US3477441A - Air actuated apparatus for controlling the diameter of a cigarette rod - Google Patents

Air actuated apparatus for controlling the diameter of a cigarette rod Download PDF

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Publication number
US3477441A
US3477441A US733390A US3477441DA US3477441A US 3477441 A US3477441 A US 3477441A US 733390 A US733390 A US 733390A US 3477441D A US3477441D A US 3477441DA US 3477441 A US3477441 A US 3477441A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
rod
diameter
folder block
controlling
block
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.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US733390A
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English (en)
Inventor
Colin S Mcarthur
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.)
RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co
Original Assignee
RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co
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 RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co filed Critical RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3477441A publication Critical patent/US3477441A/en
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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
    • A24C5/32—Separating, ordering, counting or examining cigarettes; Regulating the feeding of tobacco according to rod or cigarette condition
    • A24C5/34—Examining cigarettes or the rod, e.g. for regulating the feeding of tobacco; Removing defective cigarettes
    • A24C5/3418—Examining cigarettes or the rod, e.g. for regulating the feeding of tobacco; Removing defective cigarettes by pneumatic means
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S131/00—Tobacco
    • Y10S131/906—Sensing condition or characteristic of continuous tobacco rod

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a continuous rod-forming machine such as form cigarette rods or filter rods. More particularly, it relates to a method and a means for continuously controlling the diameter of such rods as they are formed.
  • the diameter of the rod is monitored by its throttling effect as it passes through an orifice formed in one leg of a balanced air bridge. Resultant imbalance in the bridge is amplified to directly controlthe elevation of the folder block.
  • the folder block has a cantilever spring configuration urging its operative end in one direction, preferably downward.
  • FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the garniture section of a cigarette machine
  • FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the same
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration showing one method of controlling the folder block in a rod-forming machine
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of another embodiment for controlling the folder block
  • FIG. 5 is a fragmentary showing of the folder block
  • FIG. 6 is a cross section of the folder block taken on the line 6--6 of FIG. 5.
  • the rod-forming section 10 of the rodforming section 10 of the rod-making machine has a ice folder belt 12 supporting the continuous paper wrapper 14 whose edges are turned up to form a trough in which the tobacco lies.
  • the margin 16 (FIG. 2) of the paper is higher than the opposite margin 18 and receives adhesive from a paster wheel 20 prior to its entering the shaped channel 22 of the folder block 24.
  • Folder block 24 is secured at its center to the bed 29 of the machine by the screw 26 to give it a spring cantilever construction allowing right end 28 to be raised in springboard fashion.
  • a pair of screws 27 are threaded into holes in the left end of the folder block. The lower ends of the screws 27 engage the bed 29. By adjusting the screws 27, the spring rate of the folder block may be varied.
  • the margin 16 is guided so that it overlaps the margin 18, and the two margins are held together while the adhesive is bonded by the action of a heated sealer 19.
  • a heated sealer 19 By raising and lowering the entering end 28 of the folder block 24, the amount of overlap of margins 16 and 18, and hence the diameter of the finished rod, may be controlled.
  • the folder block 24 is recessed as shown at 24a to accommodate the sealer 19. Since the point where the folder block 24 is attached to the bed of the apparatus by the screw 26 is spaced from the right hand end of the block, it may be seen that the right hand or entrance portion of the folder block 24 is raised and lowered by the operation of the motor mechanism to be described.
  • the groove 22 on the under side of the block 24 extends over the cigarette rod only as far back as the recess 24a. The portion of the folder block located beyond the recess 24a dOes not extend over the cigarette rod.
  • a sensing head 30 positioned at the output end of the folder block consists of a tube 32 (FIG. 3) through which the formed rod 34 passes.
  • Tube 32 has an annular chamber 31 communicating with bore 33 through radial orifices 35.
  • the rod 34 forms with the tube 32 a throttled aperture whose cross-sectional area changes with variations in rod diameter.
  • the fluid amplifier 39 may consist of a single proportional amplifier stage or it may consist of a plurality of cascaded stages, as is well known in the art.
  • the throttled sensing tube 40 having a throttle 42.
  • Tube 32 of the sensing head communicates by means of a tube 44 with throttled-down portion 40a of tube 40.
  • a throttled tube 46 having a throttle 48 has a throttled-down portion 46a in communication with the ambient through a balancing valve 50' whose orifice 52 may be controlled by the adjustable valve cone 54.
  • One input tube 56 of the fluid amplifier 39 is inserted into the throttled-down portion 40a and communicates with it through a number of peripheral orifices 58.
  • the other input tube 60 is inserted into and communicates with throttled-down portion 46a through a plurality of openings 62.
  • the output tubes 64, 66 of the fluid amplifier 39 communicate respectively with the bellows 68, 70* which are connected by a T-member 72 to each. other and to the free end of the lever 74.
  • Lever 74 is pivoted at 76 and its other end is pivotally connected to a control rod 78 secured at its distal end to the free end 28 of folder block 24.
  • the bellows 68, 70 constitute dead loads on the fluid amplifier 39, in that the bellows are not vented and hence cannot accommodate a flow.
  • the fluid amplifier 39 must be of the internally vented, load insensitive type, in order to drive the dead load bellows 68 and 70.
  • the eifective opening in the orifice 52 may be throttled by a cone 54 until the throttled portions 40a and 46a are equal for the desired diameter of the rod 34.
  • each position of valve 50 corresponds to a predetermined rod diameter.
  • the output duct 64 communicates with one end of a reversible fluid motor 80 while the output duct 66 communicates with the other end of the motor.
  • the motor output shaft 82 is coupled to a leadscrew 84 rotatably but non-slidably mounted in plate I86 and threadedly engaged in the free end 28 of folder block 24.
  • the motor 80 is so constructed that 'when tube 64 is at the higher flow pressure level than 66, output shaft 82 rotates clockwise viewed from above to raise free end 28 of folder block 24. Conversely, when 66 is at the higher level, shaft 82 rotates counterclockwise to lower free end 28.
  • the control system illustrated in FIG. 3 may be termed a proportional control system.
  • the bellows 68 and 70 have inherent spring rates, and tend to assume a balanced position in the absence of (1) any pressure difference between their internal pressures, and (2) any external 4 load. Since the folder block 24 is a spring element, it biases the left end of lever 74 upwardly, constituting an external load on the bellows 68 and 70, and establishing the normal position of the T-member 72, i.e., the position corresponding to the median position of folder block 24, somewhat above the balanced position described above.
  • the valve 50 may be set so that the pressure in bellows 68 is sufficiently greater than the pressure in bellows 70 to hold the folder block in that median position.
  • the cigarette rod 34 becomes larger and hence increasingly restricts the flow in the sensing head 30, the pressure in the bellows 68 is decreased and the pressure in the bellows 70 is increased. This raises the left end of lever 74 and lowers the folder block 24, decreasing the diameter of the cigarette rod. This movement of the folder block 24 continues until the pressure difference between the two bellows is again balanced by the inherent spring rates of the two bellows, and that of the folder block.
  • valve 50 determines the diameter of the cigarette rod.
  • the position of the folder block 28 is independent of any forces acting on the rotary fluid motor 80.
  • This system always operates the fluid motor in one direction or the other until the pressure losses at the sensing head 30 and the valve 50 are equal so that the pressure supplied through the conduits 64 and 66 are equal.
  • the folder block 24 may assume any position within its range of movement as long as that position will maintain the two pressures balanced. This may be termed a floating control system, as opposed to the proportional control system of FIG. 3. Nevertheless, in this system also, a setting of the valve 50 determines the diameter of the cigarette rod. V
  • a continuous rod-forming device having a folder block, adjustable means supporting said folder block for adjustment toward and away from the axis of said rod, a fluid-flow sensing instrumentality operatively positioned near said folder block and constructed and arranged to sense a change in diameter of said continuously moving rod, a conduit to conduct a continuous flow of fluid to said sensing instrumentality, a fluid amplifier connected to said conduit and to said fluid-flow sensing instrumentality, a' fluid actuated mechanism mechanically connected to said adjustable means and connected to said fluid amplifier so that variations in the diameter of said rod produces compensating variations in the adjustable position of said folder block whereby said folder block is moved toward said axis in response to an increase in diameter of said rod and away from said axis in response to a decrease in diameter of said rod.
  • a device substantially as set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that said fluid sensing instrumentality comprises a balanced air bridge having one leg in communication with a tube surrounding and spaced from said rod.
  • Apparatus for controlling the diameter of a cigarette rod comprising:

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  • Manufacturing Of Cigar And Cigarette Tobacco (AREA)
  • Chairs Characterized By Structure (AREA)
US733390A 1968-05-31 1968-05-31 Air actuated apparatus for controlling the diameter of a cigarette rod Expired - Lifetime US3477441A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US73339068A 1968-05-31 1968-05-31

Publications (1)

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US3477441A true US3477441A (en) 1969-11-11

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US733390A Expired - Lifetime US3477441A (en) 1968-05-31 1968-05-31 Air actuated apparatus for controlling the diameter of a cigarette rod

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US (1) US3477441A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1927607A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1256938A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6152145A (en) * 1997-05-21 2000-11-28 Focke & Co. (Gmbh & Co.) Process and apparatus for producing a (cigarette) rod

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US711987A (en) * 1901-12-11 1902-10-28 Frank J Ludington Process of making cigarettes from continuous cigarette-rods.
US1630488A (en) * 1926-06-05 1927-05-31 American Mach & Foundry Mount for the tongues of cigarette-rod-forming mechanism
US2669996A (en) * 1949-08-10 1954-02-23 Edward W Berriman Method for manufacturing cigars and preformed fillers therefor
US3288147A (en) * 1959-06-03 1966-11-29 Molins Machine Co Ltd Tobacco-manipulating machines
US3380351A (en) * 1966-02-14 1968-04-30 Philip Morris Inc Continuous rod circumference measurement and control
US3410289A (en) * 1965-04-02 1968-11-12 Bowles Eng Corp Pure fluid remote control system

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US711987A (en) * 1901-12-11 1902-10-28 Frank J Ludington Process of making cigarettes from continuous cigarette-rods.
US1630488A (en) * 1926-06-05 1927-05-31 American Mach & Foundry Mount for the tongues of cigarette-rod-forming mechanism
US2669996A (en) * 1949-08-10 1954-02-23 Edward W Berriman Method for manufacturing cigars and preformed fillers therefor
US3288147A (en) * 1959-06-03 1966-11-29 Molins Machine Co Ltd Tobacco-manipulating machines
US3410289A (en) * 1965-04-02 1968-11-12 Bowles Eng Corp Pure fluid remote control system
US3380351A (en) * 1966-02-14 1968-04-30 Philip Morris Inc Continuous rod circumference measurement and control

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6152145A (en) * 1997-05-21 2000-11-28 Focke & Co. (Gmbh & Co.) Process and apparatus for producing a (cigarette) rod

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1927607A1 (de) 1969-12-04
GB1256938A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-12-15

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