US3858593A

US3858593A - Method of felting two tobacco fillers in a cigar or cigar rod

Info

Publication number: US3858593A
Application number: US432523A
Authority: US
Inventors: Henrious Johannes Maas
Original assignee: Arenco PMB NV
Current assignee: Arenco PMB NV
Priority date: 1971-01-08
Filing date: 1974-01-11
Publication date: 1975-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-07
Also published as: NL7100272A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of producing cigar rods, the filler for the smokable part and the filler for the mouth part being supplied separately to a press well; between the separately supplied fillers there will be a more or less pronounced separating plane, which decreases the strength of the cigar rod; to increase said strength the fillers must engage or felt together at the separating plane and according to the invention the amount of interengagement of the fillers can be controlled.

Description

United States Patent [191 Maas [ 1 3,858,593 [451 Jan. 7, 1975 [54] METHOD OF FELTING TWO TOBACCO FILLERS IN A CIGAR OR CIGAR ROD [75] Inventor: Henrious Johannes Maas,

Eindhoven, Netherlands [73] Assignee: Arenco-P;M.B. N.V., Best,

Netherlands [22] Filed: Jan. 11, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 432,523

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 217,445, Jan. 13, 197 2,

abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 8, 1971 Netherlands 7100272 [52] US. Cl 131/81 A, 131/39, 131/44, 131/46 [51] Int. Cl A240 01/02, A24c 01/24 8 Field of Search 131/81 A, 81 R, 39, 44, 131/61 B, 46, 14

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 438,903 10/1890 Thompson 131/44 X 520,881 6/1894 Hagen 1. 1131/81 A 2,329,169 9/1943 Wheeler 131/81 R 3,232,296 2/1966 Dreher 131/39 X 3,515,147 6/1970 Sledge (:1 ul. 131/46 X Primary Examiner-WnL H. Grieh Assistant Examiner-John F. Pitrelli Attorney, Agent. or FirmSnyder, Brown and Ramik [57] ABSTRACT The invention relates to a method of producing cigar rods, the filler for the smokable part and the filler for the mouth part being supplied separately to a press well; between the separately supplied fillers there will be a more or less pronounced separating plane, which decreases the strength of the cigar rod; to increase said strength the fillers must engage or felt together at the separating plane and according to the invention the amount of interengagement of the fillers can be controlled.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures METHOD OF FELTING TWO TOBACCO FILLERS IN A CIGAR OR CIGAR ROD This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 217,445 filed Jan. 13, 1972, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method of producing cigar rods, the filler for the mouth part and the filler for the smokable part of the rod being supplied separately to a press well comprising a punch mechanism which compresses the fillers introduced into the well and pushes them.

If a cigar rod is made from two separately supplied tobaccos or from a tobacco filler and a filler of filter material, there will be a more or less pronounced separating plane between the smokable part and the mouth part. Although the cigar strength is provided by the wrapper to some extent, it is nevertheless essential that such strength should be increased by the tiller. To this end, the two types of tobacco or tobacco and filter material respectively must engage'or felt together at the separating plane. The degree of felting will vary with the type of filler.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a method in which the amount of interengagement of the tobaccos or tobacco and filter material respectively at the separating plane can be controlled.

To this end, according to the invention, the separately supplied fillers remain separate in the well over a predetermined well length extending from the feed end.

Another object of the invention is to provide a system with which this method can be performed.

To this end, the system is provided with a press well comprising a punch mechanism and at least two ducts for the separate supply of the fillers, characterised in that the well contains at least one partition of predetermined length extending from the place at the beginning of the well where the feed ducts meet.

Every type of tiller used will now give a definite amount of felting on compression in the well. To make the system suitable for treating different types of filler intended for the mouth and smokable parts of the cigar respectively, it is preferable for the longitudinal partition disposed in the well to be replaceable by a partition of a different length.

In another preferred embodiment of the system according to the invention, the partition is disposed in the well so as to be adjustable in the longitudinal direction of said partition.

The felting of the two types of tobacco or filter material and tobacco respectively is also dependent upon the pressure exerted thereon in the well. In order that the contents in each part of the well can be pressed separately, a preferred embodiment of the system is such that the punch mechanism for the various well parts separated by one or more partitions is provided with its own spring-loaded punch and the punch springs are separately adjustable.

The invention will now be explained with reference to drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the system and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the system for pressing cigar rods, in which two cigar rods with the lighting ends facing one another are pressed at a time.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 11-11 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section on the line lIl-Ill in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows two cigar rods still connected at the lighting ends, with a different type of tobacco in the mouth end from the tobacco in the smokable part.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference 1 denotes the press well, in which two cigar rods disposed with the lighting ends facing one another are pressed simultaneously. The press system 2 in this embodiment consists of two interconnected punches 3 for pressing the amounts of tobacco intended for the smokable part of the cigar and two interconnected punches 4 for pressing the amount of tobacco intended for the mouth end. The punches 3 are interconnected via a spring holder 5, while the punches 4 are each connected to a pressing mechanism 6 via a spring holder 7. The pre-stressing of each spring in the spring holders is adjustable by means of a nut 8. Near each of the longitudinal walls, the press well 1 is provided with adjustable partitions 9 interconnected by a yoke. Each partition 9 partly divides the working space of the well 1 covered by the adjacent punches 3 and 4.

FIG. 2 shows that the tobacco for the smokable part of the cigar drops into a duct 12 via a hopper 11 from a conveyor belt 10, while the tobacco for the mouth end of the cigar is introduced via a feed pipe 13 into ducts l4 situated on either side of the duct 12. A flap 15 can shut the outlet of the ducts l2 and 14 if necessary. At the outlet of the press well, a cutter 17 cuts off the exact quantity of the pressed tobacco for a cigar rod, and this quantity can be pressed, for example, into a U-shaped synthetic wrapper used in a strand wrapping machine.

FIG. 3 shows the various tobaccos in the press well 1, the parts intended for the smokable part and for the mouth end still being separated by the partition 9.

The system operates as follows. The tobacco intended for the smokable part and for the mouth end respectively is supplied by the conveyor belt 10 and the pipe 13 and drops into the ducts l2 and 14 respectively. The tobacco then reaches the part of the well 1 situated in front of the punches 3 and 4. When sufficient tobacco has been supplied, the flap 15 closes, whereupon the pressure mechanism 6 moves all the punches simultaneously to the left in P10. 1. The tobacco is thus pressed to a given density, the pressing force being dependent upon the force of the spring associated with the punches as adjusted by the nuts 8. The pressing force for the tobacco intended for the smokable part must be set to a different value from that for the tobacco for the mouth end. The two amounts of tobacco are kept separate by means of the adjustable partition 9 over a given length of the well until the tobaccos come into contact with one another at the end of the partition 9 and can combine or felt together to varying extents in the last part of the well. The amount of felting depends on the length of the well over which the tobaccos are not separated or, in other words, the position of the partition 9. At the end of the well 1 the cutter 17 cuts off the exact amount of pressed tobacco and tobacco can then be supplied again after the punches have been withdrawn and the flap l5 opened.

FlG. 4 shows two cigar rods which have not yet been separated and the lighting ends of which face one another. It will be apparent that the mouth end has a different tobacco from the smokable part, the said two types of tobacco merging to varying extents at the separating plane S.

It will be understood, that instead of using a different type of tobacco for the mouth end of the cigar rod, it is possible to substitute filter material for said tobacco.

Finally the invention is not restricted to producing cigars made from merely two types of tobacco, because a plurality of types is also possible, for which a corresponding plurality partitions and punches need to be used in the system for pressing cigar rods.

What I claim is:

1. In a cigar making machine, in combination:

an elongate press well structure having a space at one end thereof for accumulating packed cigar material; cutter means associated with said space for cutting off packed cigar material accumulated therein; first supply means communicating with said well for discharging smoking tobacco material into a first longitudinally extending zone of said well; second supply means communicating with said well for discharging mouth part filler material into a second longitudinally extending zone of said well, said first and second longitudinally extending zones being side-by-side and each leading to said space whereat packed cigar material is accumulated;

punch means movable in said zones for selectively feeding said materials continuously and at the same time from both of said zones into said space continuously to interfelt said materials as they are continuously fed together; and

partition wall means for separating said zones longitudinally thereof to selected points relative to said one end of the press well structure selectively to control felting of said smoking tobacco material and said mouth part filler material as they are accumulated in said space.

2. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said partition wall means comprises an elongate partition wall slidably received in said press well structure and means for selectively positioning said partition wall in said press well structure.

3. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said punch means comprises a first punch member slidable in said first zone and a second punch member slidable in said second zone, common drive means for continuously moving'said punch members and means for separately adjusting punching pressure exerted by said first and second punch members.

4. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said partition wall means comprises at least two partition wall members of different lengths and selectively positionable in said press well structure.

5. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 4 wherein said punch means comprises a first punch member slidable in said first zone and a second punch member slidable in said second zone, common drive means for continuously moving said punch members and means for separately adjusting punching pressure exerted by said first and second punch members.

6. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said punch means comprises a first punch member slidable in said second zone, common drive means for continuously moving said punch members and means for separately adjusting punching pressure exerted by said first and second punch members.

7. The method for producing cigar rods in which the cigar rod includes a lengthwise section of smoking material merging and interfelted with a lengthwise section of mouth part filler material, which comprises the steps of:

a. separately forming longitudinally extending zones of said smoking tobacco material and of said mouth part filler material and axially punching said materials intermittently to move both of said zones continuously and together;

b. contacting said moving zones in side-by-side relation and accumulating the materials in a rodforming space;

c. cutting off the accumulated materials in said rodforming space; and

d. selectively controlling the longitudinal extent of the contacting of step (b) for selectively controlling the interfelting of said materials.

8..The method as defined in claim 7 wherein the axial punching of step (a) is separately pressure-controlled for the two zones.

Claims

1. In a cigar making machine, in combination: an elongate press well structure having a space at one end thereof for accumulating packed cigar material; cutter means associated with said space for cutting off packed cigar material accumulated therein; first supply means communicating with said well for discharging smoking tobacco material into a first longitudinally extending zone of said well; second supply means communicating with said well for discharging mouth part filler material into a second longitudinally extending zone of said well, said first and second longitudinally extending zones being side-by-side and each leading to said space whereat packed cigar material is accumulated; punch means movable in said zones for selectively feeding said materials continuously and at the same time from both of said zones into said space continuously to interfelt said materials as they are continuously fed together; and partition wall means for separating said zones longitudinally thereof to selected points relative to said one end of the press well structure selectively to control felting of said smoking tobacco material and said mouth part filler material as they are accumulated in said space.

3. In a cigar making machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said punch means comprises a first punch member slidable in said first zone and a second punch member slidable in said second zone, common drive means for continuously moving said punch members and means for separately adjusting punching pressure exerted by said first and second punch members.

7. The method for producing cigar rods in which the cigar rod includes a lengthwise section of smoking material merging and interfelted with a lengthwise section of mouth part filler material, which comprises the steps of: a. separately forming longitudinally extending zones of said smoking tobacco material and of said mouth part filler material and axially punching said materials intermittently to move both of said zones continuously and together; b. contacting said moving zones in side-by-side relation and accumulating the materials in a rod-forming space; c. cutting off the accumulated materials in said rod-forming space; and d. selectively controlling the longitudinal extent of the contacting of step (b) for selectively controlling the interfelting of said materials.

8. The method as defined in claim 7 wherein the axial punching of step (a) is separately pressure-controlled for the two zones.