Manufacture of filter-tipped cigarettes

#Filter-tipped cigarettes commonly made by joining double-length filter portions between axially spaced cigarette portions by means of a connecting sheet (commonly known as a "cork patch") which is rolled around the filter portion and overlaps the ends of the cigarette portions. The machine for doing this is referred to in this content as a "filter-attachment machine".

#Filter-attachment machines commonly roll the cork patches around the rod assemblies (each consisting, for example, of two cigarette portions and a double-length filter portion) by means of a stationary rolling plate mounted adjacent to a rolling drum onto which the assemblies and cork patches are fed. Occasionally the completed assemblies fail to pass properly through the rolling area and cause a jam or another adverse condition by which the assemblies become joined to one another by the cork patches. It is then necessary to remove the jam or other adverse condition quickly in order to prevent damage to the machine and/or waste of material. It is usually left to an operator to observe the machine and to switch it off or take other corrective action when he sees such a condition occurring. The present invention is concerned mainly with means for automatically detecting the occurrence of a jam or other such adverse condition and for taking corrective action.

#According to the present invention a filter-attachment machine has means for monitoring the regular passage of assemblies through the rolling area between the drum and the plate and for producing a fault signal when assemblies stop passing a given point in the rolling area at regular predetermined intervals, the fault signal being preferably used to initiate automatically corrective action which tends to stop the jam or other adverse condition. For example, the corrective action may consist of stopping the delivery to the drum of cork patches and/or of filter portions.

#An example of a filter attachment machine according to this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings. In these drawings:

#FIG. 1 is a partly sectioned side elevation of part of the machine, and

#FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically how air is supplied to monitor the passage of assemblies through the rolling area.

#As shown in FIG. 1, the machine includes a rolling drum 2 on to which a continuous web of cork material 4 is fed. A rotary cutting device 6 with peripherally spaced knives 6A cooperates with the rolling drum to cut the cork web into individual cork patches 4A. At regular intervals around the rolling drum there are ports 2A through which suction is applied to hold the cork web 4 taut and then to hold the cork patches on the rolling drum. Suction is supplied to the ports 2A from a slot 8 in a stationary suction supply manifold (not shown) mounted closely adjacent to one end of the rolling drum 2. The slot 8 terminates at position 8A, after which point suction is no longer needed.

#It should be understood that the ports 2A are formed at regular intervals along the drum as well as around the drum. That is to say, there are axially extending lines of ports 2A, each line of ports communicating with an axial passageway 2B which opens out at the end of the drum 2 adjacent to the suction supply slot 8.

#A fluted drum 10 delivers successive assemblies 12 each consisting of two axially spaced cigarette portions between which there is a double-length filter portion. Fingers 14A on a rolling plate 14 strip the assemblies out of the flutes of the drum 10 and press them against the leading edges of successive cork patches, thus starting the rolling operation by which each cork patch is rolled around the double-length filter portion of the corresponding assembly, overlapping onto the adjacent ends of the cigarette portions so as to form a double filter-tipped cigarette. The assemblies pass through the rolling area between the drum 2 and the rolling plate 14 at regular intervals as shown. They are then received by a further fluted drum 16. Further downstream the assemblies are cut through the middle to form two rows of individual filter-tipped cigarettes.