Equipment for manufacturing cigarettes

An apparatus for making a cigarette smoking article, comprising:

• a cigarette maker having a garniture and a bobbin for paying out a strip of a paper wrapper to the garniture for wrapping about a rod of smokable material to form a cigarette rod;
• and
• an adhesive applicator apparatus arranged between the bobbin and the garniture for applying bands of an adhesive to the paper wrapper, the adhesive applicator apparatus further comprising
• (a) a pattern roller having a peripheral surface with a plurality of transverse grooves spaced circumferentially about the peripheral surface of the pattern roller, each groove adapted to contain a predetermined amount of the adhesive,
• (b) an application roller having a peripheral surface,
• (c) an adhesive feed shoe arranged to deposit the adhesive on the pattern roller immediately upstream of a nip between the rollers,
• (d) the rollers being adapted to contact the peripheral surfaces with one another for transferring the adhesive from the pattern roller to the application roller, and
• (e) the application roller and the paper wrapper being adapted to contact the peripheral surface of the application roller with the paper wrapper for applying the adhesive transferred from the pattern roller to the paper wrapper,
• wherein the bands comprise a predetermined width and spacing and a longitudinally spaced, cross-directional pattern.

An apparatus for applying bands of an adhesive to a paper wrapper in a cigarette maker having a garniture and a bobbin for paying out a strip of the paper wrapper to the garniture for wrapping about smokable material to form a cigarette rod, the apparatus comprising:

• a pair of counter-rotating rollers arranged between the bobbin and the garniture, one of the pair of rollers comprising a pattern roller, and the other of the pair of rollers comprising an application roller;
• and
• an adhesive feed shoe arranged to deposit the adhesive on the pattern roller immediately upstream of a nip between the rollers,
• wherein the pattern roller and the application roller each have a peripheral surface,
• wherein the rollers are adapted to contact the peripheral surfaces with one another for transferring the adhesive from the pattern roller to the application roller, and
• wherein the application roller and the paper wrapper are adapted to contact the peripheral surface of the application roller with the paper wrapper for applying the adhesive transferred from the pattern roller to the paper wrapper.

An apparatus for applying bands of an additive material to a strip of a paper wrapper within a cigarette maker having a garniture and a bobbin for paying out the strip of a paper wrapper to the garniture for wrapping about smokable material to form a cigarette rod, the apparatus comprising:

• a pair of counter-rotating rollers arranged between the bobbin and the garniture, one of the pair of rollers comprising a transfer roller having a peripheral surface and the other of the pair of rollers comprising an application roller having a peripheral surface;
• a means for supplying the additive material to a portion of the peripheral surface of the transfer roller immediately upstream of a nip between the rollers;
• a means for transferring the additive material from the peripheral surface of the transfer roller to predetermined locations on the peripheral surface of the application roller by contacting the peripheral surfaces of the transfer roller and the application roller;
• and
• a means for transferring the additive material from the predetermined locations on the peripheral surface of the application roller to predetermined locations on the paper wrapper strip by contacting the peripheral surface of the application roller with the paper wrapper.