Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
Does anyone remember Mars Delight bars? Mars Delight bars were sold for four years, from 2004 to 2008? The design of the two, wavy, wafered, chocolate and caramel, Mars Delight bars was a patented design. A patent was awarded only for the ornamental aspect of the bar—not for the recipe, nor the manufacturing process—just for the way the two Mars Delight bars looked, once removed from their wrapper.
The US design patent, USD634509S, titled Confection,was awarded on September 20, 2005 to Gemma Cudjoe, a British designer. The patent was then assigned to Mars Inc., the privately-owned, multinational confectionary company that manufactured the chocolate Mars Delight candy bars.Below, the patent Figure 1 depicts a front perspective view of the Mars Delight confectionary bar design, together with an image of the marketed product.
Twix, short for "twin sticks" was launched in 1965, more than half a century ago. Twix is a tale of two-candy-bars-in-one. The right bar and the left bar, each one a crunchy shortbread biscuit, topped with caramel, and dipped in milk chocolate. However, it’s not the recipe that is protected,nor the manufacturing process, it’s the ornamental design of the “twin sticks”, side-by-side, offering more than one bar in a singlepackage, that is patented.
The US design patent, USD575477S, titled Confectionery, was awarded on August 26, 2008 to a group of five inventors (one Austrian and four Dutch): Hugo Eitler, Bert Van Dijk, Jan Arts, Tineke Leijdens, and Nathalie Matysiak. A design patent that was subsequently assigned to Mars Inc., a multinational confectionary company that continues to produce Twix bars.
Below, the patentFigure 1 depicts a front perspective of the Twix bar design. The image of a marketed Twix bar pack is also included directly below the patent drawing.
Ever dream of making your own artisan bean-to-bar chocolate, in the comfort of
your own home?Wake-up! The CocoTerra countertop
chocolate-making factory will be available sometime in 2021.
The CocoTerra countertop, chocolate-making, factory will enable you to make your very own nibs-to-spaceship-looking-bar, using nibs that include a
certificate of origin, and a circular mold. Nibs are dried, fermented and
cracked cacao beans, obtained after harvesting cacao pods from the cacao
tree, and removal of the seeds, called cacao beans, from the pods. As for the 360-degree
mold, it will make your artisan chocolate even more unique. The CocoTerra
process is shown in the YouTube video below.
CocoTerra nibs from different origins, such as
Western Ghana, the Dominican Republic and Madagascar, will be available
in retail, or to order via the app. Each package of nibs will display a QR Code, pointing
to a CocoTerra recipe, which the CocoTerra machine will execute, once connected
via Bluetooth® to a phone, tablet or computer. The CocoTerra chocolate-making facotry will execute the recipe directly as stored via the CocoTera app, or
with various possible degrees of coached customization. This way the CocoTerra
chocolate-making factory might appeal to both novice, and professional artisans.
Once an existing recipe is selected or customized,
or a new recipe is designed, and launched, the machine will go through all the manufacturing
processes of chocolate making, right on your countertop. In other words, the
machine will do all the grinding, refining, conching, tempering and molding, in
approximately 2 hours, depending on the recipe. All the user does, after
selecting, customizing or creating a recipe, is add the four main ingredients
(nibs, cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder) for making chocolate, plus any
additional spices or optional ingredients such as nuts or dried fruit, in the
proportions specified in the recipe, and when the recipe indicates. Presto pronto, and voilà! CocoTerra will then deliver a
circular chocolate bar, ready to enjoy, whether it is cinnamon dark chocolate
or simple white chocolate. In sum, CocoTerrawill deliver both a delight for taste buds and a new experience under
lockdown.
The app driving the CocoTerra countertop
chocolate-making factory is patented in the US patent application US20200288741A1, titledInterface and application for designing a chocolate-making experience. The abstract of the invention is included below, together with Figures 2 and 4, extracted from the patent,
respectively showing interactive graphical interfaces for managing recipe options and for creating a new custom recipe.
In particular, Figure 2 shows
the interactive graphical interface 200 for a machine 115, the CocoTerra, which
is “turned off” or “unconnected to your network”. The interface 200 also displays a list of two chocolate-making
recipes “Simple white” and “Cinnamon dark chocolate 50”, out of eight stored
recipes. A menu bar at the bottom of the interface 200 shows the ecommerce
function SHOP, enabling users to buy (or
sell) ingredients, such as cacao butter, cacao nibs of various origins, milk
powder, decorations, inclusions and flavorings (e.g.; ground nuts, spices, dried
fruits, oils and concentrates). In another embodiment of the invention, the
ecommerce function SHOP automatically fills a cart with all the ingredients needed
for a particular recipe. The menu bar at the bottom of the interface 200 also includes
an elearning function EXPLORE, allowing users to access learning modules about
chocolate, such as: The cacao farms of Guinea, The origins of chocolate
or The health benefits of chocolate. The
MACHINE function at the bottom of the interface 200 enables users to set some of
the machine parameters, such as UPDATES on machine status and the chocolate-making
process, or PREFERENCES, such as the language of the interface or measurement units (e.g.; oz or gr) for the recipes. Finally,
the RECIPES function provides access to stored recipes, and/or databases of
recipes for making chocolate, for this particular embodiment of the invention.
Indeed, as recited, the scope of the invention interface is unlimited to the
CocoTerra chocolate making machine. Another type of machine could be driven, in
a similar way, by an interface like the one shown, using different recipes,
ingredients and processes, as well as different ecommerce, elearning and machine setting functions.
Figure 4 shows an exemplary interactive graphical
interface 400 for creating a custom or guided recipe.The four main ingredients
of chocolate are listed, with an ADD INGREDIENT function. Each of the ingredients
might be edited for quantity, or the user might instead select the GUIDE ME
function at the bottom of the interface. The GUIDE ME function then coaches
the user through the process of customizing a recipe. Coaching includes, for example, determining
whether the recipe is for making milk, dark or white chocolate, and for each chocolate category: “How creamy? How sweet? How milky?” the desired, circular, chocolate bar output.
Provided herein are exemplary embodiments including a computing device comprising a processor, a memory and a display, the computing device being configured to dynamically display a specific, structured interactive graphical user interface paired with a prescribed functionality directly related to the interactive graphical user interface's structure, the specific structured interactive graphical user interface configured to receive input information including an entry of a desired type of food to be prepared, and a desired characteristic of the food, the computing device processor automatically generating a food preparation parameter based on the received input information, and the computing device processor automatically generating a custom recipe for preparation of the food. Additionally, the specific structured interactive graphical user interface may be configured to receive an entry to modify the food preparation parameter or the custom recipe. [Abstract US20200288741A1]
Menier commissioned the artist Firmin Bouisset to advertise for the company's new chocolate bars. Bouisset depicted his daughter Yvonne writing "Chocolat Menier" on the wall with a chocolate bar. Alternatively, Yvonne is depicted writing "Évitez les contrefaçons" (Beware of counterfeits), an important message, on which Menier had built its pharmaceutical reputation.
For pharmaceuticals, this meant guaranteeing the purity and source of the ingredients processed as powders, so that they might be effective products.
For household chocolate, this meant providing quality chocolate bars produced without substitutes for cacao, which was an expensive imported raw material. It also meant recognizing counterfeit wrappers where Menier's name might have been replaced with misleading versions. For example, court records exist for counterfeit wrappers using the names "Murier, Meunier, Meinier, Nemier, Merier and Nenien" in place of Menier, on otherwise identical Menier chocolate bar wrappers displaying the company's first two medals awarded, or embossed on the bars.
Jules Saulnier’s remodel of the old Menier watermill factory was spectacular. Saulnier built an iron supporting frame for the factory, where it was no longer feasible to use a wood weight-bearing frame that could withstand all the vibrations of the heavy cacao production machinery, in use on all three floors of the factory. Saulnier also designed the iron frame as esthetically visible on the outside of the building. The iron joists were crossed in a geometric diamond pattern, accented with brick-mosaic cladding. The brick cladding displayed a diamond geometric pattern, using light colored bricks in the background, blue bricks at the intersection of the joists, and darker bricks for the mosaic diamonds.
Three different sorts of ceramic inlays were also added to the brick cladding. The ceramic inlays depict “M” for Menier, the cocoa tree and a geometric pattern. Saulnier explicitly cited oriental architecture as the source of inspiration for the decorative façade work, in his effort to bring beauty to an otherwise gray and bleak industrial landscape.
The architectural success of the renovation, in turn, amplified Menier chocolate sales, giving the company an unanticipated source of publicity.
Saulnier also transformed the inside of the watermill into a then state-of-the-art facility for cacao and chocolate production, streamlining (with no pun intended) all aspects of production on the three floors of the building, where all the machinery was located for such processes as roasting, grinding, conching and cooling.
To expand the watermill Saulnier added a fourth stone pile foundation. To power all the new machinery, he replaced the waterwheels with three modern turbines.
In 1992, the old Menier (Saulnier-remodeled) watermill chocolate factory was listed as the first industrial monument of historical significance in France.
The 1906 US patent version of a second Menier mechanical engineering invention, US835286, also titled Grinding Machine, concerns two stacked millstones. One millstone (a) is concave and mounted on a shaft. The other millstone (b) is convex and mounted on a feeding shaft. Both millstones are perfectly fitted to grind one on top of the other. However, the lower concave millstone (a) of this invention oscillates independently of the rotating forces of the upper millstone (b). The upper convex millstone (b) rotates and its pressure (weight) is adjustable depending on the substance ground, and the degree of particle fineness required. The shaft of the upper convex millstone is also hollow, enabling to feed the substance for grinding to the center of both millstones. One of the US835286 patent drawings is included, showing a vertical section of the stacked millstones assembly with the oscillating lower millstone (a), and feeding shaft of the upper rotating millstone (b).
Reference
FR338809 (A) ― 1904-08-04 - Broyeur pour substances de toutes natures (Original French patent)
Considering the US version (in English), the first 1905 Menier mechanical engineering patent,US788113, titled Grinding Machine, concerns cone-shaped millstones. One central cone-shaped millstone (a) is flanked by two inverted cone-shaped millstones (b), suited to grind fluid, semi-fluid and pasty materials. All three cone-shaped millstones are mounted on shafts. The outer millstone shafts rotate relative to the central millstone with adjustable spring-driven (c) pressure, depending on the substance and the degree of particle fineness required. The central millstone shaft also rotates on its own axis but at a much slower pace, and it is hollow. The hollow central shaft enables to feed the substances for grinding to the flat base of the central cone (a), where the substances are drawn to spiral up the inverse rotating cones. As the substances spiral up to the flat surface of the inverse cones (b), they travel repeatedly between the central (a) and side (b) cones, where they are ground. The single US788113patent drawing is included above. It depicts a vertical section of the central and inverted cone-shaped millstones assembly, including the central feeding shaft and two side shafts. Reference
FR332855 (A) ― 1903-11-10 - Broyeur à meules coniques opposées pour le broyage intensif des matières fluides, semi-fluides ou pateuses (Original French patent)
For anyone who ever doubted the curative properties of chocolate, it took a pharmaceutical company founded in 1816 by Antoine Brutus Menier to open France’s first mechanized mass producing cacao powder factory in 1825. Indeed, the original Menier pharmaceutical company, founded in Paris, used cacao powder for medicinal purposes, together with other pulverized mineral and botanical substances.
Remodeled Noisiel watermill chocolate factory on the River Marne
The Menier factory, established in Noisiel, Seine-et-Marne (16 miles east of Paris), rented the hydropower of an old watermill, to boost the production of its pharmaceutical powders.
Indeed, the watermill factory in Noisiel, built on the River Marne enabled Menier to transition from hand and living horse powered grinding to waterwheel and dam power. The transition to hydropower, then estimated at approx. 32 horsepower, supplied the power that approximately 32 draft horses could not feasibly provide, on-site in Paris. Thus, increased production capacity in Noisiel enabled Menier to accommodate the expansion of the Menier drug company in Paris, while also launching the production of a non-pharmaceutical chocolate product, the first quality household chocolate bar, in 1836.
In turn, when the Paris Menier drug company was sold to the Pharmacie Centrale de France in 1867, the Menier company consolidated the cacao production side of the business. This coincided with the Menier purchase of cacao plantations in Nicaragua and the purchase and expansion of the old Noisiel watermill which had been used as the Menier plant. Jules Saulnier, an architect who later worked with Gustave Eiffel, was commissioned.
The Marne River watermill factory remodel (depicted in the above postcard) was integrated with what was also becoming a model labor town (familistère). Indeed, Menier also built housing, a school, a library, restaurants, a canteen, plus more in Noisiel, for its expanding workforce, called “the chocolates”. Beginning with nine workers and one foreman housed inside the old watermill factory, the Menier workforce culminated in 1914 with 2500 workers, housed in Menier residences, in Noisiel and vicinity. In 1914, Menier was producing almost 7 (kilo) tons of chocolate per day. By then, the Menier chocolate company, managed by four generations of Menier sons and/or brothers, was also considered an empire with factories teeming in London (UK), and New York City (USA). Menier owned the complete vertical industrial process for chocolate production, from seed to finished product, including plantations, ships for importing, a railroad company for distribution, a sugar refinery and the Noisiel cocoa manufacturing plant, together with the offices compound and residences.
Menier household chocolate wrapper
During the course of its rise, the Menier chocolate empire collected numerous accolades. The original chrome yellow wrapper for Menier household chocolate displayed copies of the front and back of the first two medals awarded to Menier: a Gold Medal of Encouragement, awarded in 1832, and a silver medal awarded at the 1834 Industrial Fair in Paris, among many more to come. The elected mayor of Noisiel was also a Menier family member up to 1959, when the Menier company factory was sold, and the Menier family left Noisiel.
In 2018, the Noisiel Menier compound which has accommodated Nestlé, France headquarters, and its 1300 employees, since 1995, is apparently on sale, since Nestlé has planned to move closer to Paris. The Saulnier-remodeled old factory watermill (le Moulin Saulnier), remains the first factory listed as a historically significant site in France. Most importantly, to date, the 200-year old Menier quality household chocolate bars, wrapped in paper that still displays the front and back of the first two medals, awarded in the 1830s, continue to hold their own, on the chocolate market in France, and elsewhere.
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The Menier chocolate empire purchased technology to power its chocolate manufacturing processes, and the company patented its own inventions. In particular, Henri Emile Menier, grandson of the Menier company founder in 1816, patented two grinding machines, at the turn of the 20th century.
Each of the Menier grinding machine inventions is recited in respective patent families that include FR (France), US (United States), GB (Great Britain) and CA (Canada) patents, listed below.
Menier grinding machine patent family (cone-shaped millstones)
FR332855 (A) ― 1903-11-10 - Broyeur à meules coniques opposées pour le broyage intensif des matières fluides, semi-fluides ou pateuses
In 2005, for just 4 years, Hershey produced milk-chocolate, candy-coated Kissables®. Kissables® were candy-coated mini Kisses®. However, the trick with chocolate Kissables® was how to coat the bite-sized confections, which had a pointed teardrop shape, in such a way that the confections were evenly coated to the very tip, while retaining the same tear-drop shape throughout the coating process.
The invention reciting the coating process for chocolate Kissables® is recited in the US patent application US20080026131A1, titled Process for preparing a sugar coating on an irregular shaped confection.
The patent recites both the formula of two crystallizable sugar coatings and the process for applying the coatings to the confections. A process that essentially comprises spraying of the coatings onto the confections, placed into a rotating pan. The formula of the coatings includes ingredients and quantities for gumming and smoothing syrups. The description of the process includes such details as the speed in feet/minute of the rotating pans containing the chocolate confections, the proportion of air and formula solids atomized, the size of the atomizer nozzle through which the formula solids pass, the volume in microns of the droplets sprayed onto the confections, the atomizing air pressure in psi units, the dew point temperature of the atomization, such that it will allow the ingredients to dry properly on the surface of the confection -- without melting the chocolate center!
Otherwise, Kissables® also had a bulging base (also termed rounded or curved out, or convex), intended to prevent the coated confections from sticking together in a production defect termed “doubling”. The contoured base was produced via known techniques in the confectioner’s art, prior to the coating processes of the invention.
Below, the abstract of the patent application is included together with the patent drawing of the Kissable® confection. An image of the marketed product is included above.
The present invention is directed to a process for forming a hard sugar coating on an irregularly shaped chocolate confection which tapers into a pointed tip on said confection on a non-base portion thereof, which comprises forming a rounded contour on the base thereof and applying at least two coating syrups and preferably three coating syrups onto the surface of the confections under specific conditions and optionally polishing said confection. The present invention is also directed to the product formed from the process.[Abstract US20080026131A1]
Are you wondering what the differences might be between cacao, and cocoa?
According to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), cocoa is "a variant or alteration of another lexical term". In this case, the etymon is cacao, a term borrowed from Spanish, which includes additional variants such ascaccao, cacoa, cacao, cacaa, cacaw, cocao, and caco.
End of story, according to the definitive record of the English language. You might use both cacao and cocoa interchangeably, keeping your usage consistent if your writing is a bit formal. However, the crowd begs to differ in regards the matter of "cacao vs. cocoa". Thus, the saga unfolds, and you might end up feeling variously: vindicated, baffled, indignant, amused, unsettled, a bit more confused, or plain frustrated. Indeed, the matter of “cacao vs. cocoa” fetches 1,817,000 Google hits, of which the top-ranked tell a unified story of difference. In other words, If you are a raw foodist then the difference might actually appear quite significant. Or, at the very least, the difference may make gisted sense. Here are some of the crowd’s stories of the differences between the terms “cacao vs. cocao".
“Raw cacao is made by cold-pressing un-roasted cacao beans. The process keeps the living enzymes in the cacao and removes the fat (cacao butter). Cocoa looks the same but it's not. Cocoa powder is raw cacao that's been roasted at high temperatures.” (Food Matters®)
“Some experts use “cacao” for the pods, beans and ground-up contents of the beans, reserving “cocoa” for the powder left after pressing the fat out of the ground beans.” (Healthline®)
"Despite coming from the same plant, cacao and cocoa have numerous differences. Cacao is a pure form of chocolate that comes very close to the raw and natural state in which it is harvested. […] Cocoa has been processed with high heat." (Nuts.com)
“Cacao and cocoa may sound similar, but both of them are unique when it comes to taste, nutrition, and cost. […] Cacao is the purest form of chocolate you can consume, which means it is raw and much less processed than cocoa powder or chocolate bars […] Cocoa is the term used to refer to the heated form of cacao that you probably grew up buying at the store in the form of powder […](Onegreenpalnet.com)
"Cocoa powder, commonly used in baking, is made by fermenting, drying, and roasting the cacao bean. It's then pressed until all of the oils are separated out and the solids that remain are turned into a dry powder. […] Cacao powder is made in a very similar manner.[…] However, when it's cacao powder being made, the beans are processed at very low temperatures. This is why cacao is often referred to as "raw," as the temperature used are so low it still be considered raw." (Spoon University)
To complicate matters a bit more, at least for translation purposes. French uses the single term “cacao” with no variants in sight. The term “cacao” is used in reference to the tree (cacaotier), the pods roasted or not (fèves de cacao crues ou torréfiées), beverages (poudre de cacao pour chocolat chaud), percentages in chocolate/candy bars (% de cacao) – It’s all –cacao-related or cacao-based.
The bottom line? The OED may prevent you from going crazy with possibilities. Alternatively, you might petition for revision, and/or conduct your own investigation.
It is believed that cacao was introduced in Spain, and Europe, via the Conquistadores, during the 16th century. Cacao (from the cacao tree Theobroma cacao) is indigenous to equatorial America, where it was domesticated by the Aztecs, and the Maya and Toltecs before them, more than 3000 years ago. The etymology of the term “cacao” is derived from the Olmec term kakaw. The etymology of the term “chocolate” is derived from the Nahuatl term xocoatl referring to a bitter fermented cacao bean beverage. The cacao tree was called cacahuacuchtl. Cacao beans were otherwise also used as currency and counting units.
In Europe, and the US, the processing of cacao beans into chocolate (powder, paste, butter or liquor) for nutrition or other uses, includes a few landmark patented inventions, over the course of several centuries
In 1828, the Dutchman Coenraad Johannes Van Houten, invented the cacao press; and his son, a chemist, invented an alkalizing process. The cacao press enabled to extract the fat (cacao butter) from the ground and roasted cacao beans. The addition of an alkalizing agent to the nibs enabled to reduce the bitterness of the beans.The resulting pressed cacao cakes were then pulverized into a powder with enhanced properties of flavor and dispersion (Morse, 2015).
In turn, milk or water could then easily be added to the processed cacao powder for everyday cooking and the manufacture of chocolate products (beverages, baked goods, desserts etc.). Van Houten’s distinctive Dutch-processed (i.e. alkalized) cacao powder is still marketed and enjoyed to date. .A marketed box of Van Houten cacao powder is included above.
Van Houten’s vertical cacao press invention was recited in a Dutch patent granted by the Dutch monarch, William I. Van Houten's vertical press is also recited in the 1916 British patent GB102009 (A) titled Method of and Apparatus for Discharging Press Boxes in Hydraulic Presses.
The abstract of the British C. J. Van Houten vertical chocolate press patent is included below, together with a patent drawing. The patent drawing illustrates the assembled vertical press with its swinging stack of cake drawers and central hydraulic cylinder.
Fats and fatty oils, extracting by pressure.- Relates to means for discharging the cakes from the press-boxes of hydraulic presses used, for example, for extracting oil from cacao. The pressboxes 10 are adapted to be slid along ledges 14, on which they are supported in the pressing position above the ram 2, on to ledges 9 on side frames 5, 6. Swinging arms 27 supported on vertical spindles 20, 21 are brought beneath the press-boxes, and the spindles are raised by hydraulic devices 26 or other lifting-devices to lift the cakes from the boxes. In the press shown, the press-boxes are drawn out alternately at opposite sides, and filled boxes are drawn into the pressing position from the opposite side frames. The press-boxes may be adapted to be swung from one position to the other, instead of being slid. [Abstract GB102009 A1]
References
Encyclopedia Britannica Academic – Article on chocolate
