Cigarette butt marking for smoking machines
AssigneeLorillard Licensing Company, LLC
InventorsGerald Clay, Grayland Sizemore
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for marking cigarettes with a mark to terminate operation of a smoking machine includes a jig for holding at least 40 cigarettes and maintaining the cigarettes' position with a seam side of each cigarette facing a given direction. A scannable laser having a laser light output at an intensity and frequency makes a scorch mark on the seam of each cigarette paper without perforating the cigarette paper. A software control system for the scannable laser is programmed to cause the laser to scan over the cigarettes in the jig to etch and make a circumferentially-oriented line segment mark no longer than 1.5 millimeter and no wider than 0.5 millimeter on the cigarettes at a predetermined position along the length of the cigarettes.
Claims7
An apparatus for marking on cigarettes made of cigarette paper wrapped around a tobacco column with a paper seam to terminate operation of a smoking machine comprising
- a jig for holding a plurality of cigarettes in position with the seam side of each of the cigarettes facing upward,
- a scannable laser having a laser light output at an intensity and frequency to make a scorch mark on cigarette paper without perforating the cigarette paper, and
- a control system for the scannable laser to cause the laser to scan over the cigarettes in the jig to make a circumferentially-oriented line segment mark on the seam of each of the plurality of cigarettes at a predetermined position along the length of the cigarettes.
An apparatus for marking on cigarettes made of cigarette paper wrapped around a tobacco column with a paper seam to terminate operation of a smoking machine comprising
- a jig for holding at least 40 cigarettes and maintaining the cigarettes' position with the seam side of each cigarette facing a given direction,
- a scannable laser having a laser light output at an intensity and frequency to make a scorch mark on the seam of each cigarette paper without perforating the cigarette paper, and
- a software control system for the scannable laser programmed to cause the laser to scan over the cigarettes in the jig to etch and make a circumferentially-oriented line segment mark no longer than 1.5 millimeter and no wider than 0.5 millimeter on the seam of each of the plurality of cigarettes at a predetermined position along the length of the cigarettes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.