JPS5815117B2 - Cigarette filter molding equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for forming grooves and indentations in the axial direction of the filter at the mouth end of the filter of a filter-equipped cigarette.

Recently, as a means of improving the filtration efficiency of cigarette smoke using cigarette filters made of acetate fibers, etc., it has been proposed to drill a plurality of relatively long and narrow grooves in the axial direction of the cigarette filter at the mouth end of the cigarette filter. Alternatively, it is known to stamp a suitable recess or groove into a part or the entire surface of the mouthpiece end.

The reason why the filtration efficiency of tobacco smoke is improved by such means is that by forming parts with different ventilation resistances inside the filter, so-called cross-flow of tobacco smoke to the filter fibers is caused.
Effect (Tobacco International-ionl
(see Al I P 37.1977), resulting in an increase in the effective filtration surface area, or by forming grooves inside the filter to reduce ventilation resistance.
This is thought to be because the fibers can be kept at a high density.

Conventionally, inventions based on such effects include a method of forming a compressed part of a small length at the mouth end of a cigarette filter by pushing the mouth end of the cigarette filter in the axial direction using a heated protrusion rod; Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-18838) and a method and apparatus for forming a plurality of long indentations in the axial direction of the filter by inserting a plurality of heated probes (deep needles) into at least one end of a filter plug (Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-1
No. 2719, Special Publication No. 51-27760) are known.

However, the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-18838 is difficult to implement on an industrial scale for a large number of filters, and the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-12719 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-27760 is difficult to implement on an industrial scale. The method and device described in the book involve inserting a heating probe into each individual filter plug or twin filter plugs to form an indentation at the end of the filter plug, and then joining it with a tobacco rond. A problem is pointed out that the mechanism and device are extremely complicated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for forming an indentation at the mouth end of a cigarette filter with an extremely simple mechanism, and another object of the present invention is to provide a device that forms an indentation at the mouth end of a cigarette filter by using a very simple mechanism. An object of the present invention is to provide a device for forming an indentation at an end.

Still another object is to achieve the above object without making any major changes to the conventional filter cigarette manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing process.

That is, the present invention includes a plurality of rows of storage frames arranged side by side at intervals slightly larger than the diameter of the cigarette filter and whose bottoms are connected to each other by an elastic body, and a plurality of rows of storage frames arranged side by side at intervals slightly larger than the diameter of the cigarette filter, and a plurality of rows of storage frames connected to each other by an elastic body at the bottom. A rotating wheel with a plurality of pockets embedded at equal intervals around the outer circumference, each consisting of a movable weight plate parallel to a storage frame, a hopper connected to the upper part of the rotating wheel, and one side of the rotating wheel. and forming means connected to the other side of the rotating wheel for forming grooves and indentations in the axial direction of the filter at the mouth end of the cigarette filter in the pocket. This is a cigarette filter molding device comprising:

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette filter molding apparatus according to the present invention. First, filter-attached cigarettes 3 are stored in a tray 2. As shown in FIG.

The tray 2 is formed of a baffle plate 4 whose bottom part can be freely removed, and the lower part of the tray 2 is connected to a hopper 5.

Therefore, after storing filter cigarettes in tray 2,
When the baffle plate 4 is pulled, the cigarettes automatically fall to the lower part of the hopper along the inner wall of the hopper 5.

At the bottom of the hopper 5, in contact with the lower end opening of the hopper, there is provided a rotary wheel 6 in which a plurality of sets of pockets 7, 8, 9, 10 are embedded at equal intervals around the outer periphery.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of pockets L-7, 8, 9, and 10, and inside the pocket there are multiple rows of storage frames (hereinafter simply referred to as It's called a frame.

) 16 are installed at an interval slightly larger than the diameter of the filter cigarette, and the bottom of the frame 16 is connected to the shaft 1.
9 and are connected to each other by an elastic body 18 such as a spring.

Further, there is a gap parallel to the frame on the outer end side of the frame group, and a weight plate 17 is movably inserted into this gap.

Further, the inner wall surface of each frame 16 is provided with a shallow concave groove corresponding to the circumference of the frame to facilitate fixing of stacked filter cigarettes.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of pockets (four sets in the figure) having such a structure are embedded in the circumferential surface of the wheel 6, and are rotated by a rotary drive device 11 that stops at equal intervals for a certain period of time.

The rotation is stopped for a certain period of time at a position where the top surface of the pocket coincides with the bottom opening surface of the hopper 5, and the filter-attached cigarettes 3 fall naturally from the hopper 5 and are stacked and packed between the frames of the pocket.

The position of the pocket filled with cigarettes 3 is 9 from the vertical position
When the wheel 6 stops at the 0° rotated position (a partially enlarged view is shown in FIG. 3), the weight plate 17 is located on the top of the frame 16, and its load causes the frame group connected by the elastic body 18 to move. By squeezing, the filter cigarette 3 is fixed between the frames.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a thermoforming device 14 for forming grooves and indentations in the axial direction of the filter on one end surface 15 of the filter of the filter-tipped cigarette 3, and its main parts include a thermoforming section, an operating section, and a driving section. configured.

The thermoforming section consists of a heating plate 22 attached to the side surface of a heating box 20 covered with a heat insulating material, a plurality of forming molds (hereinafter simply referred to as molds) 34 (Fig. 3) attached to the heating plate 22, and a thermoelectric The molds 34 are arranged in such a way that the number of cigarettes equal to the number of cigarettes to be filled in the pockets 7 to 10 is equal to the number of cigarettes filled in the pockets 7 to 10, and the molds 34 are arranged so as to be exactly opposite to one end surface 15 of each filter in the pocket position as shown in FIG. It is attached to the heating plate 22 surface.

A heater (not shown) is built into the heating box 20, and a thermocouple 21 controls the surface temperature of the mold to, for example, 180°C.
The temperature is adjusted within the range of ~350°C.

The actuating section is comprised of a shaft 23, a spring 24, a bearing 25, a cam 26, etc. for holding the heating box 20 and causing it to reciprocate.

The reciprocating movement of the heating box 20 is performed by the action of the cam 26 and a spring, but the mechanism is not limited to this as long as it performs the same action.

The drive unit includes a variable speed motor 32, a speed reducer 31, and a brake 3.
0, a gear belt 29, a pulley 28, a timer cam 27, etc., which are the mechanisms necessary to drive the operating section, and may be modified to the extent that this purpose can be achieved.
Replacement is possible.

Equipment belonging to the thermoforming section, the operating section, and the driving section are mounted and fixed on a pedestal 33.

FIG. 4 shows modified examples a and b of a mold 34 that is removably formed by screwing into the heating plate 22.

A side view showing C (right side of the drawing), a cross-sectional view of a thermoformed filter by press-fitting these molds 34 into one end face of the cigarette filter (left side of the drawing), and an end view of one end of the thermoformed filter (center of the drawing). show.

A needle 35 and an uneven part 36 are provided on the surface of the mold 34, and when the mold 34 compresses and thermoforms one end surface of the cigarette filter, a groove 38 in the filter axial direction and an uneven part 37 are formed on one end surface of the filter. be done.

The length, thickness, number of needles 35, shape of uneven portion 36, etc.
It can be set appropriately in consideration of the influence on the filter's ventilation resistance and mud filtration rate.

In addition, by devising the shape of the unevenness on the mold surface, it is possible to add a beautiful appearance such as a flower pattern or a star mark to the end face of the filter suction port.

The grooves and uneven portions formed at one end of the filter according to the present invention have a significant effect on improving the ventilation resistance to tobacco smoke and the filtration rate of nicotine, tar, and the like.

Next, in FIG. 1, after the pocket 8 in the wheel 6 is thermoformed on one end face of the filter at the illustrated position rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the vertical position, when the wheel 6 is rotated and located at its lower part, the weight plate As the load of 17 is released from the frame 16, the space between the frames expands due to the reaction force of the spring 18, and the thermoformed filter-attached cigarettes fall naturally onto the belt conveyor 12, which is connected to a packaging machine (not shown) in the next process. , easily released.

In addition, when carrying out the present invention smoothly, the wheel 6
It is necessary to accurately synchronize the filling of cigarettes into the inner pocket and the thermoforming of the filled cigarette filter at regular intervals, but a special synchronization device is required for this purpose. Instead, known devices can be used as appropriate.

As described in detail above, the present invention has the following advantages and effects.

That is, a) the formation of grooves and indentations on one end surface of the filter can be applied after the filter is attached to the cigarette, so it can be carried out without major modification to the conventional manufacturing process of filtered cigarettes.

(1) The device structure and operation are extremely simple, and large-scale simultaneous processing is possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette filter molding device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a pocket provided on the outer periphery of the wheel 6 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a cigarette filter in a pocket 8 provided on the outer periphery of the wheel 6 shown in FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a thermoforming device; FIG. 5 is a side view showing a modified example of the mold; and a thermoformed cigarette filter. A cross-sectional view and an end view are shown. 1... Cigarette filter molding device, 2... Tray, 3
... Cigarette with filter, 4 ... Baffle plate, 5 ... Cigarette hopper, 6 ... Wheel, γ~10 ... Pocket,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Equal gap rotation drive device, 12... Belt conveyor, 13... Drive device, 14... Thermoforming device, 15... Filter, 16... Accommodation frame, 17... Weight plate, 18... Elastic body , 19... shaft, 20... heating box, 21... thermocouple,
22...Heating plate, 23...Shaft, 24...Spring, 25...Bearing, 26...Cam, 27...Timer cam, 28...Pu IJ-129...Gear belt, 30...Brake, 31
... Decelerator, 32 ... Motor, 33 ... Frame, 34 ...
...Molding mold, 35...Molding needle, 36...Irregularities of the mold, 37...Irregularities of the filter, 38...Groove, 39...
Filter tip paper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of rows of storage frames 16 arranged side by side at intervals slightly larger than the diameter of the filter cigarettes 3 and connected to each other by an elastic body 18 at the bottom, and an outer end of the group of storage frames.
A rotary wheel 6 with a plurality of sets of pockets 7, 8, 9, and 10 embedded at equal intervals on the outer periphery, and a movable weight plate 17 parallel to the storage frame on the side, and the upper part of the wheel 6. a hopper 5 connected to the hopper 5, an equally spaced rotating means 11 connected to one side of the rotating wheel, and a hopper 5 connected to the other side of the rotating wheel, and a hopper 5 connected to the end of the cigarette filter in the pocket on the mouth side. 1. A cigarette filter molding device comprising: a thermoforming means 14 for forming grooves and indentations in the axial direction of the filter.