United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,431,918 Ferrero Et Al
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US005431918A United States Patent (19) 11) Patent Number: 5,431,918 Ferrero et al. 45 Date of Patent: Jul. 11, 1995 54 BREATH MINT CONFIGURATION 5,284,659 2/1994 Cherukuri et al................... 424/441 (75) Inventors: Pietro Ferrero, Waterloo, Belgium; OTHER PUBLICATIONS Tomaso Damonte, Alba, Italy Schmidt, Nicholas F., et al. "The Correlation between (73) Assignee: Soremartec S.A., Arlon-Schoppach, Organoleptic Mouth-Odor Ratings and Levels of Vola Belgium tile Sulfur Compounds', Oral Surgery Oral Med. Oral 21 Appl. No.: 968,683 Pathol, vol. 45, pp. 560-567 (1978). Filed: Oct. 30, 1992 Primary Examiner-Thurman K. Page 22) Assistant Examiner-Amy Hulina (51) int. Cl'................................................ A61K 7/16 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Kurz (52) U.S. C. ..................................... 424/464; 424/440 (58) Field of Search ................................ 424/464, 440 57 ABSTRACT (56) References Cited A breath mint tablet with improved breath freshening efficacy has a tablet body with oblong front and back U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS face portions having opposing ends connected by sub D. 54,074 l1/1919 Fritz .................................... D1/127 stantially parallel sides. The tablet is substantially ellipti D. 269,721 7/1983 Tovey ..... D28/01 701,438 6/1902. Whyte ... ... 36.8/313 cal when viewed end on, and has a thickness dimension 2,304,246 12/1942 Ekert ...... ... 99/135 front-to-back, a width dimension side-to-side, and a 2,687,367 8/1954 Burrin ......... ... 167/82 length dimension end-to-end. The length and width 4,409,202 10/1983 Witzel et al. ........................ 424/440 dimensions have a ratio in the range of about 1.28:1 to 4,493,822 1/1985 Tovey . about 1.93:1 and the width and thickness dimensions 4,569,852 2/1986 Yang ................................... 426/534 4,693,886 9/1987 Ayer . have a ratio in the range of about 1.08:1 to about 2.25:1. 4,735,805 4/1988 Niet al. 5,116,619 5/1992 Greco et al. 16 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 1 of 9 5,431,918 U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 2 of 9 5431,918 10- 12 14 FIG.4 U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 3 of 9 5,431,918 FIG5 PRIOR ART U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 4 of 9 5,431,918 T FIG.6 PRIOR ART FIG.8 PRIOR ART U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 5 of 9 5431,918 100 90 BEST FIT NE 80 PRESSED BEAN SHAPE 70 is 60 50 40 BEST FTTLINE CURRENT SHAPE 30 5 a 20 10 0 05 10 15 2.0 3.0 TIME (HOURS) FIG.9d U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 6 of 9 5,431,918 100 BEST FT LINE 90t PRESSED BEAN SHAPE 80 X 70 iss 60 X 50 BEST FIT LINE 40 CURRENT SHAPE 1. s O 30 5 a 20 10 0 05 10 15 2.0 3.0 TIME (HOURS) FIG.9b U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 7 of 9 5,431,918 BEST FIT UNE PRESSED BEAN 0 05 10 1.5 2.0 3.0 TIME (HOURS) FIG.9C U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 8 of 9 5,431,918 BEST FIT LINE PRESSED BEAN 100 SHAPE O 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 TIME (HOURS) FIG.9d U.S. Patent July 11, 1995 Sheet 9 of 9 5,431,918 100 BEST FIT UNE 90 PRESENSHAP 80 70 5 60 Clsos 50 40 BEST FIT LINE 2 CURRENT O 30 LL e 20 10 0 05 10 1.5 2.0 3.0 TIME (HOURS) FIG.9e 5,431,918 1. 2 nected by substantially parallel sides. The opposing BREATH MINT CONFIGURATION ends are preferably semi-circular. The tablet is substan tially elliptical when viewed end-on, and has a thickness BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION dimension front-to-back, a width dimension side-to 1. Field of the Invention side, and a length dimension end-to-end. In accordance The present invention relates to the field of tablet with the present invention, the length and width dimen configurations, especially breath freshening tablets. sions have a ratio in the range of about 1.28:1 to about 2. Description of the Background Art 1.93:1 and the width and thickness dimensions have a Breath freshening tablets are popular items which ratio of about 1.08:1 to 2.25:1. Hereinafter, the shape of typically are consumed by being dissolved in the mouth 10 the new mint is described as a "pressed-bean.” The rather than by being chewed or swallowed whole. Such pressed-bean results in significantly improved breath tablets are intended to freshen the breath of the user, freshening properties for a variety of flavors. In particu and are primarily made up of sugar or sugar substitute, lar, the new pressed-bean mint exhibits better breath with other ingredients such as dextrin, starch, arabic freshening properties over extended periods of time gun, carnauba wax, magnesium stearate, natural and/or 15 artificial flavors, and natural and/or artificial colors. than those exhibited by the prior art bean-shaped mint. The tablets can be flavored with, for example, various BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS types of mint, such as peppermint, spearmint, winter green and the like, or can be fruit or spice flavored, such FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tablet in accordance as orange or cinnamon. Regardless of the flavor, such 20 with the present invention. tablets are typically and generically referred to as mints FIG. 1A is a view of FIG. 1 indicating the cross or breath mints. For the purpose of the disclosure sectional views illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. herein "tablet,' 'mint' and “breath mint” are used FIG. 2 is a tactical cross section through X of the interchangeably. A popular brand of breath mint is TIC tablet of FIG. 1A. TAC (8), manufactured by the assignee of the present 25 FIG. 3 is a horizontal cross section Y of the tablet of invention, Ferrero S.p.A. of Italy. Other brands of FIG. A. breath mints include BREATHSAVERS (R) and FIG. 4 is a vertical cross section through Z of the CERTS (R). The CERTS breath mints are currently tablet of FIG. A. available in a "flat' disk form and a small bean shape FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a prior art tablet. having a "belt'-shaped ridge circumscribing its equato 30 FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the prior art tablet rial plane. Other shaped tablets of mints, candy, and of FIG. 5. medicinal products are disclosed in Design U.S. Pat. FIG. 7 is a top elevation view of the prior art tablet of No. 54,074 to Fritz; U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,805 to Nietal; FIG. 5. U.S. Pat. No. 2,304,246 to Ekert; U.S. Pat. No. FIG. 8 is an end elevation view of the prior art tablet 2,687,367 to Burrin; U.S. Pat. No. 701438 to Whyte; 35 of F.G. 5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,886 to Ayer; Design U.S. Pat. No. FIGS. 9a-9e are graphs plotting the percent of mal 269,721 to Tovey; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,822 to odor reduction which various flavors of the invention Tovey. and prior art mints impart versus the amount of time The TICTAC(R) breath mint is particularly recog nizable by its small oblong or bean-shaped configura that has elapsed since the mints were consumed. The tion. This uniquely shaped mint has been quite popular graphs in FIGS. 9a-e plot results for mints flavored as a breath freshening mint as it possesses effective with, respectively, freshmint, spearmint, wintergreen, breath freshening properties. For example, an effica orange and cinnamon. cious mint is one which not only initially after being DETALED DESCRIPTION OF THE consumed imparts a fresh smell and sensation to the 45 PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS consumer's mouth, but one which also maintains the freshness over a period of time. A mint is typically more FIG. 1 shows a tablet 10 which imparts improved effective if it imparts a freshness that slowly dissipates breath freshening efficacy in accordance with the pres over that period of time. ent invention. FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred configura Several factors affect the efficacy of a mint. The SO tion of the tablet, which, when viewed end-on as shown mint's ability to uniformly distribute the mint flavor is in FIG. 4, is substantially elliptical. The term "ellipti one factor. Typically, the more uniform the distribu cal' has its conventional meaning, i.e., having a shape tion, the more efficacious the mint is in freshening that is oval, or a shape that is a closed plane curve gen breath or suppressing malodor. The flavor of the mint erated by a point moving in such a way that the sums of also influences the freshening capability of the mint. 55 the curve's distances from two fixed points is a constant. Stronger flavors such as cinnamon appear to be more See, for example, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, efficacious. Taking these factors, as well as others, into 1979. consideration the breath mint art seeks to improve a As can be seen in FIG. 2, preferred tablet 10 has mint's breath freshening efficacy, including a mint's oblong front and back portions 12 and 14, respectively, breath freshening efficacy over extended periods of 60 of the tablet's surface.