JP2010534487A - Method and apparatus for forming a tobacco rod - Google Patents

Abstract

  A method for forming a tobacco rod, the method comprising providing an endless tobacco cylinder and forming a gap (14) in the tobacco cylinder that does not include tobacco and is equally spaced along the cylinder. A step of wrapping the cylindrical body with an endless paper wrapper (16), and a step of dividing the cylindrical body wrapped by cutting the paper wrapper at a position where the paper wrapper overlaps the gap into tobacco rods. Including. These gaps are formed using an eclator having a trimming disc configured to trim the tobacco rod (10) from the cylinder across its entire width, or using a rotating screw extending into the tobacco. The

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a tobacco rod, which is suitable for the manufacture of smoking articles with closed ends.

  Commercialized smoking articles, such as cigarettes, generally include a cigarette rod with a cigarette paper wrapper and a filter attached to the rod by chipping paper, but a filterless cigarette is also available. is there. The end of the cigarette that is ignited in any cigarette is most often open so that the tobacco inside the cigarette paper is exposed. As a result, cigarettes overflow from the cigarette, and contaminants and foreign substances are mixed into the cigarette.

  To address this problem, it has previously been proposed to close one or both ends of a cigarette by folding or applying some treatment to the portion of cigarette paper that extends beyond the tobacco rod. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare a tobacco rod having a shorter length than the wrapper around which the tobacco rod is wound. In normal cigarette manufacture, endless or beaded tobacco is wrapped in endless cigarette paper, which is cut at intervals to form individual rods. This method inevitably produces rods with the same length of tobacco and paper. Accordingly, there is a need for another method for producing a tobacco rod in which the paper extends from the tobacco rod so that it can be folded to close one or both ends of the cigarette.

  For example, British Patent Application No. 0622687.2 and “No. smoking article with closed end and its manufacturing method and apparatus” filed on November 14, 2006 and February 27, 2007, respectively. No. 0703785.6 describes that a foldable paper is separately attached around the end portion of the tobacco rod to form a closed end portion by providing an overhanging portion for folding. An older example is U.S. Pat. No. 1,164,118, in which a tube is formed from individual cigarette paper, one end of the tube is closed, tobacco is packed to some extent in the tube, and the other end is A closed cigarette making machine is described. Also, in US Pat. No. 501,498, a machine winds cigarette paper individually around each length of cigarette, compresses the cigarette from both ends, and stretches the paper out of the cigarette to fold the paper. Is folded to close each end. However, these old techniques are not suitable for modern cigarette manufacturing techniques.

  Another technique is to complete a conventional cigarette with a rod that is longer than a normal tobacco rod. The filter end of this smoking article is set up perpendicular to the vibration surface or tapped. This allows the cigarette to wrap it and sink deeper inside the wrapper, leaving the free end of the wrapper and folding the free end to close the end. However, this method also has potential drawbacks. Normally tobacco is composed of a mixture of various smoking materials, and these various materials tend to settle to different depths after being vibrated or beaten, resulting in a non-uniform tobacco rod composition.

  Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a method for forming a tobacco rod, the method comprising the steps of providing an endless tobacco bead and tobacco positioned at equal intervals in the cylinder. A step of providing a gap without a gap, a step of wrapping a cylindrical body with an endless paper wrapper, and a step of dividing the wrapped cylindrical body into a plurality of tobacco rods by cutting the paper wrapper where the paper wrapper overlaps the gap Including.

  By this method, a tobacco rod with a paper wrapper projecting at one or both ends (depending on the cutting position) is obtained, and the projecting portion is folded inward on the tobacco rod to complete the cigarette. This method includes the additional step of providing a gap in the rod in addition to the conventional process for manufacturing tobacco rods. Since this additional step can be easily incorporated into standard manufacturing, existing lines and methods can be easily adapted to practice the present invention. Furthermore, the gap can be formed quickly and easily without the use of complex equipment and without stopping the progress of the tobacco during the manufacturing process, resulting in faster manufacturing time and almost the same as the conventional tobacco rod manufacturing time. Absent.

  In some embodiments, the method has a length that is twice the length of the paper wrapper required for each gap to fold onto a subsequent cigarette and the division of the rolled cylinder Cutting the paper wrapper at a longitudinal midpoint. If the gap is located at a distance of twice the length of the tobacco for smoking articles made from these tobacco rods, a two-length tobacco rod can be formed. Each of the two rods each has two protruding rods with papers protruding at both ends and joined back to back. Furthermore, this method cuts at the middle point in the longitudinal direction of each tobacco rod, divides the tobacco rod in half in the longitudinal direction, and includes a cigarette for one smoking article and a length for one including a paper projecting at one end. A step of producing the rod. These tobacco rods can be used to produce a filtered cigarette with one end closed.

  Alternatively, the gap may be placed at a distance equal to the length of tobacco for smoking articles made from these tobacco rods. Therefore, the tobacco between the gaps is the length necessary for one smoking article, and a tobacco rod with paper protruding from both ends is made, and a non-filtered cigarette with both ends closed is produced. Is done.

  As a method for making a length of rod with paper overhanging only at one end, each gap has a length equal to the length of the paper wrapper required to fold on the subsequent cigarette, These gaps are spaced a distance equal to the length of tobacco for smoking articles made from these tobacco rods, and the division of the rolled cylinder is flush with one end of each gap. Including cutting at the paper wrapper.

  The step of forming a gap free of tobacco in the cylinder includes removing the tobacco from the tobacco cylinder. Any means suitable for this can be used. For example, the step of removing the cigarette includes trimming the entire length of the tobacco for the length of each gap using an ecreteur. An equator is well known as trimming tobacco to make the thickness of the tobacco uniform. However, it is not necessary to change the production line in a complicated manner in order to implement this aspect. There is no need for an additional equator to form the gap, simply changing or replacing the existing ectrator to form the gap in addition to normal tobacco trimming.

  Separately, the step of forming a gap that does not contain tobacco from tobacco in the cylindrical body may include a step of dividing the cylindrical body into a plurality of tobacco portions extending in the longitudinal direction, and moving and separating these portions. Again, any technique suitable for this can be used. For example, splitting the cylinder and moving the cigarette part apart makes contact with the screw rotating around the axis parallel to the length of the cylinder and the cylinder while the cylinder is moving in the longitudinal direction. This screw may increase the thickness of the thread as the distance travels along it. Screws that do not move except for rotation move the cigarette in the longitudinal direction so that it is pumped by an Archimedes pump, so the use of screws does not prevent forward movement of the tobacco cylinder along the production line. This screw can be constructed in various ways. For example, the screw may have a thread that begins at a point at its leading end, and the screw has a radius that increases with distance along the screw at least part of its length from that point. growing. Alternatively, the screw may have a thread starting from a leading edge disposed substantially along the radius, in which case the thread has a substantially constant radius.

  In yet another example, dividing the cylinder and moving the cigarette portion apart may be accomplished by inserting and removing at least one rotating disk into and from the cylinder, in which case the disk has an axis parallel to the cylinder. , And the thickness increases from the edge to the center. This method is more complicated than using screws in handling moving tobacco rods. However, a rotating disk constructed in this way has the advantage that gaps of different lengths can be formed using one disk or a collection of disks.

  A second object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for forming a tobacco rod, the apparatus comprising a transport apparatus for supporting and transporting a tobacco cylinder, and the like to the tobacco cylinder. Cigarette spacing device that operates to form a gap that does not contain tobacco at intervals, and a garment and paper wrapper arranged to receive a cylinder after the gap is formed and wrap it in an endless paper wrapper And a cutter that operates to divide the cylinder wrapped with the paper wrapper into tobacco rods by cutting the paper wrapper where the paper wrapper overlaps the gap.

  The tobacco gap forming device forms a gap by removing tobacco from the cylindrical body. For example, the apparatus may be an eclator having at least one trimmer disc having an outer peripheral height configured to trim a full length of a cylindrical cigarette over the length of each gap.

  Apart from this, the tobacco gap forming device may divide the cylindrical body into tobacco parts extending in the longitudinal direction, and form the gap by moving and separating these parts. Such a device includes a screw that is rotatable about an axis parallel to the length of the cylinder, and the thread of the screw passes through the cylinder when the cylinder is conveyed by the conveying device. The screw may have a thread starting from a point at its leading end, the screw having a radius that increases with distance along the screw at least part of its length from that point. Alternatively, the screw may have a thread starting from a leading edge disposed substantially along the radius, in which case the thread has a substantially constant radius. In another aspect, the tobacco gap forming device may include at least one rotating disk that rotates about an axis parallel to the cylinder and can enter and exit the cylinder while rotating, wherein the thickness of the disk is , Increasing from the edge to the center.

  In order that the present invention may be better understood and to illustrate how the invention may be practiced, reference will now be made to several examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a packaged long continuous tobacco cylinder according to the first aspect of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a packaged long continuous tobacco cylinder according to the second aspect of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a packaged long continuous tobacco cylinder according to a third aspect of the present invention. It is a top view of the conventional eclator trimming apparatus. It is a top view of the eclator trimming apparatus by the aspect of this invention. FIG. 6 is a side view of a trimming disk of the ektor of FIG. 5. It is a perspective view of the tobacco gap | interval formation apparatus by the aspect of this invention. It is a perspective view of the tobacco gap | interspace formation apparatus by another aspect of this invention. It is a perspective view of the tobacco gap | interval formation apparatus by another aspect of this invention.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a tobacco rod suitable for the manufacture of a smoking article such as a cigarette, and the cigarette in its finished state is a cigarette in which the end of the rod is a wrapping paper. The portion that extends beyond the end is covered by folding inward on the cigarette. This requires providing a cigarette rod (or smoking article) in which cigarette paper wrapped around the cigarette extends beyond the cigarette long enough to cover the cigarette when folded. . The present invention proposes forming such tobacco rods at an early stage of the conventional cigarette manufacturing process during the formation of tobacco cylinders and subsequent packaging of the cylinders with cigarette paper.

  Conventionally, the loose tobacco is removed from the hopper and configured into a continuous or endless thin cylinder having the same width or thickness as the desired width of the finished tobacco product. This cylinder engages a paper cigarette wrapper around the cylinder and in a garniture that secures the wrapper in place against a continuous line of adhesive that moves along the length of the paper and cylinder. Supplied. The wrapper is also endless and is fed to the garniture from a roll having a width that includes a width equal to the circumference of the smoking article plus enough paper to form a seam that is applied over and over in the smoking article. This produces a continuous tobacco rod containing tobacco wrapped in cigarette paper. This continuous rod is cut into one or two length rods and then combined with the filter unit.

  In the present invention, a plurality of gaps or spaces are formed in the tobacco cylinder before the tobacco cylinder is wound with cigarette paper, and these gaps are arranged at equal intervals along the length of the cylinder. The cylinder is then fed to the garniture and wound on endless paper in a conventional manner. Thus, a tobacco rod is formed in which the filled tobacco is divided into several parts by gaps or voids that do not contain tobacco. The rod is divided into individual rods by cutting the paper at a position corresponding to the gap located below it. This forms individual tobacco rods with paper protruding at one or both ends, in a method and apparatus that requires only an additional step to form a gap in the tobacco cylinder and is almost identical to conventional ones. .

  The length of the paper that extends is determined by the length of the gap. Since the overhanging paper is folded over to cover the exposed tobacco at the rod end, the length of the gap is thereby selected. Similarly, the length of the tobacco portion between the gaps is determined with reference to the desired tobacco length of the finished smoking article.

  Tobacco and overhanging paper can be made into a desired configuration in various ways.

  FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a first embodiment of a continuous tobacco rod before being cut into individual rods. As described above, the continuous rod 10 includes a cigarette arranged in several portions 12 and a gap or gap 14 located between these portions. The tobacco portion 12 and the gap 14 are surrounded by a tubular paper wrapper 16 and the rod is cylindrical. In this example, each tobacco portion 12 has a length t equal to the desired tobacco length of the finished smoking article. Each gap 14 has a length g equal to the desired overhang length of the paper extending beyond the end of the tobacco. By cutting the continuous rod 10 at one end of the gap 14 (at the same end of each gap) flush with the boundary between the gap 14 and the tobacco 12, the continuous rod 10 is divided into single rods 18. The segmented rod includes a single length of tobacco 20 inside a paper wrapper 22 that extends at one end to form an overhanging foldable portion 24. Arrow c shows each cutting part. The foldable overhang can be used to close one end of the tobacco rod, and the other end of the tobacco rod is joined to the filter unit using tipping paper to produce a smoking article with a filter.

  FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of a continuous tobacco rod 10. As with the rod described above, each tobacco portion 12 has a length t equal to the desired length of the finished tobacco product. However, the gap 14 has a length equal to twice the desired overhanging length of the paper. The continuous rod is cut at a position c aligned with the longitudinal midpoint of each gap. By cutting at these positions, individual rods 18 are produced that contain a single length of tobacco 20 wrapped in a paper wrapper 22 having overhangs 24 at both ends of the rod.

  FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of a continuous tobacco rod 10. In this example, each tobacco portion 12 has a length t equal to twice the length of the amount of tobacco in the finished smoking article. Similarly, each gap 14 has a length g that is twice the length of the desired paper overhang. A continuous rod 10 as in the embodiment of FIG. 2 is cut at the midpoint of each gap, thereby dividing the paper 16 corresponding to the gap 12 into two parts. Two of these lengths of rods are obtained with only these cuts indicated by c1, each rod containing a paper projecting at each end and two cigarettes long enough for the smoking article. Further cuts c <b> 2 are made at the midpoint of each tobacco section 12 in order to produce individual lengths of tobacco rod 18. This produces a tobacco rod 18 containing a single length of tobacco 20 having a paper wrapper 22 with an overhanging portion 24 only at one end. Accordingly, the same tobacco rod as produced in the embodiment of FIG. 1 can be produced in a method that requires half the number of gaps produced in the tobacco cylinder. All the cutting c1 through the gap 14 may be performed first, and then the tobacco rods of two lengths may be cut in half by the cutting c2. Separately, the cutting c1 and c2 may be alternately performed along the continuous rod 10 to separate each tobacco rod.

  As described above, conventional devices can be used to form tobacco cylinders when forming tobacco rods according to the present invention, and the cylinders can be sent to a garniture for wrapping with cigarette paper. The cylinder moves forward along its length during this process, and after being packaged, it continues to move past a cutting blade or other cutting device that cuts continuous rods into individual rod lengths. . Prior to packaging, the tobacco is maintained in a cylindrical shape by suction or a vacuum belt.

  There are two methods for forming a gap in a cylindrical body. One of them is to remove the tobacco in several sections from a continuous cylinder. The section to be removed spans the entire width of the cylinder, thereby forming a discontinuous tobacco section cylinder by the gap. Another method includes segmenting tobacco cylinders at equal intervals and pushing the tobacco away on either side of the segmented portions. Tobacco gap forming devices may be employed to remove or sort tobacco. This device may take a variety of forms as described below.

  One of the first ways to remove the tobacco section from the cylinder is to use an equator or trimming device as a tobacco gap forming device to remove the tobacco. The eclator is conventionally used for forming a tobacco cylinder. When a tobacco cylinder is first formed from tobacco supplied from a hopper, the cylinder becomes bumpy and the width or thickness varies. One or more ecrators can be used to trim excess tobacco and form a cylinder of the desired size. The width of the cylinder may be constant, or it may not be constant and different tobacco densities may be obtained along the length of the smoking article.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional eclator used to trim a tobacco cylinder. A set of trimmer disks or blades 30, 32 are arranged to rotate in the same horizontal plane with their edges adjacent. These two discs 30 and 32 rotate in different directions as shown in the figure, and the edges of the discs 30 and 32 move in the same direction in the trimming area where the discs 30 and 32 are adjacent. For example, a cigarette cylinder 34 conveyed by a suction belt passes through the trimming region such that its lower side comes into contact with the rotating edges of the disks 30 and 32. The cylinder 34 extends along the length of the cylinder in a straight line along a horizontal path equidistant from the center of the two disks 30, 32, and in the trimming area as indicated by the arrows in the figure. It moves in the direction opposite to the direction of movement of the 32 edges. When the tobacco cylinder 34 encounters the rotating edges of the trimming discs 30, 32, all tobacco that hangs below the face of these discs is trimmed or cut from the cylinder 34 by the discs 30, 32; The cylindrical body 34 has a uniform thickness when exiting the trimming region. A wheel 36 is disposed below the disks 30 and 32 in the trimming area with a rotation axis in the horizontal plane. The wheel 36 is arranged to lie in a vertical plane that is angled with respect to the vertical plane occupied by the tobacco cylinder 34. Its vertical position is chosen so that the upper edge of the wheel is very close to the trimming discs 30,32. As the tobacco cylinder 34 passes through the disks 30, 32, the wheel 36 rotates and carries away the tobacco removed from the cylinder 34. The removed tobacco is returned to the hopper for reuse in the tobacco cylinder.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the entire outer periphery of the trimming disks 30 and 32 is flat. The disc having this configuration trims the tobacco cylinder to a uniform thickness. Apart from this, the trimming disks 30, 32 may have higher or lower portions on the outer periphery than other portions. When the rotational speed and angular position of the disk are synchronized so that the different height portions coincide in the trimming area, the tobacco cylinder can be trimmed to have a non-uniform thickness along its length. This rotation of the disc allows a repeated pattern of thickness, which means that the individual parts of the cylinder used for individual cigarettes each increase, for example, the density of tobacco at the end of each cigarette. Can be selected to have the same pattern thickness. For further details of eclators used to trim tobacco cylinders to non-uniform thickness, see United Kingdom filed December 12, 2006 entitled "Smoking Products and Manufacturing Methods and Equipment". It is described in patent application GB0624771.2.

  Some embodiments of the present invention propose to use an eclator to remove tobacco from the tobacco cylinder to form the necessary gap. Some parts of the outer periphery of the trimming disk of the echrator may be configured to have a height sufficient to trim the entire thickness of the cylinder from the rest.

  FIG. 5 is a plan view of an eclator constructed in accordance with this embodiment. Each of the trimming disks 30 and 32 has an outer peripheral region formed such that the portions 40 that protrude from the surface of the disk are alternately positioned with the portions 38 that are located on the surface of the disk. These discs have substantially the same outer circumference, so that the raised portion is not the thickness of that portion but is a deformation of the face of the disc. Thus, the trimming edge provided by the rim of the disc is constant over the entire circumference, but with a different height.

  In the illustrated example, the trimming disks 30 and 32 are configured so as to form four gaps in the tobacco cylinder each time one rotation is made. Thus, the disks 30, 32 each have four raised portions 40 that are equally spaced around the rim. The circumferential length of each raised portion corresponds to the desired length g of each gap described with reference to FIGS. Between these raised portions is a flat portion 38, which likewise corresponds to the circumference corresponding to the desired length of the tobacco portion between the gaps described with reference to FIGS. It has a length t in the direction.

  FIG. 6 shows the side of the trimming disc 32 as viewed along arrow vi in FIG. This figure shows the outer peripheral sides at different heights of the disk 32 to form a raised portion 40 and a flat portion 38 with respect to the surface of the disk. The raised portion 40 reaches the entire thickness of the cylinder and has a height h higher than the face of the disc in order to completely remove all tobacco from the cylinder over a length g. If the cylinder has already been trimmed by another ektor to make the thickness uniform, the flat portion 38 will be flush with the lower or lower side of the tobacco cylinder so that it will not be trimmed outside the raised portion. You may arrange | position to the height which passes the length. Alternatively, the flat portion 38 can provide a normal equator trimming function such that the height of the flat portion 38 relative to the cylinder is selected to trim the cylinder to a uniform thickness between the gaps. Further, instead of replacing the flat portion with a portion having various height shapes, tobacco having various thicknesses over the length of each individual smoking article may be produced as described above.

  It is also possible to form a gap in the tobacco cylinder by completely removing the tobacco section from the cylinder using another configuration. For example, it is possible to employ a gap forming device that removes the tobacco section by suction, and it is also possible to employ a gap forming device that strikes the section laterally of the cylinder to push the tobacco section.

  Another method for removing the tobacco section is to divide the tobacco cylinders at intervals along the length of the cylinders and push the tobacco sideways.

  A suitable tobacco gap forming device for this method is a rotating screw. The screw is mounted so that its rotation axis is parallel to the length of the tobacco cylinder, and the screw thread extends radially in the tobacco cylinder. The thread pitch is selected to match the length of the individual tobacco parts. The tip of the thread cuts into the cigarette cylinder that moves each time the screw rotates, and each part is divided from the cylinder. The cylinder then continues to move along its forward path as the screw rotates, but is divided into one individual portion between each pitch of the thread. The thread itself therefore fills the gap between the tobacco parts. Thus, by configuring the threads to increase in thickness as the distance along the screw increases (in the direction along the length of the screw and the tobacco cylinder), the tobacco parts gradually move as they pass through the screw. When pushed apart, a gap of the desired length is formed. Therefore, the length of the gap is determined by the final thickness of the screw.

  The screw thread may be able to divide and divide the tobacco cylinder sufficiently with only one rotation, but if a more gradual effect is preferable, the screw may be rotated two or more times.

  FIG. 7 is a simplified perspective view of a first example of a rotatable screw suitable for this purpose. A screw 50 is mounted directly beside the tobacco cylinder 52 for rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to the path of the tobacco cylinder 52. The tobacco cylinder 52 moves to the right as shown in the figure, and the screw 50 rotates clockwise as viewed from the downstream end (relative to the movement direction of the tobacco cylinder). In this example, the forward end of the screw is configured as a tip 54, the radius of which gradually increases along the first half of the length of the screw. This is similar to a conventional clamping screw whose tip is used to screw the screw in-plane. In the case of the present invention, the tip and increasing radius are used to gradually introduce threads into the adjacent tobacco cylinder 52 to segment the tobacco. The thread radius may increase only over the entire length of the screw or over the first part of the length.

  The screw 50 is fixed except that it rotates while the tobacco cylinder 52 moves forward via the screw. The rotational speed of the screw must exactly match the forward linear speed of the tobacco cylinder 52. Each time the screw thread 50 rotates, a new section is introduced into the tobacco cylinder 52 and, as it continues to rotate, is transported via screws as individual portions 58 of tobacco. The desired gap 60 is formed in the tobacco cylinder as the entire length of the screw passes through each section. The thread thickness 56 increases with increasing distance along the screw. This pushes the individual tobacco parts apart until they are separated by a suitable distance. Thus, the final thickness of the screw is the length g required for the gap 60. The cigarette cylinder 52 that continuously enters the screw is fed to the cigarette 58 of length t determined by the pitch of the thread 50 at the other end divided into individual parts, and the length determined by the thickness of the thread. Separated by a regular gap 60 of g.

  FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the rotatable screw 50. The screw 50 is disposed adjacent to the moving cigarette cylinder 52 as shown in FIG. 7, and again the pitch determines the length of the tobacco portion 59, and the screw thickness 56 is the length g of the cylinder. In order to form the gap 60, it is configured to increase as the distance advances along the screw. However, this screw has a thread with a constant radius (a constant thread depth) and does not start at one point on the front end. Instead, the screw has a leading edge 62 in the form of a blade arranged radially across the thread. This edge or blade 62 cuts the tobacco cylinder 52 as the screw 50 rotates to segment the tobacco. The thread thickness increases from the thin edge to force the tobacco to move away as the cigarette moves along the screw, thereby creating a gap. Since the tobacco cylinder moves forward, each time the screw 50 rotates, the cylinder 52 is cut at a new location. Accordingly, the continuous cylindrical body 52 is divided into portions of the tobacco 58 provided with the necessary gap 60.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the tobacco cylinder 52 is not supported. In practice, the cylinders move on a suction belt or other transport device, but these devices are used when the cylinder 52 is positioned as shown in FIG. Get in the way. Thus, the screw is placed away from the tobacco cylinder so that the tobacco passes through the outer edge of the thread, and the tobacco cylinder can be supported on its transport device.

  Other gap forming devices for sorting tobacco cylinders can also be used. For example, one or more disks may be arranged on the rotation axis. The edge of each disk forms a blade edge, and the thickness of each disk is at least as thick as the desired length of the gap created in the tobacco cylinder from that edge toward the center of the disk. To increase. The spacing along the axis between the disks corresponds to the desired length of the individual tobacco parts after forming the gap. The axis is arranged parallel to the tobacco cylinder. As the disk rotates, the disk and shaft assembly gradually approaches the cylinder, and the disk edges cut into the cylinder at intervals to separate the cigarettes. As the assembly further approaches, the disc is pushed further through the cylinder, and the gradually increasing thickness of the disc forces the tobacco away until the desired gap is obtained. The disc is then pulled out.

  FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the disk assembly in the step of forming a gap in the tobacco cylinder 52. The assembly includes a shaft 70 disposed parallel to the tobacco cylinder 52, which supports five rotating disks 72. As indicated by the arrows, the assembly is configured to rotate the disc 72 about the shaft 70 and move the disc 72 and the shaft 70 toward or away from the tobacco cylinder. The disc 72 cuts into a continuous cylinder 52 and divides the cylinder into individual tobacco sections of length t determined by the spacing between the disks. The length of the gap between the cylindrical bodies 52 remaining when the aggregate is pulled out is determined by the thickness g of the disk.

  However, the tobacco cylinder needs to be kept stationary during this process for gap formation. Alternatively, the disk assembly can move laterally at the same speed as the tobacco cylinder, but then needs to return to its starting position to form the next series of gaps. Either configuration is slower than the above-described screw that does not hinder the normal forward movement of the tobacco cylinder. However, the disc assembly has the advantage that gaps of different sizes can be formed by changing the distance that the disc is pushed into the tobacco cylinder in one assembly.

  As used herein, the term “tobacco” should be understood to include tobacco itself, or tobacco materials and derivatives and other smokable materials, alone or in combination. . Examples include, but are not limited to, petiole, leaf blades, and tobacco dust. Thus, “tobacco” means a smokable material contained in a cigarette or smoking article.

  Similarly, the terms “smoking article” and “cigarette” are used to refer to a length of paper wrapped in cigarettes, cigarillos, slim cigarettes, cigars and paper or similar wrappers with or without a filter unit. It should be understood as including other smoking articles including smokable materials.

Claims (21)

A method of forming a tobacco rod suitable for the manufacture of a tobacco product having at least one closed end, the method comprising:
Providing an endless tobacco cylinder;
Forming a gap in the tobacco cylinder that does not include tobacco located at equal intervals along the cylinder; and
Wrapping the cylinder with an endless paper wrapper;
Dividing the wrapped cylinder into tobacco rods by cutting the paper wrapper at a position where the paper wrapper overlaps the gap.   Each said gap has a length that is twice the length of the paper wrapper needed to fold it onto the subsequent cigarette, and the division of the wrapped cylinder is a paper at the mid-point in the longitudinal direction of each gap The method of claim 1 including cutting the wrapper.   3. The method of claim 2, wherein the gap is located at a distance of twice the length of tobacco for smoking articles made from the tobacco rod.   4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of cutting at each longitudinal point of each tobacco rod and splitting the tobacco rod in half in the longitudinal direction.   3. The method of claim 2, wherein the gap is located at a distance equal to the length of tobacco for smoking articles made from the tobacco rod.   Each said gap has a length equal to the length of the paper wrapper required for subsequent folding onto the tobacco, and said gap is spaced a distance equal to the length of tobacco for smoking articles made from said tobacco rod. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein splitting the rolled cylindrical body located remotely includes cutting at a paper wrapper location that is flush with one end of each gap.   7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of forming a non-tobacco gap in the cylinder comprises removing tobacco from the cylinder.   8. The method of claim 7, wherein removing the tobacco from the cylinder includes trimming the full length of the tobacco from the cylinder using an equator.   7. The step of forming a gap that does not include tobacco in the cylindrical body includes dividing the cylindrical body into tobacco parts extending in the longitudinal direction, and moving and separating the parts. The method described in the paragraph.   The process of dividing the cylinder body and moving the cigarette part away from the cylinder body makes the cylinder body contact the screw rotating around the axis parallel to the length of the cylinder body while the cylinder body moves in the longitudinal direction. 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising a screw thread that increases in thickness as the distance travels along the screw.   The screw has a thread starting at one point at its leading end, and the thread has a radius that increases from that point to at least part of the length of the screw as the distance travels along the screw. The method according to claim 10.   11. The method of claim 10, wherein the screw has a thread starting from a leading edge disposed substantially along the radius of the thread, the thread having a substantially constant radius. .   The step of dividing the cylinder and moving the cigarette part away includes inserting and removing at least one rotating disk into the cylinder, the disk rotating about an axis parallel to the cylinder and the thickness of the disk 10. A method according to claim 9, characterized in that increases from the edge towards the center. An apparatus for forming a tobacco rod suitable for the manufacture of a tobacco product having at least one closed end, the apparatus comprising:
A transport device for supporting and transporting an endless cylindrical body made of tobacco; and
A tobacco gap forming device that operates to form gaps that do not contain tobacco at equal intervals in the cylinder;
Receiving a cylinder after forming the gap, and a garment and paper wrapper supply arranged to wrap the cylinder with an endless paper wrapper;
An apparatus comprising: a cutter operable to divide the packed cylinder into tobacco rods by cutting the paper wrapper where the paper wrapper overlaps the gap.   15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the tobacco gap forming device forms a gap by removing tobacco from the cylinder.   The cigarette gap forming device includes an equator having at least one trimmer disk having a circumferential height configured to trim the cigarette for the length of each gap from the cylindrical body over the entire width. The apparatus of claim 15.   15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the tobacco gap forming device divides the cylindrical body into longitudinally extending tobacco portions and moves the portions apart to form a gap.   The cigarette gap forming device includes a screw that is rotatable about an axis parallel to the length of the cylindrical body, and the thread of the screw passes through the cylindrical body when the cylindrical body is transported by the transport device. 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the thread increases in thickness as the distance travels along the screw.   The screw has a thread starting at one point at its leading end, and the thread has a radius that increases from that point to at least part of the length of the screw as the distance travels along the screw. The apparatus of claim 18.   19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the screw has a thread starting from a leading edge disposed substantially along a radius of the thread, the thread having a substantially constant radius. .   The cigarette gap forming device includes at least one disk that is rotatable about an axis parallel to the cylindrical body and that can be moved in and out of the cylindrical body while rotating. The disk increases in thickness from the edge toward the center. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

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