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AssigneeR. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
InventorsFranklin Forrest Brantley, Eddie Lee Nuckols, Darrell Thomas Dixon, Timothy Frederick Thomas, Calvin Wayne Henderson, Balager Ademe
Estimating the term…
An inspection system and associated method are provided for inspecting a smoking article having a smokable rod and a filter element serially secured together by a tipping material circumscribing a longitudinal periphery of the filter element and a portion of a longitudinal periphery of the smokable rod adjacent to the filter element. A transport device is configured to transport individual as-formed smoking articles from a first to a second position such that the tipping material associated with each smoking article is accessible at least about the portion of the longitudinal periphery of the smoking article. An inspection device is configured to optically inspect each smoking article, at least about the portion of the longitudinal periphery of the smoking article having the tipping material, as the smoking article is transported between the first and second positions, and to automatically determine from the optical inspection whether the inspected smoking article is defective.
A filtered smoking article inspection system for a smoking article comprising a filter element having a mouth end terminus and a smokable rod having a lighting end terminus opposite from the filter element, the mouth end terminus and the lighting end terminus extending substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the smoking article, the smokable rod including a smokable material having a circumscribing outer layer of a wrapping material, the smokable rod and filter element being serially secured to each other by a tipping material circumscribing the filter element along a longitudinal periphery thereof and the smokable rod along a portion of a longitudinal periphery thereof adjacent to the filter element, said inspection system comprising:
A method of inspecting a smoking article comprising a filter element having a mouth end terminus and a smokable rod having a lighting end terminus opposite from the filter element, the mouth end terminus and the lighting end terminus extending substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the smoking article, the smokable rod including a smokable material having a circumscribing outer layer of a wrapping material, the smokable rod and filter element being serially secured to each other by a tipping material circumscribing the filter element along a longitudinal periphery thereof and the smokable rod along a portion of a longitudinal periphery thereof adjacent to the filter element, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Examining cigarettes or the rod, e.g. for regulating the feeding of tobacco; Removing defective cigarettes: by means of light, radiation or…
Making cigarettes; Making tipping materials for, or attaching filters or mouthpieces to, cigars or cigarettes: separating, ordering, counting or…
Investigating the presence of flaws or contamination: specially adapted optical and illumination features
Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection: industrial image inspection
About 3 years 4 months of term left · ends 1 Mar 2030 (estimated)
Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to smoking articles, such as filtered cigarettes, and, more particularly, to a filtered smoking article inspection system and associated method.
Description of Related Art
In order to assist the understanding of aspects of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the appended drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale and in which like reference numerals refer to like elements. The drawings are exemplary only, and should not be construed as limiting the disclosure. For the various figures, in order to clearly show the configurations of the various wrapping materials, the thicknesses of those wrapping materials of the various filtered cigarettes may be exaggerated. Most preferably, the wrapping materials are tightly wrapped around the filtered cigarettes to provide a tight or snug fit, to provide a cigarette having acceptable physical integrity, and to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary filtered smoking article, such as a cigarette;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary “two-up” filtered cigarette assembly;
The present disclosure now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing. The disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the aspects set forth herein; rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements.
Referring to FIG. 1, there are shown components of a smoking article 100 in the form of a filtered cigarette. The cigarette 100 includes a generally cylindrical rod 150 of a charge or roll of smokable filler material 175 contained in a circumscribing wrapping material 200. The rod 150 is conventionally referred to as a “smokable rod” or “tobacco rod”. The ends of the tobacco rod are open to expose the smokable filler material. At one end of the tobacco rod 150 is the lighting end 250 (or “lighting end terminus”), and at the other end is shown a filter element 300.
The cigarette 100 normally includes a filter element 300 or other suitable mouthpiece positioned adjacent one end of the tobacco rod 150 such that the filter element and tobacco rod are axially aligned in an end-to-end relationship, preferably abutting one another. Filter element 300 has a generally cylindrical shape, and the diameter thereof is essentially equal to the diameter of the tobacco rod. The ends of the filter element are open to permit the passage of air and smoke therethrough. The filter element 300 includes filter material 350 (e.g., plasticized cellulose acetate tow) that is overwrapped along the longitudinally extending surface thereof with circumscribing plug wrap material 400. The filter element 300 can comprise two or more filter segments (not shown), and/or flavor additives incorporated therein.