GB2115681A - Tobacco lamina and stem processing - Google Patents
Tobacco lamina and stem processing Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2115681A GB2115681A GB08304899A GB8304899A GB2115681A GB 2115681 A GB2115681 A GB 2115681A GB 08304899 A GB08304899 A GB 08304899A GB 8304899 A GB8304899 A GB 8304899A GB 2115681 A GB2115681 A GB 2115681A
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- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- tobacco
- shredded
- shredded tobacco
- particles
- mixing
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
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Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
- A24B—MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
- A24B3/00—Preparing tobacco in the factory
- A24B3/08—Blending tobacco
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- Manufacture Of Tobacco Products (AREA)
Abstract
Shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded stem material are mixed for use in cigarette making. A coarse intermixture of the materials first is formed and the mixture is metered and opened to form individual particles. The individual particles then are intermixed to form aggregates containing both lamina and stem material. <IMAGE>
Description
SPECIFICATION
Tobacco lamina and stem processing
The present invention relates to the processing of tobacco lamina and stem to intermix the same for use in cigarette making.
In the conventional processing of tobacco leaf to form tobacco suitable for the formation of cigarettes, the lamina portion of the leaf first is separated from the stem portion of the leaf by threshing, the lamina portion is cut or shredded to a size suitable for cigarette making, th'e stem portion usually is flattened and cut, and the resulting cut rolled stem (CRS) is mixed with the cut lamina
shreds, or a blend of shreds, for example, by tumbling together in a rotating cylinder, to form the feed mix for the cigarette making machine.
Although the cut rolled stem mixes well with the tobacco lamina shreds, the cut rolled stem tends also to separate readily from the tobacco shreds and hence tends not to remain uniformly mixed and distributed within the shreds, to the ultimate detriment of the quality of cigarette which is produced therefrom.
The applicants herein have developed a new procedure for the processing of stem material which involves the shredding of the stem between rotating ribbed plates. The latter procedure is described in our U.K. Patent
Publication No. 2,078,085 published January 6, 1 982. As set forth in this U.K. patent publication, tobacco stem material first is thoroughly soaked in water to provide a moisture content of 30 to 60 wt%, the soaked stem material then is fiberized between counter-rotating fiberizing surfaces spaced apart from 0.05 to 0.30 inches (1.25 to 7.5 mm), and then the fibrous shredded stem material is dried to a moisture content in the range of lotto 16 wt%.
The product of the latter procedure is quite fibrous in character and has a similar physical appearance and has similar physical properties to the shredded lamina material. The shredded stem material is quite different in this respect from the cut rolled stem material which tends to be much more particulate in form.
Potentially, therefore, the shredded stem material is superior to cut rolled stem as a cigarette filler rod component. However, the fibrous shredded stem material resists ready mixing with the shredded lamina since both the shredded lamina and shredded stem material tend to form aggregations or clumps of particles.
The problem to which the present invention is directed is how to mix together effectively shredded stem material and shredded lamina material, so that the beneficial properties of the shredded stem material may be realized in cigarette making.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of mixing at least two fibrous tobacco products, capable of forming aggregates, which comprises (1) forming a coarse intermixture of the at least two fibrous tobacco products, (2) opening the intermixture to form individual separate particles of the fibrous tobacco products, and (3) mixing the individual separate particles to form aggregates containing the at least two fibrous tobacco products.
In one embodiment of the invention, the coarse intermixture of fibrous tobacco products, is metered at a desired flow rate prior to the opening step and the opening step is effected on the metered flow. The individual separate particles resulting from the opening step may form a falling shower of particles which are collected to form a stream of particles of at least two fibrous tobacco products. The mixing step then is effected by tumbling the stream of particles.
The present invention is applicable generally to the mixing of fibrous tobacco products which tend to form aggregates but will be described herein particularly with respect to the mixing of shredded lamina material and shredded fibrous stem material.
By opening the metered flow of coarsely or grossly intermixed fibrous tobacco material to form individual separated fibrous tobacco particles, subsequent intermixing of the individual separated particles forms aggregates in which the two fibrous tobacco materials are present. In this way, shredded stem material becomes intimately associated with shredded lamina, and, once intermixed in this way, the shredded stem material resists separation from the shredded lamina, in contrast to CRS. Uniform mixing and distribution of shredded stem material within the lamina shreds is attained and this uniformity is retained in filler rod formation.
The present invention, therefore, enables shredded stem material to be effectively incorporated into a cigarette filler rod and thereby the beneficial properties of the shredded stem material may be realized in cigarette making.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, shredded lamina material and shredded stem material are fed to a first mixing zone, to be coarsely or grossly intermixed therein. The first mixing zone may take the form of a reservoir tube open at the upper end to receive the lamina and step material therein. The coarse intermixture is metered from the reservoir tube at a desired flow rate by a tobacco metering device in the form of metering rollers closing the lower end of the reservoir tube. The metered intermixture is opened by an opening device in the form of a further roller to form individual separated particles of tobacco material.
The individual separated particles of lamina and stem are capable of blending and weaving with each other to form a tobacco filler rod suitable for cigarette formation, so that the shredded stem is integrally incorporated into the filler rod. To achieve this result in this preferred embodiment of the invention, the separated shredded tobacco particles are passed to a second mixing zone wherein they are mixed to form aggregates of shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material. The latter steps may be effected by collecting the opened tobacco particles on a horizontal conveying surface which conveys the particles to a rotary drum conveyor wherein the particles are tumbled as they are conveyed to form the aggregates of particles containing both stem and lamina material.The rotary drum conveyor may take the form of a drier, so that the tobacco material particles are dried as they are tumbled and conveyed and form aggregates.
The procedure of the present invention, therefore, achieves incorporation of the shredded stem material into the filler rod and in a manner whereby separation of lamina and stem material is avoided.
This result contrasts markedly with the result which is obtained when cut rolled stem is utilized.
Although more readily incorporated into the filler rod than shredded stem material, the cut rolled stem particles are incapable of integral incorporation into the filler rod, but rather tend to separate from the rod.
The present invention also includes preferred apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention further provides an apparatus for mixing shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material, which comprises (a) upright reservoir tube means open at the upper and lower end thereof; (b) feed means for feeding shredded tobacco lamina material to the reservoir tube means; (c) feed means for feeding shredded tobacco stem material to the reservoir tube means; (d) metering means communicating with the lower end of the reservoir tube means to meter coarsely intermixed shredded tobacco material from the reservoir tube means, the metering means comprising a pair of counterrotating rollers having radial projections which are in substantial alignment at the point of closest approach of the rollers to each other; (e) opening means located adjacent the metering means for opening the stream metered by the metering means to form individual separated shredded tobacco particles in the form of a falling shower, the opening means comprising a roller located below the rollers of said metering means and equidistant therefrom, the opening means rollers having radial projections which interdigitate with the radial projections of the metering means rollers; (f) horizontally-extending conveyor means located below the opening means and in the intended path of the falling shower to collect the shredded tobacco particles of the shower to form a stream of tobacco particles on the conveyor means; and (g) rotary drum means located at the downstream end of the conveyor means for receiving the stream of tobacco particles from the conveyor means for tumbling and mixing the same in the drum means while the particles are conveyed therethrough.
The invention is described further, by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a schematic flow sheet of one embodiment of the invention.
Referring to the drawing, leaf tobacco is fed by line 10 to a stemming operation 12 wherein
lamina and stem material are separated by any convenient means. The resulting stem material is forwarded by line 14 to a stem shredder 1 6 to form shredded stem in line 1 8. The stem shredding operation is preferably that described in the aforementioned U.K. Patent Publication No.
2,078,085, but any procedure which produces a shredded stem which is capable of forming aggregates and hence of being interwoven and forming aggregates with shredded lamina by the procedure of the invention, may be employed.
The stem-free lamina is passed from the stemming operation 12 by line 20 to a lamina shredder 22 wherein the lamina is processed to form tobacco shreds of dimensions suitable for feed to a cigarette making machine in line 24. The shredded stem in line 18 and the shredded lamina in line 24 are forwarded to a reservoir 26 to form a tobacco mass 28 of coarsely or grossly intermixed shredded lamina and shredded stem therein. A blend of shredded lamina material from different tobacco leaves may be used, if desired, to provide an end product of desired quality.
The shredded stem material fed by line 18 and the shredded lamina material 24 may have a moisture content which is approximately that desired for cigarette formation. Preferably, however, these fibrous tobacco materials have a higher moisture content, in the range of 1 9 to 35 wt%, since, at this moisture level, the tobacco material particles can be more readily opened without damaging them.
The relative proportions of shredded stem material fed by line 18 and shredded lamina material fed by line 24 depend on the proportions desired in the final blend for cigarette formation.
Usually, the proportion of shredded stem material varies from 2 to 50 wt% of the fibrous tobacco material fed to the reservoir tube 26, with from 98 to 50 wt% being shredded lamina material.
Located at the lower end of the reservoir tube 26 in communication with the tobacco mass 28 are a pair of rotating rollers 30 which meter the desired amount of tobacco from the mass 28 at the desired flow rate. The rollers 30 are provided with a plurality of pins 32 which project radially outwardly from the surface. The radially-directed pins 32 are in substantial alignment with each other at the point of closest approach of the cylinders 30 and 32. This arrangement ensures control over the metering operation. As a result of the coarse intermixing of the shredded stem material and shredded lamina material in the tobacco material mass 28, the metered flow 34 contains a mixture of shredded stem material and shredded lamina material.
Arranged in the gap between the rollers 30 and hence in the path of movement of the metered flow 34 is an opening roller 36 which has radiallydirected pins 38 extending from its surface and interdigitating with the pins 32 extending from the rollers 30. The opening roller 36 rotates at a speed sufficient to effect separation of the individual tobacco material particles in the metered flow 34 one from another to form a shower 40 of separated tobacco material particles. One suitable structure of reservoir 26 and rollers 30 and 36 is described in our U.S. Patent No.4,135,615.
The shower 40 of tobacco material particles is allowed to fall onto the upper surface 42 of moving horizontal conveyor 44 to form a stream 46 of tobacco material particles on the surface 42.
The tobacco material particles in the stream 46 are in substantially separated condition, that is, they are not in the form of aggregates but rather in the form of individual particles. The tobacco material particles, however, are capable of forming aggregates under suitable mixing conditions.
The tobacco material stream 46 is fed by the conveyor 44 to an inclined rotary drum conveyor 48 wherein the tobacco material particles are conveyed from the higher end to the lower end and are also tumbled, as a result of rotation of the drum 48 about its axis. The tumbling action causes intermixing of the tobacco material particles and the formation of aggregates of those particles. Since the tobacco material fed to the rotary drum 48 includes both shredded stem and shredded lamina materal, the aggregates which form include both fibrous materials in an interwoven form. The shredded stem material in this way becomes intermixed with shredded lamina material and the resulting product resists separation of the shredded stem material.
The tumbling and mixing operation effected in the rotary rum 48 may be combined with drying of the tobacco material in the drum 48. The drying may be effected in any convenient manner, such as by heating the drum 48 and/or by passing a heated gas therethrough. Such drying may be effected to provide the moisture content desired for cigarette making, usually 10 to 1 6 wt%, typically 12 wt%. Drying usually is combined with mixing when the shredded stem material and shredded lamina material are fed to the reservoir 26 at the preferred moisture content of 1 9 to 35 wt%.
The formation of the tobacco material stream 44 and the use of a rotary dum conveyor 48 represents but one of several possible procedures for mixing the opened tobacco material particles to form aggregates of shredded tobacco stem material material and shredded tobacco lamina material.
The intermixed tobacco material exiting the rotary drum conveyor 48 by line 50 is suitable for feed to a cigarette making machine 52 of any convenient construction for the formation of cigarettes 54 therefrom. The cigarettes 54 which result from cigarette formation have shredded stem material uniformly distributed therein in the proportion fed to the reservoir tube 26.
In summary of this disclosure, the procedure of the present invention permits stem material separated from lamina in the stemming operation to be effectively and efficiently used in cigarette rod formation.
Claims (14)
1. A method of mixing at least two fibrous tobacco products capable of forming aggregates, which comprises (1) forming a coarse intermixture of the at least two fibrous tobacco products; (2) opening the intermixture to form individual separate particles of the fibrous tobacco products; and (3) mixing the individual separate particles to form aggregates containing the at least two fibrous tobacco products.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, including metering the coarse intermixture at a desired flow rate prior to the opening step, and effecting the opening step on the metered flow.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the individual separate particles form a falling shower, the falling shower is collected to form a stream of particles of at least two fibrous tobacco products, and the mixing step is effected by tumbling the stream of particles.
4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 for mixing shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material, which comprises (a) feeding shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material from individual sources thereof simultaneously to a first mixing zone to form a coarse intermixture of the shredded tobacco materials; (b) metering the coarse intermixture from the first mixing zone at a desired flow rate; (c) opening the metered intermixture to form individual separated shredded tobacco particles; passing the separated shredded tobacco particles to a second mixing zone; and mixing the separated shredded tobacco particles in the second mixing zone to form aggregates of the shredded tobacco lamina material and the shredded tobacco stem material.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, in which the separated shredded tobacco particles form a shower of tobacco particles, the shower is collected in the form of a tobacco particles stream, and the latter stream is conveyed to the second mixing zone.
6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or 5, in which the shredded tobacco lamina material and the shredded tobacco stem material are fed to the first mixing zone at a flow rate sufficient to provide 2 to 50 wt% of the shredded tobacco stem material and 98 to 50 wt% of the shredded tobacco in the coarse intermixture.
7. A method as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, in which the shredded tobacco lamina material and the shredded tobacco stem material are fed to the first mixing zone at approximately the same moisture content in the range of 1 9 to 35 wt%.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, in which the separated shredded tobacco particles are dried in the second mixing zone simultaneously with the mixing therein to a moisture content of 10 to 16 wt%.
9. A method as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 8, in which the first mixing zone is constituted by an upright reservoir tube open at the upper end for receiving the shredded tobacco lamina material and the shredded stem material therein and communicating at the lower end with metering and opening means which effects the metering and opening steps.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, in which the second mixing zone is constituted by a rotary drum conveyor.
11. A method as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 10, in which the shredded tobacco stem material is formed by thoroughly soaking the tobacco stem material to a moisture content of 30 to 60 wt%, fiberizing the soaked stem material between ceu nter-rotating fiberizing surfaces spaced apart from 1.25 to 75 mm and drying the resulting shredded stem material to a moisture content of 10 to 1 6 wt%.
12. A method of mixing at least two fibrous tobacco products capable of forming aggregates substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.
13. A method of mixing shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.
14. Aggregates of at least two fibrous tobacco products individually capable of forming aggregates whenever prepared by the method claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.
1 5. An apparatus for mixing shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material, which comprises (a) upright reservoir tube means open at the upper and lower ends thereof; (b) feed means for feeding shredded tobacco lamina material to the reservoir tube means; (c) feed means for feeding shredded tobacco stem material to the reservoir tube means; (d) metering means communicating with the lower end of the reservoir tube means to meter coarsely intermixed shredded tobacco material from the reservoir tube means, the metering means comprising a pair of counterrotating rollers having radial projections which are in substantial alignment at the point of closest approach of the rollers to each other; (e) opening means located adjacent the metering means for opening the stream metered by the metering means to form individual separated shredded tobacco particles in the form of a falling shower, the opening means comprising a roller located below the rollers of said metering means and equidistant therefrom, the opening means rollers having radial projections which interdigitate with the radial projections of the metering means rollers; (f) horizontally-extending conveyor means located below the opening means and in the intended path of the falling shower to collect the shredded tobacco particles of the shower to form a stream of tobacco particles on the conveyor means and (g) rotary drum means located at the downstream end of the conveyor means for receiving the strem of tobacco particles from the conveyor means for tumbling and mixing the same in the drum means while the particles are conveyed therethrough.
1 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 5 in which the rotary drum means is rotary drier drum means for drying the tobacco particles therein.
1 7. An apparatus for mixing shredded tobacco lamina material and shredded tobacco stem material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB08304899A GB2115681B (en) | 1982-03-02 | 1983-02-22 | Tobacco lamina and stem processing |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB8206084 | 1982-03-02 | ||
| GB08304899A GB2115681B (en) | 1982-03-02 | 1983-02-22 | Tobacco lamina and stem processing |
Publications (3)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB8304899D0 GB8304899D0 (en) | 1983-03-23 |
| GB2115681A true GB2115681A (en) | 1983-09-14 |
| GB2115681B GB2115681B (en) | 1985-05-30 |
Family
ID=26282130
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB08304899A Expired GB2115681B (en) | 1982-03-02 | 1983-02-22 | Tobacco lamina and stem processing |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2115681B (en) |
Cited By (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1994010864A1 (en) * | 1992-11-18 | 1994-05-26 | Svenska Tobaks Ab | Cigarette and process for preparing the cigarette |
| EP0651951A2 (en) * | 1993-11-08 | 1995-05-10 | Philip Morris Products Inc. | Method for producing blended cigarette filler |
| EP0774213A1 (en) * | 1995-11-20 | 1997-05-21 | British-American Tobacco (Germany) GmbH | Method and device for the processing of tobacco leaves for the manufacturing of tobacco cut filler |
| WO2005074728A1 (en) * | 2004-02-06 | 2005-08-18 | Hauni Primary Gmbh | Tobacco processing system |
| WO2007048419A1 (en) * | 2005-10-24 | 2007-05-03 | Voith Patent Gmbh | Device and method for conditioning a tobacco blending and/or storage device |
| RU2521919C1 (en) * | 2013-05-13 | 2014-07-10 | Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования Кубанский государственный технологический университет | Method of production of flavoured tobacco blend |
-
1983
- 1983-02-22 GB GB08304899A patent/GB2115681B/en not_active Expired
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1994010864A1 (en) * | 1992-11-18 | 1994-05-26 | Svenska Tobaks Ab | Cigarette and process for preparing the cigarette |
| EP0651951A2 (en) * | 1993-11-08 | 1995-05-10 | Philip Morris Products Inc. | Method for producing blended cigarette filler |
| EP0651951A3 (en) * | 1993-11-08 | 1996-08-28 | Philip Morris Prod | Method for producing blended cigarette filler. |
| EP0774213A1 (en) * | 1995-11-20 | 1997-05-21 | British-American Tobacco (Germany) GmbH | Method and device for the processing of tobacco leaves for the manufacturing of tobacco cut filler |
| US5813413A (en) * | 1995-11-20 | 1998-09-29 | Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation | Method and plant for treating tobacco leaves for the production of cut tobacco |
| WO2005074728A1 (en) * | 2004-02-06 | 2005-08-18 | Hauni Primary Gmbh | Tobacco processing system |
| WO2007048419A1 (en) * | 2005-10-24 | 2007-05-03 | Voith Patent Gmbh | Device and method for conditioning a tobacco blending and/or storage device |
| RU2521919C1 (en) * | 2013-05-13 | 2014-07-10 | Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования Кубанский государственный технологический университет | Method of production of flavoured tobacco blend |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB8304899D0 (en) | 1983-03-23 |
| GB2115681B (en) | 1985-05-30 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCNP | Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee |