Patents Examined by Dennis Cordray
  • Patent number: 9464386
    Abstract: A method is provided for preventing, minimizing, and/or eliminating the migration of mineral oils from paper food packaging into packaged food. The method can include adding a copper-containing oxidase enzyme, such as a laccase enzyme, to a paper pulp from which the paper food packaging is to be formed. The migration of mineral oils originating from residual inks in recycled old corrugated containers and old newsprint, is particularly suppressed, including the migration of C10-C25 fractions of aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons and of saturated mineral oil hydrocarbons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: Buckman Laboratories International, Inc.
    Inventors: Andre Nolsen, Robert Miller
  • Patent number: 9458476
    Abstract: A method for producing glycerin from one or more plants of genus Nicotiana is provided. The glycerin can be derived inter alia from Nicotiana species biomass or from seed. In certain embodiments, the glycerin is produced by either acid-catalyzed hydrolysis or base-catalyzed hydrolysis of acylglycerol-containing starting material derived from tobacco biomass or seed. The invention also provides articles and compositions including smoking articles and smokeless tobacco compositions that include glycerin produced from one or more plants of genus Nicotiana.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: William Coleman, Michael Francis Dube
  • Patent number: 9445628
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a handheld waterpipe for smoking, with a spill resistant water chamber. The central chamber may be formed as an enlarged tube having closed upper and lower ends. An upper tube extends from a top opening through the upper end and a lower tube extends from an upper opening inside the central chamber through the lower end. An inner chamber is formed inside the central chamber around the lower tube. One or more small openings are formed between the inner chamber and the central chamber. When liquid is placed into the central chamber, it passes through the small openings to form a continuous body of liquid between the two chambers. If the central chamber is tipped, the liquid resides within the chamber in a space between the upper and lower tubes and a sidewall of the central chamber, thereby preventing spilling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Inventor: Kristian R. Merwin
  • Patent number: 9439451
    Abstract: What is presented is a paper for mixing into the smokeable material of a smoking article, particularly into the tobacco rod of a cigarette, wherein the paper contains a share of fibers, which comprises pulp fibers and tobacco particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: delfortgroup AG
    Inventor: Dietmar Volgger
  • Patent number: 9427018
    Abstract: Equipment for treatment of tobacco or another bulk material sensitive to mechanical stress, the equipment having: (i) a rotatable treatment drum with a material inlet and a material outlet; (ii) a treatment fluid inlet; (iii) a treatment fluid excess outlet; (iv) a drive motor for the rotatable treatment drum; and (v) a temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Souza Cruz, S.A.
    Inventors: Geraldo Henrique Nunes De Oliveira, Gilson Rufino Sant'anna, Carlos Adriano Costa Urbano
  • Patent number: 9427021
    Abstract: The invention relates to a cigarette paper onto which a composition is applied in the form of a pattern which has a Tamura coarseness of at most 0.22 mm, preferably at most 0.2 mm. According to ISO 2470-1 the absolute difference in whiteness between an area of the cigarette paper over the whole of which the composition is applied and an area of the cigarette paper onto which the composition is not applied is at least 25% in the dry state, preferably at least 35% and particularly preferably at least 40% and at most 60%, preferably at most 55%. Furthermore, the opacity according to ISO 2471 of an area of the cigarette paper over the whole of which this composition is applied is higher, when the composition is in the dry state, than the opacity of an area onto which this composition is not applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: delfortgroup AG
    Inventors: Roland Zitturi, Irene Rohregger, Maria Gleinser
  • Patent number: 9420827
    Abstract: An oral product includes a body that is wholly receivable in an oral cavity. The body includes a polymer matrix and one or more flavorants and/or active ingredients embedded in the polymer matrix. The polymer matrix can include a copolymer of ethylene and one or more vinyl monomers or zein. For example, the polymer can be ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and/or ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer. In some cases, the oral product can include tobacco and/or nicotine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES LLC
    Inventors: Munmaya K. Mishra, Georgios D. Karles
  • Patent number: 9420826
    Abstract: In one aspect, there is provided a method for reducing the formation of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and N-nitrosonornicotine and N-nitrosoanatabine and N-nitrosoanabasine in a tobacco homogenate comprising the steps of: (a) providing a tobacco homogenate; (b) increasing the pH of the tobacco homogenate to at least about pH 6.0; (c) optionally measuring the concentration of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and N-nitrosonornicotine and N-nitrosoanatabine and N-nitrosoanabasine in the tobacco homogenate before and after the pH treatment in step (b); and (d) obtaining a tobacco homogenate in which the levels of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and N-nitrosonornicotine and N-nitrosoanatabine and N-nitrosoanabasine are reduced as compared to the levels of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone and N-nitrosonornicotine and N-nitrosoanatabine and N-nitrosoanabasine in the tobacco homogenate provided in step (a).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Balazs Siminszky
  • Patent number: 9416494
    Abstract: The present invention provides a modified cellulosic fiber having reduced hydrogen bonding capabilities. The modified fiber formed in accordance with the present invention may be useful in the production of tissue products having improved bulk and softness. More importantly, the modified fiber is adaptable to current tissue making processes and may be incorporated into a tissue product to improve bulk and softness without an unsatisfactory reduction in tensile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Michael Lindsay, Michael Andrew Zawadzki, Jian Qin
  • Patent number: 9410292
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a multilayered tissue web comprising treated cellulosic fibers selectively disposed in one or more layers, wherein the tissue layer comprising treated fibers is adjacent to a layer comprising untreated fiber and which is substantially free from untreated fiber. Generally the treated fibers have a rate of substitution of about 0.02 to 0.07. In this manner, the disclosure provides a multi-layered tissue web having treated fiber selectively incorporated therein, where the tissue web has basis weight greater than about 10 grams per square meter (gsm), such as from about 10 to about 50 gsm, a sheet bulk greater than about 8 cc/g, such as from about 8 to about 15 cc/g and Stiffness Index less than about 15, such as from about 8 to about 12.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: KIMBERLY-CLARK WORLDWIDE, INC.
    Inventors: Stephen Michael Lindsay, Michael Andrew Zawadzki, Jian Qin, Mike Thomas Goulet, Cathleen Mae Uttecht, Donald Eugene Waldroup, Deborah Joy Calewarts, Kenneth John Zwick
  • Patent number: 9410288
    Abstract: The invention provides methods and compositions for improving the characteristics of paper substrates. The method involves adding to a paper substrate an NCC-polymer. NCC-polymers have unique chemical properties which result in improvements in wet strength, dry strength and drainage retention properties of the paper substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: ECOLAB USA INC.
    Inventors: David A. Castro, Rangarani Karnati, Shawnee M. Wilson, Weiguo Cheng, Mei Liu, Zhiyi Zhang
  • Patent number: 9402417
    Abstract: The present invention describes a single-layer printing method of a wrapper for smoking articles, so as to obtain a wrapper for smoking articles with low propensity to ignition using the flexographic technique, characterized in that (1) the printing is carried out by means of a central drum flexographic printing machine using a single printing unit, (2) said unit has an anilox with a capacity of between 10 and 40 cm3/m2 and a printing cylinder equipped with a printing form selected from a stencil plate plus an adhesive, and a sleeve, and (3) in that an ink is used that comprises at least one film-forming substance and a mineral filler. The present invention also relates to the wrapper that can be obtained by this method and to the smoking article that includes said wrapper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: MIQUEL Y COSTAS & MIQUEL, S.A.
    Inventors: Agustin Tosas Fuentes, Pablo De Mariscal Ruigomez
  • Patent number: 9402414
    Abstract: A method for making a smokeless tobacco article can include combining thermoplastic polymer particles with tobacco particles to form a mixture of particles, compressing the mixture of particles within a pressing apparatus to form the mixture into a predetermined shape, separating the mixture from the pressing apparatus such that it retains the predetermined shape, and heating the mixture outside of the pressing apparatus to at least partially melt at least some of the thermoplastic polymer particles and form a matrix of polymer and tobacco particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: ALTRIA CLIENT SERVICES LLC
    Inventors: Gregory James Griscik, Carl Gregory Miller
  • Patent number: 9404219
    Abstract: A high-durability paper and method of manufacture thereof. The paper may be intended for manufacturing bank notes, offering good resistance to circulation, especially good resistance to pulverulent soiling in dry medium, to friction in wet medium and to soiling in wet medium, which is moreover appropriately capable of satisfying all the manufacturing constraints, especially the printing constraints. The high-durability paper includes a fibrous substrate, and a protective coat completely covering at least one face of the fibrous substrate, where the protect coat includes at least one base layer on the substrate side and a polyurethane-based outer printability layer that covers the base layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: Arjowiggins Security
    Inventor: Vincent Godard
  • Patent number: 9392817
    Abstract: The invention relates to a paper that disintegrates quickly in water, for use as a filter material or filter wrapper paper of a cigarette filter. At least 80 wt % of the paper is formed by cellulose fibers. Of the cellulose fibers, at least 80 wt % are a mixture of long fiber pulp and mercerized pulp. 0 to 90 wt % of the content of the mixture is formed by mercerized pulp, and the rest is formed by long fiber pulp. The cellulose fibers of the mixture have a freeness of at most 30° SR according to ISO 5267. In the disintegration test using an apparatus as described in TAPPI T 261, the paper exhibits a disintegration of at least 60% after 30 seconds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: delfortgroup AG
    Inventors: Stefan Bachmann, Dietmar Volgger, Dieter Möhring, Kannika Pesendorfer, Guido Reiter
  • Patent number: 9388533
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for manufacturing paper, paperboard or cardboard comprising the steps of (a) pulping an aqueous cellulosic material containing a starch; (b) preventing at least a portion of the starch from being microbially degraded by treating the aqueous cellulosic material containing the starch with one or more biocides; and (h) adding a dry and/or wet strength polymer to the cellulosic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Solenis Technologies, L.P.
    Inventors: Ludwig Krapsch, Christopher John McGregor, Jean Victor Mallard de la Varende
  • Patent number: 9386800
    Abstract: Smokeless tobacco products suitable for oral consumption are provided. The smokeless tobacco products include a tobacco composition and at least one fibrous structure enclosing at least a portion of the outer surface of the tobacco composition such that the fibrous structure and the tobacco composition form a cohesive structure capable of maintaining cohesion when placed in an oral cavity, wherein the fibrous structure includes one or more of (i) a warp knitted structure; (ii) a plurality of reinforcing fibers attached to the tobacco composition; (iii) a braided sleeve; and (iv) a spacer fabric. A process for preparing a smokeless tobacco product adapted for oral consumption is also provided, the process including the step of enclosing at least a portion of the outer surface of a tobacco composition with a fibrous structure to form a composite structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: Andries D. Sebastian, Bruce Bengtsson, Jason Kobisky
  • Patent number: 9375033
    Abstract: A smokeless tobacco gel product is providing, including a tobacco material in an amount of at least about 0.01 weight percent, based on the total weight of the smokeless tobacco gel product; at least about 50 percent by weight of one or more sugar alcohols; a humectant in an amount of at least about 0.1 weight percent; and water in an amount of at least about 10 weight percent. The tobacco material (e.g., particulate tobacco or a tobacco extract such as tobacco-derived nicotine) can be present in an amount of about 0.1 to about 10 weight percent. The humectant amount can be varied to vary the properties of the gel product, with more paste-like consistency achieved with a humectant amount of at least about 7 weight percent, and more syrup-like consistency achieved with a humectant amount of less than about 6 weight percent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: Matthew Lampe, Donna Walker Duggins
  • Patent number: 9364022
    Abstract: A low ignition propensity wrapper comprising a first region and a second region different to the first region, wherein the first region is an embossed region. A low ignition propensity smoking article incorporating the wrapper and an apparatus and a method for forming the wrapper are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) LIMITED
    Inventors: Karl Kaljura, Leonardo Nappi, Richard Fiebelkorn
  • Patent number: 9359724
    Abstract: AKD cellulosic composition obtainable by flowing a stream of a cellulosic suspension through a shearing device and in which a molten alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) is metered in to the stream of cellulosic suspension in or prior to the shearing device. The AKD cellulosic composition is particularly suitable in the manufacture of sized paper and paperboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: KEMIRA OYJ
    Inventors: Alois Kindler, Mari Granstroem, Hubertus Kroener, Holger Kern