USRE16004E - Food pboduct - Google Patents

Description

Reissue! Feb. 17, 1925.

WILLIAM A. mon, 01 OAKIONT, AND

PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN B. HARDING, OF PITTSBURGH, PENN- SYLVANIA, ASSIGNOBS TO B. J. HEIIIZ COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYL- VANIA, A CORPORATION 01'' PENNSYLVANIA.

roon raonucr.

Io Drawing. Original Io. 1,495,789, dated In. 27, 1924, Serial No. 654,450, fled-T1111 B8, 192:.

. Application for reissue filed January 3, 1925. Serial In. 454.

To all whom it may concern." 7

Be it known that we, Wnmu A. HAMOR, residin at Oakmont, Allegheny County, Pennsy vania, and EDWIN R.-HAm INo, re- 8 sidin at Pittsburgh, in the county of Alleg eny and State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Food Products, of which iml provements the following is a s ificatlon. 1 Our invention relates to arti ially compounded foods, more particularly to artificially compounded cereal foods. It consists in the addition to nutritive material of cellulose in relatively pure condition. The

' object which we have in view is to produce foods which, on account of a high content of indigestible cellulosic matter, shall have desirable and healthful laxative properties, and shall at the same time be relatively free of objectionable irritating effect upon the digestive organs. Invention is found both in the product and in the method of its production.

It is well known that foods which contain cellulose in relatively great amount, such as fibrous vegetables, and cereal foods prepared from. grain with the bran still adhering to it have great thera utic value, in relieving chronic constipation and in correcting the pathological conditions consequent upon constipation. The beneficial laxative action which these foods'bring about is due in large dc to the cellulose which they contain.

llulose is indigestible, and it passes through the alimentary canal unacted upon by the digestive enzymes and unabsorbed. Its function in relation to di stion is mechanical. Being present in od, it gives 40 bulk to the waste material passing away through the intestines. This bulkiness of material stimulates muscular activity in the intestines, corrects intestinal stasis, and

brings about regular evacuation of the bowels. And, together with the characteristic of bulkiness, is the further characteristic which cellulose of being in possesses high degree an absorbent of water. By virfinall tue of this characteristic it brings into the intestines large uantities of water, and this too tends to facilitate bowel evacuation.

unless kernel which, when the bran We have remarked that cellulose-containing foods are laxative, and have mentioned cereal foods particularly in which the bran is allowed to remain and to become an ingredient of the food product. The bran,

of the gram. Bran-containing cereals have in recent years come into very extensive use, dietary. Whole-wheat bread, bran bread,

and bran-containing breakfast foods are familiar instances. We would mention too in this connection artificially compounded breakfast foods in which the bran content has been increased beyond normal, by additions of bran alone. Bran contains cellulose, but it is not pure cellulose. Indeed cellulose forms but a minor part of the whole substance of bran. because of its strong flavor and harsh mealy consistency distasteful. Furthermore, bran contains hard, sharp,

content of foods is artificially increased, tend to cause too great irritation of the delicate linings of the alimentary canal. Physicians often on that account are obliged to advise against a too liberal use of bran in diet.

We employ as an ingredient and diluent in the preparation of foods, objectionable properties of the nature indicated, but pure or substantiall pure cellu? lose in finely divided pulveru cut or semifibrous condition and free of the strong taste of bran and freeof shar irritation-causing particles.

cobs, cotton, cotton linters, and wood pulp. These materials are all of them cheap and abundant. The cellulose which they contain may be separated and in separation may be brought to satisfactory hysicalform by various well known meth For example, the cellulose may be derived from cotton linters b treating the linters first with an alkali, en with a bleaching agent, and

y with a mineral acid of roper concentration, and the cellulose so oiitained will be obtained in powdered form suitable for our purposes. A

purposely removed, adheres to theas additions to the human not bran, with its food, in such manner It is not necessary for our purposes that the derived substance be entirely pure natural cellulose. Some of the cellulose of the raw material may have been converted into hydrated cellulose, or into some other insoluble first-products of the hydrolysis of cellulose. In defining our invention we mean to include in the term cellulose a material which, otherwise responsive to definition, may contain an intermixture of material of the character indicated. In any case, however, it is free of malflavor and of sharp irritation-producing particles.

We do not, in the practice of our invention, confine ourselves to the source of cellulose which we have particularly indicated, but intend to include in it theuse of cellulosic residues prepared in other ways and from other raw materials. We 'may, for

. example, employ cellulose recovered in substantially pure condition by precipitation or by evaporation from a solution of cellulose in a suitable solvent. Other materials are available and other methods of extraction. to the limits of the knowledge of industrial chemistry.

Cellulose prepared in such manner as we have indicated, itself insoluble and tasteless, bland and soft, may be used widely as a diluent in the preparation of foods, and this for the purpose already explained. And our invention in its broader as ect is found in the addition of cellulose 1n the condition indicated to alimentary substances generally, to constitute a food product. The cellulose may be added to the alimentary substance at an stage in the course of its reparation. I the article be one prepared by cooking, the cellulose may be added before or at the beginning of the cooking operation, stirring or mixing it in with the that a uniform commin ling of the cellulosic material with the f is effected. Or the cellulosic material ma or fter cooking has been completed, taking care to obtain in any case a thorough and uniform mixture. If the cellulose be, as

referably it is, in pulverulent form, no difculty Will be found in making a uniform mixture with any alimentary substance not too thin or watery.

Having obtained a substantially uniform mixture of the cellulosic materia with the alimentary substance, the resulting food product may, according to its nature, be eaten as it is, or it may be subjected to any further process of food preparation, such as drying, baking, toasting. Being dried or otherwise brought to proper cons1stency, it may be flaked or otherwise more finely divided. And it may of course be canned or otherwise prepared for shipment and storage.

The product will in any case have essenbe added while cooking is in progress,-

I tially the same flavor, taste, and it may be properties, and that without detraction from their palatability. Alimentary substances well suited to carry such additions of cellulose are all classes of cereal products commonl prepared for the table by baking, that is to say, flour, meal, and the like, used in making bread, cake, etc. Other suitable substances are cereal breakfast foods, both those of the ready-to-serve type, and of the type which requires cookin as farina, for example, and oat meal. (Ianned foods of many kinds are adaptable to the practice of our invention: prepared macaroni, for instance, spaghetti, baked beans, thick soups, etc. Soup powders also may be comounded with our cellulosic material. And it is quite possible to use many other foodstuffs as media, for carrying the added cellulose, and the cellulose may be added either in preparation of a product for the market, or 1n the preparation of food for the table.

Our invention in its more specific aspect has to do with a breakfast food." We contemplate a food product which eaten regularly will have value in keepingthe intestines free and in that respect in good condi tion. A food for regular use should be pal.- atable, and of such form, flavor, and natural appeal to the taste that one does not tire of its dail consumption. It should of course be easi y and cheaply available, the year 'round. And in a cereal breakfast food these re uisites may be most fully and sat isfactori y met and fulfilled.

In the preparation of cereal breakfast foods, we add to the cereal cellulose to the amount of about 10% of the dry weight ofthe cereal. This gives a product a little higher in cellulose than ordinary wheat bran. The relative amount of the cellulose added may of course be greater or less than that indicated. Using any suitable cereal, such as rice, as a base,'a product may be prepared in a toasted flake form containing as much as 30% of cellulose by weight. Even in this high concentration the somewhat mealy taste of the cellulose is just barely noticeable, and the product as such is suitable for serving with milk or cream. How- A product conmentary substance and finely divided substantially pure cellulose.

2. A food product compounded of an alimentary substance and cellulose derived in pulverulent condition by the chemical treatment of a vegetable source, and free of sharp particles which are indi ible.

3. A food product compounde of a cereal food and cellulose derived in pu1verulent condition by the chemical treatment of a vegetable source, and free of sharp particles which are indigestible.

WILLIAM A. HAMOR, EDWIN R. HARDING.

Witnesses:

M. C. BOOZE, W. F. FARAGHER,