Method and apparatus for making rod-shaped smokers' products with soft cores

Apparatus for forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising a transporting unit including an endless belt conveyor having a flat elongated reach defining an elongated path;

• means for supplying particles into a portion of said path so as to form at one side of said reach an elongated layer which has a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline, which advances lengthwise along said path, whose thickness is a fraction of the width thereof and which includes a web overlying the one side of said reach and two legs flanking the web and extending away from the one side of and being out of contact with said reach;
• and means for converting the layer in said path into a rod-like filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including establishing for the layer a trough-shaped transporting unit with a foraminous belt conveyor flanked at one side by two sidewalls and a suction chamber adjacent to the other side of the conveyor, and showering particles against the one side of the conveyor and the adjacent sidewalls to form on the transporting unit a layer having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline;

• admitting at least one flavoring agent into the layer by way of the sidewalls of the transporting unit;
• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermiend path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including establishing for the layer a trough-shaped transporting unit with a foraminous belt conveyor flanked at one side by two sidewalls and a suction chamber adjacent to the other side of the conveyor, and showering particles against the one side of the conveyor and the adjacent sidewalls to form a layer having a U-shaped cross-sectional outline;

• admitting into the layer a hot gaseous fluid by way of the sidewalls;
• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including establishing for the layer a trough-shaped transporting unit with a foraminous belt conveyor flanked at one side by sidewalls and a suction chamber adjacent to the other side of the conveyor, and showering particles against the one side of the conveyor and against the sidewalls to form on the transporting unit a layer having a U-shaped cross-sectional outline;

• admitting moisture into the layer by way of the sidewalls in such quantities that the moisture contacts the particles at the adjacent side of the layer but not the particles at the opposite side;
• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including imparting to the layer a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline with a centrally located web and two legs flanking and extending from one side of the web;

• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density, including moving the legs toward one another to transform the U-shaped layer into said rod-like filler;
• and preventing the penetration of particles into the space between the one side of the web and the legs of the layer prior to said converting step.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including imparting to the layer a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline with a centrally located web and two legs flanking the web;

• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path, said imparting step including showering particles which form the web at an elevated speed and at an oblique angle to the direction of advancement of the layer along said path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including imparting to the layer a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline with a centrally located web and two legs flanking the web;

• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path, said imparting step including showering particles which form the legs at an elevated speed and in substantial parallelism with the direction of advancement of the layer along said path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width, including imparting to the layer a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline with a centrally located web and two legs flanking and extending from one side of the web;

• advancing the layer lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density, including mechanically engaging those portions of the legs which are remote from the web and moving such portions nearer to each other so that the layer is converted into a substantially tubular body.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles into an elongated first layer having a thickness which is a fraction of its width and having a U-shaped cross-sectional outline;

• converting the first layer into a concavo-convex trough-shaped second layer;
• advancing the second layer along a predetermined path;
• and converting the advancing second layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density, including transferring the second layer onto a trough-shaped web of wrapping material, densifying the second layer in the web to impart it the cross-sectional outline of a rod-shaped smokers' article, and thereupon converting the web into a tubular envelope which completely surrounds the densified second layer.

Apparatus for forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising transporting unit defining an elongated path;

• means for supplying particles into a portion of said path so that the deposited particles immediately form an elongated layer which has several mutually inclined longitudinally extending portions and advances lengthwise along said path;
• and means for converting the layer in said path into a rod-like filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density, including means for changing the configuration and mutual position of said longitudinally extending portions so that the cross-sectional outline of the densified filler resembles that of a rod-shaped smokers' article.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles at one side of a flat elongated reach of a belt conveyor so that the particles form an elongated layer having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline and a thickness which is a fraction of its width and including a web which overlies the one side of the reach and two legs which extend away from the one side of the reach, comprising first depositing particles at the one side of the reach to form the web and thereupon depositing particles laterally adjacent to the reach to form the legs, said step of depositing particles laterally adjacent to the web including first depositing particles which form one of the legs and thereupon depositing particles which form the other of the legs;

• advancing the layer and the reach lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles at one side of a flat elongated reach of a belt conveyor so that the particles form an elongated layer having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline and a thickness which is a fraction of its width and including a web which overlies the one side of the reach and two legs which extend away from the one side of the reach;

• advancing the layer and the reach lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• mechanically entraining the legs along said path;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles at one side of a flat elongated reach of a belt conveyor so that the particles form an elongated layer having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline and a thickness which is a fraction of its width and including a web which overlies the one side of the reach and two legs which exend away from the one side of the reach;

• advancing the layer and the reach lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• entraining the legs of the layer along stationary sidewalls which extend beyond the one side of and flank the reach;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

A method of forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising the steps of accumulating the particles at one side of a flat elongated reach of a belt conveyor so that the particles form an elongated layer having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline and a thickness which is a fraction of its width and including a web which overlies the one side of the reach and two legs which extend away from the one side of the reach;

• advancing the layer and the reach lengthwise along a predetermined path;
• preventing the penetration of particles into the space between the legs and the web;
• and converting the advancing layer into a filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.

Apparatus for forming a rod-like filler from particles of smokable material, comprising a transporting unit including an endless belt conveyor having a flat elongated reach defining an elongated path;

• means for supplying particles into a portion of said path so as to form at one side of said reach an elongated layer which has a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline, which advances lengthwise along said path, whose thickness is fraction of the width thereof and which includes a web overlying the one side of said reach and two legs flanking the web and extending away from the one side of said reach, said transporting unit including a substantially trough-shaped body surrounding three sides of said path and said supplying means including means for delivering particles to such three sides of said path;
• and means for converting the layer in said path into a rod-like filler having a central portion of lesser density and an outer layer of greater density.