Cigarette maker
AssigneeHauni Richmond, Inc.
InventorsMichael Daniek, Shengji Yang, Hamid Atai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for manufacturing cigarettes is provided. The system can include an easily removable and/or replaceable metering device that use a cavity drum to dispense a filler material, a modular garniture format parts bank that can be removed and replaced as a single unit from the cigarette manufacturing machinery, and a cutter head having components operated with a single motor that turns a spline shaft.
Claims20
A metering device, configured to be used with cigarette manufacturing machinery, the metering device comprising:
- a hopper comprising a first sidewall and a second sidewall opposite to the first sidewall, the hopper being configured to receive a filler material;
- a rotating agitator within the hopper configured to rotate to agitate the filler material;
- a rotary dispenser configured to rotate below the rotating agitator, into which the filler material is configured to pass after being agitated;
- a chute, below the rotary dispenser, into which the filler material is configured to be deposited by the rotary dispenser;
- a cavity drum having an operator end operably attached to the first sidewall and a drive end operably attached to the second sidewall so as to be positioned within and configured to rotate inside the chute, the cavity drum having a plurality of cavities into which the filler material in the chute is configured to be deposited;
- and
- a metering bar positioned to form a gap with the cavity drum, such that, when the cavity drum rotates, the filler material deposited into the plurality of cavities passes the metering bar, which controls the amount of filler material in the plurality of cavities.
A modular garniture format parts bank, configured to transport a stream of filler material through cigarette manufacturing machinery, the modular garniture format parts bank comprising:
- an upper format part;
- a lower format part to which the upper format part is operably mated, the lower format part comprising a U-shaped channel;
- and
- a garniture belt, configured to operably attach to a drive roller and a driven roller on the cigarette manufacturing machinery,
- wherein the modular garniture format parts bank is removable from the cigarette manufacturing machinery, and
- wherein at least the garniture belt is removable from the cigarette manufacturing machinery, together with the entire modular garniture format parts bank with the garniture belt sandwiched between the upper format part and the lower format part, for quick format change or cleaning.
A cutter head, configured to cut a cigarette rod formed by cigarette manufacturing machinery, the cutter head comprising:
- a motor;
- a spline shaft having a first end operably attached to a bevel gear and a second end engaged with the motor, such that the motor is configured to rotate the spline shaft around an axis;
- a knife, operably attached to the spline shaft such that the spline shaft is configured to rotate the knife perpendicular to the axis of the spline shaft;
- an eccentric adjustment disk, operably attached to and configured to be rotated by the motor, the eccentric adjustment disk comprising an off-center post extending therefrom;
- a follower plate operably attached to a knife cage in which the knife is disposed, the follower plate comprising a sliding slot in which the off-center post engages, such that rotation of the eccentric adjustment disk by the motor causes the off-center post to slide within the sliding slot, thereby causing the follower plate, with the knife cage operably connected thereto, to move horizontally.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.