Method and apparatus for production of smoke filter components

Abstract

A method is disclosed according to which a cylindrical object, such as a rod of smoke filter material, is pressed against a heated former element to form a permanent impression in one portion of the object as the former element and the object are simultaneously moved along a predetermined path. The object is then disengaged from the first former element, and pressed against a second heated former element to form a permanent impression in another portion thereof as the second former element and the object are moved along a second predetermined path, which may be an extension of the first, or not. Apparatus is disclosed, in one preferred embodiment of which the first and second former elements are disposed on the periphery of respective drums in such a manner that as the drums rotate in opposite directions, the object is transferred from the first to the second former element as the two former elements pass each other. In another embodiment, the first and second former elements are disposed on the periphery of a single drum, and a roller block adjacent the drum disengages the object from the first former element and rolls it along the drum periphery to the second. In a third embodiment, the object is rolled continuously but slowly along the periphery of a rotating drum on whose surface the former elements are disposed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.