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
  • A24C5/47—Attaching filters or mouthpieces to cigars or cigarettes, e.g. inserting filters into cigarettes or their mouthpieces
  • A24C5/471—Attaching filters or mouthpieces to cigars or cigarettes, e.g. inserting filters into cigarettes or their mouthpieces by means of a connecting band

Definitions

• the present application pertains generally to methods and apparatus for tipping smoking articles, and pertains more especially to such methods and apparatus for tipping oval smoking articles.
• the methods and apparatus of this invention are suitable equally for tipping smok ⁇ ing articles having oval or circular cross-sections..
• a continuous tobacco rod a paper tube filled with shredded tobacco or tobacco substitute
• a continuous rod of filter material is extruded and cut into lengths.
• the resulting filter plugs are collected in trays and placed in the hopper of a tipping machine, which cuts the filter plugs to twice the length of a single filter, joins each double-length filter plug to two filterless cigarettes and severs the resulting assem ⁇ bly to form two complete cigarettes.
• the filter plugs are gravity-fed from the hopper into flutes or grooves in the periphery of a rotating drum.
• the filter plugs are held in place in the flutes by means of vacuum suction exerted from the drum interior.
• the filter plugs can be
• OMPI passed from one such drum to another by proper timing of the rotations of the two drums, and by simultan ⁇ eously deactivating the suction applied to a particu ⁇ lar groove of the first drum as that groove comes face-to-face with a groove of the second drum.
• This permits a filter plug in the first flute to be pulled over into the opposing flute of the second drum by the suction applied to the latter.
• the filter plugs passed in this manner from one drum to another eventu ⁇ ally are transferred to the flutes of a feed drum. In each flute two previously-deposited cigarette rods flank the filter plug end-to-end.
• the resulting double cigarette assembly is transferred to a rolling drum, beside which is a metallic rolling block.
• a rolling drum beside which is a metallic rolling block.
• Each cigarette assembly is rolled along the rolling block by the drum.
• the rolling action wraps the tipping material around the cigarette assembly, to which it adheres as a result of the glue.
• Suitable heating elements in the rolling block commonly are used to cure the adhesive rapidly.
• the double cigarette assembly is then trans ⁇ ferred to a cutter drum, which moves it past a disc, knife that severs the assembly into two complete cigarettes.
• the cigarettes are then inspected and moved to a discharge point, from which they are taken to another machine for packing.
• the conventional tipping machine described above is designed to handle cigarettes of- circular
• Another object of an alternate embodiment of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus equally suitable for tipping smoking articles having circular or non-circular cross sections.
• Another object of the invention is to pro ⁇ vide such a method and apparatus by means of which it is possible to roll an oval cigarette assembly to wrap such tipping material therearound.
• Another object of the invention is to pro ⁇ vide such a method and apparatus with which it is possible to roll an oval cigarette assembly while applying relatively low pressure thereto.
• Still another object of the invention is to provide such a method and apparatus by means of which it is possible to roll an oval cigarette assem ⁇ bly relatively slowly, to prevent damage to the pro ⁇ duct, while nonetheless processing a large number of such articles per unit time.
• Still another object of the invention is to provide such a method and apparatus by means of which it is .possible to tip oval cigarettes without distorting the shape thereof.
• Yet another object of the invention is to achieve the foregoing objects in a manner which per ⁇ mits the ready and easy adaptation of existing tipping machines to the production of oval cigarettes.
• an oval cigarette assembly is provided at a first feed point in a predetermined orientation and in contact with both the peripheral surface of a rolling drum and the surface of a pressure element, preferably an endless belt.
• the rolling drum is rotated at a first angular speed, about its axis, and the pressure element is simultaneously moved generally parallel to the surface of the drum about the same axis, at a different angular speed.
• the difference in angular speeds causes- the oval cigarette assembly to roll along the surface of the rolling drum. If the difference in speeds is properly chosen, the rolling of the cigarette assembly is sufficiently
• OMPI slow to wrap the tipping material around it reliably and without damage to the cigarette assembly.
• the rolling drum speed determines the machine through-put.
• each cigarette assembly rolls a distance which is an integral multiple of the spacing between adjacent flutes, and.an integral multiple of the cigarette circumference. If this is done, the wrapped cigarette assembly will lie in a flute, and in the same angular orientation as at the original feed point. This facilitates the transfer of the wrapped cigarette assemblies to the following drums for the remaining steps carried out by the tipping machine.
• the scope of one embodiment the invention includes tipping not only strictly elliptical smoking articles,-but all such articles having a generally rounded but non- circular cross-section, even including one or more flat portions or edges, provided only that any such angularity is not such as to render the apparatus and method disclosed, and their equivalents, unwork ⁇ able as applied to the shape in question.
• An alter ⁇ nate embodiment of the invention is applicable equally to cigarettes of circular or non-circular cross- section.
• “oval” includes all non-circular shapes to which the invention is applicable.
• Figure 1 is a somewhat schematic elevational view of a tipping.machine incorporating apparatus for carrying out the method.of the invention.
• Figure 2 is a detail of Figure- 1 showing the preferred embodiments of the apparatus for carry ⁇ ing out the method of the invention.
• Figure 3 is a sectional view taken from line 3-3 of Figure 2.
• a tipping machine incorporating the inven ⁇ tion moves oval filter plugs from a hopper along a path on which they are cut to twice the length of a single filter and mated end to end with oval filter ⁇ less cigarettes supplied from a cigarette maker.
• - Tipping material in sheet form such as cork or tip ⁇ ping paper, is drawn from a roll and has an adhesive applied to one side of it.
• the tipping material is then cut into lengths, each of which is attached to an assembly comprising two filterless cigarettes abutting a double-length filter plug between them end-to-end.
• the rolling drum assembly of the present invention is used to wrap the piece of tipping material around the oval cigarette assembly, firmly securing the filter plug to the tobacco rods.
• the cigarette assembly is then cut into two oval ciga ⁇ rettes and delivered to the output point of the tip ⁇ ping machine to be transported to the next work station.
• FIG. 1 shows an overview of such a tipping machine 10.
• the tipping machine 10 has a hopper 12 in which filter plugs P two, four times or six times as long as needed for one cigarette are received. Adjacent the bottom opening of the hopper 12, on one side, is a continuous belt 14 mounted on two rollers 16, 18, which drive the belt 14 so as to feed filter plugs downward toward the bottom opening of the hopper 12.
• a plug drum 20, described in detail in copending application Serial No. 480,809, is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis below the bottom opening of the hopper 12.
• the plug drum 20 has evenly spaced flutes 22 around its circumference and includes a conventional mechanism in its interior for applying vacuum suction to selected flutes 22.
• the rotation of the drum 20 carries the plug out of the hopper 12.
• a refuser roller 24 is disposed adjacent the hopper opening on the side toward which the filter plugs move as they leave the hopper, i.e., the side opposite the feeder belt 14.
• the refuser roller 24 rotates in such a direction as to tend to knock filter plugs back into the hopper 12 (clockwise in Figure 1), and is spaced from the plug drum 20 such a distance that a filter plug seated in a flute 22 will clear the refuser roller 24 while a filter plug lying on the periphery of the drum and not in a flute 22 will be kept in the hopper 12 by the refuser roller 24.
• Adjacent the plug drum 20 are two slitter disc knives 26, 28 mounted for rotation about respec ⁇ tive horizontal axes.
• the knives 26, 28 are posi ⁇ tioned so as to cut each filter plug into three seg ⁇ ments of equal length. (If the filter plugs in the hopper 12 are only four times the length of one filter, only one of the two slitter knives shown is needed.) Grinding wheels 30, 32 adjacent each slitter disc 26, .28 sharpen the knives.
• Each double length filter plug is trans ⁇ ferred from the plug drum 20 to a grading drum 34, which staggers the two or three filter plugs cut from one original plug.
• Two guide blocks 36, 38 between the plug drum 20 and the grading drum 34 . are used to give each oval filter plug the same angular orientation, as disclosed in detail in copending application Serial No. 480,809.
• the grading drum 34 transfers them in a known manner to a shifting drum 40, where vacuum suction is used in known manner to draw each filter plug toward the axially middle portion of the drum 40, thus combining the two or three staggered parallel series of filter plugs into a single series.
• the filter plugs are then transferred in the known manner to an-accelerating drum 42, which accelerates them
• oval tobacco rods cut to the length of individual cigarettes are received from a cigarette maker.
• the maker feeds the filter ⁇ less tobacco rods individually in staggered relation ⁇ ship, longitudinally onto a take-off drum 46.
• the single-length filterless cigarettes then pass in the known way to the grading drums 48, where the indi ⁇ vidual cigarettes are transferred to permit alignment for transfer to the feed drum 44.
• the grading drum 48 then transfers them in the known way to the feed drum 44, on which the filter plugs are then placed in the manner described.
• the resulting combination of filter plug and cigarettes is moved to the swash- plate drum 50, on which the cigarettes are-moved toward each other so that they abut the filter plug end-to-end. While on this drum 50, the resulting double cigarette assembly (the combination of filter plug and tobacco rods) receives a piece of adhesive- coated tipping material.
• the tipping material is supplied in the following known manner.
• a roll 52 of tipping material is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis. (Two rolls 52 are shown. As one is used up, the second is spliced to the first. )
• the material is pulled from the roll 52 and is led along a path defined by various rollers 54, past a bath 56 of adhesive, which is preferably heat-activatable.
• a roller 58 partially immersed in the bath 56 and rotating about a horizontal axis coats an adjacent applicator roller 60 with adhesive.
• the tipping material web is passed along the surface of the appli ⁇ cator roller 60 so that one surface of the web is coated with the adhesive.
• the tipping material is then transported to the cork drum 62, which serves as a platen to permit the tipping material, " held
• OMPI against the drum 62 by suction to be cut into lengths by means of knives 64 mounted on a rotating knife drum 66.
• Rotary brushes 68, 70 adjacent the cork knife drum 66 remove debris, dust and the like from the cork knives 64.
• the rotation of the cork drum 62 brings each piece of tipping material, with the adhesive side exposed, into contact with a cigarette assembly on the swashplate drum 50.
• the cork drum suction on the tipping material is terminated at the moment of contact with the cigarette assembly, to which the adhesive sticks.
• the material contacts and adheres to the assembly along a single line, and extends from the assembly like a tab.
• the tipping material is then wrapped around the assembly by the rolling drum .71 of, the invention, as described below.
• the cigarette assemblies are passed to a transfer drum 72 and thence to a cutting drum 74 adjacent which is a. slitter disc knife 76.
• the slitter knife 76 cuts each double cigarette assembly into two ciga ⁇ rettes.
• a grinder wheel 78 adjacent the slitter disc knife 76 maintains its sharpness.-
• the cigarettes are. then moved by an additional transfer drum 80 to a turning drum 82, which reverses one of the two parallel mirror-image series of cigarettes so that all the cigarettes have the same orientation.
• the cigarettes proceed to an inspection drum 84, thence to an ejection drum 86 that removes any cigarette identified as defective, and finally to a catcher drum 88 that places the remaining cigarettes on two catcher belts 90 to be taken to the next machine.
• a guide wheel 92 above the belts 90 decelerates the cigarettes as they are placed on the belts 90.
• FIG 2 shows the apparatus of the inven ⁇ tion in greater-detail.
• a mounting plate 94 having an arcuate slot 96 is to one side of the rolling drum 71, the axis of which coincides with the center of curvature of the arcuate slot 96.
• the cross- section of the slot 96 is T-shaped (see Figure 3).
• a first roller 98 is mounted for rotation on an axle 100 disposed in the slot 96.
• a draw bolt is used as the axle shaft of the first roller 98.
• the draw bolt 100 has a flange 104, which is received in the broad part 106 of the slot 96 (see Figure 3). By means of the draw bolt 100, one can move the first roller 98 to any desired position along the arcuate slot 96 and fix it there.
• the mounting plate 94 may, if desired, be attached to the body of the tip ⁇ ping machine by means of bolts (not shown) received in horizontal slots (not shown) in the mounting plate, permitting the lateral position of the mounting plate relative to the rolling drum 71 to be adjusted.
• the mounting plate 94 also supports one end of a bracket 108 mounted thereon to be pivotable about a horizontal axis 110 and carrying at its free end a tension roller 112 and 114.
• a spring biases the bracket 108 away from the drum 71 (counterclockwise in Figure 1).
• An additional plate 116 is secured, as by bolts 118, to the mount ⁇ ing plate 94.
• An arm 120 is secured to and depends vertically from the second plate 116.
• One end of a spring 126 is secured to the lower end of arm 120 and has its other end attached to bracket 122 to urge roller 124 upward-
• a driver roller 126 is mounted on the tip ⁇ ping machine for rotation about a horizontal axis 130 above the pressure roller 124.
• a scraper 132 is supported by the bracket 122.
• a continuous belt 134 extends in a loop around the first roller 98, over the top of roller 114, around the tension roller 112, and around the driver roller 126.. In the absence of cigarette assemblies on the rolling drum 71, the belt 134 rests against the periphery of the ' drum 71.
• An alternate embodiment of the invention comprises the addition of nip roller 71* and makes the invention suitable for tipping either oval or circular cross-section cigarettes.
• Nip roller 71' is mounted for rotation beneath endless belt 134 to slightly narrow the gap between belt 134 and rolling drum 71.
• Nip roller 71* is located along the length of the gap so that, as each cigarette traverses the gap, its tipping paper overlap seam is radially aligned with nip roller 71' at the point where the nip roller makes line contact with belt.134. In the case of oval cigarettes, this point.of alignment will be across the minor axis of the oval.
• the slight additional pressure exerted by nip roller 71' is of short duration, is exerted substantially only along the tipping paper overlap seam, and is insufficient to permanently deform the cigarett 'from .its previous cross-sectional shape.
• Each double oval ciga ⁇ rette assembly reaches the nip between the. first roller 98 and the rolling drum 71 while riding in a flute on the latter in a predetermined orientation.
• the belt 134 is driven to move in the same direction as the adjacent periphery of the rolling drum 71, but at a different angular speed as measured about the rolling drum axis.
• an object between the belt 134 and the rolling drum 71 is caused to roll- long the surface of the drum 71 while being moved forward along the path between the drum 71 and the belt 134 by the drum's rotation.
• the tipping material is applied to the portion of the cigarette assembly radially farthest from the center of the swashplate drum 50.
• drum 50 transfers the ciga ⁇ rette assembly to the rolling drum 71, the sheet of
• OMPI tipping paper is received more or less flat against the rolling drum surface (neglecting the flute in which the assembly is placed), and trailing the assem ⁇ bly.
• the belt 134 is driven so that its angular speed is less than that of the drum 71, causing the cigarette assemblies to roll along the drum surface retrograde (i.e., counterclockwise in Figure 2).
• the tension in the belt 134 is maintained constant by means of the spring (not shown) on the pivotal mount of the tensioning roller bracket 108.
• the pressure the belt 134 exerts on a cigarette assembly is substantially constant, despite the oval shape of the cigarette assemby.
• the belt would exert a periodically vari ⁇ able pressure on a cigarette assembly, increasing the likelihood of damage to the cigarette.
• the tensioning device described satis ⁇ factorily causes the belt 134 to exert substantially constant pressure against as many cigarette assemblies as may be in the gap between the drum 71 and belt 134 at a given time. . It will be recognized that this result is -essential for the large-scale, high-speed production of oval cigarettes, since it is not eco ⁇ nomically feasible to pass only one through the gap at a time.
• the cigarette assemblies have the same orientation relative to the rolling drum 71 upon leaving the gap that they have upon entering. To. nsure that this is the case, the length of the gap must be an integral multiple of the perimeter of the cigarette assemblies. This can be adjusted precisely by suitably locating the first roller 98 along the arcuate slot 96.
• OMPI Heating elements of a known type may, if desired, be provided in the rolling drum 71 to aid in curing the adhesive rapidly.
• the apparatus and method described cause the cigarettes to be wrapped relatively slowly even while being moved through the tipping machine at a very high speed. This permits the wrapping operation to be carried out sufficiently slowly to prevent damage to the products while maintaining a high pro ⁇ duction rate.
• each ciga ⁇ rette passes the point where nip roller 71' urges belt 134 toward drum 71 to slightly narrow the gap.
• the slight narrowing of the gap between belt 134 and drum 71 causes a momentary increase in pressure exerted on the tipping paper overlap seam and ensures a secure bond.

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• Manufacturing Of Cigar And Cigarette Tobacco (AREA)

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Citations (3)

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• 1984
  • 1984-03-12 WO PCT/US1984/000372 patent/WO1984003818A1/en unknown
  • 1984-03-30 EP EP19840302222 patent/EP0124289B1/de not_active Expired
  • 1984-03-30 DE DE8484302222T patent/DE3465419D1/de not_active Expired

Patent Citations (3)

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