Background Art In general, chewing gum has been made by adding an elastic material such as a chicle so as to provide enjoyable chewing while allowing enjoyment of flavor thereof during chewing. Such chewing gum is known to be derived from Mexico, like the cacao bean, the raw material of chocolate. In about 300 A. D. , some of Maya in Central America had a habit of enjoying chewing chicle solidified from the sap of the sapodilla, which is said to be the origin of the chewing gum. At present, chewing gum having an excellent function and being delicious appears in the world through devising how to add flavors, sugar, additive, etc. , during its spreading over the world. For example, bubble gum was generalized in 1928 by a product which Walter E. Diemer made through adding a pink pigment thereto. Bubble gum gained in public favor to such an extent that a European black market was called"the Pink Market"after selling on the black market after World War II. Chewing gum before World War II was produced only in U. S. A. and popularized in Europe and all parts of the world by the U. S. Army. Chewing gum can be classified into a gum that is enjoyed with flavors and sweet water, a bubble gum, an icing gum, a candy gum, and a sugar-free gum.

Accordingly, most of present gum products are made by adding a sweetening and a spice, etc. , to natural resin or synthetic resin such that the products made can be softened

to some extent by body heat and saliva in the mouth and the sweetening and the spice, etc. are then soluble in saliva.

Chewing gum, that is, comprises a base, which includes natural rubber elastomer/natural gum elastomer/synthetic rubber elastomer/hydrophobic synthetic polymer/resinous gum material. The composition ratio of the chewing gum can be regulated in conformity with the texturing, viscosity, masticatory property, adhesive property, flavor-discharging property, expansibility by mastication, and elasticity, etc. , desired in final products.

Depending on the purpose and function of the gum, such gum base could include various additives, that is, fat, wax, elastomer solvent resin, and a small quantity of components including fillers, plasticizers, surfactants, fluidizer, emulsifier, tanning materials, sweetener, flavoring agent, antioxidants, and colorants, etc.

The chewing gum as described above satisfies one's instinct of chewing something and allows one to enjoy the feeling of chewing and the taste of the flavoring.

Recently, products are developed which have further functions (such as preventing of tooth-decay, bad breath or sleepiness) through addition of various additives such as xylitol, etc. , thereto, but most base materials of the chewing gum are synthetic resins.

Accordingly, there is a distinct limit to the functional feature of the gum, and also there is a problem of causing various undesired effects at the same time to the point that elastomer and synthetic polymer are deformed formlessly as being chewed.

For example, since the gum base is a formless elastomer, it stimulates one's masticatory system as one continuously chews the gum. Accordingly, the masticatory system could be damaged in such a way that, in short, muscle of the masticatory-system, temporomandibular joint (TMJ), ligaments, neuromuscluar and masticatory system

constitution elements are caused to be over-used, which brings about temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD).

Simply put, anyone who has chewed chewing gum may know that, if he chews the chewing gum for 6-7 minutes, he chews it so many times so that he feels overstrain in a temporomandibular joint (that is, he firstly feels a pain and then knows harmful effects such as tinnitus and burning sensation as time goes on and the number of times he chews it is increased).

In the case of an inadhesive gum, since it includes the same gum base as that of other gums, it has a limit as elastomer and synthetic polymer have even though it has an effect of inadhesive under various conditions. For example, Korean Patent Application No. 1997-7004480 describes an indoor inadhesive test wherein inadhesive gum base adhering to a concrete whose surface temperature is at 70 degrees centigrade for 2 days, is drawn apart from the concrete with the result that it is successfully drawn apart up to 90%. It is, however, easily understood whether how much utility value the test actually has when compared with reality. That is, as compared with actuality in Korea that, under hot temperature of an asphalt road and a sidewalk in summertime, the inadhesive gum is pressed by many vehicles or stepped on a pedestrian for many years so that it finally adheres to the road or sidewalk.

Accordingly, it is doubtful about its utility and provides a problem in that one could not discern actual utility of the inadhesive gum as well.

Further, in view of culture, a conventional chewing gum has some problems as follows.

In America, the country which helped spread gum throughout the world, a student who chews gum without reserve during school hours is not disciplined by his surroundings. In most of the other countries, however, since chewing or popping around many people is considered impolite, chewing in most public places in addition to

during school hours is restricted and, especially, as regards waste disposal, upon violation of related regulations, the violator will be fined a fine.

Accordingly, it is necessary to improve the conventional gum base, which induces continuous chewing while overstraining masticatory system, stressing the chewer's body through the gum that is intended to get rid of stress; hurting others'feelings and thus making the chewer hated so that he can not stick to formality, also causing doubt as to the chewer's culture; and as regards waste disposal, being fined a fine.

For all above problems, there has been no suggestion to resolve them. The present invention, however, suggests the first solution to resolve these problems. Particularly finding a similar solution, even though its access method is different from that of the present invention, an object to be simply compared with the present invention is as follows.

An example from medical area can be given, a medical splint, although it is different from the present invention. The splint is a dental appliance, and it has been reported to the general public that some sports stars wear it for tension relaxation, muscle relaxation, stress relaxation, and performance increase, and it is also known among dental patients that patients suffering from TMD wear it.

Disclosure of the Invention Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a chewing bar to resolve the problems possibly causing TMD in the conventional chewing gum base, thereby obtaining the settlements of tension by masticatory muscle relaxation, extraordinarily increased muscle tension, psychic tension, and emotional and physical stress tension, and the

elimination of bad breath, enjoyment of taste and sweet smell, and increase of brain activity.

Further, it is an another object of the present invention to provide a new conceptional chewing bar, which overcomes drawbacks of the compositions of the conventional chewing gum base and which provides further new effects.

Still further, it is a still another object of the present invention to provide a method for easily manufacturing the new conceptional chewing bar with aforementioned useful effects.

Various technical problems of the present invention as discussed above could be resolved by providing a wood base that is treated with a treatment harmless to the human body, and properly treating the wood base, thereby providing a new conceptional chewing bar different from the conventional chewing gum.

Brief Description of the Drawings The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chewing bar according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a front end view of a chewing bar according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a chewing bar comprising: a gum base 1 that is made of wood that has a 6-12 mm width, 1-2 mm thickness and 35-50 mm length; and a coating layer 2 coated on the gum base with components added to conventional gum with predetermined thickness.

According to an another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a chewing bar, the method comprising the steps of: cutting wood; immersing the whole piece of wood in salt water for 1-3 years, not to be distorted or moth-eaten and bringing out the wood from the salt water to cut to pieces, and then boiling the pieces in salt water and drying the same in the shade; forming the pieces into a form having 6- 12 mm width, 1-2 mm thickness, and 35-50 mm length so as to be held in the mouth and to be lightly chewed; grinding and polishing the surface of the form to be harmless to human body; sterilizing the form in an autoclave at 121 degrees centigrade under 151b/inch for 15 minutes and at 134 degrees centigrade under 30 lb/inch for 3 minutes, so as not to affect the human body harmfully; putting drinkable purified water in a kettle and heating the water to 80 degrees centigrade, dissolving flavoring additives and functional additives in the water, and then immersing the treated form in the water for 7-22 minutes so that the additives penetrate into the form; treating the form with a vacuum freeze-drying for good preservation; coating additional food colors, additional flavoring additives, and additional functional additives on the surface of the treated form in conformity with desired kinds and degrees of flavoring; and hermetically sealing the treated form for good preservation.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the flavoring additives comprises sweetenings and savorers, etc.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the sweetenings could include sugar sweetening, sugar alcoholic sweetening, and powerful sweetening, and the sugar alcoholic sweetening including a compound of sorbitol and mannitol.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, savorers could include all kind of natural,

artificial or synthetic savorers, which include spearmint oil; cinnamon oil; wintergreen oil (methylsalicylate); piperitae oil; citrus oil including that of lemons, oranges, limes, and grape fruits; fruit essence including that of apples, pears, peaches, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, pineapples, and apricots; and a compound thereof.

According to yet still another embodiment of the present invention, the functional additives could include xylitol, a compound of green tea extract and copper sodium chlorophylline, extract of leaves of gingkos, and sodium fluoride.

The chewing bar as composed above comprises a base that is made of certain common wood treated with a particular process, which resolves the problems of the conventional adhesive chewing gum. The present invention also provides a method for easily manufacturing a chewing bar with excellent effects.

The present invention will be now described hereinafter in detail by the use of embodiments, but the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereto.

Embodiment 1.

The white birch is cut down and immersed in salt water for 3 years, not to be distorted or moth-eaten.

After brining out, it is cut to pieces and then boiled in salt water. The boiled wood is dried in the shade and formed into a form that has a 12mm width, 2mm thickness and 47mm length so as to be held in the mouth and to be lightly chewed. The surface of the treated form is grinded and polished so as to be harmless to the human body. The treated form is sterilized by high-pressure steam at 121 degrees centigrade under 15 lb/inch for 15 minutes.

Drinkable purified water is put in a kettle and heated to 80 degrees centigrade. Flavoring additives and functional additives are dissolved in the water and the treated form

is then immersed in the water for 7 minutes so that the additives penetrate into the form. The treated form is treated with a vacuum freeze-drying for good preservation.

Additional food colors, additional flavoring additives and additional functional additives are coated on the surface of the treated form. The treated form is hermetically sealed for good preservation.

The chewing bar as made above comprises 23-33wt% of wood, 40-55wt% of sorbitol powder, 10-17wt% of xylitol, 15wt% of mannitol, and 0.5-2. Owt% of peppermint sweetening.

Embodiment 2.

The prunus sargentii is cut down and immersed in salt water for 2 years, not to be distorted or moth-eaten.

After brining out, it is cut to pieces and then boiled in salt water. The boiled wood is dried in the shade and formed into a form that has a llmm width, 1. 7mm thickness and 45mm length so as to be held in the mouth and to be lightly chewed. The form is treated with the same process as Embodiment 1 and then sterilized by high-pressure steam at 134 degrees centigrade under 30 lb/inch for 3 minutes.

Drinkable purified water is put in a kettle and heated to 85 degrees centigrade. Flavoring additives and functional additives are dissolved in the water and the treated form is then immersed in the water for 17 minutes so that the additives penetrate into the form. The treated form is treated with a vacuum freeze-drying for good preservation.

Additional food colors, additional flavoring additives and additional functional additives are coated on the surface of the treated form. The treated form is hermetically sealed for good preservation.

The chewing bar as made above comprises 22-22.5wt% of wood, 77wt% of xylitol, and 0. 5-1. Owt% of piperitae oil sweetening.

Embodiment 3.

The pyrus pyrifolia is cut down and immersed in salt water for 1 year, not to be distorted or moth-eaten. After

brining out, it is cut to pieces and then boiled in salt water. The boiled wood is dried in the shade and formed into a form that has a 11.7mm width, 1. 9mm thickness and 43mm length so as to be held in the mouth and to be lightly chewed. The form is treated with the same process as Embodiment 1 and then sterilized by high-pressure steam at 134 degrees centigrade under 30 lb/inch for 3 minutes.

Drinkable purified water is put in a kettle and heated to 83 degrees centigrade. Flavoring additives and functional additives are dissolved in the water and the treated form is then immersed in the water for 22 minutes so that the additives penetrate into the form. The treated form is treated with a vacuum freeze-drying for good preservation.

Additional food colors, additional flavoring additives and additional functional additives are coated on the surface of the treated form. The treated form is hermetically sealed for good preservation.

The chewing bar as made above comprises 22-32wt% of wood, 44-58wt% of sorbitol powder, 10-15wt% of xylitol, 0.5-3. 0wt% of spearmint oil sweetening, 0.02-0. 03wt% of extract of green tea, and 0. 0002-0. 001wt% of sodium fluoride.

Embodiment 4.

The white birch is cut down and immersed in salt water for 1 year, not to be distorted or moth-eaten. After brining out, it is cut to pieces and then boiled in salt water. The boiled wood is dried in the shade and formed into a form that has a 12mm width, 2mm thickness and 47mm length so as to be held in the mouth and to be lightly chewed. The form is treated with the same process as Embodiment 1 and then sterilized by high-pressure steam at 121 degrees centigrade under 15 lb/inch for 15 minutes.

Drinkable purified water is put in a kettle and heated to 85 degrees centigrade. Flavoring additives and functional additives are dissolved in the water and the treated form is then immersed in the water for 20 minutes so that the

additives penetrate into the form. The treated form is treated with a vacuum freeze-drying for good preservation.

Additional food colors, additional flavoring additives and additional functional additives are coated on the surface of the treated form. The treated form is hermetically sealed for good preservation.

The chewing bar as made above comprises 22-32wt% of wood, 44-58wt% of sorbitol powder, 10-15wt% of xylitol, 0.5-3. 0wt% of menthol sweetening, and 0.1-2. 0wt% of extract of leaves of gingkos.

Industrial Applicability As can be seen from the foregoing, the present invention provides a chewing bar to resolve the problems in the conventional chewing gum base, causing TMD (including pain) and a financial, temporal and cultural loss due to adhesive feature thereof, by which the gum base adheres to the surface of other materials, and to obtain settling of tension by masticatory muscle relaxation, including extraordinarily increased muscle tension, psychic tension, and emotional and physical stress tension; and the elimination of bad breath, enjoyment of taste and sweet smell, and increase of brain activity as well. Further, the present invention provides a method for easily manufacturing the chewing bar with aforementioned useful effects.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment and the drawings, but, on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and variations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.