determined by boundary conditions resulting from the lateral dimensions of either the container of the load or both. The invention resides in controlling the depth of the load in the container in such a manner that, upon irradiation of the product with the microwave energy, the power absorbed by the load from a higher order mode is at or near a maximum value, while preferably the power absorbed by the load from the fundamental mode is at or near a minimum value. Since uneven heating would ordinarily be associated with the predominance of a fundamental mode, the result of this invention is to increase the intensity of a higher order mode relative to the fundamental mode intensity, and thus provide improved microwave heating uniformity.

Improved uniformity of microwave heating by control of the depth of a

A catalyst device comprises a porous catalytically active inorganic membrane, means for presenting a fluid reactant to a first surface of the membrane and means for recovering a fluid reaction product from the second surface of the membrane. The membrane is preferably an anodic aluminum oxide membrane with a deposit of catalytically active material present within the pores, preferably concentrated in the ends of the pores adjacent the second surface of the membrane.

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Kingston, Canada

Melville D Ball