Ice-cream making machine

A machine for making ice cream or other frozen comestible from a liquid. The machine includes an outer housing in which is inserted a removable freezing chamber which can be independently frozen and replaced in the chamber. Internally of the freezing chamber is a compartment in which can be placed a rotary assembly including a plurality of radially extending blades rotatable with the compartment. The blades include slits at their outer edges defining fingers for atomizing, aerating and moving the frozen liquid through the freezing chamber to its outlet. The blades are of a hard, elastic, low friction material with the outer tips of their fingers lying on an outer diameter larger than the inner diameter of the freezing compartment. The blades are then stressed when inserted into the freezing chamber to forceably engage the inner cylindrical surface of the freezing chamber and are twisted like a helix towards the outlet of the freezing chamber. A presetable control is provided in the top cover of a storage compartment in which the liquid freezing the machine is stored. The control is used to adjust the feed rate of the liquid into the freezing chamber independently of the viscosity of the liquid. An air pump can be included for injecting air under superatmospheric pressure into the freezing chamber as well as a liquid pump for injecting the liquid under superatmospheric pressure into the freezing chamber.

The present invention relates to ice-cream making machines, particularly to 
a machine for making ice-cream or other frozen comestibles at home. The 
invention is especially, but not exclusively, directed to the type of 
ice-cream making machine described in our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,566, 
as will be described more particularly below. 
Our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,566 describes a machine for making ice-cream 
or other frozen comestible, comprising a freezing chamber, feeding means 
for feeding liquid into the freezing chamber, cooling means for cooling 
the freezing chamber below the freezing point of the liquid, and a rotary 
assembly including a plurality of radially-extending blades rotatably 
mounted within the freezing chamber and formed with serrations defining 
fingers at their outer edges for atomizing, aerating, and moving the 
frozen liquid through the chamber to its outlet end. 
An object to the present invention is to provide a number of improvements 
to the type of ice-cream making machine described in U.S. Pat. No. 
4,632,566. 
According to one important improvement, the plurality of blades are made of 
a hard, elastic, low-friction, plastic material; in addition, in the 
unstressed condition of the blades, the outer tips of their fingers lie on 
an outer diameter larger than the inner diameter of the freezing chamber, 
such that when the rotary assembly is inserted into the freezing chamber, 
the fingers of the blades are deformed by their engagement with the inner 
cylindrical surface of the freezing chamber to a stressed condition 
wherein they forcibly engage the inner cylindrical surface of the freezing 
chamber and are twisted like a helix towards the outlet end of the 
freezing chamber. 
Particularly good results have been obtained when each blade, including its 
fingers, is substantially planar in the unstressed condition of the blade, 
and when the blades and their fingers are made of polytetrafluoroethylene. 
It has been found that machines constructed in accordance with the 
above-described novel blade structure produces a frozen product having a 
very creamy texture closely resembling ice-cream from almost any kind of 
flavoured liquid, such as fruit juices, sugared water, and flavoured 
water, even through no milk, cream, fat, or emulsifying additive is 
included. This highly desirable creamy texture is believed to result, to a 
substantial extent, from the friction produced by the forcible engagement 
of the pre-stressed blades with the inner surface of the freezing chamber. 
Thus, the blades not only scrape the frozen film off the freezing chamber 
surface, but also, by the friction produced, remelt the film before it is 
again thrown against the freezing surface by the lower fingers and is 
again instantly refrozen. The liquid is thus successively frozen, melted, 
and refrozen many times during its travel from the inlet end to the outlet 
end of the freezing chamber. 
It has also been found that the feeding rate of the liquid is quite 
critical. While it was found that a high feeding rate for a given cooling 
surface tends to produce a softer frozen product, it was also found, quite 
unexpectedly, that a slow feeding rate also produced a softer (unduly soft 
or slushy) product. The latter result is believed to be due to the fact 
that the liquid also acts as a lubricant to the blades moving against the 
freezing chamber wall, and to the interplay of the cooling (by the cooling 
medium) and heating (by the friction forces of the blades moving against 
the freezing chamber wall) produced during the travel of the product 
through the freezing chamber. It was found that the liquid should be fed 
at a rate of 5-20 cc/min per 100 cm.sup.2 of cooling surface, and that 
optimum results were produced when this feeding rate was 12-14 cc/min of 
feed liquid per 100 cm.sup.2 of cooling surface. 
According to another feature of the present invention, the feeding means 
comprises a supply container disposed vertically above the freezing 
chamber and closed by a top cover, a feed line from the bottom of the 
container to the upper end of the freezing chamber for gravity feeding the 
liquid thereto, an on/off valve in the feed line, and a presettable 
control valve in the top cover venting the upper end of the container to 
the atmosphere effective to fix the feed rate of the liquid to the 
freezing chamber substantially independently of the viscosity of the 
liquid. 
According to still further features of the present invention, the machine 
further includes an air pump for injecting air under superatmospheric 
pressure into the freezing chamber, and also a liquid pump for the liquid 
under superatmospheric pressure-injecting into the freezing chamber. The 
latter features enhance the atomization of the liquid and thereby the 
creamy texture of the frozen product. In addition, pressure-injecting the 
liquid permits the liquid also to include solid particles, such as nuts, 
chocolate chips food pieces and the like, which enriches the quality of 
the frozen product; and pressure-injecting the air into the freezing 
chamber, not only enhances the atomization of the liquid, but also permits 
larger quantities of air to be introduced to produce almost any desired 
degree of softness in the frozen product.

The machine illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings is designed 
particularly for use in the home for making ice-cream or other frozen 
comestible as and when desired by the consumer. The illustrated machine 
comprises an outer housing 2 and an inner housing 3 enclosing a 
vertically-extending freezing chamber 4 containing a rotary assembly 5 
having a plurality of radially-extending blades 6 rotatable about the 
vertical axis 7 of chamber 4. The blades 6 are rotated by an electrical 
motor 8 mounted at the upper end of housing 2. The blades 6 are secured to 
a sleeve 9 by a plurality of fasteners 9a (FIG. 2). Sleeve 9 is in turn 
coupled to the motor shaft 10 by a notch 9b formed in sleeve 9 receiving a 
pin 10a in the motor shaft 10. 
A supply container 12 supported at the upper end of motor 8 is adapted to 
receive a supply of the liquid used for making the ice-cream or other 
frozen comestible. This liquid is fed by gravity via a feeding tube 14 
from the bottom of supply container 12 to the inlet end of freezing 
chamber 4. A freezing cartridge 16 is used for cooling the freezing 
chamber 4 to a temperature below the freezing point of the liquid fed to 
the chamber from supply container 12. 
Freezing cartridge 16 is of the removable rechargeable type. It is 
constructed as a single integral unit, including an inner metal cylinder 
serving as the freezing chamber 4, and a phase-changing material having a 
melting point lower than the freezing point of the liquid to be frozen. 
Such phase-changing materials are known, one example being ethylene 
glycol. The cartridge further includes metal fins 16a (FIG. 1a) extending 
radially from the inner metal tube 4 to its housing 3 in order to increase 
the heat transfer from and to the phase-changing material. 
Normally, the freezing cartridge 16 is kept in the freezer compartment, 
usually from -12.degree. C. to -20.degree. C., of a refrigerator so that 
its phase-changing material is in the frozen state. It is removed from the 
refrigerator and placed within its housing 3 when the machine is to be 
used for making ice-cream or other frozen product. Its housing 3 is 
provided with a quickly-detachable coupling, shown schematically at 18 in 
FIG. 1, such as a bayonet pin and socket coupling, for quickly attaching 
it to, and detaching it from, the inner face of housing 2. 
Supply container 12 includes a top wall 20 closing the upper end of the 
container from the atmosphere. Top wall 20 is formed with a filling 
opening 21 closed by a cap 22, which cap is removed when the container is 
to be filled with the liquid to be used for making the ice-cream or other 
frozen comestible. Top wall 20 of the container is formed with a further 
opening 24 for venting the interior of the container to the atmosphere. 
The cross-sectional area of venting opening 24 is adjustable by a threaded 
pin 26 to control the rate of air inletted into container 12. 
Feeding tube 14 extends from the bottom of the supply container 12 into the 
housing 2 to overlie a distributor plate 30. Distributor plate 30 is 
formed with an annular channel 32 for receiving the liquid which is 
gravity-fed thereto via feeding tube 14, and with an opening 34 leading 
from channel 32 to the upper, inlet end of the freezing chamber 4. Feeding 
tube 14 is provided with an on/off valve 36 which merely starts or stops 
the flow. The actual rate of flow of the liquid via feed tube 14 is 
controlled by valve 26 which controls the venting of the interior of 
supply container 12 to the atmosphere, and thereby controls the rate of 
feed of the liquid via distributor plate 30 to the inlet end of the 
freezing chamber 4. 
As indicated earlier, the rate of feed of the liquid to the freezing 
chamber is quite critical, since it was found that a rate of feed which 
was either too high or too low would produce an unduly soft or "slushy" 
product. This feed rate should be fixed at the factory to a rate of 5-20, 
preferably 12-14, cc/min per 100 cm.sup.2 of cooling surface. Using valve 
26 to control the feed rate, by controlling the venting of the interior of 
the supply container 12 to the atmosphere, makes the feed rate 
substantially independent of the viscosity of the liquid used. 
Freezing chamber 4 is also supplied with a quantity of air via an air 
feeding tube 37 passing through another opening in the distribution plate 
30. The rate of feed of the air into freezing chamber 4 may be controlled 
by a valve (not shown) which may be preset according to the desired 
density of the ice-cream or other frozen comestible. Thus, a higher rate 
of feed of air into freezing chamber 4, as compared to the rate of feed of 
the liquid ingredients, will produce a softer frozen product as compared 
to that produced with a lower rate of feed of air. 
The plurality of radially-extending blades 6 carried by rotary assembly 5 
are rotatably mounted within the freezing chamber 4 of the freezing 
cartridge 16. They are so constructed, as will be described more 
particularly below, that when the blades 6 are rotated by electric motor 
8, they atomize, aerate, and move the liquid frozen within chamber 6 to an 
outlet chamber 44, where the frozen liquid is then ejected by a screw 46 
carried by rotary sleeve 9, through a conical discharge opening 48, formed 
in housing 3 of the freezing cartridge 16, into a container 50. 
An important feature in the ice-cream making machine illustrated in the 
drawings is the construction of the blades 6 in the rotary assembly 5 for 
atomizing, aerating and moving the frozen liquid through the freezing 
chamber 4. As shown particularly in FIG. 4, there are three 
radially-extending blades 6 equally spaced within freezing chamber 4 and 
secured along their inner edges to the inner sleeve 9. Each of the blades 
6 is formed with a plurality of slits 56 (FIG. 3) starting from its outer 
edge to a slight distance inwardly of the blade so as to define a 
plurality of fingers 58 at the outer edge of each blade. Each of the 
fingers 58 is formed with an outer oblique edge 58a. Each of the slits 56 
starts at a small circular opening 56a and is shaped such that the fingers 
58 produced by them each include an upper oblique edge 58b and a lower 
edge which has an inner portion 58c substantially perpendicular to the 
longitudinal axis of the blade, and a shorter outer portion 58d at a 
smaller angle to the blade longitudinal axis than the upper edge 58b, to 
define a tail 59 below edge 58c of the finger. 
Each blade 6, together with the fingers 58 formed at its outer edges, is 
substantially planar in the unstressed condition of the blade, as 
illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 4. In this unstressed condition, the 
blades 6 attached to the inner sleeve 9 extend in the radial direction 
with respect to freezing chamber 4 in which they are disposed, and the 
outer tips of their fingers 58 lie on a diameter larger than that of the 
freezing chamber. However, when the assembly of blades 6 is inserted into 
the cylindrical freezing chamber 4 as shown in full lines in FIG. 4, the 
blades are deformed by the inner cylindrical surface of the freezing 
chamber to a stressed condition wherein they forcibly engage the inner 
cylindrical surface of the freezing chamber, and their fingers 58, 
particularly their tails 59, are twisted like a helix towards the outlet 
(lower) end of the freezing chamber. 
Housing 2 is closed by a top wall 64 to which is secured the air feed tube 
37. Wall 64 is also formed with an opening 66 for receiving the liquid 
feed tube 14. 
The illustrated machine may be used for making ice-cream or other frozen 
comestible in the following manner: 
The freezing cartridge 16 is normally stored within the freezer compartment 
of the home refrigerator so that its phase-changing material is always in 
frozen condition whenever the cartridge is to be used for making a batch 
of the frozen product. The cartridge 16, including the inner metal 
cylinder 4 serving as the freezing chamber, is inserted into the inner 
housing 3; the blade assembly 5 is inserted into the metal cylinder; and 
the distributor plate 30 and cover 64 are placed over the cartridge and 
blade assembly. The cartridge- blade assembly is then applied to the 
machine by inserting the notch in sleeve 9 into pin 10a in the motor shaft 
10, and attaching housing 3 to housing 2 by the quickly-detachable 
coupling 18. The freezer cartridge 16 and distributor plate 30 are 
restrained against rotation by any suitable means, e.g., a rib (not shown) 
on the cartridge and distributor plate received within a groove in housing 
3, so that only the rotary assembly 5 within freezer compartment 4 is free 
to rotate. 
Container 12 is filled with the liquid to be used for making the frozen 
product. Electric motor 8 is energized to rotate the rotary assembly 5 
including blades 6, and on/off valve is turned on so as to start the flow 
of liquid from container 12 via feed tube 14 and distributor plate 30 to 
the inlet (upper) end of the freezing chamber 4. As described earlier, the 
rate of feed of the liquid is pre-fixed (e.g., at the factory) to 5-20, 
preferably 12-14, cc/min per 100 cm.sup.2 of cooling surface. As also 
described above, since valve 24 controls the feed rate by the rate at 
which the container 12 is vented to the atmosphere, this feed rate is 
substantially independent of the viscosity of the liquid used as any 
particular time. 
Energization of motor 8 rotates the rotary assembly 5 including blades 6 
and screw 46 with respect to the freezing chamber 4 and the distributor 
plate 30 of the freezing cartridge 16. As described earlier, the rotary 
blades 6, when received within the freezing chamber 4, are in a 
pre-stressed condition wherein they forcibly engage the inner cylindrical 
surface of the freezing cartridge, and their outer fingers 58 are twisted, 
like a helix, towards the screw 46. Thus, as the liquid feeds by gravity 
via feed tube 14, channel 32 and opening 34 of distributor plate 30 into 
the freezing chamber 4, the liquid is forced against the inner face of the 
freezing chamber 4 to form a thin film on the wall of the freezing chamber 
where it is instantly frozen by the low temperature produced by the 
phase-changing material. The frozen material is immediately scraped off 
the wall by the pre-stressed fingers 58 at the ends of the rotating blades 
6, and is gradually moved downwardly along the inner surface of freezing 
chamber 4 to its bottom 44 from where it is fed by screw 46 out of opening 
48. 
The result is a product having a creamy texture very closely resembling 
that of ice-cream even though no milk, cream or emulsifying additive is 
used. As described earlier, this highly desirable creamy texture is 
believed to result from the successive freezings (by the cooling medium) 
and meltings (by the friction of the blades 6 against the inner surface of 
the freezing chamber 4), together with the repeated atomization and 
aeration, to which the material is subjected as it moves downwardly 
through the freezing chamber. Thus, during each level of movement of the 
material through the freezing chamber 4, the forcible engagement of the 
pre-stressed blades with the inner surface of the freezing chamber not 
only cleanly scrapes the frozen film off the latter surface, but also 
remelts the film by the friction produced, re-atomizes the material and 
re-aerates it, before the material is again thrown against the freezing 
surface by the next lower level fingers where it again instantly 
refreezes. 
As also described above, the feeding rate of the liquid was found to be 
quite critical because the liquid acts not only as the medium to be 
frozen, but also acts as a lubricant which affects the frictional forces 
between the blades and the inner surface of the freezing chamber 4. Thus, 
if the feeding rate is too high, there is insufficient cooling of the 
liquid as it travels through the freezing chamber so that it outputs an 
unduly soft product; and if the feeding rate is too low, an unduly soft 
product was also found (unexpectedly) to result because the lubricating 
effect of the liquid, with respect to the contact between the pre-stressed 
blades 6 and the inner surface of the freezing chamber 4, is reduced so 
that the frictional forces, and the heat generated, is high. As indicated 
earlier, this feeding rate should be from 5-20, preferably 12-14, cc/min 
per 100 cm.sup.2 of cooling surface. 
As one example, one pint of liquid within supply container 12 may be used 
for producing a batch of 6-8 servings of a frozen comestible in a 
processing time of about 12-14 minutes. 
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate two embodiments of the invention which may be used 
for producing an even larger variety of frozen products, including 
products containing solid particles, such as nuts, chocolate chips, fruit 
pieces, and the like. The machines illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 also use 
the blade structure and rechargeable freezing cartridge described above 
(not shown in these figures), but further include an air pump for 
injecting air, and a liquid pump for injecting the liquid ingredients, 
into the freezing chamber. 
More particularly, the machine illustrated in FIG. 5 comprises a motor 100 
having a motor shaft 102 coupled to the rotary assembly (not shown) 
rotatable within the freezing cartridge (not shown). The rotary assembly 
may be the of the same structure as assembly 5 described above; and the 
freezing cartridge may also be the same as cartridge 16 described above. 
The machine illustrated in FIG. 5 includes a pump, generally designated 
110, for pumping liquid from a container 112 into the freezing chamber of 
the freezing cartridge 106. The machine also includes an air pump 114 for 
injecting air into the freezing chamber during the operation of motor 100. 
For this purpose, motor shaft 102 is formed with threads 116 of a known 
configuration so as to cause a nut 118 to reciprocate, upwardly and 
downwardly, during the rotation of the motor shaft. Nut 118 includes a 
pair of arms 120, 122, each carrying a threaded pin 124, 126, for driving 
the liquid pump 110 and the air pump 114, respectively. 
The liquid pump 110 includes a cylinder 130 and a piston 132 movable within 
the cylinder and urged to its outer position by a spring 134. Cylinder 130 
includes an inlet 136 connected via feed tube 137 to the liquid supply 
container 112, which inlet is closed by one-way valve 138 permitting 
liquid flow only into the cylinder. Cylinder 130 also includes an outlet 
140 closed by one- way valve 142 permitting liquid flow only out from the 
cylinder, the liquid flowing to a feed tube 144 leading to the inlet 
(upper) and of the freezing chamber within the freezing cartridge 106. 
The air pump 114 includes a cylinder 150 and a piston 152 urged to its 
outer position by a spring 154. Cylinder 150 is formed with an inlet 156 
closed by one-way valve 158 permitting air flow only into the cylinder, 
and with an outlet 160 closed by a one-way valve 162 permitting air flow 
only out from the cylinder. The air outletted from the cylinder is fed via 
a feed tube 164 to a nozzle 166 located at the outlet end of the liquid 
feed tube 144. 
FIG. 7 better illustrates the structure of the nozzle 166 at which the air 
and liquid are discharged into the freezing chamber. Thus, the liquid feed 
tube 144 terminates in a nozzle 170 at the inlet end of the freezing 
chamber. This liquid nozzle 170 is enclosed by the air nozzle 166. The 
latter nozzle includes a restriction 172 aligned with the outlet tip 170 
of the liquid nozzle, which restriction increases the velocity of the air 
at this point, by reducing the pressure. This arrangement highly aerates 
the liquid as it is injected into the freezing chamber. 
It will thus be seen that during the operation of the motor 100, its nut 
118 is cyclically reciprocated through downward and upward strokes. During 
the forward strokes, its pin 124 engages piston 132 to inject a quantity 
of liquid from cylinder 130 into the freezing chamber of the freezing 
cartridge 106 via feed tube 144. Also its pin 126 engages piston 152 to 
inject a quantity of air from cylinder 150 via feed tube 164 and nozzle 
166 so as to aerate the liquid as it is injected into the freezing 
chamber. During the return strokes of nut 118, cylinder 130 is expanded so 
to as draw into it another quantity of liquid, and cylinder 150 is also 
expanded so as to draw into it another quantity of air. 
The so injected and aerated liquid is instantly frozen against the wall of 
the freezing chamber and is scraped, melted, and refrozen as it moves 
gradually downwardly along the wall b the blade fingers, as described 
above with respect to FIGS. 1-4, so that the frozen product outputted from 
the machine is of a highly creamy texture even though no milk, cream, or 
fat, nor emulsifying additive is included in the original liquid 
ingredients. 
Since the liquid is pressure-injected into the freezing chamber in the 
embodiment of FIG. 5, the liquid could be of a highly viscous nature, and 
could also include solid particles, such as nuts, chocolate chips, fruit 
pieces and the like; this increases the large variety of frozen products 
capable of being produced by the illustrated machine. In addition, the 
introduction of air into the freezing chamber by pressure-injection not 
only enhances the atomization and aeration of the liquid ingredients, but 
also enables the machine to be used for producing frozen products having a 
large variation in softness, according to the relative quantity of air 
introduced into the freezing chamber. Both the quantity of liquid, and the 
quantity of air, injected into the freezing chamber with each 
reciprocation of the drive nut 118 can be preset by suitable adjustment of 
threaded pins 124 and 126, respectively. 
FIG. 6 illustrates another arrangement that may be used for injecting the 
liquid and air into the freezing chamber. The arrangement illustrated in 
FIG. 6 also includes an electric motor 200 which drives the rotary 
assembly (not shown, but the same as described above with respect to FIGS. 
1-4), which motor also drives a liquid pump for injecting liquid into the 
freezing chamber, and an air pump 204 for injecting air into the freezing 
chamber. I this case, however, the drive is in the form of an eccentric 
bearing 206 coupled to the motor drive shaft and effective to reciprocate 
plungers 208 and 210, respectively, of the liquid pump 202 and air pump 
204. The liquid pump 202 further includes a threaded member 212 adjustable 
to preset the quantity of liquid discharged from the pump during each 
cycle of operation, and similarly the air pump 204 includes a threaded 
member 214 adjustable to preset the quantity of air discharged with each 
reciprocation of its plunger. 
The structure and operation of the liquid pump 202 and air pump 204 in the 
machine of FIG. 6 are otherwise basically the same as described above with 
respect to the machine of FIG. 5. The machine of FIG. 5 has the advantage 
that it can produce larger displacements with each cycle of operation, and 
therefore can be operated at a lower speed; whereas the machine of FIG. 6 
has the advantage of a simpler and more compact arrangement enabling it to 
operate at higher speeds even through the displacement for each cycle is 
less. 
Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be noted that the container 2 and the 
freezing chamber therein 4 are covered by the outer cover 64. Accordingly, 
the only entry for the air is through the air feeding tube 37 which is 
connected through a narrow constricted air inlet in the cover 64 and 
passes through the feeding tube 37 to direct the air to the interior of 
the mixing chamber. The air itself enters through an inlet which is 
separate from the inlet 14 through which the liquid ingredient is 
supplied. 
As the blades rotate, they create a negative pressure within the chamber 
which causes the air to be sucked in through the inlet and the passage 37. 
Because of the presence of the small opening in which the air can come in, 
and because of the reduction of air pressure within the chamber, the air 
that is sucked in is actually injected into the mixing chamber under a 
pressure. As a result of the injection of air under pressure, the quality 
of the ice cream product is improved. The injection of air results in a 
greater air content within the ice cream ingredient. This creates a 
creamer, lighter, and improved quality product at a less cost than normal. 
The air injected is actually self regulating within the machine. 
Specifically, as the speed of the rotor is increased, the blades will 
cause an increase in the speed of operation. Thus, more liquid will be 
accommodated through the greater speed since it will be atomized at a 
faster rate, and thrown and scraped faster with respect to the surface of 
the mixing chamber. The increased speed of operation would require an 
increased injection of air to accommodate the greater operation. 
Since the injection of air results from the sucking in of the air caused by 
the reduced pressure within the mixing chamber, as the rotor operates at a 
greater speed, it actually causes a greater reduction of pressure thereby 
sucking in more air. Thus, the greater the speed, the more air will be 
injected such that the machine is self regulating in the amount of air 
that it draws in. 
By way of example, it has been found that operating the device at lower 
than 400 rpm produces a poorer quality product. This can be explained by 
the fact that there is insufficient vacuum created at that rate for an 
adequate injection of the air. When the speed increases to about 2000 rpm, 
the product continues to provide a good quality throughout this entire 
range. Thus, although the speed varies over a substantially wide speed 
range, as the speed increases, a greater injection of air results through 
the self regulating capability such that the quality remains good. Above 
2000 rpm, the quality again deteriorates. However, this is as a result of 
the melting because of the continuous friction as heretofore described and 
as unrelated to the injection of air. At about 1200 rpm, an excellent 
product was found to result. 
While the invention has been described with respect to several preferred 
embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications an 
other applications of the invention may be made.