Patents by Inventor Mary K. Cartstensen

Mary K. Cartstensen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Apparatus and methods for recouping scrap dough material
    Patent number: 5529799
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods of fabricating half products in the field of puffed snack piece fabrication are disclosed including a rotary cutter (16) having an opposed pair of rollers (18). At least one of the rollers (18) of the rotary cutter (16) has cavities (112) arranged in a first, central portion (110) which stamp out first pieces and cavities (118) arranged in second and third, boundary portions (114, 116) for stamping out second pieces from the remaining portions of a continuous dough sheet (14). The first pieces are of the desired shape and size for the half products, and the second pieces are of a size and shape mechanically separable from the first pieces. In first preferred forms, the first pieces have tesselated shapes allowing the cavities (112) in the central portion (110) to be in a tight, juxtapositional pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 25, 1996
    Assignee: General Mills, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Bornhorst, Mary K. Cartstensen, Steven A. Stein, Michael P. Waldherr