Patent Application
20060068065
The invention relates to a consumable baked or parbaked manifold that can be formed into a enclosed edible form or shape surrounding a void space. The container can be opened and filled with a food. The shape or volume can be adapted for containing at least an appetizer, a single or individual serving-sized portion or two or more such portions of a food. Such foods can include breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, snacks, soups, stews, salads, chili, chicken salad, ham salad, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, desserts, fruit fillings, etc.
Cup or bowl shaped edible containers have become common over the last few years. One type of edible container, made from a dough forming a bread-like container has been used for containing salads, soups and other comestible materials. Such bread bowls can be made by forming dough into a bowl-shaped structure and then baking the product to a final form. Alternatively, conventional, generally oval or spherical loaves are baked, the interiors are cut or scooped out and the hollowed loaf is then used as a “bread bowl”. This technology has become more and more common. Such bread bowls are shown in Ruiz, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,099, 5,002,783 and 5,128,157; and Bank, U.S. Design Pat. No. 277,234. The products can be made in an apparatus such as that shown in Tienor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,664; Savage, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,698; Ellner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,012; Woods, U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,934 or Bastasch et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,864. These products have some value in the production of edible materials, however these products are limited in their overall shape and size. Substantial need still exists in providing a variety in container size, product, versatility and improved production methods.
An edible container for human food can be made in the form of an enclosed manifold. A manifold is a substantially enclosed volume with an arbitrary shape or geometry. The food manifold is made with an enclosed internal void space that once opened, can act as a container or reservoir for an arbitrary quantity of food. The container is configured and used by removing a portion, substantially less than half of the surface area of the manifold revealing an interior container volume shaped to contain an appetizer, a serving size portion or two or more portions of a food material. A section of the manifold is removed to reveal the internal volume. This section is a part of the manifold comprising an area of 0.01 to 30% preferably 0.1 to 20% of the manifold surface area. In the instance that the manifold is substantially spherical, the sector can have a curved shape that is generally circular in profile. The radius of the circle defined by the sector typically is less than the spherical radius of the substantially spherical manifold and is commonly less than 0.7 times the spherical radius. A variety of foods can be introduced into the interior volume of the edible container for consumption. The container and its constituent material is formulated and is structurally configured for resisting any reduction in container strength, appeal or structural integrity when filled with a hot or cold, liquid or solid food substance. During consumption of the food contents of the container, the edible container can also be consumed. In one embodiment the interior of the manifold can contain a separate comestible object.
The container typically comprises a shell of an edible substance and the dough or the interior surface can optionally contain a moisture barrier to maintain the structural integrity of the sphere during the time it contains the food material by slowing the rate moisture penetrates the container. Preferred moisture barriers are hydrophobic. The manifold container is shaped and sized to contain an appetizer portion, at least an individual serving size portion, and can contain sufficient food to satisfy two, three, four or more individual members. Once the food in the container is consumed, the shell can be divided into portions for individual consumption. The food adapted for use in the shell can comprise a breakfast food, a snack food, a brunch food, a lunch food, a dinner food, a dessert food, or any other typical consumable material. Such food can be liquid, a blend of liquid and solid materials, thickened liquids, gels, semisolids or solids of varying particle size or unit size. The container can be made with a unique edible item held inside the manifold. This item can be removed and consumed separately as a bonus item.
Such edible containers can be made for retail sale in a frozen form, can be made available to restaurants in a frozen form or can be manufactured in food production facilities into a final baked container. These product combinations can be packaged with a food material in a separate container for preparation and introduction into the manifold at the time of consumption.
The manifold of the invention typically has an internal volume of at least 10 cm3 and can have a volume that ranges from about 15 to about 8000 cm3. The wall thickness of the manifold is typically greater than about 0.1 cm, but can range from about 0.2 to about 10 cm typically 0.3 to about 5 cm. The manifold can have an internal void space that has the fugitive material with a radius of at least 2 cm, but often ranges from about 3 to about 50 cm commonly 5 to about 20 cm. The internal surface of the manifold can be coated with a hydrophobic moisture barrier that can help preserve the container, once formed, from the undesirable effects of the food material within the container.
The edible manifold container can be made using a variety of materials formed with a variety of techniques. The manifold can be made by forming a production unit comprising unbaked edible material surrounding a fugitive center composition and baking the unit. The unit forms an interior space for the food.
The manifold of the invention can be made from a dough mixture made from wheat, corn, rye or other common flours and can be made in a sweet, bready, cake-like or other formulation. The only requirement of the formulation is that it can be either formed over a fugitive material or inflated using the inflation techniques disclosed below. The dough formula commonly used for this material typically comprises 40-60 wt % flour, 45-65 wt % water, 0-30 wt % sugar, 0 to 5% salt, 0-12% shortening, 0-5% yeast and chemical leavening, both single action and double action baking powder either in the dough formula or in the inflation section of the dough portion. The fugitive portion of the invention can be a fully fugitive material or a partially fugitive material. A fully fugitive material is one that leaves no substantial amount of residue after the dough ball is formed. A partial fugitive material is a material that leaves at least some substantial portion of material remaining in the dough ball after dough ball formation. The partial fugitive material can be a desirable edible portion such as cheese, a second baked item such as a roll or a baked meat portion or any other material that can be combined with the fugitive or inflatable material during manufacture of the dough ball. Such partial fugitive materials can be made by introducing a bakable material with, for example, a dry ice charge resulting in the dry ice leaving substantially no residue upon evaporation but leaving any food item placed within the manifold intact within the manifold. Such portions can be sized and configured such that the portion can be fully cooked as the manifold is also baked to completion.
The manifold container of the invention is typically made using one of two basic methods. In one alternative, the dough can be formed over a fugitive shape using a variety of techniques, the dough and baked fugitive material is removed from the interior using a variety of techniques leaving a substantial void inside the baked manifold that may or may not contain additional materials. In a second alternative, the bread dough is formed into a shape of a bread bowl optionally having a small interior void and then the bread bowl is inflated to form a manifold. The inflation of the bread bowl can be done using a variety of techniques including chemical agents that can form an inflating gas, an inflating gas can be injected into the interior of the bread bowl or into the small void, or through the use of any material that can form or introduce an inflating gas within the dough ball.
The unique edible container of the invention has a unique exterior or interior shape that can be obtained by inflation or formed using the fugitive insert. A unique exterior shape can be formed by cooking the dough ball within a cooking chamber that presses a unique shape into the dough ball exterior. A unique interior can be formed by using a fugitive material having a shaped form leaving the desirable shape in the form of the interior after the fugitive material is removed. The open container is made by forming an upwardly facing opening in the manifold by removing a portion of the manifold. Once the manifold is made, the opening can be formed in the unit in a variety of ways, but typically is made by removing a section from the manifold and placing the containers in an upwardly facing position. Preferably, a stable base on the bottom is also formed during formation, baking or during opening. Upon baking, the exterior layer cooks to form a manifold of structural integrity while the fugitive center changes state and leaves an interior volume substantially free of the fugitive material. The interior can be adapted to contain the food once the spherical container is prepared for serving.
The uncooked manifold can be baked or parbaked from an unbaked production unit that is manufactured by inflating a dough ball or a dough ball with an intentionally formed small void within the dough ball. The dough ball is combined with an inflating means such as a probe or needle shaped object that can be inserted into the interior of the dough ball to introduce the inflating gas. The inflating gas can be introduced into the dough ball until the dough ball is inflated to the appropriate shape or size, the shape or size of the dough ball can be defined by a form that can surround the dough ball prior to inflation and can limit the inflation of the dough ball to a particular shape or size. Such a form can be combined with a vacuum source that can aid in forming the dough ball against the form using the reduced pressure to promote contact with the form.
The uncooked manifold can also be baked or parbaked from an unbaked production unit that can be manufactured with an exterior layer of an uncooked material, an interior fugitive layer or composition. Between the fugitive layer and the exterior layer, a moisture barrier material can be formed. Alternatively, the moisture barrier material can be incorporated into the fugitive composition. After the fugitive composition changes in state, the barrier material becomes an interior layer within the shell. The layer results from the change in state by the fugitive material. In one embodiment, the production item can be made by forming the unbaked food material over a substantial portion of the fugitive composition, leaving a portion of the fugitive material exposed. Once baked the interior volume is revealed as the fugitive material changes state and is removed from the interior. Such a layer can be formed substantially on the surface of the interior of the spherical container with little or no penetration into the container. The barrier can also be incorporated into the interior surface of the container. Such a barrier layer, regardless of placement, can be 0.1 to 5 mm in thickness preferably 0.2 to 3 mm in thickness.
A serving portion of a food in the container can be made by first preparing the edible container. The unbaked material comprising the cookable exterior and the fugitive interior composition can be baked at a temperature sufficient to cook the exterior material and render that material with sufficient structurally integrity to support its own weight and the weight of the food placed within the container. The cooking also causes the fugitive material within the item to change in state and leave the interior void volume for the introduction of the food material. Once the cooking of the container is complete, the upwardly facing opening can be formed. One important aspect of the manufacture of the edible container is the nature of the interior of the structure. Since the structure is made with the process disclosed herein, the interior structure forms a baked surface layer. The surface layer is not an open cell, baked structure similar to that interior structure formed by cutting into a bread-like material, but is a surface layer not unlike the formation of a substantially continuous crust-like layer. The interior layer can be improved by forming a moisture barrier composition on the interior layer. Extruding the moisture barrier between the uncooked exterior portion and the fugitive layer during manufacture can form such a barrier. Alternatively, the moisture barrier can be incorporated into the fugitive composition such that, as the fugitive composition changes in state, the moisture barrier layer forms on the interior surface of the spherical edible material. The term “manifold” refers to an enclosure of any arbitrary shape or geometry. The manifold can be regular in shape like a sphere, egg-shape, square, etc. The manifold can be irregular in shape. The manifold must have an internal volume sufficient to contain at least an appetizer portion of food, but can also contain a full serving or two or more serving size portions of a food. The manifold typically encloses a volume without substantial openings from the interior to the exterior. The manifold is typically formed by crimping or sealing a structure with openings to an internal volume, sealing and separating the volume from the exterior.
a is a cross-sectional view of the item of
The manifold container of the invention comprises an exterior portion made from a baked food with an interior void. A variety of baked foods can be used to form the exterior shell. Such foods include breads, including wheat breads, corn breads, cakes and other breads made using a variety of flours.
Any typical cake or bread formulation can be used in this invention, however, the formulation used for this product is designed to have an open cell structure and be reminiscent of home baked bread. The product shape is optional and can be spherical, oval, loaf-like, etc. The texture closely resembles the traditional bread product. Neither this shape nor open crumb can be obtained with the bread bowl products that are formed and molded over a bread pan.
The manifold of the invention can take virtually any arbitrary shape or size that is convenient for conversion into a container for food disclosed herein. The manifold can be circular, oval, rectangular, pyramidal or other convenient geometric shape. The manifold can be arbitrary multi-lobed, convex, concave or other arbitrarily shaped attribute surface manifold. Regardless of the regular or irregular shape of the manifold, the manifold is typically converted into a container by removing a portion of the manifold leaving an opening that is placed in a substantially upright position. Typically, an amount of the manifold is reduced such that the major dimension of the opening (the linear dimension across the opening that has maximum length as measured from edge to edge) is typically less than the major dimension of the manifold. In the case that a substantially spherical manifold is used, the radius of the opening is typically less than the radius of the substantially spherical shaped manifold. As a result, the manifold is typically inwardly sloped towards the opening of the manifold. While under certain circumstances, the manifold can be cut neatly in half to produce two similarly shaped containers. A preferred mode of opening the container is to remove a relatively small portion of the manifold leaving a substantial proportion of the manifold as the container. Once the food is placed within the manifold container, then the removed portion can be replaced for aesthetic purposes or can be discarded as desired.
Foods that can be used to fill the container in the invention include any food normally consumed by human individuals including breakfast items, lunch items, dinner items, snack items, brunch items, dessert items and other materials. Typical breakfast items include egg preparations such as scrambled eggs or poached eggs, omelet materials or scrambled eggs combined with vegetables, meats or other flavorings and condiments. The container can be used to contain cereals such as oatmeal, cream of wheat, dry cereals combined with milk, müsselix, fruits, yogurts, etc. Such foods can be cooked, uncooked, raw or otherwise prepared for use. Lunch items that can be used in the container of the invention include soups, stews, chili, salads, prepared meats, seafood, sandwich fillings such as chicken salad, ham salad, crab salad or other combinations of proteinaceous foods, vegetables and dressing. Dinner items that can be consumed using the container of the invention the typical lunch items and also include larger proportions of such items and other types of prepared meats, fish, poultry, vegetarian foods, tofu, etc. The containers of the invention can also be used as dessert items by containing fruits, chocolate, puddings, frozen items such as ice cream, custards, English truffle, and other such dessert-like materials. In such an application, a formulation for the exterior portion of the container of the invention can be made from a richer recipe including substantial amounts of butter, sweetener or other lighter or more dessert-like texture, flavor or character.
The bread bowl container of the invention is adapted for containing a liquid or substantially liquid food such as a soup or stew type of food. The preferred liquid food is formulated to provide a selected viscosity to help maintain the visual attractiveness and structural stability of the container. A reduced viscosity food would tend to cause penetration of the container by moisture that can soften and reduce structural integrity. The preferred viscosity reduces the rate the liquid material penetrates the hydrophobic layer and the bread layer.
As a result of one aspect, the manufacturing process of the container of the invention, the interior surface (see surface 14,
One aspect of the invention resides in a fugitive composition that is formed in the center of the unbaked production item of the invention. Baking the item at elevated temperature forms or makes the container-like nature of the spherical container of the invention. The temperature of baking, proofing, or resting causes a change of state of the fugitive composition such that the fugitive composition substantially leaves the interior of the spherical container leaving the container with an interior void or volume. Such change in state can comprise a change from a solid or semisolid to a liquid form or a change from a solid or semisolid to a gaseous form or a combination of both changes in state. In the event the fugitive composition changes state into a gaseous form, such a form can comprise water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or other gaseous materials that can arise from a solid state. Should the fugitive composition melt into a liquid that can then be absorbed by the container or drained from the container during cooking. High melting solids such as lipids, etc. can be used to form the interior fugitive material in the invention.
An essential aspect of the fugitive material of the invention is that during cooking, at least a portion of the fugitive composition changes in some aspect of its original state and leaves a void or open space sufficient to accept at least a single-sized serving portion, or more, within the spherical container into which a food material can be placed. The material can change in density, from solid to liquid, from solid to gaseous, from a foam to unfoamed liquid, from a high viscosity liquid (preferably, with sufficient viscosity to exist as a glassy liquid) to a low viscosity liquid, and other changes that can help to create a void. An additional feature of the fugitive material in the invention is a material that can maintain a structure of the bread until the bread formulation gelatinizes or crusts to a sufficiently strong self-supporting material.
The production item of the invention can contain a chemical leavening agent that produces a leavening gas such as carbon dioxide during heating in cooperation with the fugitive composition. The leavening agent can be tailored to produce a pressurizing gas at one or more desirable temperature(s). Such a temperature can be coordinated with the melting point of the sphere or can be selected to release gas at any arbitrary temperature above room temperature once baking begins.
Specific examples of fugitive compositions that can be used within the container of the invention include a hollow spherical material made of a high melting composition. Such a sphere melting at a temperature greater than about 150° F. (about 65° C.), preferably about 180° F. to 220° F. (about 80° C. to 105° C.) can maintain the dough structure until baking raises the temperature of the sphere above its melting point. At that point, the sphere would melt and either drain from the sphere or be absorbed by the bread baking product.
One aspect of the baking composition can comprise a solid spherical object of relatively low density. Such a light or low-density sphere can be made from a foamed material having air bubbles of any arbitrary size.
The property of the foam is simply that it should be maintained in a structural manner until the exterior surface of the container has been cooked sufficiently to maintain its shape and interior void or volume. One aspect of maintaining the structure of the container is simply to inject an air bubble or pocket within the dough prior to baking. The dough formulation is selected such that the air bubble or pocket will be maintained until the dough is baked sufficiently to form the container. Such air injection can be combined with the introduction of chemical leavening material that is selected to generate gas at one or more temperatures during the cooking process. The chemical leavening agent can be engineered to generate its gas quickly at a relatively low temperature during the baking process, at a relatively high temperature near the end of the baking process or at intervals of temperature as the temperature of the baked item increases during cooking. In other words, the first chemical leavening agent can produce gas at a relatively low temperature, i.e. about 120° F. (49° C.)-400° F. (204° C.) but then can produce additional amounts of leavening gas at temperature intervals of about 2° F. (1° C.), 5° F. (2° C.), 10° F. (3° C.), 25° F. (13° C.), etc. during the baking process. Such a baked product typically experiences a range of temperature from about ambient, i.e. 70° F. to 90° F. (20° C. to 35° C.), up to the final temperature of the baked product which generally has a crust temperature from about 320° F. to about 380° F. (160° C. to 195° C.). Using a blend of a variety of leavening agents that produce gas set temperatures during the baking process can help maintain the interior volume during baking.
A foamed material that can be used as the interior fugitive composition includes foams made by foaming egg whites such as a meringue, foamed gelatin, foamed lipid materials using food grade surfactants optionally or other materials. One advantage of the foam material was the tendency of such a foam to break and result in a foam residue of relatively little mass compared to the foam volume. Such a foam would have relatively low density and a high included air to solids ratio. The specific gravity of such a foamed material should be less than about 0.3, typically about less than about 0.25.
The following drawings demonstrate an illustration of various aspects of the invention. While these aspects may constitute a best mode of the invention, alternative embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Common numbering is typically used for common elements.
a is a cross-sectional view of the spherical baked item of
The following Examples demonstrate various ways of preparing the manifold and the container of the invention. As discussed above, the manifold can typically be made by forming the manifold over a fugitive material, co-extruding the manifold over a fugitive material, forming and wrapping a dough layer over the fugitive material, injecting air into a preformed dough ball that can optionally contain a pre-void space, rapidly baking a dough ball, i.e. like a puff-pastry recipe and preparation method using an edible internal shell made of an edible material such as carboxy methyl cellulose, kiton or other edible substances or by using a co-extruded foamy filling made from egg white, or other edible foam compositions. The following Examples are not meant to limit the scope of the invention, but simply to illustrate the various methods of manufacturing the manifold.
1. Pre-weigh ingredients.
This results in a hollow spherical bread bowl with a flat bottom. Hollow spherical bread bowl can be frozen to extend shelf life. Prior to eating, simply cut a 2″ to 4″ hole in the top (forming a lid), remove the lid, and add soup/salad/ice cream/etc.
1. Pre-weigh ingredients.
This results in a hollow spherical bread bowl with a flat bottom. Hollow spherical bread bowl can be frozen to extend shelf life. Prior to eating, simply cut a 2″ to 4″ hole in the top (forming a lid), remove the lid, and add soup/salad/ice cream/etc.
1. Pre-weigh ingredients.
This results in a hollow spherical bread bowl with a flat bottom. Hollow spherical bread bowl can be frozen to extend shelf life. Prior to eating, simply cut a hole in the top (forming a lid), remove the lid, and add soup/salad/ice cream/etc.
2. Pre-weigh ingredients.
This results in a hollow spherical bread bowl with a flat bottom. Hollow spherical bread bowl can be frozen to extend shelf life. Prior to eating, simply cut a hole in the top (forming a lid), remove the lid, and add soup/salad/ice cream/etc.
A spherical bread bowl container was manufactured using a Rheon KN400 encrusting machine. Shredded cheese and garlic oil was combined to form a fugitive material. A conceptual product was prepared using the following formulations and equipment. The goal of the experiment is to determine the rheology of the dough in forming a hollow bread loaf for use as a bread bowl. The filling needs to “disappear” leaving a hollow cavity. Rheon KN400 encrusting equipment was used to co-extruded the filling inside of a dough mass. The product shape was that of a sphere and several different sizes. The spherical sizes range from 3 to 6 inches (6 cm to 15 cm) were prepared to evaluate the feasibility of the concept.
In the machine the operating conditions were:
The encrusting co-extrusion machine, KN400, was set at 70:30 dough to filling weight ratio.
Extrusion layer dough weight: approximately 570 grams.
Interior filling weight: approximately 245 grams.
Estimated diameter of the dough ball is 4 inch (10 cm). Diameter after proof and bake is approximately 6 inch (15 cm). The wall thickness was about 1 inch (2.5 cm).
The co-extruded spheres were formed and a small vent hole was pierced into the top center of the ball.
The vent hole is approximately 1/16 in (0.16 cm) diameter.
The product was proofed and baked.
The product was cooled, and then cut to determine the results.
The cooled product displayed an air void in the potential cavity of approximately 15%-20% of the center volume. The void resulted for the combined effect of the increase in the dimension of the exterior bread layer and the decrease in the volume of the fugitive cheese/oil composition. The remainder of the center was cheese filling 80%-85%. The shape of the product retained its boule' or round shape. The remaining cheese was removed and gave the appearance of a substantially spherical hollowed loaf of bread.
Other fillings not remaining in the center void after the baking process can be prepared and extruded from the Rheon encrusting machine to form a roughly spherical unbaked material having an exterior layer comprising the dough and an interior fugitive composition comprising the shredded cheese and oil. The produced unit can be baked at a temperature of about 250° F.-400° F. (120° C.-200° C.) to fully cook the exterior dough layer into a bread product. The dough layer and bread product baked and expanded to form an interior volume between the cheese/oil filling. The final product was about 16 centimeters in diameter and was roughly spherical. A section was cut from the upper portion of the spherical material to a depth of about 2-5 centimeters from the top of the sphere revealing the interior void volume formed by the expansion of the crust and withdrawal of the cheese/oil during cooking. Once opened, the cheese/oil mixture was removed from the bready container leaving an interior volume ideal for addition of a food item. The resulting container had a crisp structural outer crust. The bread portion of the container had a light open cell structure with a crisp outer crust similar to a French baguette. The oily character of the cheese/oil filling provided a hydrophobic moisture barrier to the continuous baked surface of the interior of the structure.
The product of the invention can be manufactured in a food preparation facility using production line techniques to result in a final formed fully baked container. The container can be made with or without the outwardly facing opening preformed at the factory which can be introduced either at a restaurant or during home consumption. Alternatively, the fat free preparation or manufacture can remove a small section from the spherical container at the factory resulting in the upwardly facing opening which can then be distributed to grocery facilities, food stores, restaurants or home consumption. Alternatively, the structure of the invention can be manufactured as a frozen or otherwise preserved food material comprising an unbaked shell having the fugitive material formed within the unbaked dough. Such an item can be distributed in a frozen or otherwise preserved form to restaurants, grocery stores or home use. The structure could then be baked into the final form just prior to consumption.
One important option for use in the invention comprises a moisture barrier at the interior surface of the container structure. Such a moisture barrier would prevent the quick penetration of liquid portion of the food such as a fat, an oil, water or water solution or dispersion from the food into the bready material. The bready material must stay free or substantially free of the introduction of any liquid into the interior of the bread to maintain its mechanical integrity and structure during greater than five minutes, preferably greater than ten minutes in order to provide the consumer sufficient time to consume the contents of the container prior to the container becoming so soft it can no longer support its weight and the weight of the interior contents. Moisture barrier materials that can be useful in such an application include.
Moisture barriers are a means to separate or partition two different components. These barriers can be composed of lipids, carbohydrates, or proteins. Lipid-based barriers are the most effective.
The proposed bread bowls provide a different opportunity for using moisture barriers. Moisture will not be in contact with the bread bowl interior (except for humidity present) until the consumer opens the bread bowl and adds the desired contents. On the other hand, the bread surface in contact with the soup or other food item will be open crumb structure, not protected by a smooth continuous crust.
We incorporate lipids into the material forming the central bread bowl void. When the bread is baked, the solid lipid material will melt and effectively coat the bowl interior. This should effectively restrict moisture migration into the bread bowl crumb, delaying the onset of sogginess. The moisture barrier materials can be introduced into the structure of the invention in a variety of ways. First, the moisture barrier can be extruded as a layer between the fugitive composition and the external dough layer during manufacture. Alternatively, the moisture barrier can be included in either the dough formulation or the interior fugitive composition or both. As the unit is baked, the moisture barrier material can aid in the formation of a layer on the interior surface of the container that is sufficiently moisture resistant to maintain structural integrity. The moisture barrier material included in the fugitive composition, as the fugitive composition began to either gasify and evaporate from the interior of the structure or to melt and soak into or drain from the container of the invention, would leave a residue of the moisture barrier on the internal surface of the container. Certainly not all of the moisture barrier material would remain on the interior surface, but sufficient moisture barrier would form on the surface to act to maintain structural integrity. The formulations of the invention can be manufactured with a range of concentration of the moisture barrier material sufficient to obtain these properties.
The foregoing provides a basis to understand the concept of the invention and various ways to make and use the invention. The invention can take a variety of forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, however, and the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
This application is a divisional application of pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/177,731, filed Jun. 20, 2002. Application Ser. No. 10/177,731 claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/301,645, filed on Jun. 28, 2001. Application Ser. Nos. 10/177,731 and 60/301,645 are incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60301645 | Jun 2001 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10177731 | Jun 2002 | US |
| Child | 11282369 | Nov 2005 | US |
