Patents by Inventor Niclas M Scher

Niclas M Scher 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).

  • Dough forming apparatus and methods
    Patent number: 6174556
    Abstract: An apparatus (10) for forming open ended, cone-shaped snack products includes a rotary cutter (28) having opposed, counterrotating rollers (30) each formed by multiple cutting discs (36) axially spaced on a mandrel (34) by spacers (38). A dough sheet formed by a sheet forming device (12) is conveyed to a slitting device (24) which slits the dough sheet into multiple pairs of dough strips. The dough strips are conveyed on a conveyer (26) towards the rotary cutter (28). The first dough strips of each pair pass over the end of the conveyor (26), and twisted 90° as they pass over sheaves (44, 56, 60) and pass between stationary guides (42) to the first roller (30) while the second dough strips of each pair pass over the end of the conveyor (26), are twisted 90° as they pass over sheaves (46, 58, 62) and pass between the stationary guides (42) to a second roller (30). The pair of dough strips are drawn under tension through the nip of the rollers (30) in a face to face stacked orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2001
    Assignee: General Mills, Inc.
    Inventors: William C Bornhorst, James M Olive, Niclas M Scher, Steven A Stein, Michael P Waldherr, Lloyd J Zoubek