EP0167863A1 - Cigarette filter with variable ventilation - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a variably ventilated filter cigarette with a groove filter (18), which consists of a fully cylindrical filter body (20) with an air-impermeable sleeve (22) surrounding it, on the circumferential surface of which there are a plurality of groove-like channels which are essentially axially extending, open on the mouth side and closed on the tobacco side (24) are arranged at a distance from one another. and in which the filter body (20) and the filter-side end of the tobacco section (12) are surrounded by a wrapping sheet (26) which is permeable to air at least in the region of the groove-like channels (24) and which is characterized by one following the mouth-side end of the groove filter (18) provided sleeve (30) which is rotatably arranged in the sheathing sheet (26 ') which is extended beyond the groove filter (18) and is cup-shaped and which has a bottom surface (32) resting on the end face (21) of the groove filter (18) ) with a central opening (34) and openings (36) or recesses (37) lying in the edge region, the openings (36) or recesses (37) lying in the edge region with the outlet openings (25) of the groove-like channels (24 ) can be brought from a through position into a partial or complete locking position by rotating the sleeve (30); The pot-like sleeve (30) is preferably a sleeve-like extension that extends beyond the extended wrapping sheet (26 ') on the mouth side.

Description

The invention relates to a variably ventilated filter cigarette with a groove filter according to the preamble of the main claim.

Such filter cigarettes are known according to DE-OS 30 11 959 and cause a strict separation of smoke flow and ventilation air and a mixture thereof only in the smoker's mouth.

The proportion of ventilation or auxiliary air in such ventilated filter cigarettes depends on several factors, such as the air permeability of the wrapping sheet, i.e. on the number and size of the perforations, and also on the size and number of channels in the groove filter, the filter resistance and the series resistance of the tobacco rod which changes when the cigarette is burned off.

By carefully coordinating these parameters, it is possible to achieve the desired additional air range, for example by providing larger grooves in the groove filter and the envelope in order to increase the proportion of the additional air development leaves endows with a permeable corresponding to _P ER foration. However, such changes in the degree of ventilation are cumbersome and make cigarette manufacture considerably more difficult.

A filter cigarette is already known from US Pat. No. 3,390,684, in which the ventilation air flow can be regulated either by covering a ventilation opening by means of a finger or by pushing on a sleeve. Here, on the one hand, the poor variability of the supply of the ventilation air flow and, on the other hand, the deviation of the external appearance compared to conventional filter cigarettes is disadvantageous. There are also known from US-PS 33 76 874 rotatably arranged pot-like sleeves for cigarette filters, with which the smoker can influence the filter effect depending on the degree of rotation. This variable filter with pot-like sleeve can be produced only in a complicated manner and also change her normal habit of a conventional _F ilterci- Garette. All these known filters also have the disadvantage that they have no guidance of the ventilation air flow strictly separate from the smoke flow.

The invention has set itself the task of developing a variably ventilated filter cigarette of the type described above with several ventilation channels separated from the smoke flow, which depending on the current smoking habits of the consumer himself can be reproducibly adjusted to a greater or lesser degree of ventilation without changing the aroma quality and which does not differ in its coat area in terms of its appearance compared to conventional filter cigarettes and can ultimately be produced in a simple and conventional manner.

To solve this problem, a ventilated filter cigarette with a groove filter is therefore proposed, which consists of a fully cylindrical filter body with an air-impermeable sleeve surrounding it, on the circumferential surface of which a plurality of groove-like channels which are essentially axially extending, open on the mouth side and closed on the tobacco side are arranged at a distance from one another, and in which the filter body and the filter-side end of the tobacco section are surrounded by a wrapping sheet which is permeable to air at least in the region of the groove-like channels and which is characterized by a sleeve provided in connection with the mouth-side end of the groove filter, which is rotatable in the over the groove filter In addition, an elongated wrapping sheet is arranged and has a pot-like design and has a bottom surface which lies against the end face of the groove filter and has a central opening and openings or cutouts in the edge region, the Openings or recesses in the edge area with the outlet openings of the groove-like channels can be brought from a passage position into a partially or completely blocked position by rotating the sleeve.

This combination surprisingly achieves not only that the smoker himself has a simple possibility of variation by only one rotary movement, but that only the auxiliary air guided through the grooves of the groove filter can be blocked or reduced. The main smoke stream remains qualitatively unchanged in terms of taste and aroma, since its quality is only influenced by the specified filter part; By regulating the additional air, only the concentration of the main smoke flow in the direction of a "lighter" or "heavier" cigarette is influenced while maintaining the aroma.

The filter cigarette according to the invention is preferably designed in such a way that the pot-like sleeve is arranged in the extended wrapping sheet by means of an annular circumferential groove, which lies on the outer surface of the pot-like sleeve, and an annular spring engaging in the groove, which is arranged on the inner surface of the elongated wrapping sheet Turning engagement is held.

In a further embodiment according to the invention, the variably ventilatable filter cigarette can be designed such that the interior of the pot-like sleeve is partially or completely filled with filter material.

This additional version with filter material can be done with a simple filter plug, but also with a grooved filter. With an additional groove filter in the pot-like sleeve, there are no qualitative differences in the main smoke flow, provided that the grooves are aligned with the grooves of the fully cylindrical filter body and in particular if these grooves are sealed off from the filter plug in the sleeve. However, this can be influenced in its qualitative effect if the main smoke flow is allowed to flow through the filter plug in the pot-like sleeve, be it by twisting the sleeve with which the alignment of the channels is prevented and / or by a deliberate permeability for the supply air flow from the channels of the grooved filter plug located in the sleeve into this in order to achieve bundling and mixing of the supply air and main smoke stream in this filter.

In the case of the filter cigarettes described above, the rotatable sleeve at the mouth end can be rotated into the corresponding position, for example by inserting a pen or with the little finger.

In order to improve the filter cigarette in such a way that the adjustment of the rotatable cup-like sleeve is now made easier by access from the outside and at the same time the outer habit of this filter cigarette hardly changes or does not change at all, it is proposed, which is characterized in that the pot-like sleeve has a sleeve-like extension that extends beyond the extended wrapping sheet on the mouth side.

Surprisingly, it has been found that this sleeve-like extension can be handled much more easily with the fingers from the outside in order to turn the pot-like sleeve into the desired position, and that the outer habit of the cigarette is also not changed, since practically the outer diameter of the sleeve-like extension only by a small amount, namely by the thickness of the extended wrapping sheet, is smaller.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, this slight difference in the outer diameter can also be compensated for by the fact that the sleeve-like extension in the area no longer covered by the extended wrapping sheet has the same outer diameter as the groove filter surrounded by the wrapping sheet when it emerges from the elongated wrapping sheet and escapes with it.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the sleeve-like extension - regardless of whether it has a cylindrical ring of the same diameter or one with a cranked-off area in which the extended area is no longer covered, that is to say the protruding area is covered with a further envelope sheet.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, this further wrapping sheet, which is applied to the protruding part of the pot-like sleeve or to the sleeve-like extension, can be connected to the elongated wrapping sheet via a predetermined breaking point. This embodiment not only has the advantage that the wrapping sheet in the area of the groove filter and the elongated wrapping sheet in the area of the pot-like sleeve and also the further wrapping sheet form a uniformly continuous surface, but also that the manufacture of such a filter cigarette is considerably simplified, since only a single wrapping sheet with predetermined breaking point around the groove filter, the cup-like sleeve and the sleeve-like extension can be applied in one operation.

The consumer only needs to blow open the predetermined breaking point in the area of the sleeve-like extension in order to set the desired ventilation effect by turning.

In view of the easy rotatability of the sleeve and as a relief for the adjustability of the ventilation air, it is also advantageous if blocking means are provided on the elongated wrapping sheet and on the rotatable sleeve which only allow limited movement of the rotatable sleeve from a position in which the openings or the recesses in the edge area of the Bottom surface with the outlet openings of the groove-like channels in the passage position, allow in a blocking position. The blocking means preferably consist of a partially annular projection or a lug, which engage in a partially annular groove, wherein several lugs can also be arranged at a distance from one another, which are arranged in corresponding partially annular ones Engage grooves.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, markings can be provided on the outer surface of the sleeve-like extension or on the further wrapping sheet covering it and on the outer surface of the elongated wrapping sheet, which indicate the complete passage position and / or blocking position of the ventilation air.

• Figur 1a einen Längsschnitt durch die erfindungsgemäße Filtercigarette bei vollständiger Ventilierung;
• Figur 1b einen Teillängsschnitt analog Figur 1a bei abgesperrter Ventilierung;
• Figur 2 eine teilweise geschnittene Ansicht der topfartigen Hülse;
• Figur 3a eine Ansicht des Bodens der topfartigen Hülse;
• Figur 3b eine Ansicht analog Figur 3a eines abgewandelten Bodens;
• Figur 4 einen Teillängsschnitt durch eine abgewandelte Filtercigarette mit herausragender topfartigen Hülse;
• Figur 5 einen Teillängsschnitt durch den mundseitigen Bereich der erfindungsgemäßen Filtercigarette analog Figur 4 bei vollständiger Ventilierung;
• Figur 6 einen Teilschnitt durch eine weitere Ausbildung der hülsenartigen Verlängerung der drehbaren topfartigen Hülse mit Aufkröpfung;
• Figur 7 einen Teilschnitt analog Figur 6, bei dem das weitere Umhüllungsblatt mit dem verlängerten Umhüllungsblatt über eine Sollbruchstelle verbunden ist;
• Figur 8 einen senkrechten Schnitt durch das Mundstück der Filtercigarette im Bereich der topfartigen Hülse mit Blockierungsmitteln.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to drawings; show it:

• Figure 1a shows a longitudinal section through the filter cigarette according to the invention with full ventilation;
• 1b shows a partial longitudinal section analogous to FIG. 1a with the ventilation shut off;
• Figure 2 is a partially sectioned view of the pot-like sleeve;
• Figure 3a is a view of the bottom of the pot-like sleeve;
• Figure 3b is a view analogous to Figure 3a of a modified floor;
• FIG. 4 shows a partial longitudinal section through a modified filter cigarette with an outstanding pot-like sleeve;
• FIG. 5 shows a partial longitudinal section through the mouth-side region of the filter cigarette according to the invention analogous to FIG. 4 with complete ventilation;
• FIG. 6 shows a partial section through a further embodiment of the sleeve-like extension of the rotatable pot-like sleeve with an offset;
• FIG. 7 shows a partial section similar to FIG. 6, in which the further wrapping sheet is connected to the elongated wrapping sheet via a predetermined breaking point;
• Figure 8 is a vertical section through the mouthpiece of the filter cigarette in the pot-like sleeve with blocking agents.

In the filter cigarette shown in FIG. 1, a tobacco section 12 with a tobacco rod 14 and a paper tube 16 is provided for this. The groove filter 18 consists of a cylindrical filter body 20 with an air-impermeable sleeve 22, in the circumferential surface of which groove-like channels 24 are embedded. This groove filter 18 is surrounded by a wrapping sheet 26, in which perforations 28 are provided in the region of the channels. The channels are open towards the mouth end and closed towards the tobacco end.

The additional air flows through the perforations 28 and the channels 24 and, separate from the smoke flowing through the filter core 20 of the groove filter, reaches the smoker's mouth through the outlet openings 25 (FIG. 1a) of the groove-like channels 24.

At the mouth end of the groove filter 18, a pot-like sleeve 30 is arranged, which is rotatably held by an extended wrapping sheet 26 '. As shown in FIG. 2, the pot-like sleeve has an annular circumferential groove 40, into which an annular circumferential projection 38 engages, which is provided on the inner surface of the elongated wrapping sheet 26 '. With this arrangement, the pot-like sleeve 30 is about its longitudinal axis rotatable, but is secured against slipping out. As shown in FIG. 3a, the bottom surface 32 of the pot-like sleeve 30 has various openings, namely a central opening 34 in the region of the end face 21 of the groove filter and further openings 36 in the edge region of the bottom surface 32, which are aligned with the outlet openings 25 (FIG 1a) of the groove-like channels 24.

The openings 36 can either be designed as separate openings (FIG. 3a) or as cutouts, as shown in FIG. 3b; here the recesses 37 located in the edge area merge into the central opening.

Appropriate rotation of the pot-like sleeve allows two extreme cases for ventilation to be achieved. In the illustration shown in Figure 1b, the bottom surface 32 of the pot-like sleeve 30 is rotated so that the bottom surface comes to lie over the outlet openings 25 of the groove-like channels 24; this position thus prevents the entry of additional air and thus ventilation.

In the illustration shown in Figure 1a, the openings 36 located in the edge region of the bottom surface 32 are in register with the outlet openings 25 of the groove-like channels 24, so that the additional air can flow through the groove-like channels 24 unhindered into the pot-like sleeve 30 and there with can mix the already filtered smoke which enters through the filter body 20 and the central opening 34 in the bottom 32 of the pot-like sleeve into the interior 42 of this sleeve. This interior 42 of the pot-like sleeve can optionally also include additional filter material either partially, for example as a filter ring 44 (FIG. 2), or completely dig included.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the pot-like sleeve 30 is extended on the mouth side via the elongated wrapping sheet 26 'and forms a sleeve-like extension 50 which extends beyond the wrapping sheet 26'. This configuration makes it possible to lightly grip the protruding sleeve-like with the fingers Extension to set the desired ventilation.

Since in this embodiment there is still a small step between the protruding part of the sleeve-like extension 50 and the extended wrapping sheet 26 'and thus the optical habit of the cigarette is slightly changed, in a preferred embodiment according to FIG. 5 the sleeve-like extension 50 is no longer of the area covered by the elongated wrapping sheet 26 'after an offset 52 when exiting from the elongated wrapping sheet 26', the part 54 of the extending sleeve-like extension 50 has more or less the same outer diameter as the groove filter 18 surrounded by the wrapping sheet 26 and with this more cursed.

The outside diameter of these two parts can be the same or differ by a small proportion.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the sleeve-like extension 50 is covered with a further wrapping sheet 56 in the area no longer covered by the elongated wrapping sheet 26 ′, that is to say in the projecting area 54.

The embodiment can be provided both with a cranked and with a continuous sleeve-like extension part 50 or 54.

In order to enable a better and more uniform view of the wrapping sheet 26, the elongated wrapping sheet 26 'and the additional further wrapping sheet 56, these parts can be made of a uniform material and a connection between the wrapping sheet extension and the wrapping sheet 56' can be established by a predetermined breaking point, such as it is shown in Figure 7.

This form of training not only has the advantage of a better optical habit, but also results in a simpler and better production, in which all the areas forming the wrapping sheet, namely the actual wrapping sheet 26, the elongated wrapping sheet 26 'and the further wrapping sheet 56 or 56' in can be attached to the filter cigarette in one operation.

The predetermined breaking point 58 is blown up and a corresponding rotary movement is made possible by a simple rotary movement in the outer region of the further wrapping sheet 56 ′, that is to say at the outer end of the mouthpiece.

In a further particularly preferred embodiment, blocking means are provided which allow only a limited movement of the rotatable sleeve 30; namely from a point in which the openings or recesses 36 of the bottom surface 32 with the outlet openings 25 of the groove-like channels lie in the passage position, to a further complete blocking position in which - as shown in FIG. 1 - no secondary air or auxiliary air occurs at all.

As shown in FIG. 8, these blocking means can consist of a partially annular projection or a nose-shaped projection 60. This projection engages in a corresponding partially annular groove 62.

A plurality of lugs 60 are preferably arranged at a distance from one another on the inner surface of the elongated wrapping sheet 26 ′, which engage in correspondingly formed partially annular grooves 62, which are shaped in the sleeve 80.

Other blocking agents are also possible. Ultimately, it is expedient to provide markings on the outer surface of the sleeve-like extension 50 or on the further wrapping sheet 56 or 56 'covering this extension and also on the outside of the elongated wrapping sheet 26', indicating the complete passage position and / or blocking position of the ventilation air Show.

Further changes are possible; for example, the air-impermeable sleeve 22 can also be designed to be more or less air-permeable; Furthermore, the groove-like channels can also extend to the tobacco-side end of the filter core 20. Ultimately, it is also possible to provide further chambers with different filter material in the area of the filter body.

Claims (12)

1. Filter cigarette with a groove filter, which consists of a fully cylindrical filter body with a surrounding air-impermeable sleeve, on the peripheral surface of which a plurality of substantially axially extending, mouth-open and tobacco-side closed groove-like channels are arranged at a distance from one another, and in which the filter body and that filter-side end of the tobacco portion are surrounded by a wrapping sheet, which at least is permeable to air in the region of the groove-like channels, characterized by an opening provided in connection to the mouth end of the grooved filter (18) sleeve (30) rotatably mounted in the illenfilter via the _R (18 ) also has an elongated wrapping sheet (26 ') and is cup-shaped and has a bottom surface (32) resting on the end face (21) of the groove filter (18) with a central opening (34) and openings (36) or recesses (37) in the edge area ), the ones lying in the edge area Openings (36) or recesses (37) with the outlet openings (25) of the groove-like channels (24) can be brought from a passage position into a partially or completely blocked position by rotating the sleeve (30). 2. Filter cigarette according to claim 1, characterized in that the pot-like sleeve (30) in the elongated wrapping sheet (26 ') by means of an annular circumferential groove (40) which lies on the outer surface of the pot-like sleeve (30), and one in the Groove (40) engaging annular projection (38) which is arranged on the inner surface of the elongated wrapping sheet (26 ') is held in rotational engagement. 3. Filter cigarette according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that the interior (42) of the pot-like sleeve (30) is partially or completely filled with filter material (44); (Figure 2). 4. Filter cigarette according to claim -1 and 3, characterized in that the central opening (34) in the bottom surface (32) of the pot-like sleeve (30) in the peripheral openings (36) or recesses (37). 5. Filter cigarette according to claim 1 to 4, characterized in that the pot-like sleeve (3) has a sleeve-like extension (50) extending beyond the extended wrapping sheet (26 ') on the mouth side. 6. Filter cigarette according to claim 5, characterized in that the sleeve-like extension (50) in the area no longer covered by the extended wrapping sheet (26 ') after an offset (52) when it emerges from the elongated wrapping sheet (26') has the same outside diameter how the groove filter (18) surrounded by the wrapping sheet (26) has and is flush with it. 7. _F iltercigarette according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the sleeve-like of prolongation (50) (26 ') covered area is covered in the no longer by the extended wrapping sheet to a further wrapping sheet (56). 8. Filter cigarette according to claim 7, characterized in that the further wrapping sheet (56 ') with the elongated wrapping sheet (26') is connected via a predetermined breaking point (58). 9. _F iltercigarette according to claim 5 to 8, characterized in that on the extended wrapping sheet (26 ¹ ) and on the rotatable sleeve (30) blocking means (60, 62) are provided, which only limited movement of the rotatable sleeve (30) from a position in which the openings or the cutouts (36) in the edge region of the bottom surface (32) with the outlet openings (25) of the groove-like channels (24) in the through position allow in a blocking position. 10. Filter cigarette according to claim 9, characterized in that the blocking means consist of a partially annular projection or a nose (60) which engage in a partially annular groove (62). 11. Filter cigarette according to claim 10, characterized in that on the inner surface of the extended wrapping sheet (26 ') a plurality of lugs (60) are arranged at a distance from one another, which engage in corresponding partially annular grooves (62). 12. Filter cigarette according to claim 5 to 12, characterized in that on the outer surface of the sleeve-like extension (50, 54) or this covering further wrapping sheet (56, 56 ') and that of the extended wrapping sheet (26') marks not shown, provided are that indicate the full passage position and / or blocking position of the ventilation air.

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