U.S. patent application number 14/240110 was filed with the patent office on 2014-07-24 for manufacturing grooved smoking rods.
This patent application is currently assigned to British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited. The applicant listed for this patent is British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited. Invention is credited to Karl Kaljura.
Application Number | 20140206513 14/240110 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44882102 |
Filed Date | 2014-07-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140206513 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kaljura; Karl |
July 24, 2014 |
Manufacturing Grooved Smoking Rods
Abstract
A machine for making grooved smoking article rods has an axially
rotatable drum (5) with a generally cylindrical outer surface (8).
A pressing member (10) has a pressing surface (11) that includes
grooves (12) facing the outer surface of the drum. The pressing
member is heated by a heater (13). Filter rod segments (1) are fed
from an inlet supply (9) between the pressing surface (11) and the
drum (5) to be rotated and pressed against the grooves (12) so that
a pattern of grooves (15) is formed in the outer surface of the
filter segment.
Inventors: |
Kaljura; Karl; (London,
GB) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
British American Tobacco (Investments) Limited |
London |
|
GB |
|
|
Assignee: |
British American Tobacco
(Investments) Limited
London
GB
|
Family ID: |
44882102 |
Appl. No.: |
14/240110 |
Filed: |
August 30, 2012 |
PCT Filed: |
August 30, 2012 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2012/066878 |
371 Date: |
March 28, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
493/43 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A24D 3/0258
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
493/43 |
International
Class: |
A24D 3/02 20060101
A24D003/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 2, 2011 |
GB |
1115157.8 |
Claims
1. A machine for making grooved smoking article rods, comprising:
an axially rotatable drum having a generally cylindrical outer
surface; a pressing member spaced from and extending around a
portion of the outer surface of the drum, the pressing member
having a pressing surface that includes grooves facing the outer
surface of the drum; a heater configured to heat the pressing
surface; and an inlet feed to supply smoking article rods between
the outer surface of the drum and the pressing surface when heated
by the heater so as to be rotated by the rotation of the drum over
the grooves to impress a pattern of grooves into the rod.
2. The machine according to claim 1 including a plurality of
axially extending circumferentially spaced receptacles in the
cylindrical surface of the drum to receive individual ones of the
smoking article rods.
3. The machine according to claim 1 including at least one kick bar
on the pressing member to promote rotation of the smoking article
rods along the pressing surface.
4. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the grooves in the
pressing member extend generally parallel to the axis of the
drum.
5. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the pressing surface
extends generally coaxially around part of the outer surface of the
drum.
6. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the grooves have a
depth of between 0.2 to 2.0 mm.
7. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the grooves are of
substantially the same depth and regularly spaced so as to form a
regular grooved pattern around the circumference of the smoking
article rods.
8. The machine according to claim 1 wherein the heater is
configured to heat the pressing surface to a temperature of between
150-250.degree. C.
9. A pressing member configured to be retro-fitted to the rolling
drum of an apparatus that has a rolling plate with a surface facing
the drum for rolling tipping paper around the circumference of a
filter segment and a coaxial rod of smokeable material, the
pressing member having a pressing surface that includes grooves to
face the outer surface of the drum, a heater configured to heat the
pressing surface, and the pressing member being so configured that
smoking article rods passing between the outer surface of the drum
and the pressing surface when heated by the heater are rotated by
the rotation of the drum over the grooves to impress a pattern of
grooves into the rod.
10. The A pressing member according to claim 9 and being adapted to
be fitted in place of the rolling plate spaced from and extending
around a portion of the outer surface of the drum.
11. A method of making grooved smoking article rods, comprising:
feeding smoking article rods between a generally cylindrical outer
surface of an axially rotating drum and a heated pressing member
spaced from and extending around a portion of the outer surface of
the drum, the pressing member having a pressing surface that
includes grooves facing the outer surface of the drum such that the
rods are rotated by the rotation of the drum over the grooves and
become impressed with a pattern of grooves corresponding to the
grooves in the pressing surface.
12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the smoking article
rods comprise filter rods, and including impressing the grooves
longitudinally into the filter rods.
13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the filter rods
comprise cellulose acetate tow wrapped in a plugwrap, and including
forming the grooves by impressing the plugwrap.
14. The method according to claim 13 including attaching a tobacco
rod to the filter rod or a segment thereof using said rotary
drum.
15. A method of making grooved smoking article rods, comprising:
heating a pressing member spaced from and extending around a
portion of an outer surface of an axially rotating drum; singularly
feeding a plurality smoking article rods into spaced grooves on the
outer surface of the rotating drum such that the smoking article
rods are positioned between the cylindrical outer surface of the
rotating drum and the pressing member; rotating the axially
rotating drum to rotatably pass the smoking article rods against a
grooved surface of the pressing member; impressing on the outer
surface of each of the smoking article rods a pattern of grooves;
wherein the pressing member has a pressing surface that includes
the grooves facing the outer surface of the rotating drum such that
the rods are rotated by the rotation of the drum over the grooves
and become impressed with the pattern of grooves corresponding to
the grooves in the pressing surface.
Description
FIELD
[0001] This specification concerns the manufacture of a grooved
smoking article rod such as a grooved filter for a cigarette.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Hitherto, machines have been used to form longitudinal
peripheral grooves in filter segments used in cigarettes. One
example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,238 in which a
cylindrical rod is formed with longitudinally extending grooves
arranged around the rod's circumference, formed by heated elements
disposed around the periphery of the drum over which the filter rod
is arranged to rotate.
SUMMARY
[0003] Described hereinafter is an embodiment of a machine for
making grooved smoking article rods, comprising an axially
rotatable drum having a generally cylindrical outer surface, a
pressing member spaced from and extending around a portion of the
outer surface of the drum, the pressing member having a pressing
surface that includes grooves facing the outer surface of the drum,
a heater configured to heat the pressing surface, and an inlet feed
to supply smoking article rods between the outer surface of the
drum and the pressing surface when heated by the heater so as to be
rotated by the rotation of the drum over the grooves and impress a
pattern of grooves into the rod.
[0004] The pressing member may be configured to be retro-fitted to
the rolling drum of apparatus for wrapping tipping paper around a
smoking article such as cigarette, which has a rolling plate with a
surface facing the drum for rolling tipping paper around the
circumference of a filter segment and a coaxial rod of smokeable
material. The retro-fittable pressing member may have a pressing
surface that includes grooves to face the outer surface of the
drum, a heater to heat the pressing surface, and a pressing member
being so configured that smoking article rods passing between the
outer surface of the drum and the pressing surface when heated by
the heater are rotated by the rotation of the drum over the grooves
to press the pattern of grooves into the rod.
[0005] The pressing member may be configured to be retro-fitted in
place of the rolling plate, spaced from and extending around the
portion of the outer surface of the drum.
[0006] Also described is a method a method of making grooved
smoking article rods, comprising feeding smoking article rods
between a generally cylindrical outer surface of an axially
rotating drum and a heated pressing member spaced from and
extending around a portion of the outer surface of the drum, the
pressing member having a pressing surface that includes grooves
facing the outer surface of the drum such that the rods are rotated
by the rotation of the drum over the grooves and become impressed
with a pattern of grooves corresponding to the grooves in the
pressing surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] In order that the invention may be more fully understood, an
embodiment thereof will now be described by way of illustrative
example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a machine for making
grooved smoking article rods that comprise filter rods in this
example;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a filter rod prior to
having grooves formed in its periphery by the machine of FIG.
1;
[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates the filter rod of FIG. 2 after having
been formed with grooves by the machine of FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a perspective schematic illustration of a
cigarette that includes a grooved filter made by the machine of
FIG. 1;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of another form of
cigarette that utilises a grooved filter made by the machine of
FIG. 1; and
[0013] FIG. 6 is a partially exploded perspective view of the
cigarette illustrated in FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] Referring to FIG. 2, a filter rod 1 comprises filter
material, for example cellulose acetate tow 2 wrapped in a plug
wrap 3. The tobacco rod may be made in essentially continuous
lengths which are cut into segments. In some cigarette
manufacturing processes, the cut segments correspond to a length of
two cigarettes manufactured end to end which are subsequently cut
apart from one another. However, for the purposes of illustration,
FIG. 2 illustrates a segment suitable for an individual cigarette.
As shown in FIG. 2, the segment is generally cylindrical about a
longitudinal axis of symmetry X-X'. The cylindrical surface 4 is
initially smooth, i.e. ungrooved in this example.
[0015] Referring to FIG. 1, successive filter rod segments 1 are
caused to roll between a drum 5 that rotates about axis 6 in a
direction of arrow Y. The drum has a series of axially extending,
circumferentially spaced grooves 7 in its exterior cylindrical
surface 8 that act as receptacles that receive successive ones of
the filter segments 1 fed from an inlet feed hopper 9.
[0016] A generally arcuately extending pressing member 10 has a
curved pressing surface 11 which is generally coaxial with axis 6.
The pressing surface 11 is formed with a pattern of uniformly
spaced grooves 12 that extend in a direction parallel to the
rotational axis 6 of the drum. The pressing member includes an
electrical heater 13 driven from an electrical power supply (not
shown). In use, the filter segments 1 are fed successively from the
inlet hopper 9 into an arcuate gap 14 between the cylindrical
surface 8 of the drum 5 and the pressing member 10. Successive ones
of the filter segments 1 are received in individual grooves 7 in
the drum 8. On rotation of the drum 5 in a direction of arrow Y,
the segments 1 are entrained into the gap 14 and are rotated over
the grooves 12 in the pressing surface 11, which is heated by the
heater 13 so as to form a regular pattern of grooves 15 that as
shown in FIG. 3, extend parallel to the axis X-X' around the
cylindrical surface of the filter segment so as to form a grooved
filter segment 1'.
[0017] The filter segments 1 thus travel in a direction of arrow A
in the peripheral gap 14 to an outlet area 16 from which the
resulting grooved filter segments 1' fall in a direction of arrow B
into a receptacle (not shown) for subsequent assembly into
cigarettes.
[0018] A kick bar 17 is provided on the pressing surface 11 in
order to encourage each grooved filter segment 1' to release itself
from the receptacle 7 in which it was guided during passage along
the annular gap 14 during the groove forming process. More than one
such kick bar 17 may be provided along the pressing surface 11 in
order to ensure proper rotation of the filter segments as they move
along the pattern of grooves 12.
[0019] The grooves may have a depth of between 0.2 to 2.0 MM, more
particularly from 0.2 to 1.0 mm, from 0.5 to 1.0 mm, from 1.0 to
2.0 MM or from 1.5 to 2.0 MM, and may be for example spaced with a
periodicity of 0.5-2 mm. It will be appreciated that any suitable
grooving pattern may be formed by appropriately configuring the
pattern of grooves 12 in the pressing surface 11. The radial
spacing D between the pressing surface 11 and the axial surface 8
of the drum 5 is suitably selected in order to ensure that the
filter segment 1 is subject to compression whilst rotated and moved
in the direction of arrow A and in this way, the pattern of grooves
12 is pressed into the cylindrical surface of the filter rod
segment 1.
[0020] The electrical heater 13 heats the pressing surface 11 to
warm the plug wrap 3 so as to form a stable groove pattern 15 in
the cylindrical surface 4 of the filter segment 1. Conveniently,
the pressing surface is heated to a temperature of between
150-250.degree. C. for this purpose.
[0021] Typically, the grooves are spaced so as to form 20-40
grooves 15 around the circumferential surface 4 of the filter
segment 1. However, a smaller or greater number of grooves of a
selectable, appropriate depth can be formed as required by suitably
configuring the pattern of grooves 12.
[0022] The pressing member 10 is mounted on a shaft for rotation
about axis W and can be locked in position by means of locking
mechanism (not shown). The locking mechanism allows movement of the
pressing member radially in a direction Z-Z' in order to allow
adjustment of the pressure imparted to the filter segments 1 as
they move along the gap 14 during the groove forming process. Also,
the pressing member can be adjusted in a direction of arrow D
transversely of axis W in order to configure the pressing member 10
to have a uniform radial distance D along the length of the gap 14
or to slightly taper the gap 14 along its length.
[0023] Typically in cigarette manufacture, filter segments are
attached to a rod of smokeable material by means of tipping paper
which is rolled around the circumference of the rod of smokeable
material and the filter. Conventionally, a rolling machine is
utilised which has a drum generally similar to the drum 5 shown in
FIG. 1. A curved rolling plate with a surface facing the drum is
used to roll the tipping paper around the circumference of filter
segments and coaxial rods smokeable material in order to attach
each of the segment to a respective rod of smokeable material. An
example of a rolling machine is the Hauni Max 5 manufactured by
Hauni Maschinenbau AG. In order to provide the apparatus shown in
FIG. 1, the rolling plate of a conventional rolling drum machine
may be removed and replaced by the pressing member 10 shown in FIG.
1 as a retro-fit modification of the rolling machine.
[0024] FIG. 4 illustrates a first example of cigarette that
utilises a grooved filter segment produced by the machine at FIG.
1. The cigarette comprises a rod 18 of smokeable material such as
tobacco in a paper wrapper 19 to which a filter segment 1' is
attached by means of tipping paper 20 that surrounds one end of the
tobacco rod and also the cylindrical surface of the filter segment
1' so as to bridge the groove 15 and provide circumferentially
spaced, axially extending passageways from the proximal or mouth
end of the filter 21 to its distal end 22. Ventilation holes 23 are
formed in the tipping paper at the distal end 22 of the filter 1'
for example by laser cutting in order to allow ventilation air to
enter into the grooves 15 and be drawn into the user's mouth along
with smoke created by combusting the rod 19.
[0025] Another example of a cigarette that uses a grooved filter
segment 1' is illustrated schematically in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this
example, the grooves 15 in the filter segment 1' are used in
combination with an element 24 as an indexing mechanism. The
smoking article includes a rod 18 of smokeable material as
previously described, circumscribed by a paper wrapper 19. Tipping
paper 20 attaches a first filter segment which comprises a filter
segment 1' formed with grooves 15 along at least a major part of
its cylindrical surface 4. A second filter segment 25 is arranged
in axial abutment with the first segment 1' in respect to the axis
X-X'. The second segment has a generally smooth cylindrical outer
surface 4 i.e. no grooves have been formed in it. An outer wrapper
26 surrounds the filter segments. The wrapper 26 is glued to the
second segment 25 and also, the element 24 is glued onto the
interior surface of the wrapper 26 in alignment with the grooves
15. As shown in FIG. 5, when assembled the element 24 engages with
the grooves 15 to provide an indexing mechanism which produces an
audible click upon rotation of the outer wrapper 26. The filter may
be provided with an adjustable ventilation mechanism (not shown)
that can be adjusted by rotation of the first filter element
relative to the second filter element about the axis X-X'. The
indexing mechanism 15, 24 allows controlled rotation of the filter
elements relative to one another and also provides the user with an
audible indication of the rotation. It will be appreciated that in
practice, structural elements will be provided in order to prevent
the wrapper 26 from sliding axially away from the cigarette but
this has been omitted from FIGS. 5 and 6 for the purpose of
simplicity of explanation.
[0026] Many modifications and variations with described examples
will be evident for those skilled in the art. For example, the
groove 15 may not be continuous as shown in FIG. 3 and may be made
up of more complex segments which need not necessarily be axially
aligned.
[0027] In order to address various issues and advance the art, the
entirety of this disclosure shows by way of illustration various
embodiments in which the claimed invention(s) may be practiced and
provide for superior machines and methods for making grooved
smoking article rods. The advantages and features of the disclosure
are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and are not
exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to assist in
understanding and teach the claimed features. It is to be
understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions,
features, structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are
not to be considered limitations on the disclosure as defined by
the claims or limitations on equivalents to the claims, and that
other embodiments may be utilized and modifications may be made
without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure.
Various embodiments may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist
essentially of, various combinations of the disclosed elements,
components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. In addition, the
disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed, but
which may be claimed in future.
* * * * *