Flower cartridge crimping and filling for herb delivery
AssigneeSwisher International, Inc.
InventorsMichael Lee Simpson, Matthew James Bickerton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A filling method and process for a flower cartridge for use with a portable electronic heating device for the smokeless delivery of active ingredients and volatile compounds released from heating natural consumables such as plant matter is disclosed. Through grinding, vibration, and tamping, a number of cartridges are filled with natural consumables. Compressive forces applied via tamping, coupled with a constriction or obstruction within the cartridge, form a porous plug to which air flows freely but the consumables remain in place. The filling process minimizes oxidation and preserves the shelf life of the flower cartridge.
Claims23
A method of uniformly filling natural consumables into flower cartridges for use with a heat-not-burn heating device, comprising:
- loading a plurality of flower cartridges within a cartridge tray assembly;
- forming a filling assembly by positioning the cartridge tray assembly beneath a filling tray;
- placing a quantity of natural consumables in the filling tray;
- distributing the natural consumables into a plurality of openings of the filling tray;
- forming a tamping assembly by placing the filling assembly into a press with a tamping plate;
- operating the press so that the tamping plate is pressed into the filling assembly for a predetermined depth, after which the plate is retracted;
- removing the cartridge tray assembly from the tamping assembly;
- disassembling the cartridge tray assembly to permit unloading of the plurality of flower cartridges;
- wherein the tamping plate is configured to compress the natural consumables to a uniform density within the flower cartridges;
- wherein the plurality of flower cartridges to be filled are stacked within the cartridge tray assembly such that each cartridge is in contact with at least one other cartridge;
- wherein contacting cartridges are held in a position by compressive forces exerted by the cartridge tray assembly from each side of the assembly facing the walls of the cartridges;
- and
- wherein the position in which the contacting cartridges are held aligns the openings in the filling tray with the openings of the cartridges.
A tamping assembly for uniformly filling natural consumables into flower cartridges for use with a heat-not-burn heating device, comprising:
- a tamping plate;
- a filling tray with a plurality of openings;
- a cartridge tray assembly;
- a base plate;
- wherein the cartridge tray assembly is configured to hold the plurality of flower cartridges to be filled such that each cartridge is in contact with at least one other cartridge and the contacting cartridges are held in a position by compressive forces exerted by the cartridge tray assembly from each side of the assembly facing the walls of the cartridges;
- and
- wherein the position in which the contacting cartridges are held aligns the openings in the filling tray with the openings of the cartridges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.