US20050109354A1 - Tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products - Google Patents

Tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products Download PDF

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Publication number
US20050109354A1
US20050109354A1 US10/989,310 US98931004A US2005109354A1 US 20050109354 A1 US20050109354 A1 US 20050109354A1 US 98931004 A US98931004 A US 98931004A US 2005109354 A1 US2005109354 A1 US 2005109354A1
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
unit
pins
roller
sensing
tobacco
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.)
Abandoned
Application number
US10/989,310
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English (en)
Inventor
Fiorenzo Draghetti
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
GD SpA
Original Assignee
GD SpA
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by GD SpA filed Critical GD SpA
Assigned to G.D S.P.A. reassignment G.D S.P.A. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: DRAGHETTI, FIORENZO
Publication of US20050109354A1 publication Critical patent/US20050109354A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
    • A24C—MACHINES FOR MAKING CIGARS OR CIGARETTES
    • A24C5/00—Making cigarettes; Making tipping materials for, or attaching filters or mouthpieces to, cigars or cigarettes
    • A24C5/39—Tobacco feeding devices
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A24—TOBACCO; CIGARS; CIGARETTES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES; SMOKERS' REQUISITES
    • A24C—MACHINES FOR MAKING CIGARS OR CIGARETTES
    • A24C5/00—Making cigarettes; Making tipping materials for, or attaching filters or mouthpieces to, cigars or cigarettes
    • A24C5/39—Tobacco feeding devices
    • A24C5/399—Component parts or details, e.g. feed roller, feed belt

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products.
  • the prior art embraces cigarette makers equipped with a feeding and conveying unit that comprises an infeed chamber from which shredded tobacco is taken up by a carding unit and directed into a descending duct or chute. At the bottom end of the chute, the tobacco is taken up by a toothed outfeed assembly and deposited on a conveyor belt that carries it toward the bottom inlet end of an ascending duct or chimney.
  • the top end of the chimney coincides with the outfeed end of the tobacco feed and transport unit, and is enclosed by a conveyor consisting in a looped air-permeable aspirating belt such as will attract the tobacco, rising through the chimney as a continuous flow of distinct particles, and cause it to form progressively into a continuous stream.
  • the stream of tobacco forming thus externally of the chimney is directed by the aspirating belt loop toward an ecreteur, or trimming station, of which the function is to reduce the stream of tobacco to prescribed and uniform cross sectional proportions.
  • the trimmed tobacco stream is then released by the aspirating belt to the entry point of a station where a continuous cigarette rod is formed.
  • the carding unit consists typically in a carding drum of which the surface of revolution presents a plurality of pins serving to take up and pick the shredded tobacco.
  • the toothed outfeed assembly at the bottom end of the chute comprises a further carding roller and an impeller roller, both presenting a pinned surface of revolution.
  • the properties of tobacco transported by rollers with missing or damaged pins will be of a lower grade than those of tobacco transported by rollers with all pins intact, and this can affect the quality of the cigarettes ultimately.
  • the machine To verify possible degradation of the rollers in tobacco feed and transport units of conventional embodiment, the machine must be stripped down and the pins examined visually one by one to locate any that may be broken or missing. It follows that the cigarette maker must necessarily remain idle for an extended period while the inspection is conducted, and that production will be lost as a result.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products, such as will be unaffected by the aforementioned drawbacks.
  • One object of the invention is to provide a tobacco feed and transport system that will allow damaged or unseated carding pins to be located swiftly and easily.
  • a tobacco feed and transport unit forming part of a machine for manufacturing tobacco products, comprising at least one transport roller set in rotation about a longitudinal axis, presenting a plurality of pins positioned on a peripheral surface of revolution and oriented radially away from the longitudinal axis, by which tobacco is taken up and caused to advance along a predetermined path toward a unit where it is formed into at least one continuous stream.
  • a sensing device associated with the at least one transport roller serves to verify the presence and/or the integrity of the pins.
  • FIG. 1 shows a portion of a cigarette maker, viewed schematically in perspective and cut away in part, comprising a tobacco feed and transport unit embodied according to the present invention
  • FIG. 2 shows a detail of the unit in FIG. 1 , viewed in perspective;
  • FIG. 3 shows the detail of FIG. 2 , enlarged and in a longitudinal section.
  • FIG. 1 which shows an infeed portion of a cigarette maker
  • the infeed portion is denoted 1 in its entirety and comprises a tobacco feed and transport unit 2 serving to transform a mass of shredded tobacco into a continuous flow of tobacco particles.
  • the components of the feed and transport unit 2 are housed in a vertically extending enclosure 3 delimited uppermost by a horizontal wall 4 and on either side by two vertical walls 5 and 6 .
  • the infeed portion 1 presents an inlet duct 7 extending upward from the horizontal wall 4 , and below the duct, internally of the enclosure 3 , a power driven toothed roller 8 by which the shredded tobacco 9 is directed down into a lower chamber 10 delimited at the bottom by a conveyor belt 11 .
  • the chamber 10 accommodates a carding drum, or roller 12 , rotatable about an axis 12 a transverse to the two side walls 5 and 6 , which forms part of a carding unit 13 and occupies a position adjacent to the downstream end of the belt 11 .
  • the unit 13 comprises a proportioning roller 14 set in rotation substantially tangential to the carding roller 12 and in the same direction.
  • the shredded tobacco 9 is directed by the toothed roller 8 onto the belt 11 and then toward the carding roller 12 , whereupon a layer of the shredded tobacco 9 substantially equal in thickness to the radial dimension of the carding teeth is transferred by the roller 12 away from the chamber 10 and beyond its position tangential to the proportioning roller 14 .
  • an impeller roller 15 rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis 12 a of the carding roller 12 , of which the function is to take up the layer of tobacco 3 from this same roller 12 and shower the constituent particles, in the direction denoted F 1 , down into a substantially vertical descending duct or chute 16 delimited by a pair of transverse walls 17 and 18 extending parallel one with another and with the axis 12 a of the carding roller 12 .
  • the bottom end of the chute 16 is located facing the periphery of a take-up assembly 19 comprising a take-up roller 20 , functioning also as a carding or picking roller, and an impeller roller 21 combining with the take-up roller 20 to transfer the shredded tobacco 9 away from the chute 16 .
  • the take-up roller 20 rotates about an axis 20 a parallel to the axis 12 a of the carding roller 12 , and is designed to project the tobacco 9 in the form of distinct particles onto a transfer belt 22 moving from right to left as seen in FIG. 1 , and angled upward with the runout end located beneath the inlet of an ascending duct or chimney 23 .
  • the top outlet end 24 of the chimney 23 connects with a unit 25 by means of which to form at least one continuous stream 26 of tobacco 9 , or in the case of a machine with two tobacco rod processing lines as in the example of FIG. 1 , with a unit 25 forming two such continuous streams 26 .
  • the stream 26 of tobacco 9 is advanced toward a garniture assembly, not illustrated, by which it will be formed into a continuous cigarette rod.
  • rollers 8 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 20 and 21 of the unit 2 serving to feed and transport the tobacco 9 are typified by the same structure.
  • Each one of the rollers 8 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 20 and 21 referred to generically hereinafter as a transport roller 27 and illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 , is rotatable about a relative longitudinal axis 27 a and presents a plurality of pins 28 occupying the peripheral surface 29 .
  • the pins 28 are oriented radially away from the longitudinal axis 27 a of the roller 27 , in such a way that the tobacco 9 will be taken up and carried along a predetermined path extending from the inlet duct 7 toward the unit 25 by which the stream 26 of tobacco 9 is formed.
  • the transported tobacco particles will vary in size, and accordingly, the axial and circumferential spacing of the pins 28 , hence their density, are selected on the basis of the type and condition of the tobacco 9 handled at each stage along the predetermined path.
  • the feed and transport unit 2 also comprises at least one sensing device 30 serving to verify the presence and/or integrity of the pins 28 associated with at least one transport roller 27 of the unit 2 .
  • each of the rollers 8 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 20 and 21 illustrated in FIG. 1 is equipped with a respective sensing device 30 serving to verify the integrity of the respective pins 28 .
  • FIG. 1 indicates one such sensing device 30 associated with the drum or roller 12 of the carding unit 13 , and another device 30 associated with the take-up roller 20 .
  • the pins 28 are fashioned in conventional manner from ferromagnetic material and, in a preferred embodiment, the sensing device 30 will comprise at least one inductive sensor 31 . Positioned in close proximity to the pins 28 , the inductive sensor 31 is able to pick up the magnetic field generated by the selfsame pins 28 and to detect any change in the strength of the field occasioned by the absence or degradation of one or more pins.
  • the device 30 includes at least one sensing unit 32 presenting a plurality of sensors 31 arrayed in closed order one alongside another and positioned facing the pins 28 of the roller 27 .
  • the sensing unit 32 occupies a fixed position, and is placed so that the pins 28 will pass beneath the sensors 31 when the roller 27 is set in rotation.
  • the device 30 will incorporate a plurality of sensing units 32 arrayed in closed order one beside another along the longitudinal dimension of the roller 27 and preferably staggered in the circumferential direction, as illustrated in FIG. 2 .
  • Each sensing unit 32 extends partially around the circumference of the respective roller 27 .
  • the pins 28 are arranged typically in a plurality of rows 28 a , each passing around the circumference of the roller 27 .
  • the rows 28 a of pins 28 in turn are ordered one beside another along the axis 27 a of the roller 27 .
  • each of the sensors 31 belonging to a given sensing unit 32 is placed over just one respective circumferential row 28 a , so as to maximize its sensitivity to the magnetic field generated by the pins 28 of the row in question.
  • the face 33 of the sensing unit 32 directed toward the pins 28 will present a plurality of grooves 34 , one for each sensor 31 , in which the tips presented by the pins 28 of the respective rows 28 a are freely insertable ( FIG. 3 ) during the rotation of the roller 27 .
  • the sensors 31 of a single unit 32 are ordered in ranks lying parallel to the axis 27 a of the respective roller 27 , and columns extending transversely to the axis 27 a .
  • Each column of sensors 28 coincides with a relative groove 34 in which a corresponding circumferential row 28 a of pins 28 is freely insertable during the rotation of the roller.
  • the sensors 31 are connected to a processing unit (not illustrated) integrated, for example, into the master controller of the cigarette maker.
  • the unit in question monitors the signals received from the sensors and, in the event of a break in continuity being detected, trips an alarm output signal that will also pilot the feed and transport unit 2 to shut down automatically and indicate the position of the missing or damaged pin.
  • the sensing device 30 it will be preferable to fit the sensing device 30 to all the rollers of the machine or, where there are cost constraints, at least to those rollers with the more slender pins.

Landscapes

  • Manufacturing Of Cigar And Cigarette Tobacco (AREA)
  • Optical Communication System (AREA)
  • Preliminary Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)
  • Rollers For Roller Conveyors For Transfer (AREA)
US10/989,310 2003-11-21 2004-11-17 Tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products Abandoned US20050109354A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT000703A ITBO20030703A1 (it) 2003-11-21 2003-11-21 Unita' di alimentazione e trasporto tabacco in una
ITBO2003A000703 2003-11-21

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20050109354A1 true US20050109354A1 (en) 2005-05-26

Family

ID=34430717

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US10/989,310 Abandoned US20050109354A1 (en) 2003-11-21 2004-11-17 Tobacco feed and transport unit in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products

Country Status (8)

Country Link
US (1) US20050109354A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1532880B1 (de)
JP (1) JP2005151987A (de)
CN (1) CN100399954C (de)
AT (1) ATE361003T1 (de)
DE (1) DE602004006215T2 (de)
IT (1) ITBO20030703A1 (de)
RU (1) RU2346631C2 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050101236A1 (en) * 2002-12-06 2005-05-12 Sandisk Corporation Current-limited latch
US20090314302A1 (en) * 2005-05-19 2009-12-24 G.D S.P.A. Method for feeding tobacco in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products
US20110088705A1 (en) * 2004-12-09 2011-04-21 Uwe Werner Ehling Defibration of Tobacco Material

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
PL216367B1 (pl) * 2009-05-14 2014-03-31 Int Tobacco Machinery Poland Sposób i urządzenie do dystrybucji krajanki tytoniowej do zasilania maszyn produkujących papierosy
CN102631025B (zh) * 2012-04-26 2014-07-09 南京大树智能科技股份有限公司 卷接机烟丝回收装置
DE102014215223A1 (de) * 2014-08-01 2016-02-04 Hauni Maschinenbau Ag Tabakschneidevorrichtung zum Schneiden von Tabakfasern von einem kontinuierlich zugeführten verdichteten Tabakkuchen

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1916137A (en) * 1932-09-08 1933-06-27 American Mach & Foundry Traversing concave mechanism for cigarette machines
US3196880A (en) * 1961-10-05 1965-07-27 American Mach & Foundry Cigarette making machine
US5002072A (en) * 1988-03-03 1991-03-26 Molins Plc Cigarette manufacture
US20040112999A1 (en) * 2002-12-12 2004-06-17 Byram Michael C. Control of a feed system of a grinding machine

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3733379A1 (de) * 1987-10-02 1989-04-13 Hauni Werke Koerber & Co Kg Verfahren und vorrichtung zum foerdern eines faserigen gutes der tabakverarbeitenden industrie
IT1225340B (it) * 1988-11-14 1990-11-13 Gd Spa Metodo e macchina per il confezionamento contemporaneo di due bachi continui di sigaretta

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1916137A (en) * 1932-09-08 1933-06-27 American Mach & Foundry Traversing concave mechanism for cigarette machines
US3196880A (en) * 1961-10-05 1965-07-27 American Mach & Foundry Cigarette making machine
US5002072A (en) * 1988-03-03 1991-03-26 Molins Plc Cigarette manufacture
US20040112999A1 (en) * 2002-12-12 2004-06-17 Byram Michael C. Control of a feed system of a grinding machine

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050101236A1 (en) * 2002-12-06 2005-05-12 Sandisk Corporation Current-limited latch
US7319630B2 (en) 2002-12-06 2008-01-15 Sandisk Corporation Current-limited latch
US20110088705A1 (en) * 2004-12-09 2011-04-21 Uwe Werner Ehling Defibration of Tobacco Material
US8820328B2 (en) * 2004-12-09 2014-09-02 British American Tobacco (Germany) Gmbh Defibration of tobacco material
US20090314302A1 (en) * 2005-05-19 2009-12-24 G.D S.P.A. Method for feeding tobacco in a machine for manufacturing tobacco products

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1532880A1 (de) 2005-05-25
EP1532880B1 (de) 2007-05-02
RU2004134663A (ru) 2006-04-20
ATE361003T1 (de) 2007-05-15
RU2346631C2 (ru) 2009-02-20
ITBO20030703A1 (it) 2005-05-22
JP2005151987A (ja) 2005-06-16
DE602004006215T2 (de) 2008-01-24
DE602004006215D1 (de) 2007-06-14
CN1618357A (zh) 2005-05-25
CN100399954C (zh) 2008-07-09

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: G.D S.P.A., ITALY

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:DRAGHETTI, FIORENZO;REEL/FRAME:016001/0704

Effective date: 20041022

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION