US3172410A

US3172410A - Cigarette

Info

Publication number: US3172410A
Application number: US223433A
Authority: US
Inventors: Anthony P Miller
Original assignee: Achilles Corp
Current assignee: Achilles Corp
Priority date: 1962-09-13
Filing date: 1962-09-13
Publication date: 1965-03-09
Anticipated expiration: 1982-03-09

Description

March 9, 1965 MILLER 3,172,410

CIGARETTE Filed Sept. 13, 1962 a I -112 |o M /-r FIG. I

20 E i a FIG. 3.

INVENTOR. ANTHONY P. MIL

BY F I G. 7. w-

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,172,4lil CTGARETTE Anthony P. Miller, Pleasantvilie, NJ. Achilles Corp., 3333 Arctic Ave, Atlantic (lity, NJ.) Filed Sept. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 223,433 Qlairns. (Cl. 1311-19) This invention relates to a cigarette which is constructed and adapted for the purpose of minimizing the harmful health effects involved in the smoking of cigarettes.

The use of smoking tobacco is today both well known and widespread in spite of the fact that it is recognized by some authorities that smoking is injurious to the delicate membranes of the nose, throat and lungs of the smoker and is credited with inducing cancer of the lips, mouth, throat and lungs, and with inducing heart diseases.

The principal products of tobacco smoke are carbon dioxide, water vapor, carbon monoxide, acid fumes, nicotine vapors, and tars. The first two of these products are not generally regarded as harmful to the smoker. The remainder of these products are generally considered harmful and even though only a small proportion of these products resulting from the combustion of the entire cigarette actually enter the smokers system, that quantity is sufficient to be considered by some authorities as being harmful to the smoker.

Various means are employed to reduce the harmful effects of these products of combustion. Various chemicals have been employed in admixture with the tobacco in an endeavor to nullify the harmful ingredients of the smoke. Some of these chemicals, while apparently nullifying the harmful smoke ingredients, release upon combustion equally toxic substances or destroy or impair the aroma that is delighted in by tobacco smokers. Certain other neutralizing agents are unstable and, by the time the cigarette is consumed, these agents have decomposed and fail to accomplish their purpose. Other agents cause unpleasant taste or are for other reasons undesirably employed. Numerous types of mechanical filters have been devised. These filters generally add materially to the cost of manufacture of the cigarette and many of them are of little value.

It is the object of my invention to provide a cigarette construction which substantially retards the production of harmful tobacco constituents during the smoking of a cigarette whereby cigarette smoking is made less harmful.

In accordance with the present invention, the cigarette is constructed, during the course of its manufacture, with a hollow tip portion adjacent a tobacco-containing portion. The tip portion receives smoke flowing from the burning cigarette during smoking thereof and is provided with passageway means through which air from the outside of the cigarette may pass into the interior of the hollow tip in response to the smoker applying suction to the interior of the tip. Since suction in the tip draws air from the outside, the amount of air drawn through the burning portion of the cigarette is less than the amount that would be drawn if the entire suction were applied to the tobacco cylinder. Hence less oxygen is drawn into the burning portion of the cigarette so that the burning temperatures are less and generally will not be excessive. This lowering of the burning temperature causes a reduction in the production of harmful tars in the burning zone. Moreover, since there is lower temperature smoke passing through the tobacco, there will be less tars produced by the condensation action caused by the smoke heating the tobacco. At higher temperatures more tars are formed due to condensation.

There is also provided a small cylindrical cup-shaped or hat-shaped member which is mounted within the tip portion of the cigarette adjacent the tobacco containing 3,,l72Al0 Patented Mar. 9, 1965 portion thereof. The tip portion of the cigarette and the cylindrical member define a chamber adapted to receive smoke from the burning cigarette and outside air passing through the passageways in the tip portion. The chamber serves as a mixing chamber in which the smoke and outside air are intermixed thereby effecting cooling of the smoke to cause coagulation of the small amount of tars which are formed. The mixture of air and smoke then passes through a plurality of orifices, which are formed in a rim portion of the cylindrical member, and into a second chamber in which the gases are intermixed further. The tars, by reason of their sticky nature, tend to adhere to various portions of the tip portion and the cylindrical member, the major portion of the tars collecting in the region around the edges of the orifices.

The cigarette in accordance with this invention, in addition to reducing the formation of tars, is manufactured easily and inexpensively and has a built-in means for collecting most of the small amount of tars produced. Moreover, since a small amount of tars is permitted to be produced and most of these tars are accumulated in the tip, the cigarette eliminates most of the harmful tars while still providing a tobacco aroma which is pleasing to the smoker.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FlGURE l is an axial section through a cigarette in accordance with this invention;

FEGURE 2 is a section taken on line 22 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the cylindrical member in accordance with this invention;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an end view taken from the right as viewed in FIGURE 4 of the cylindrical member;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view illustrating the orifice construction; and

FIGURE 7 is a section taken on line 77 of FIG- URE 6.

As is shown in FIGURE 1, the cigarette is made up partly of a tobacco-containing portion including the usual paper wrapper 2 enclosing a tobacco filler 4. The other portion of the cigarette consists of a tubular member 6 preferably made of relatively strong paper stock and having an outer diameter approximating the outer diameter of the wrapper 2 so that the tobacco cylinder and member 6 may be positioned end to end to form a cylinder of one diameter. The tubular member 6 and the tobacco cylinder are secured together in end to end relationship by a connecting strip of paper 7 which overlaps the adjacent portions of the wrapper 2 and member 6 as is best shown in FIGURE 1. To accomplish this connection, there may be employed the manufacturing methods in general use today for joining filter tips to tobacco cylinders. The connecting strip 7 is secured by an adhesive to the overlapped portions of the wrapper 2 and member 6 to provide a strong connection therebetween.

The tubular member 6 forms the bit of the cigarette and is provided with suitable passageway means providing communication between the exterior of the cigarette and the cylindrical chamber lit within the bit. The passageway means comprises eight openings 3 in member 6 extending radially therethrough. Openings 8 are circumferentially equidistantly spaced and are located beyond the end of the tobacco containing portion of the cigarette. Other suitable forms of passageway means are disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 168,702, filed January 25, 1962. It has been found that the total crosssectional area of the passageway means is preferably of the order of 0.0020 square inch, although satisfactory results may be obtained within the range of from 0.0010 to 0.0025 square inch. The area is a function of the number, the dimensions and the configuration of the air passages. Moreover, by varying the size of the openings 8, the tar reduction may be varied.

A cylindrical member 12 is mounted within chamber in abutting relation with the enclosed end of the tobacco cylinder. This member has a generally cup-like or hat-like shape. Member 12 has an outer diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of tubular member 6 so as to fit snugly therein and is secured to member 6 by suitable means, such as adhesive.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 3 to 5, the construction of the cylinder 12 will be described in detail. The member 12 comprises a pair of cylindrical portions 14- and 16, portion 14 having a larger diameter than portion 16. The inner ends of

portions

14 and 16 are joined by an annular brim portion 18 extending transversely of the axis of member 12. The outer end of portion 14 is open and the outer end of portion 16 is closed by a transversely extending circular end portion 20. Brim 18 has a plurality of circumferentially equally spaced orifices 22 therein, there being eight such orifices 22 arranged as shown in FIGURE 3. Orifices 22 are preferably formed by piercing the brim 18 from the reduced diameter side thereof to thereby provide jaggededged orifices. The orifices 22 are illustrated in detail in FIGURES 6 and 7. The cylindrical member 12 may be made of various materials such as metal (preferably aluminum), paper or plastic.

The cylinder 12 is mounted within the chamber 10 of the tip portion 6 of the cigarette as shown in FIGURE 1 with the end portion adjacent the inner end of the tobacco containing portion. Accordingly, the reduced diameter portion 16 and brim 18 cooperate with the inner wall of tubular member 6 to define an annular chamber 24 immediately downstream of the end of the tobacco cylinder and arranged to receive smoke from the tobacco cylinder and outside air entering through the openings 8. During the smoking of a cigarette, the smoker applies suction at the bit to produce a partial vacuum or negative pressure in the chamber 10. Accordingly, smoke is drawn through the tobacco cylinder into chamber 24. At the same time, outside air is drawn through. the passageway means provided by openings 8 into the annular chamber 24 to thereby mix with the smoke. From annular chamber 24 gases pass through orifices 22 into the downstream portion of chamber 10 and ultimately into the smokers mouth. Since the gases drawn into the tip of the cigarette to fill the vacuum are composed partly of outside air, there is a lowering of the cigarette burning temperature and a reduction in tar formation as was previously discussed. The orifices 22 effect a turbulent flow of the gases passing therethrough. This effects a rather intimate and complete mixture of the outside air and smoke. The entrance and mixture of the air with the smoke Will reduce the temperature of the combustion products passing from the tobacco cylinder so that the relatively small amount of tars which are formed coagulate. These tars, by reason of their sticky nature, adhere to the cylinder 12 and the inner wall of member 6, the major portion thereof adhering to the region around the jagged edges of orifices 22.

The use of the cylinder 12 eliminates the need for any filter adjacent the end of the tobacco cylinder for preventing the passage of bits of tobacco through .the cigarette. Standard tests performed on cigarettes con- -structed in accordance with this invention have indicated that this construction can prevent the formation of up to eighty percent or more of the tars. Moreover, the cylindrical member 12 and tip portion 6 serve to trap substantially all of the small amount of tars which are formed 4 and since this small amount of tars are collected within the tip construction, a tobacco aroma is retained.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the construction of the cigarette in accordance with this invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is not desired to be limited except as required by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cigarette or the like comprising a cylindrical tobacco containing portion and a tubular bit portion, said portions being mounted together in coaxial relation with said bit portion providing a smoke passage extending from and in continuation of the tobacco, a hat-shaped member within said bit portion and adjacent the tobacco cylinder, said hat-shaped member cooperating with said bit portion to define an annular chamber immediately downstream of said tobacco containing portion for receiving smoke therefrom, passageway means in said bit communicating at one end with the exterior of said cigarette and at the other end with said annular chamber, said passageway means comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings extending radially through said bit portion into communication with said annular chamber, said hat-shaped member cooperating with said bit portion to define a second chamber downstream of said annular chamber, said hat-shaped member having a brim portion providing a radially extending annular wall between said chambers, and a plurality of orifices in said brim portion providing communication between said chambers, said orifices being circumferentially spaced about said wall and having jagged edges.

2. A cigarette or the like comprising a cylindrical tobacco containing portion and a tubular bit portion, said portions being mounted together in coaxial relation with said bit portion providing a smoke passage extending from and in continuation of the tobacco, a cylindrical cup-shaped member within said bit portion and positioned with the base, thereof adjacent the tobacco cylinder, said cylindrical member cooperating with said bit portion to define a first chamber immediately downstream of said tobacco containing portion for receiving smoke therefrom, passageway means in said bit communicating at oneend with the exterior of said cigarette and at the other end with said first chamber, said passageway means comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings extending radially through said bit portion into communication with said annular chamber, said cylindrical member cooperating with said bit portion to define a second chamber downstream of said first chamber, said member having a radially extending wall between said chamber, and orifice means in said cylindrical member providing communication between said chambers.

3. A cigarette or the like comprising a cylindrical tobacco containing portion and a tubular bit portion, said portions being mounted together in coaxial relation with said bit portion providing a smoke passage extending from and in continuation of the tobacco, a cylindrical cup-shaped member within said bit portion and positioned with the base thereof adjacent the tobacco cylinder and with the open end facing the bit end of the cigarette, said cylindrical member cooperating with said bit portion to define an annular chamber immediately downstream of said tobacco containing portion for receiving smoke therefrom, passageway means in said bit communicating at one end with the exterior of said cigarette and at the other end with said annular chamber, said passageway means comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings extending radially through said bitportion into communication with said annular chamber, said cylindrical member cooperating with said bit portion to define a second chamber downstream of said first chamber, said member having a radially extending wall between said chambers, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced orifices in said wall providing communication between 5 said chambers, whereby gases pass with a turbulent flow between said annular chamber and said second chamber.

4. A cigarette according to claim 3 wherein said member comprises a first tubular cylindrical wall portion, and a second tubular cylindrical wall portion having a smaller diameter than said first portion, said annular wall extending between said wall portions.

5. A cigarette according to claim 3 wherein said base portion of said cylindrical cup-shaped member is in abutting relationship with the end of said cylindrical tobacco containing portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS SAMUEL KOREN,

Raecke 1319 Rosan 131201 Brothers 13110 Schreus et a1.

Lebert 131187 Lebert 131208 Miller 131-9 Primary Examiner.

F. RAY CHAPPELL. Examiner.

Claims

1. A CIGARETTE OR THE LIKE COMPRISING A CYLINDRICAL TOBACCO CONTAINING PORTION AND A TUBULAR BIT PORTION, SAID PORTIONS BEING MOUNTED TOGETHER IN COAXIAL RELATION WITH SAID BIT PORTION PROVIDING A SMOKE PASSAGE EXTENDING FROM AND IN CONTINUATION OF THE TOBACCO, A HAT-SHAPED MEMBER WITHIN SAID BIT PORTION AND ADJACENT THE TOBACCO CYLINDER, SAID HAT-SHAPED MEMBER COOPERATING WITH SAID BIT PORTION TO DEFINE AN ANNULAR CHAMBER IMMEDIATELY DOWNSTREAM OF SAID TOBACCO CONTAINING PORTION FOR RECEIVING SMOKE THEREFROM, PASSAGEWAY MEANS IN SAID BIT COMMUNICATING AT ONE END WITH THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CIGARETTE AND AT THE OTHER END WITH SAID ANNULAR CHAMBER,