GB1190822A - Improved Cigarette Dense End Measuring and Controlling Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,190,822. Cigarette-making machine. INDUSTRIAL NUCLEONICS CORP. 20 April, 1967 [20 April, 1966], No. 18336/67. Heading A2C. [Also in Divisions G1 and G3] The operation of a machine for producing cigarettes having dense ends, said machine forming a continuous tobacco rod 18 containing extra tobacco in locally dense regions R spaced along its length and conveying said rod 18 along a path including the location of a cutter 20 adapted to cut through each of said dense regions R to form cigarettes 22 with dense ends, is monitored by an apparatus comprising means for measuring the density of the rod 18 as it passes a predetermined position along said path to produce successive signals each representative of successive dense regions in the rod 18, means for generating a reference signal in response to each operation of the cutter 20, and means for providing an indication of the phase relationship between the reference signals and the successive dense region signals to provide thereby an indication of the deviation of the dense regions R from the ends of the cut cigarettes 22. The density of the continuous rod 18 is measured by a gauge 30, of the radiation or capacitance type, which is placed as close as possible to the cutter 20. A reference pulse generator 32 is mechanically coupled to the cutter 20, and may comprise either an electrical switch contact or a rotating reflective strip from which a light beam is reflected on to a phototransistor detector. Where the spacing between the cutter 20 and the gauge 30 is not an integral number of cigarette lengths, the reference pulses are passed through a delay device 36 before being fed to a phase comparator 38. This comparator 30 (a circuit for which is disclosed) compares the reference signals with the signals from the gauge 30 to produce an output signal directly proportional to, and indicating the direction of, any deviation in the dense regions R from the ends of the cut cigarettes 22. A motor 26 drives the cutter 20 and a known type of denseending device 24 via a differential 48 which may be adjusted, either automatically by a controller 46 or manually, in response to deviations from zero in the output signal of the phase comparator 38 as shown by a meter 40. In a modification, a switching arrangement is provided to permit the apparatus to be used also to monitor changes in density of the dense end region R.