Manufacture of cigarettes and the like
AssigneeMolins Limited
InventorsDesmond Walter Molins, Francis Auguste Maurice Labbe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A continuous carpet of particulate cigarette filler material, of which part along one side comprises core such as a low quality tobacco or non-tobacco material and the remainder comprises normal tobacco, is rolled by means of an air jet, starting from the core material side of the carpet, to form a cigarette filler stream consisting of an annulus of normal tobacco around a core consisting of the core material. Before the annulus tobacco is rolled around it, the rolled core material is trimmed to remove excess core material. Furthermore, a variable part of the normal tobacco in the carpet is discarded under the control of a sensor responding to the density of the nearly completely formed filler stream.
Claims16
A cigarette making machine comprising means for forming a wide, continuous carpet of particulate cigarette filler material of predetermined width, an air-pervious conveyor for supporting the carpet on one surface thereof and continuously conveying the carpet along a path, means for progressively gathering in at least one edge of the carpet as it is conveyed to form said filler material into a narrow stream, sensing means for sensing the mass of said narrow stream, and ejector means responsive to said sensing means for ejecting a variable part of the filler material forming the carpet to maintain the mass of said narrow stream substantially constant, said ejector means comprising a shutter mounted adjacent the opposite surface of said conveyor and adjustable in position along a further path transversely of said path of the conveyor and means for supplying air at above-atmospheric pressure to said opposite surface of said air-pervious conveyor adjacent one side of the shutter whereby the portion of the carpet lying on said one side of the shutter is blown off the conveyor.
A cigarette making machine comprising means for forming a continuous carpet of particulate cigarette filler material of predetermined width, air-pervious conveyor means for supporting and conveying said carpet on one surface thereof along a path, means for progressively forming the filler material of said carpet while conveyed along said path into a narrow stream of filler material, sensing means for sensing the mass of said narrow stream, a shutter mounted adjacent the opposite surface of said conveyor, means for moving the shutter along a further path transversely of said path of the conveyor in response to the sensing means, and pneumatic means for removing from said carpet a strip of filler material, said shutter being arranged to control the width of said strip removed from said carpet to maintain the mass of said narrow stream of filler material substantially constant.
A cigarette making machine for forming a cigarette filler stream from an elongated carpet of particulate material, part along one side thereof consisting of particulate core material and the remainder consisting of particulate normal tobacco, said core material having a different composition than said particulate normal tobacco, said machine comprising:
- a. an elongated air-pervious conveyor having a surface for supporting and conveying said carpet along a path to a position at which formation of said filler stream is completed,
- b. stationarily mounted trough means arranged obliquely across said surface of said elongated air-pervious conveyor and having an open side thereof spaced from and confronting said surface;
- c. air jet means arranged to project air through said air-pervious conveyor into said trough means for progressively rolling said carpet in said trough means while said carpet is being conveyed along said path and commencing at the side supporting said core material to form a filler stream comprising rolled particulate core material surrounded by an annulus of rolled particulate normal tobacco,
- d. stationarily mounted means for trimming excess particulate core material from the rolled core material at a trimming station along said path at said one side supporting said rolled core material and before the annulus of particulate normal tobacco is rolled about said rolled core material, and
- e. pneumatic means for retaining the unrolled portion of said carpet on said conveyor while said carpet is being rolled by said air jet means and said excess core material is trimmed.
A cigarette making machine for forming a cigarette filler stream from an elongated carpet of particulate tobacco comprising:
- a. an elongated air-pervious conveyor having a surface for supporting and conveying said carpet along a path,
- b. stationarily mounted trough means arranged obliquely across said elongated air-impervious conveyor and having an open side thereof spaced from and confronting said surface,
- c. air jet means arranged to project air through said air-pervious conveyor into said trough means for progressively rolling said carpet in said trough means while being conveyed along said path and commencing at one side thereof at a first position along said path to progressively form said filler stream and complete formation at a second position spaced from said first position,
- d. means, located at a third position between said first and second positions where said filler stream has been partially formed, for sensing the mass of the partially formed filler stream at said third position,
- e. means responsive to said sensing means for controlling the amount of particulate tobacco in said carpet which is subsequently rolled by said air jet means to complete formation of the filler stream, so as to maintain the mass of the completely formed filler stream substantially constant, and
- f. pneumatic means for retaining the unrolled portion of said carpet on said conveyor.
A cigarette making machine comprising means for forming a carpet of particulate cigarette filler material of predetermined width, air-pervious conveyor means having a surface for supporting and conveying said carpet along a predetermined path between first and second stations, means for progressively narrowing the carpet, as it moves from said first station to said second station along the path, to form a narrow filler stream of said filler material, sensing means mounted at a third station along said path between said first and second stations for sensing the mass of the partly formed narrow stream, a shutter mounted adjacent the surface of said conveyor opposite said supporting surface, means for moving the shutter along a further path transverse to said path of the conveyor in response to the sensing means, and pneumatic means situated at a fourth station between said first and second stations for removing from said carpet a strip of filler material, said shutter being arranged to control the width of said strip removed from said carpet to maintain the mass of said narrow filler stream substantially constant.
A method for forming a cigarette filler stream from a carpet of particulate material comprising:
- a. feeding a continuous carpet of said particulate material along a path between first and second positions, part of said carpet along one side thereof consisting of particulate core material and the remainder consisting of particulate normal tobacco, said core material having a different composition than said particulate normal tobacco,
- b. directing an air jet towards said carpet to progressively roll said carpet commencing at said first position at the side consisting of core material to first form a rolled core material,
- c. trimming excess core material from the rolled core material sufficient to maintain the mass of the rolled core material substantially constant, and
- d. after said trimming step, directing said air jet to progressively roll an annulus of said normal tobacco about said rolled and trimmed core material while approaching said second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.