Equipment for manufacturing cigarette packages
AssigneeR.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
InventorsJerry Wayne Pipes, Wesley Steven Jones, Randy Lee McKnight
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for making a hard pack cigarette package composed of a transparent material that includes an inner frame that is also composed of a transparent material. The package is assembled using a hot-melt adhesive material to bind the package together as well as to bind the inner frame insert and a foil wrapped assemblage of smoking articles to the package. The hot-melt adhesive material is applied by an electronically controlled hot-melt adhesive applicator working in conjunction with a uniform contrast roller.
Claims4
A system for manufacturing a container for smoking articles, the system comprising:
- a hopper configured to hold blanks;
- a gear train;
- a hot-melt adhesive applicator;
- a feed belt operatively coupled to the gear train to move the blanks from the hopper to the hot-melt adhesive applicator;
- an encoder coupled with the gear train and configured to track the translational movement of the blanks through the system;
- an electronic blank sensor approximately opposite from the hot-melt adhesive applicator configured to signal when a blank enters the hot-melt adhesive applicator;
- an electronic control unit in communication with the encoder, the electronic blank sensor, and the hot-melt adhesive applicator, the electronic control unit being configured to cause the hot-melt adhesive applicator to apply a pre-determined pattern of adhesive to the blank when the electronic control unit receives the signal from the electronic blank sensor;
- and
- a folding station configured to receive the blank from the hot melt adhesive applicator and to fold the blank into a container about an assemblage of smoking articles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.