Seamless BB paintball

Abstract

Seamless BB paintballs are formed by utilizing the principle of repulsion between oil and water, the differences of surface tension of oil and water, and the character of melting of gelatin materials in high temperature and solidification in cold temperature to produce a biodegradable seamless paintball. The seamless paintballs contain a colored edible oil solution for improved safety for accidental ingestion and rupture on impact to improve safety relative to similarly-sized solid projectiles. The seamless paintballs may be produced at consistent sizes and weights, thereby reducing the possibility of jamming during shooting and/or unintended rupture during loading. The seamless paintballs may also be configured to improve storage stability and the trajectory consistency, thereby overcoming common limitations of conventional BB and paintball projectiles. The seamless paintballs are produced by encapsulating a liquid fill material with a liquid shell material to obtain improved spherical symmetry and seamless shell construction.

1 . A method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball comprising: 
 forming a core solution comprising an edible lipid and an edible dye;    forming a shell solution comprising water and gelatin;    dispensing a first amount of the core solution;    encapsulating the first amount of the core solution with a second amount of shell solution;    solidifying the shell solution and thereby form a seamless BB paintball including a solid shell composition containing the core solution.    
   
   
       2 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 solidifying the shell solution by immersing the second amount of the shell solution in an oil bath.    
   
   
       3 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 the core solution includes 1%-5% (W/W) of the edible dye;    the edible lipid is selected from a group consisting of vegetable oils and synthetic oils; and    the shell solution includes 10%-34% (W/W) gelatin, 1%-10% (W/W) PEG, 1%-10% (W/W) starch, and 0.1%-1% (W/W) edible dye.    
   
   
       4 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 3 , wherein: 
 the vegetable oils are selected from a group consisting of peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and olive oil.    
   
   
       5 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 3 , wherein: 
 the vegetable oils are selected from a group consisting of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids.    
   
   
       6 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 3 , wherein: 
 the PEG is selected from a group consisting of PEGs having molecular weight between 200 and 6000 daltons.    
   
   
       7 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 3 , wherein: 
 the PEG includes a mixture of at least two PEG compounds.    
   
   
       8 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 3 , wherein: 
 the PEG has an average molecular weight between 400 and 6000 daltons.    
   
   
       9 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 the shell solution includes 15%-30% (W/W) gelatin, 1%-5% (W/W) PEG, 6%-10% (W/W) starch and 0.6%-1% (W/W) edible dye.    
   
   
       10 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 the shell solution includes 10%-34% (W/W) gelatin, 1%-10% (W/W) PEG, 1%-10% (W/W) starch, and 0.1%-1% (W/W) edible dye; and    wherein a dry weight ratio of the gelatin and PEG is from 17.0 to 1.0.    
   
   
       11 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 10 , wherein: 
 the dry weight ratio is from 9.3 to 4.4.    
   
   
       12 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 10 , wherein: 
 the dry weight ratio is from 9.3 to 1.0.    
   
   
       13 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 10 , wherein: 
 the dry weight ratio is from 4.4 to 1.0.    
   
   
       14 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 separating the seamless BB paintballs from the cooling oil;    degreasing the seamless BB paintballs; and    drying the shell composition.    
   
   
       15 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 separating the seamless BB paintballs from the cooling oil;    degreasing the seamless BB paintballs; and    hardening the shell composition.    
   
   
       16 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 separating the seamless BB paintballs from the cooling oil; and    separating the seamless BB paintballs by diameter into size groups.    
   
   
       17 . The method of manufacturing seamless BB paintball according to  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 maintaining the shell solution at a formation temperature within a formation temperature range through the step of encapsulating the core solution; and    maintaining the cooling oil at a cooling temperature within a cooling temperature range, wherein the formation temperature is at least 60° C. greater than the cooling temperature.