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:
Jun. 26, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 23, 1999
James N. Weinstein, Maple Grove, MN (US);
Scott A. Tolson, Arden Hills, MN (US);
James R. Borek, Burnsville, MN (US);
Peter A. Huberg, Shoreview, MN (US);
Thomas Jarl, Golden Valley, MN (US);
Philip K. Zietlow, Wayzata, MN (US);
Bernhard van Lengerich, Plymouth, MN (US);
General Mills, Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US);
Abstract
Apparatus (,) and methods are disclosed where plastic extrudable food product is provided such as by an extruder or pump and is combined with another food product without intermixing to form a complexly patterned food product, such as by a pattern forming die (,). The cross-sectional area of the patterned food product is reduced from an inlet end (,) to an outlet end (,) by a factor of 4:1 to as much as 50:1 at an average convergence angle of 5 to 65° while maintaining the cross-sectional pattern to form a reduced cross-sectional patterned food product, and then is extruded through a die port having an opening equal to the reduced cross-sectional area to form a complexly patterned extrudate.