The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 02, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 13, 1998
Alan D Stall, Naperville, IL (US);
Jose-Luis R Valdes, Madrid, ES;
Alfacel s.a., Madrid, ES;
Abstract
A caddy for packaging and transporting shirred food casings. A caddy according to the present invention comprises a plurality of shirred food casings, each of the shirred food casings being generally cylindrical and of generally equal length and diameter, with the food casings being arranged in a plurality of generally adjacent but offset rows to form a stack. The stack includes a bottom wall, a top wall, and a plurality of sidewalls. The stack is further defined by a pair of outside rows and a plurality of inside rows. At least one of the inside rows is laterally offset relative to its adjacent rows to thereby form a recessed notch adjacent one of the sidewalls. The same row also forms a protruding casing on the side opposite of the notch. A vacuum sealed peripheral retaining film surrounds the stack to thereby retain the food casings in the stack. The caddy of the present invention is adapted to be shipped with a plurality of similar caddies in such a manner that the caddies engage each other to thereby prevent relative movement during shipping.