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US 4,049,005 AGranted
Filtering apparatus for cigarette smokers
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorsArmando C. Hernandez, Jack P. Prohoroff
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNone recorded
InventorsArmando C. Hernandez, Jack P. Prohoroff
Estimating the term…
Improved performance in a cigarette filter of the kind that is housed in a cigarette holder is accomplished by incorporating a restriction in the flow path through the holder in which smoke is accelerated. That is followed by an expansion chamber into which ambient air is drawn to accomplish cooling and condensation of tars and nicotine products and to produce a turbulence. As a consequence, the condensate is made to impinge upon the surface of the filter element where it is retained.
In a cigarette holder of the kind in which tars and nicotine components are to be precipitated out of the smoke and which holder includes a shank having a cigarette coupler at its smoke input end and a bit at its smoke outlet end and a flow path extending through the shank from the inlet at the coupler to the outlet at the bit, in combination:
In a cigarette holder of the kind in which tars and nicotine components are to be precipitated out of the smoke and which holder includes a shank having a cigarette coupler at its smoke input end and a bit at its smoke outlet end and a flow path extending through the shank from the inlet at the coupler to the outlet at the bit, in combination:
In a cigarette holder of the kind in which tars and nicotine components are to be precipitated out of the smoke and which holder includes a shank having a cigarette coupler at its smoke input end and a bit at its smoke outlet end and a flow path extending through the shank from the inlet at the coupler to the outlet at the bit, in combination:
In a cigarette holder of the kind in which tars and nicotine components are to be precipitated out of the smoke and which holder includes a shank having a cigarette coupler at its smoke input end and a bit at its smoke outlet end and a flow path extending through the shank from the inlet at the coupler to the outlet at the bit, in combination:
In a cigarette holder of the kind in which tars and nicotine components are to be precipitated out of the smoke and which holder includes a shank having a cigarette coupler at its smoke input end and a bit at its smoke outlet end and a flow path extending through the shank from the inlet at the coupler to the outlet at the bit, in combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
Cigar or cigarette holders: with arrangements for cleaning or cooling the smoke
Smokers' requisites
Term ended 20 Sep 1994 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to improvements in cigarette filters and in apparatus for aiding tobacco smokers to withdraw from the tobacco habit. One class of apparatus of that kind is housed in a cigarette holder and is formed with an opening by which ambient air is introduced into the smoke stream to aid in condensing tars and nicotine products from the smoke in the holder. This invention relates to improvements in apparatus of that class.
It is well established that most of the tar and nicotine products can be removed from cigarette smoke by the use of a cigarette holder arranged so that those materials are condensed out of the smoke before it reaches the outlet opening of the holder and the smoker. It is possible to remove almost any selected percentage of those materials. Thus, to the extent that cigarette smoking can be made more safe, or less likely to be injurious to the smoker's health, the creators of tar and nicotine filtering apparatus can achieve almost any degree of safety of freedom from injury. However, to create such an apparatus which smoker's will attempt to use and will continue to use has proven to be a much more difficult task.
The acceptance of cigarette smoke filtering devices appears to be the function of three variables. The first is the degree of inhalation suction required to use the device. Another variable is the taste of the smoke, or the "strength" or "weakness" of the smoke. The last is the smoker's motive in using the filtering device. Acceptance of cigarette smoke filtering apparatus diminishes as the degree of inhalation suction increases significantly beyond what is required for normal cigarette smoking. Further, the use of cigarette smoke filtering apparatus diminishes if the smoke that reaches the smoker tastes significantly different from the taste of unfiltered cigarette smoke. Taste appears to be a function both of the composition of the smoke and of its temperature. If the smoker's motive is to remove part of the nicotine and tar content of the smoke so that he can continue the smoking habit with less likelihood of injury to himself, he may be willing to put up with a change in inhalation suction requirement and taste sufficiently long so that he becomes accustomed to the changed condition. On the other hand, the smoker whose objective is to rid himself of the smoking habit, and who believes that he must have a means for withdrawing by degrees, is likely to be less tolerant of changes in taste and suction requirements. It is easy to condense out the tars and nicotines produced by reducing the temperature of the smoke, but temperature reduction translates into a change in taste. While less easy, it is possible to remove tars and nicotine by utilizing the fact that the tar and nicotine products have greater mass than does the smoke and can be removed by increasing their kinetic energy to the point where they cannot change direction with the same facility as can the lighter smoke. However, increasing kinetic energy of the solid and semi-solids of the smoke requires that they be accelerated at the cost of increase in inhalation suction.
In the drawing:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette holder which embodies the invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cigarette holder taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1;
The cigarette holder 10 shown in FIG. 1 embodies the invention. At its upstream, cigarette end, it comprises a coupler 12. An end of the cigarette, or cigar, is inserted in that end of the device. The other end, the outlet end, terminates in a bit 14. The portion intermediate the ends is called the shank 16. The rearward, tapered part of the shank 18 is usually called the mouthpiece. It is formed integrally with the bit and, in the illustrated embodiment, it is formed integrally with the filter which is a structure at the forward end of the mouthpiece and is housed within the barrel 20. The band of material 22 which appears between the mouthpiece 18 and the barrel 20 is a decorative trim piece.
There are two air inlet openings, 24 and 26. Both are visible at the side of the barrel in FIG. 1. The barrel can be rotated relative to the mouthpiece 18 and the ring 22 about the central axis of the unit, and the position of those air openings will depend upon the rotational orientation of the barrel. The holder is made to be taken apart so that the barrel with the coupler can be removed from the mouthpiece 18 to expose the filter element, and the user can be expected to remove and replace the barrel many times. The air inlet openings are shown at the side in FIG. 1 so that they lie in the same plane as do a pair of laterally extending passageways that are formed in the mouthpiece and are not visible in FIG. 1. Arranging the structure in that way simplifies the task of depicting the invention in FIG. 2 and of explaining its operation.
The bit 14 is wider than it is high so that it will be oriented as shown in FIG. 1 when it is in use. On that basis, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the horizontal mid-plane through the holder. The shank forms the housing for a flow path for smoke that enters at the coupler 12 and proceeds through the downstream exit opening 30 of the coupler into a storage chamber 32 that is formed by the rearward side of the coupler 12 and the forward side of a transverse barrier wall 36 and is bounded by the inner wall of the barrel forwardly of the barrier wall 36. Except for the barrier wall 36, the barrel is a cylindrical sleeve formed with a cylindrical inner wall. Wall 36 is formed with a through opening, or perforation, 38 at its center. That opening is sufficiently small so that smoke is accelerated as it is drawn through the perforation past the barrier 36.