Claims
- 1. In the art of forming antacid tablets by first coating particles of antacid with a coating composition and then tableting the coated particles the improvement which comprises:
- employing antacid particles having a primary particle size of less than about 100 millimicrons and a melted coating composition comprising fatty material or oil, surfactant and flavorant, selected from the group consisting of chocolate, mint-chocolate, butter, vanilla, butter fat and mint flavors, said fatty material or oil being present in said coating composition in an amount of from about 25 to about 45% by weight, and
- essentially increasing the bulk density of said antacid particles during the coating thereof with said coating composition by the step of intensively mixing said antacid particles by mulling or milling so as to provide for the removal of air between said antacid particles and for the homogeneous coating of said antacid particles with said coating composition.
- 2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said fat or oil content is from about 27.5% to about 35% by weight.
- 3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said coating composition further comprises other components selected from the group consisting of substrate material and lubricants.
- 4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said flavorant is chocolate.
- 5. The improvement of claim 4 wherein said fat or oil content is added as a component of said chocolate flavorant.
- 6. The improvement of claim 5 wherein said chocolate is added to said mixture in a ratio of chocolate to antacid of from about 1:1 to about 6:1.
- 7. The improvement of claim 6, wherein said ratio of chocolate to antacid is from about 2:1 to about 4:1.
- 8. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said antacid material is selected from the group consisting of calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, and aluminum hydroxide, or mixtures thereof.
- 9. The improvement of claim 8 wherein said antacid is selected from the group consisting of aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and mixtures thereof.
- 10. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said surfactant is present in an amount within the range of from about 0.05% to about 2.5% by weight of said coating composition.
- 11. The improvement of claim 10 wherein said surfactant is present in an amount of from about 0.1 to about 1.3% by weight.
- 12. The improvement of claim 3 wherein said substrate is selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, dextrose, sugar, maltose or corn syrup solids.
- 13. The improvement of claim 1 in which a further external coating or sealant is applied to said tablet to prevent breakage during handling.
- 14. The improvement of claim 13 wherein said sealant comprises gum arabic or starch and a spray-dry coating over said sealant.
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
This patent application is a continuation-in-part of Patent application Ser. No. 341,967 filed Jan. 22, 1982, which was a continuation of Patent application Ser. No. 175,179 filed August 4, 1980, both abandoned.
This application contains subject matter related to, but distinctly different from, the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,142 to Puglia, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,648 to Witzel, et al.
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Continuations (1)
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175179 |
Aug 1980 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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341967 |
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