System and method for reducing giveaway material on mint products

Abstract

A machine and method for reducing giveaway material on mint products. The machine may include a conveying assembly for conveying a plurality of mints products to be processed. The machine may also include a processing assembly for processing at least one given mint product at a time, so as to remove an amount of giveaway material from each one of the mint products. The machine may also include a recuperating assembly for recuperating mint products having being processed. The method may include the steps of a) evaluating at least one physical parameter of a given mint product to be processed; b) comparing said at least one physical parameter of the mint product to be processed with a minimum threshold physical parameter in order to determine an attainable range of giveaway material to be removed; c) projecting a targeted amount of giveaway material to be removed from the mint product to be processed depending on the attainable range of giveaway material; and d) removing the targeted amount of giveaway material via at least one surface of the mint product.

1 . A method of reducing giveaway material from a plurality of mint products, the method comprising the steps of:
 a) evaluating at least one physical parameter of a given mint product;   b) comparing said at least one physical parameter with a minimum threshold physical parameter in order to determine an attainable range of giveaway material to be removed;   c) projecting a targeted amount of giveaway material to be removed from the mint product to be processed depending on the attainable range of giveaway material; and   d) removing the targeted amount of giveaway material via at least one surface of the mint product.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step a) comprises the step of assigning an identifying tag to each one of the plurality of mint products to be processed, and further comprises the step of individually evaluating at least one physical parameter of each one of said mint products to be processed. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step b) comprises the step of rejecting a mint product if the at least one physical parameter of said mint product is below the minimum threshold physical parameter. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step c) comprises the step of scanning the mint product to be processed so as to recreate a geometrical profile thereof. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 4 , wherein scanning of the mint product to be processed is done by relatively rotating the mint product with respect to a scanner. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 4 , wherein scanning of the mint product to be processed is done by rotating the mint product with respect to a pivot axis. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step c) comprises the step of geometrically calculating the targeted amount of giveaway material to be removed. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step c) comprises the step of taking into account a tolerance from the process used in step d) to ensure that the at least one physical parameter of the mint product still exceeds the minimum threshold physical parameter after giveaway material has been removed from said mint product. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the targeted amount of giveaway material to be removed in step d) is proportional to the attainable range of giveaway material determined in step b). 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done by displacing the mint product with respect to a processing tool along at least one degree of motion. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done by relatively displacing the mint product to be processed vertically with respect to a processing tool. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done by relatively rotating the mint product to be processed with respect to a processing tool. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the mint product to be processed is rotated at a rate of about 3500 rpm. 
     
     
         14 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done using at least one cutting profile selected from a predetermined set of cutting profiles. 
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done using at least one cutting profile selected depending on an amount of giveaway material to be removed. 
     
     
         16 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein a chamfer cutting profile is used when there is a given range of amount of giveaway material to be removed from the mint product to be processed. 
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein a curvilinear cutting profile is used when there is another given range of amount of giveaway material to be removed from the mint product to be processed. 
     
     
         18 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein a radial-component reducing cutting profile is also used when the amount of giveaway material to be removed exceeds a given range of amount of giveaway material to be removed from the mint product to be processed. 
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein removal of giveaway material in step d) is done within a proportion of a full extent of the least one surface of the mint product where giveaway material is removed from. 
     
     
         20 . A method according to  claim 19 , wherein the proportion is at least about 60% of the full extent of the least one surface of the mint product where giveaway material is removed from.