CA2317023A1 - Edible animal feed containers - Google Patents

Abstract

Containers for animal feed or the like are made from a binder (starch and starch grain flours), mixed with organic fibers (hay, straw, paper, wood fiber, and the like), which is then mixed with a reactive solution (water, or water and a starch modifier). The resulting wet paste is formed into containers by pressing in a hot die set under elevated temperature and pressure for a predetermined time. In an alternative embodiment, the fiber material may be omitted to produce a container made from binder and starch modifier only. The containers are then dried and may then be coated with an edible preservative coating.

Description

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4 1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention is related to a container for animal feed and plants.
More 6 particularly, the present invention is directed to a container that is biodegradable and 7 edible and that is made principally from organic matter.
8 2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R.
9 Sections 1.97-1.99.
In many instances, manufacturers of animal feed use plastic containers or tubs to 11 hold and ship their products to wholesalers, retailers, and to the final consumer, typically 12 a rancher or farmer who places the containers in an area with the animals who will eat the 13 feed. These containers are either not returnable, in which case, their cost to 14 manufacturer, ship, and dispose of is lost. When they are empty, non-returnable 1 S containers must be gathered by the end user and disposed of by depositing them in a 16 landfill or by burning. Both options are environmentally undesirable. The cost of 17 handling and disposal and the inconvenience are significant.
18 Alternatively, some types of containers are intended to be returned to the 19 manufacturer for reuse. Returnable containers are typically much more expensive to manufacture because they must endure more handling. They are also more expensive to _ CA 02317023 2000-08-29 1 use because they cannot be stacked and so occupy as much volume empty as full and 2 must be shipped back to the feed company. The distributors must distribute the full 3 containers and collect the empty containers and collect and account for a deposit fee on 4 each container.
An effort to provide an edible food container is found in U.S. Patent Number 6 5,75,024, which discloses a method of manufacturing a container from rice husks mixed 7 with an adhesive. The rice husks are ground into a powder and mixed with an edible 8 adhesive. This method requires rather elaborate repeated treatment of the material, 9 including two cycles of pressurized heating. Rice husks are but a small portion of the rice grain and are likely not widely enough available in this country to meet any 11 substantial demand for edible food containers.
12 Therefore, a need exist for an animal feed container that is biodegradable and 13 edible; that is sturdy enough to withstand shipping and to hold the required animal feed;
14 that is made from readily available agricultural materials; and that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

SLq'yIMARY OF THE INVENTION
2 Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an animal 3 feed container that is biodegradable and edible.
4 It is another object of the present invention to provide an animal feed container that is sturdy enough to withstand shipping and to hold the required animal feed.
6 It is another object of the present invention to provide an animal feed container 7 that is made from readily available agricultural materials; and that is simple and 8 inexpensive to manufacture.
9 These and other objects of the present invention are provided by combining a mixture of starch grains and or pure starch, starch modifiers, such as sodium 11 hypochlorite, an organic or agricultural fiber, such as hay, straw, or fodder, and water to 1 ? form a moldable paste that is placed into a female mold or die cavity and is formed by a 13 mating male die. In an alternative embodiment, the fiber can be omitted. A
principal 1~ purpose of including the fiber is to strengthen the resulting containers.
The dies are heated at temperatures high enough to gelatanize the starch, curing and drying the formed 16 container, which is then cooled. The material is then dried to the desired level of dryness I 7 and the surfaces are sealed with mineral oil or other edible coating, if desired, to retard 18 deterioration in rain and snow, for example.
19 The result is an animal feed container that is strong enough to hold the animal '?0 feed during shipping, storage, and consumption, and that is edible and will probably be 1 eaten by farm animals, and that, if they do not eat it, will deteriorate in the elements in a 2 relatively short period.
3 Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from 4 the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, the preferred embodiment of the present 6 invention and the best mode currently known to the inventors for carrying out their 7 invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
2 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container made according to the present 3 invention.
4 Fig. 2 is a cross section of the container of Fig. 1 taken along lines 2-2 of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a schematic cross sectional side elevation of a mold shown a female die 6 and mating male die shown in the open position.
7 Fig. 4 is a schematic cross sectional side elevation of the mold of Fig. 3 shown in 8 the closed position.

2 As required by the Patent Statutes and the case law, the preferred embodiment of 3 the present invention and the best mode currently known to the inventors for carrying out 4 the invention are disclosed in detail herein. The embodiments disclosed herein, however, are merely illustrative of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms.

6 Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be 7 interpreted as limiting, but merely to provide the proper basis for the claims and as a 8 representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains to 9 make and use the apparatus and process disclosed herein as embodied in any appropriately specific and detailed structure.
11 The present invention can be formulated over a broad range of types of 1 ? ingredients, proportions of ingredients and methods. The resulting material can be 13 formed into vessels or containers of widely different shapes, sizes, and strengths. The l:+ resulting containers are biodegradable and edible. When used to hold animal feed for 1 ~ shipping. storage, and consumption, the animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and so 1 G forth. will typically consume the container during feeding, while the bottom of the 17 container, being covered with animal feed, remains in contact with the ground or floor, 18 and continues to protect the food even as the animals eat the side walls of the container.
19 As shown in Figs. 1-2, a typical container or vessel 10 made according the to '?0 teachings herein includes a side wall 12 connected to a bottom wall 14, with the walls 12, 1 14 being formed from a single piece of material in a mold or die set 16 (Fig. 3, 4). Final 2 product containers formed from the process will normally have a uniform wall thickness 3 in both the side wall and bottom wall in a range of one-quater to one-half inch (.6325-4 1.265 cm). The thicknesses of the walls 12, 14 need not be precisely uniform throughout their entire areas and the bottom wall 14 may be thicker than the side wall 12, or visa 6 versa. When formed, the top 18 of the containers are open. A separate cover or lid may 7 be used to close the container 10 after being filled with animal feed, although in 8 conventional present practice, the such animal feed containers are not covered during 9 shipping. The shape of the container 10 can be any desired shape, so long as the side wall 12 tapers inwardly from the top rim 22 to the bottom edge 24, as shown, which allows 11 the containers 10 to be nested for empty shipping to the feed company.
Containers 10 12 may be made in a wide range of capacities, ranging from a few grams (a few ounces) to 13 a few hundred kilograms (several hundred pounds).
1 ~ The basic recipe for the material includes a binder (which includes a source of 1 S starch or starch), fiber, a starch modifier, and water. Addition of an optional edible 16 protective coating after the container 10 is formed is optional. The binder includes a 17 starch grain flour, such as wheat flour, rice flour, rye flour, potato flour, barely flour, 18 corn meal, and the like, or any mixture of any starch grains or starch grain flours. The 19 binder may also contain starch, such as corn starch or other grain starch and the preferred embodiment contains some starch. Whole grains can be used, provided they are first 1 soaked in water for about 24 hours. Coarse flour can also be used. The principal 2 requirement is that the starch in the grain be physically available for reacting with the 3 starch modifier, which means that the more surface area of the grain that is available, the 4 better the contact with the water and starch modifier and the quick and more complete the resulting chemical reaction is. As a practical matter, finely ground flours are readily 6 available and quite inexpensive, and so provide the best source of starch grain flours for 7 the binder material. The starch modifier may be any starch modifier, for example, 8 sodium hydroxide or sodium hypochlorite, which is the preferred starch modifier and the 9 best currently known to the inventors. The fiber may be any type of organic fiber material, such as, for example, hay, fodder, straw (that is, the stalks of threshed grain), 11 paper, wood fiber, rice plant fiber, sorghum, wheat, corn or other biologically generated 12 fiber. The fiber may be any mixture of any types of biologically generated fiber. The 13 preferred fiber is wheat straw ground or cut to lengths ranging from 1.27-10.1 cm (0.5-3 14 inches), with the preferred length being approximately 2.53 cm ( 1 inch) long fibers, 1 S ground in a hammer-mill with a 1.264 cm ('/2 inch) screen, which yields a well-graded 16 product with fines and coarse particles.
17 Typically, the binder is mixed first, if the binder consists of more than one 18 ingredient. The binder can be mixed in any desired proportions of starch grain flour and 19 starch, from 100% starch grain flour to 100% starch, depending upon the characteristics desired in the finished product and the characteristics of the staring materials, and the 1 cost of ingredients. In general, a stronger material will result from a higher proportion of 2 starch in the binder, but this additional strength is typically achieved at a higher monetary cost. In the preferred embodiment, in a typical recipe, first the binder ingredients are 4 mixed in a ratio of 1 part of starch to 1 part of flour.
Second, the binder and fiber are mixed together. The ratio of fiber to binder will 6 vary depending upon the type of fiber used and the size and shape of the fiber, which 7 depends upon the methods and screen sizes used to prepare the fiber. The binder has to 8 contact all the fiber surface, so fibers with a large ratio of surface area to volume will 9 require more binder to yield a material having the same strength characteristics as a material made with smaller fibers. In general, mixing any ratios ranging from 3 parts 11 parts of fiber with 6 parts of binder to 7 parts of fiber with 10 parts of binder by weight 1? (that is 3-7 parts of fiber with 6-10 parts of binder, both by weight) will achieve l 3 acceptable results. with the preferred ratio being S parts of fiber to 8 parts of binder by weight. Acceptable results are defined as a container 10 having the requisite strength to 1 s hold and contain the feed material during shipping and storage.
I G When the material is being made in batches, the same container can be used to 17 mix the binder ingredients together and then later to mix the binder and fiber together.
18 Alternatively, the material can be made in a continuous process, with a batch process 19 used only for forming the finished container 10 in the die set 16.

1 This second step of adding and mixing fiber can be omitted altogether, if desired.
2 All other steps of the process are followed as described, resulting in containers 10 that 3 have no hay, straw, fodder or the like, and have only the small amount of fiber found in 4 the starch grain or starch grain flour. Pure starch itself has no fiber.
Omitting the fiber added in step two results in containers 10 having somewhat less strength that containers 6 10, but that is acceptable for many applications that require less strength, for example, 7 smaller containers 10.
8 Third, in a separate container, mix water with a starch modifier, to produce a 9 reactive solution. Water alone, itself being reactive with starch, is also considered a reactive solution. When using sodium hypochlorite as the starch modifier, the proportion 11 of sodium hypochlorite may range from 0-5% by weight, with the preferred amount for 12 most applications being 2.75% sodium hypochlorite by weight. Relatively low strength 13 containers can be made with no starch modifier. In general, the more sodium 1 ~ hypochlorite is used. the stronger the resulting material will be because more starch is 1 ~ modified and available to gelatinize during processing, making the final material 16 stronger. There is, however, an upper limit on the concentration of sodium hypochlorite 17 caused by its corrosive properties and it is believed that 5% is a maximum upper limit in 18 this application because high concentrations will react to break down the strength of the 19 fibers.

1 Fourth, add the reactive solution to the mixture of binder and fiber in a ratio of 2 one part reactive solution to one part of binder and fiber mixture by weight, or 3 approximately 4.25 liters (two gallons) of reactive solution (which weighs approximately 4 7.3 kilograms ( 16 lbs.)) to 7.3 kg ( 16 Ibs.) of binder and fiber mixture.
The amount of water determines the plasticity of the final product prior to gelatanization of the starch in 6 the binder and affects the drying and curing time. The proportion of reactive solution 7 can be varied up or down to suit the preferences of the user and the requirement of the 8 processing equipment. In general, reactive solution can be added in amount of 0.5-3 9 parts per part of binder by weight, with the preferred ratio being one part reactive solution to one part of binder by weight. The wetter the binder is, the longer it will take 11 to cure and dry the resulting product. A wetter material also requires more energy to dry.
1? This step produces a wet paste.
13 Fifth, a predetermined weighed quantity of the wet paste 56 of step four is formed 1-1 into the shape of a container. The step of forming the wet paste 56 into a container can 1 ~ be accomplished by a variety of different methods. For example, the wet paste 56 may 16 be placed into a mold manually or automatically and can be formed by hand work or 17 other means. In the preferred embodiment, the container 10 is formed by pressing the 18 wet paste 56 beriveen the female die 26 and the male die 36 under elevated temperature 19 and pressure. Still referring to the preferred embodiment, the quantity of wet paste 56 is '?0 deposited into the bottom of a mold cavity in a female die 26 and this is formed into a 1 desired shape in a mold or die set 16, which is heated to a temperature in a range of 149-2 205 °C (300-400 °F). The predetermined quantity or weight of the wet paste is 3 determined by the size of the container 10 being formed and the thickness of the desired 4 side and bottom walls 12, 14. Pressing the wet paste in the die set 16 orients the fibers along the direction of the flow of the material, providing additional strength. The dies 26, 6 36 are held closed for a period of time in a range of 0.5-15 minutes, with the preferred 7 time dependent on the thickness of the final product. The time the wet paste is subjected 8 to heat and pressure must by sufficient to allow for gelatanization of the starch in the 9 material, throughout the entire thickness of the wet paste. The die set 16 is preferably heated prior to molding. The hot tooling contacts the wet paste and conducts heat into 11 the wet past, vaporizing some of the water in the wet paste and speeding up the 12 glatinization process. When the dies 26 36 are opened, some of the moisture in the wet 13 paste is flashed off as steam.
1 ~ Referring to Figs. 3, 4, a die set 16 includes a female male die 26 including a 1 s cavity 28 having inwardly tapering interior side walls 30, which taper inwardly from the 16 top edge 32 to the bottom edge 34. A mating male die 36 includes a top cover 38 and 17 inwardly sloping side walls 40 that taper from the top edge 42 to the bottom edge 44 of 18 the male die 36 sidewalk 40. A plurality of electrical heating elements 50, 52 are seated 19 in bores 54 in the female and male dies, respectively. Alternatively, the dies can be ?0 heated with microwaves or other means.

1 The female 26 and male 36 dies are heated and then a predetermined quantity of 2 wet paste material 56 from step four is deposited in the cavity 28 of the female die. The 3 male die 36 is then pressed into the female die 26, forcing the wet paste material 56 to 4 flow into the container cavity 58 of the dies 26, 26, as shown in Fig. 4.
The dies 26, 36 are brought together with a pressure on the wet paste material 56 in a range of 3.5 x 10'-6 6.89 x 108 dynes/cm2 (5 lbs./in2 -10,000 pounds/in2), with the preferred pressure being 7 3.4 x 109 dynes/cm2 (500 pounds/in2) and are held together under heat for a period of 8 time ranging from 0.5-15 minutes, with the preferred time being 45 seconds for container 9 10 that is 0.6325 cm (1/4 inch) thick and a die 26, 36 temperature of 149° C (300° F).
The center of the thickness of the side walls 12 and bottom wall 14 must be heated to at 11 least 73 ° C ( 180 ° F). The required temperature depends on the exact type of starch or 12 starch grains used. In general, the temperature of the dies 26, 36 affects the length of 13 time required to process the material. The hotter the tooling, the faster the container 10 is 14 glatanized and cured, resulting in a shorter cycle time for opening and closing the dies 26, 36. There are, however, upper limits on the temperature of the dies 26, 36 because 16 high temperatures cause the moisture to flash off too quickly during opening of the dies 17 26, 36. For example, it has been found that, at a die temperature of 233 ° C (450 ° F) the 18 material virtually explodes when the die is opened and no container results.
19 Sixth, the remaining free water is dried from the container 10. Drying can be forced drying under heat and moving air or drying at room temperature. The final 1 equilibrium moisture at standard temperature and pressure and SO% ambient relative 2 humidity will lie in a range of 8-20% wet weight, with the preferred moisture level being 3 1 S% by weight.
4 Seventh, optionally, the container 10, is coated with a protective coating to prevent premature deterioration. The preferred coating is mineral oil, although any 6 edible protective coating can be employed. The coating may be applied only to the 7 exterior surface of the container 10 or to both the interior and exterior surfaces of the 8 container 10. When applied to both the interior and exterior surfaces of the container 10, 9 the coating retards the decomposition of the container 10 for a longer period of time, providing a longer shelf life for the container 10 and the feed material placed inside it, 11 and a longer holding time for the container 10 in the field.
12 Animal feed material shipped in containers usually has one of two forms. In the 13 most popular form, the feed is itself pressed directly into the container 10. The container 14 10 is filled at the feed company and is seated in a matching mold-type cavity to prevent its breaking during filling and pressing. This press loaded feed is pressed under 16 considerable pressure and acquires strength characteristics of its own, that is, a quantity 17 of the pressed feed holds its shape under ordinary conditions and does not tend to spread 18 out. Therefore, a quantity of the pressed feed material does not exert much outward 19 force on the side walls of a container that hold it. Containers 10 for holding press loaded 1 feed need not be particularly strong and containers having walls 0.6325-.95 cm (1/4-3/8 2 inch) are typically strong enough for press loaded animal feed.
3 The second form of most animal feed is a molasses based material that flows 4 somewhat, but is very viscous and flows only very slowly unless heated.
Molasses based animal feed material is typically heated and then poured into the container 10, which is 6 still in a supporting mold form at the feed company, and is then cooled to room 7 temperature. In this case, the container 10 must be somewhat stronger and a container 10 8 with side walls of 1.265 cm (%2 inch) is preferred.
9 When used for its principal purpose of holding animal feed, the container 10 is loaded, and shipped to distributors and sold to the final customers, in this case, farmers, 11 who then put the loaded containers 10 in the field with their animals. The animals 12 typically consume the container 10 as the eat the feed contained in them.
Any portions of 13 the container 10 that are not eaten will harmlessly deteriorate over a period of one week 14 to six months, depending on exact formulation, thickness, and prevailing weather conditions. The decomposed containers 10 will enrich the soil where they lay.
The 16 containers 10 may also be used for potting plants and trees. The container itself is simply 17 planted in the ground with the tree or other plant inside and in this case a suitable 18 quantity of fertilizer is included in the wet paste material. The planted container 10 19 deteriorates over time, providing nutrients to the soil in the vicinity of the plant. The 1 container 10 may also be used as a fish lick block that would deteriorate only slowly and 2 would allow fish to eat any time.
3 While the present invention has been described in accordance with the preferred 4 embodiments thereof, the description is for illustration only and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Various changes and modifications may be made 6 by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as 7 defined by the following claims. For example, the composition of matter obtained from 8 the process described herein can be used for making mats, nets, and the like, which can 9 be used to store feed on the ground with reduced molding and rotting of the feed. A mat or net made from this material can be used to hold grass seed or the like to prevent 11 erosion and movement of the seed during germination and rooting or for other uses.

Claims (33)

1. A process for making a container comprising the sequential steps of:
a. preparing a binder material;
b. mixing said binder with a reactive solution to produce a wet paste; and c. forming said wet paste into a container.

2. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 comprising the further step, between step a and step b, of mixing said binder material and a fiber material to produce a binder and fiber mixture.

3. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 further comprising the step of drying said container after step c.

4. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 3 wherein said drying step further comprises heating said container.

5. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said binder material further comprises a starch grain.

6. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said binder material further comprises a starch grain flour.

7. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 6 wherein said starch grain flour is selected from the group including wheat, rice, barley, rye, potato, and corn.

8. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said binder material further comprises a starch.

9. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 2 wherein said fiber further comprises an organic fiber material.

10. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 9 wherein said fiber is selected from the group consisting of hay, fodder, straw, paper, and wood fiber.

11. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said reactive solution comprises water.

12. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 10 wherein said reactive solution further comprises a starch modifier.

13. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 12 wherein said starch modifier further comprises sodium hypochlorite.

14. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step of forming said wet paste into a container further comprises the steps of a. heating a male and female die set;
b. placing a quantity of said wet paste into a cavity of said female die; and c. pressing said wet paste between said male and female dies to form a container.

15. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 14 wherein said male and female die set are heated to a temperature in a range of 149-205°C.

16. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 14 wherein said step of pressing said wet paste comprises subjecting said wet paste to a pressure in a range of 3.5 x 10 7-6.89 x 10 8 dynes/cm2.

17. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step c further comprises the step of pressing for a period of 0.5-15 minutes.

18. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said binder and fiber mixture further comprises a range of 3-7 parts of binder by weight mixed with a range of 6-10 parts of fiber by weight.

19. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said step b further comprises mixing one part of said binder and fiber mixture with one part of reactive solution, by weight.

20. A process for making a container comprising the steps of:
a. mixing a binder material comprising a starch grain and a fiber to produce a binder and fiber mixture;
b. mixing said binder and fiber mixture with a reactive solution comprising water and a starch modifier to produce a wet paste; and c. forming said wet paste into a container by pressing between a female and male die set under elevated temperature and pressure.

21. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 19 further comprising the step of providing fibers of a length ranging from 1.27-10.1 cm in length.

22. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 wherein said fibers are selected from a group consisting of hay, fodder, straw, paper, wood, sorghum.

23. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 wherein said elevated temperature lies within a range of 149-205° C.

24. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 wherein said elevated pressure lies in a range of 3.5 x 10 7-6.89 x 10 8 dynes/cm2.

25. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 further including the step of drying said container after forming.

26. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 25 further comprising the step of coating said container with an edible protective coating.

27. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 26 wherein said edible protective coating further comprises mineral oil.

28. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 wherein said wet paste is held at said elevated temperature and pressure for 0.5-15 minutes.

29. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 where in said binder further comprises a mixture of one part starch grain flour and one part starch, by weight.

30. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 20 wherein said starch modifier further comprises sodium hypochlorite.

31. A process for making a container comprising the steps of:
a. mixing a binder material, said binder material comprising a starch grain flour and starch, and a quantity of organic fiber material to produce a binder and organic fiber material mixture;
b. mixing said binder and organic fiber mixture with a reactive solution comprising water and a starch modifier to produce a wet paste; and c. forming said wet paste into a container by pressing between a female and male die set under elevated temperature and pressure.

32. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 31 further comprising the further step of drying said container.

33. A process for making a container in accordance with claim 32 comprising the further step of coating said container with an edible sealant throughout an exterior surface and an interior surface of said container.