This class comprises apparatus for preparing, treating and preserving substances (foods) intended to be eaten and drunk by human beings, or animals for their nourishment and not provided for elsewhere.
REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
7, Compound Tools, provides for combined hand-held devices.
15, Brushing, Scrubbing, and General Cleaning, for apparatus for removing materials by a draft or current of air, stem, or other gaseous fluid, and for apparatus for brushing, beating, scraping, wiping, shooting or use of a squeegee, with or without the use of liquids particularly
3.1+, for treating fruit, vegetables, meat or eggs.
19, Textiles: Fiber Preparation, for apparatus for isolating and manipulating fibers so as to place them in condition for the purpose for which they are to be utilized, particularly
2+,.
30, Cutlery, appropriate subclasses for hand-held devices of that class (30). 34, Drying and Gas or Vapor Contact With Solids, will take other than cooking apparatus,
329+, for a process of contacting treated material with a solid or liquid agent.
47, Plant Husbandry, appropriate subclasses, apparatus for testing and treating seed grain in preparation for planting.
52, Static Structures (e.g., Buildings), appropriate subclasses for mere storage structure e.g., storage bins but having no additional means peculiar to food preservation.
53, Package Making, appropriate subclasses for apparatus for packaging materials including food.
56, Harvesters, for apparatus for cutting or scooping-up crops that grow above the ground, even though combined with other cutting or comminuting means.
62, Refrigeration, for refrigerating apparatus, per se, even though limited to foods or beverages.
83, Cutting, for general cutting or severing of that class (83) type. This class (99) requires separation of different portions of food or apparatus that recognizes the food, e.g., means to hold a vegetable so the stem-end is cut off.
100, Presses, for presses not elsewhere provided for. See this class (99) for devices for removing the juices from citrus fruit where a reaming action is employed, such action is employed, such action being deemed inherent in a pair of rolls where the rolls are driven at different speeds. Also
94+, of Class 100 for presses not elsewhere provided for combined with means for cutting, breaking, piercing or comminuting.
118, Coating Apparatus, 13+, for apparatus for coating edible material.
126, Stoves and Furnaces, for a food support device of all types combined with a stove or other general heating structure involving the combustion of fuel and not limited in their use to the application of heat to the food on the claimed food support, for a shelf, tray, or receptacle type support, not necessarily limited to use with foods, combined with heat or vapor enclosures, and either with or without heat, steam, or vapor generating means, and a vessel, containing, or capable of containing, a liquid and structurally modified to facilitate the heating of the contents of the vessel or combined with a combustion heat generator;
14, for a broiling attachment for the stove, subclasses 19+ for a cooking oven, subclass 41 for a gas cooking stove having a broiler, subclass 51 for a liquid fueled cooking stove having a drip pan or receptacle, subclass 59 for a specially designed knock-down camp stove for tent heating, subclass 59.5 for a heat or smoke generating stove to protect an orchard from frost, subclass 200 for a transparent panel for a stove door or window, subclasses 273+ for a domestic oven, subclasses 285+ for a stove or furnace dampener or subclasses 344+ for a water heater.
134, Cleaning and Liquid Contact With Solids, for apparatus for cleaning fruit or vegetables with liquids.
141, Fluent Material Handling, With Receiver or Receiver
Coacting Means, for apparatus for filling receivers with fluent material with treatment as provided in the class definition of that class (141), in Lines With Other Classes, "Treatment Classes."
159, Concentrating Evaporators, for concentration of fluid-borne substances by evaporation.
193, Conveyors, Chutes, Skids, Guides, and Ways, for a guide and particularly
44+, for orienting means.
198, Conveyors: Power-Driven, for a conveyor structure, a conveyor provided with means adapting the conveyor to transport a material or an article between points having unlike fluid pressures, or a conveyor combined with an enclosure for all or a part of the conveyor even though the enclosure is designated by a particular name, but where no significant structure or cooperation of the enclosure is claimed;
343.1+, for a load supporting conveyor portion that is retarded or stopped with a load at station without being disconnected from a remainder of a continuously moving conveyor or subclasses 373+ a conveyor for changing attitude of an item relative to its conveyed direction.
204, Chemistry: Electrical and Wave Energy, 194+, for electrolytic apparatus to treat a food or beverage.
206, Special Receptacle or Package, for packages adapted to contain food.
219, Electric Heating, for a food support device of all types combined with an electric stove or other general electrical heating structure not limited in its use to the application of heat to the food on the claimed food support, a shelf, tray, or receptacle type support not necessarily limited to use with foods combined with a particular electrical heat generator that may include a heat or vapor enclosure;
385+, for a heating device combined with container, enclosure, or support for material to be heated, subclasses 600+ for inductive heating, subclasses 678+ microwave heating, or subclasses 764+ for capacitive dielectric heating.
220, Receptacles, for receptacles adapted to contain food.
222, Dispensing, for apparatus for dispensing.
229, Envelopes, Wrappers, and Paperboard Boxes, for receptacles adapted to contain food.
241, Solid Material Comminution or Disintegration, appropriate subclasses for the comminution of food substances and such combinations of other treatment therewith as are provided for in Class 241. See Lines With Other Classes and Within This Class, in the class definition of that class (241) for a complete statement of the line.
250, Radiant Energy, see Lines With Other Classes and Within This Class, in the Class Definition of class (250) for a statement of the line.
269, Work Holders, appropriate subclasses. Class 269 is the residual locus for patents to a device for clamping, supporting and/or holding an article in position to be operated on or treated.
383, Flexible Bags, for a bag adapted to contain food. 414, Material or Article Handling, for a conveyor combined with an enclosure or tank provided with means facilitating or fluid pressure sealing the entry and/or exit of the conveyor to or from the enclosure or tank, even though the latter is designated by a particular name or is stated to contain a treating fluid, but where no structure of the enclosure or tank is claimed other than that necessary to effect the handling of the material;
147+, for the combination of a chamber of a type utilized for a heating function and material charging or discharging means therefor, and subclass 287 for the combination of a static receptacle of a material conditioning type and means to move, or facilitate the movement of, material to, within, or from the receptacle.
422, Chemical Apparatus and Process Disinfecting, Deodorizing, Preserving, or Sterilizing, for general disinfecting, deodorizing, preserving, or sterilizing of materials and articles.
435, Chemistry: Molecular Biology and Microbiology,
289.1+, for apparatus for carrying out fermentations.
451, Abrading, for an abrading process or apparatus of general application. For example, included in Class 451 is a grain tumbling device which presents no abrasive or other material removing surface to the grain wherein abrading is effected by mutual engagement of the grains with each other. However, note that a grain container that is either stationary or moving is included in Class 99 when provided with a grain contacting member which moves the grain in the container for the disclosed purpose of removing the husk or adhering impurities, even if using an abradant.
452, Butchering, appropriate subclasses, for apparatus for killing and dressing animals for food, for linking and stuffing of sausages, for cleaning intestines, and for
tendering meat.
554, Organic Compounds,
8+, for extraction of oils from vegetable material and from animal fats.
GLOSSARY:
Terms in the definitions of this class followed by an asterisk(*) will be found to be defined in this section. ACCESS
The term "access" is intended to include a cutting means which (a) makes an incision (usually at a point adjacent either the stem or tip of the food) for the purpose of allowing the same means and/or another means to separate the core-pit* from the interior of the food; or, (b) impales the food (and, the place of entry of the impaling means frequently is used for the same purpose as the incision in (a), immediately above); or, (c) halves the food (and, once the food is "halved", an easier "access" is obtained to separate the core-pit, seeds, inner membranes, etc.)
BLOSSOM-END
This expression relates to the surface area of food at the location of the natural attachment to the food of the flower or calyx of food such as a cherry or strawberry and may also include a small portion of adjacent skin; the expression is arbitrarily extended to include the tip or root of food such as a turnip or potato.
CORE-PIT
That portion of an article of food that is located in and around the geometrical center of the food; however, the outer periphery of the core-pit is NOT necessarily equidistant for the outer periphery of the food, (e.g., a generally ellipsoidal "pit" in a generally spherical peach). Further, in some varieties of food (e.g., a relatively small variety of apple) a drilling or punch-die type means which may remove a substantially right circular cylinder section, when aligned with the stem-blossom axis of the apple, will usually remove not only the seed pocket but also that portion of the apple containing matter connected to both the stem and blossom ends of the apple. Thus, the core-pit portion may include a central portion only, or a central portion plus a right-circular-cylinder section containing the central portion.
CORE-PIT
This expression usually precedes the word "means", and is intended to comprehend a "mechanical treatment" which contacts all or a portion of the core-pit and then severs,
tears away, separates, and/or removes the core-pit from the remaining portion of the food.
DISJOIN (DISJOINING)
These expressions are used to indicate that one portion of a naturally occurring article of food is detached or disunited from an immediately adjacent portion of the food without necessarily being spatially separated to a significant extent. For example: rolling, with some slight pressure, a hard-boiled fowl egg will disunite at least part of the bond between the outer shell* and the interior of the egg; however, unless the shell is totally removed, the membrane between the shell and the interior egg portions keeps the shell attached. Thus, at least portions of the shell have been disjoined from the inner portions although the same, or other portions of the shell, have not been spatially separated from the inner portions.
EDIBLE An object that is subject to consumption by an human or animal by chewing or masticating prior to swallowing.
FOOD
A man-made or naturally-occurring discrete article consumable by animals or humans for nourishment.
GRAIN
This term is interpreted to include those seeds to which the term is ordinarily applied, e.g., wheat, oats, cottonseed, corn, coffee beans, barley, etc., and to exclude larger vegetables such as beets, nuts, potatoes, etc.
HULL or HULLING
These expressions are treated as being species of skin* disjoining*; however, an exception is recognized, as follows: Grain-hulling equates a covering of dirt or similar impurities, with the naturally occurring outer covering of grain*.
REMOVE
To spatially separate significantly one portion of food from another.
SEED
A discrete article, constituting a propagative part of a naturally-occurring edible food, usually found in or near the core-pit area. As to human consumption, it is frequently "waste"; but, as to the reproduction of the species, it is essential. SHELL
Shell includes those outer coverings of articles of food which fracture upon impact, as distinguished from those outer coverings that yield upon impact. Prime example of foods having fractile and/or fracturable outer coverings are fowl eggs and nuts.
SKIN
That portion of the outer periphery of an article of food that is dissimilar with respect to the inner portion of the food in at least one (and usually several) of the following respects: color, consistency, density, firmness, flexibility, hardness, texture ("rough" vs. "slick" to the touch), and toughness (resistance or lack of resistance to "tearing").
STEM-END
This expression relates to the surface area of food at the location of the natural attachment to the food of a stalk, stem, branch, vine or cap that supports an article of food such as a cherry or strawberry and may also include a small portion of the adjacent skin; the expression is arbitrarily extended to include the area of attachment of the sprout, leaf, stalk or foliage of food such as a potato.
STEMMING
This expression is arbitrarily assigned as being generic to the separation of items such as a blossom, leaf, root, tip, or similar portion of a naturally occurring food, in addition to connoting the separation of a stem.