WO2000074506A1

WO2000074506A1 - Cut cigarette feeding device of cigarette producing machine

Info

Publication number: WO2000074506A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/003670
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shigemi Mashino; Toshio Aizawa
Original assignee: Japan Tobacco Inc.
Priority date: 1999-06-08
Filing date: 2000-06-06
Publication date: 2000-12-14
Also published as: US20020040719A1; TW440434B; CN1354628A; AU5105700A; EP1188386A1; EP1188386A4

Abstract

A cut cigarette feeding device of a cigarette producing machine, comprising two cigarette feeders (4) disposed along a cigarette band, each cigarette feeder further comprising reservoirs (12) and (13) for cut cigarette, a stacking chute (26) receiving cut cigarette through a bottom conveyor (18) and a lift conveyor (22) and stacking the cut cigarette, a feed roller unit (34) delivering the cut cigarette, an acceleration roller (43) accelerating the delivered cut cigarette, and a jet diffuser (46) blowing up the cut cigarette toward a chimney (10), the chimney being adjacent to the running direction of the cigarette band and inclined toward the running direction.

Description

Specification

Cigarette making machine chopping tobacco supply equipment

The present invention relates to a supply device for supplying cut tobacco to a tobacco band of a cigarette manufacturing machine. Background art

In general, a cigarette manufacturing machine uses a trough-type tobacco supply device (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-73992 or Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-70422) or a chimney-type tobacco supply device.

According to the trough-type feeding device, the cut tobacco is transferred from the reservoir to the feed roller unit via the inclined conveyor and the gravity chute, and is further transferred from the feed port along with the air flow along the trough from the lignit, and is manufactured by cigarette manufacturing. Supplied to tobacco bands of machine builders.

On the other hand, according to the chimney-type supply device, the cut tobacco passes through a pair of dispensing drums from the reservoir, is transported into the chimney, and is blown up by the rising airflow in the chimney and supplied to the tobacco band. You.

In recent years, with the speeding up of cigarette making machines, it has become difficult to maintain the flavor and quality of the manufactured cigarettes stably. One of the causes is considered to be the crushing of tobacco in the feeder described above and the volatilization of top flavor added to the tobacco.

More specifically, in the case of the chimney-type feeding device, as the speed of the cigarette making machine increases, the rotation speed of the pair of payout drums also increases, and therefore, when the cigarette passes through the payout drum, the shredded tobacco is broken. To increase. Such an increase in crushing In the manufacturing process of let-to-fill cigarettes, it is easy for the tobacco to fall off from the cut ends of the cigarettes, which is a major factor in lowering the quality of cigarettes. On the other hand, in the case of a trough-type feeding device, the speed of the air flowing along the trough increases with the speeding up of the cigarette making machine, and when the cut tobacco is transported through the trough, it directly contacts the cut tobacco. The amount of air that is released, that is, the amount of air exposure, increases. Increasing air exposure increases the volatilization of top flavor added to minced tobacco. Therefore, smokers are perceived as having reduced tobacco smoke, astringent and grainy with tobacco smoke due to the reduced top flavor of the manufactured cigarettes. If the air exposure in the feeder is specified by the amount of air that comes into contact with the tobacco between the time when the tobacco is supplied from the reservoir to the tobacco band, the amount of air exposure

Q is represented by the following equation.

Q = S S (V a-V t) d t… (1)

Where S is the contact area of the tobacco and air,

V a is the flow velocity of the air that transports the tobacco,

V t is the traveling speed of the tobacco,

t indicates time.

Assuming that the air exposure amount of the chimney type supply device obtained based on the above equation (1) is 1.0, the air exposure amount of the trough type supply apparatus obtained from the above (1) is 1.7. Even with the same type of trough-type supply device, the air exposure of a long trough-type supply device having a trough of 1.4 times the length is 1.9.

The difference in air exposure between the chimney-type supply device and the trough-type supply device is thought to be due to the difference in the transport distance of the tobacco cut by the air flow. That is, in the case of the trough type feeding device, the transfer distance from the feed roller unit to the entrance of the trough is approximately 600 to 800 mm, whereas in the case of the chimney type feeding device, the delivery drum is connected to the chimney. The transfer distance to the entrance is about 100 to 15 O iran, The transfer distance of the second type feeding device is shorter than the transfer distance of the trough type feeding device. Therefore, chimney-type feeders have less air exposure than trough-type feeders.

Fig. 4 shows the evaluation of the taste of cigarettes produced using the chimney type and trough type feeding devices, respectively. In Fig. 4, the higher the flavor rating, the better the flavor of the cigarette. In Fig. 4, A, B and C show the evaluation results of the cigarettes manufactured using the chimney type, trough type and long trough type feeding devices, respectively. As is evident from Fig. 4, there is a negative correlation between flavor and air exposure. In other words, as air exposure increases, the palatability of cigarettes worsens.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the air exposure, it is necessary to reduce the trimming amount of the cut tobacco on the cut tobacco layer formed on the tobacco band. Stable quantitative properties must be ensured. Disclosure of the invention

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a tobacco supply apparatus for a cigarette manufacturing machine which reduces the amount of air exposure and crushing of the tobacco, and is excellent in quantitative supply of the tobacco.

The above objective is accomplished by a tobacco supply device according to the present invention, which comprises a tobacco feeder. The tobacco feeder receives the tobacco from the reservoir where the tobacco is stored, the ascending conveyor that receives the tobacco from the reservoir and transports it upwards, and receives the tobacco from the ascending conveyor and deposits the received tobacco. A feed roller unit of a fixed-feed type for sending chopped tobacco from a stacking stack, and the chopped tobacco sent from the feed roller unit. The accelerating means for accelerating without using pressure, and the pneumatic conveying means for conveying the cut tobacco accelerated by the accelerating means to the tobacco band of the cigarette making machine together with the air flow. The means include chimneys for guiding the tobacco and airflow towards the tobacco band, the chimneys being inclined in the direction of travel of the tobacco band.

In the feeder described above, the air exposure of the tobacco in the deposition chute is greatly reduced because the tobacco in the deposition chute is in a piled state. In addition, the sedimentary shot enables a stable supply of the cut tobacco to the feed roller unit, assuring a quantitative supply of the feed roller unit and reducing the shredding of the cut tobacco.

Since the accelerating means does not pneumatically accelerate the tobacco, the acceleration path from the feed roller unit to the pneumatic conveying means can be short. Therefore, the acceleration means does not increase the air exposure of the tobacco.

If the chimney is tilted, a speed component is given to the tobacco band traveling in the chimney along with the air flow in the traveling direction of the tobacco band, so that the cut tobacco is stably adsorbed to the tobacco band in a layered manner. As a result, air exposure of tobacco is reduced.

As described above, the supply device of the present invention can reduce both the amount of shredded tobacco air exposed and the crushed tobacco, and maintain good flavor and quality of cigarette.

Preferably, the supply device may further include a bottom conveyor. The bottom conveyor forms the bottom wall of the reservoir and transports the tobacco from the reservoir to the ascending conveyor. Such a bottom conveyor smoothly feeds tobacco from the reservoir to the ascending conveyor and reduces shredding of tobacco.

Further, the supply device may include a plurality of tobacco feeders. In this case, the chimneys of these tobacco feeders are placed adjacent to the running direction of the tobacco band. It is. When the tobacco band is supplied with tobacco from a plurality of chimneys, the supply of tobacco required for each chimney is reduced, and as a result, the quantitative supply of the tobacco is improved, Its air exposure is reduced.

The pneumatic conveying means includes a jet diffuser for jetting an airflow toward the chimney, and the jet diffuser jets the airflow at an inclination angle corresponding to the inclination angle of the chimney. In this case, the tobacco in the chimney can uniformly receive the velocity component in the traveling direction of the tobacco band.

The acceleration means may include an acceleration roller rotatably disposed between the feed roller unit and the jet diffuser. The accelerating roller mechanically accelerates the cut tobacco by its rotation and does not increase the air exposure of the cut tobacco. Further, the pneumatic conveying means can circulate the air flow supplied to the chimney. In this case, the top flavor volatilized from the cut tobacco does not escape outside the feeder. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a supply device of one embodiment with a part cut away,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the tobacco feeder of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of the acceleration roller of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of air exposure and the flavor taste rank of cigarettes. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, the cigarette making machine is equipped with an endless tobacco band 1. The tobacco band 1 extends toward the rod forming section 2 of the cigarette making machine and runs in the direction of arrow A. Tobacco band 1 is running the Suction It passes through chamber 3 and receives suction force from suction chamber 3. The suction chamber 3 is connected to a blower, and the blower maintains the inside of the suction chamber 3 at a predetermined negative pressure. In addition, as is clear from FIG. 1, the tobacco band 2 is slightly downwardly inclined toward the rod forming section 2.

The cigarette making machine is provided with a supply device for supplying cut tobacco to the tobacco band 1, and the supply device has two tobacco feeders 4. These tobacco feeders 4 are arranged side by side in the running direction of the tobacco band 1. Since these tobacco feeders 4 have the same structure, one tobacco feeder 4 will be described below.

The tobacco feeder 4 has a hopper 5 above the tobacco band 1, and the hopper 5 stores the tobacco. More specifically, the hopper 5 is connected via two lines 6 to a tobacco distributor (not shown). This distributor feeds the tobacco immediately after the addition of the highly volatile top flavor to the hopper 5 through the pipe 6.

On the other hand, chimney 10 is arranged immediately below tobacco band 2. As described later, the cut tobacco in the hopper 5 is introduced into the chimney 10, and is blown up into the chimney 10 toward the tobacco band 1. Therefore, the blown up tobacco is adsorbed in layers on the lower surface of the tobacco band 1, thereby forming a tobacco layer (not shown) on the tobacco band 1. Here, the chimneys 10 of the two tobacco feeders 4 are arranged adjacent to each other in the running direction of the tobacco band 1, as is apparent from FIG.

The cut tobacco layer is transferred to the rod forming section 2 together with the tobacco hand 1 and supplied to the rod forming section. As is known, the rod shaping section wraps the cut tobacco layer with a wrapper (not shown) to form the tobacco rod continuously. As is apparent from FIG. 1, chimney 10 is inclined at a predetermined angle α (for example, α = 45 °) toward the traveling direction of tobacco band 1.

Furthermore, in the running direction of the tobacco band 1, the width of the chimney 10 is shorter than the width of the trough in the conventional trough type feeding device, but the total width W of two adjacent chimneys 10 is It is wider than the width of the chimney in a conventional chimney-type feeding device (for example, 60 mm). By the way, the width of the conventional trough is 1100, while the total width W of the two chimneys 10 is 173 mm, and the width of each chimney 10 is 865 mm. is there.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a supply route of the tobacco from the hopper 5 to the chimney 10 described above. The supply path is provided with a first reservoir 12 and a second reservoir 13 below the hopper 5, and these first and second reservoirs 12 and 13 are separated by a partition wall 11 . As is clear from FIG. 2, the hopper 5, the first reservoir 12 and the second reservoir 13 are arranged on the back of the tobacco feeder 4.

The hopper 5 has a gate 14 that can be opened and closed. When the gate 14 is opened, the cigarette carved into the first reservoir 12 is dropped from the hopper 5. The first reservoir 12 has a level sensor 16 for controlling the opening and closing of the gate 14. The level sensor 16 optically detects the accumulated amount of tobacco in the first reservoir 12 and outputs a detection signal. The gate 14 is opened and closed based on the detection signal from the level sensor 16, whereby the accumulated amount of tobacco in the first reservoir 12 is constantly maintained at a predetermined level or more. Therefore, the fall distance of the cut tobacco from the gate 14 is shortened, and both the air exposure and shattering of the cut tobacco are reduced.

A bottom conveyor 18 is arranged below the first reservoir 12, and the bottom conveyor 18 forms a bottom wall of the first reservoir 12 and extends into the second reservoir 13. At the lower part of the partition wall 11, a payout port 20 is formed. Therefore, Boto JP00 / 03670

When the conveyor 18 runs, the bottom conveyor 18 smoothly discharges the cut tobacco in the first reservoir 12 to the second reservoir 13 through the discharge port 20. When the tobacco cut out from the first reservoir 12 to the second reservoir 13 by the bottom conveyor 18 in this way, the shredding of the cut tobacco is greatly reduced.

A level sensor 15 is also arranged in the second reservoir 13 .The level sensor 15 optically detects the accumulated amount of tobacco in the second reservoir 13 and outputs a detection signal. I do. The traveling speed of the bottom conveyor 18 is controlled based on a detection signal from the level sensor 15, whereby the accumulated amount of the tobacco in the second reservoir 13 is constantly maintained at a predetermined level.

An ascending conveyor 22 is connected to an end of the bottom conveyor 18. The ascending conveyor 22 extends from the end of the bottom conveyor 18 upward at a steep angle. A large number of picking pins are uniformly distributed on the conveying surface of the ascending conveyor 22. Therefore, when the ascending conveyor 22 travels in the direction indicated by the arrow B, the ascending conveyor 22 receives the cut tobacco from the bottom conveyor 18 and turns the received tobacco upward in the form of a layer. Transfer.

A paddle roller 24 is rotatably arranged above the ascending conveyor 22. The rotation of the paddle roller 24 removes the excess tobacco from above the ascending conveyor 22 and keeps the thickness of the tobacco layer on the conveying surface of the ascending conveyor 22 constant.

The upper end of the ascending conveyor 22 is connected to the entrance 28 of the deposition chute 26. More specifically, the inlet 28 is adjacent to the upper end of the ascending conveyor 22 and is largely open upward. The deposition chute 26 has a hanging passage 30 connected to the lower end of the inlet 28, and the hanging passage 30 extends straight down. At the lower end of the hanging passage 30, that is, at the outlet 32 of the accumulation chute 26, a feed roller unit 34 of a constant supply type is arranged.

The tobacco layer reaching the upper end of the ascending conveyor 2 2 0

9 It is supplied to the hanging passage 30 through the inlet 28 of the deposition chute 26. Therefore, the cut tobacco accumulates in the hanging passage 30 and forms the accumulation wall X of the cut tobacco from the feed roller unit 34.

The deposition chute 26 has a level sensor 36, and the level sensor 36 optically detects the upper end level of the deposition wall X and outputs a detection signal. The traveling of the ascending conveyor 22, that is, the amount of tobacco supplied from the ascending conveyor 22 to the stacking chute 26 is controlled based on the detection signal from the level sensor 36, whereby the accumulation in the stacking shot 26 is performed. Wall X is always maintained at a constant height level.

The feed roller unit 34 has a feed roller 38 and a smoothing roller 40. The feed roller 38 is rotatably disposed immediately below the outlet 32 in the accumulation chute 26. The feed roller 38 has a large number of uniformly distributed needles on its outer peripheral surface. The smoothing roller 40 has a smaller diameter than the feed roller 38, and is rotatably disposed so as to be in rolling contact with the feed roller 38 from above. Therefore, a gap corresponding to the length of the needle is secured between the outer peripheral surface of the feed roller 38 and the smoothing roller 40, and this gap communicates with the outlet 32 of the accumulation chute 26.

The feed roller 38 and the smoothing roller 40 rotate counterclockwise as seen in FIG. With the rotation of the feed roller 38, 210 dollars of the feed roller 38 extract the tobacco from the outlet 32 of the accumulation chute 26, while the smoothing roller 40 keeps the amount of the extracted tobacco constant. To maintain. That is, the feed roller 38 outputs the cut tobacco in the form of a layer having a thickness corresponding to the length of the needle.

Here, as described above, since the piled wall X of the tobacco in the chute 26 is always maintained at a constant height level, the overall weight of the piled wall X is relatively heavy. Therefore, even if the cut tobacco is extracted by the feed roller 38, / JPOO / 03670

The stacking wall X in 10 to 26 descends toward the feed roller 38 by its own weight, and the space between the needles of the feed roller 38 is always filled with the cut tobacco in a dense state. As a result, the ejection amount of the cut tobacco from the feed roller 38 is determined by the rotation speed of the feed roller 38, and the feed of the cut tobacco by the feed roller unit 34 is guaranteed.

Since the tobacco in the sediment wall X is densely packed, contact with the tobacco and air forming the sediment wall X is limited. Therefore, the air exposure of tobacco in the deposition chute 26 is greatly reduced. Note that the deposition chute 26 may be vibrated to ensure that the deposition wall X descends smoothly.

The feed roller unit 34 further has a picker roller 42. The picker roller 42 is rotatably disposed downstream of the smoothing roller 40 when viewed in the rotation direction of the feed roller 38. The picker roller 42 removes the cut tobacco from the feed roller 38 by its rotation, and discharges it on the guide plate 44.

The guide plate 44 is connected to a roller shell 48 that covers the feed roller 38 from below, and the roller shell 48 is connected to the wall of the stacking shot 26. As is clear from FIG. 2, the ascending conveyor 22 and the bottom conveyor 18 are covered from below by a conveyor shell 50, and the conveyor shell 50 is connected to the wall of the stacking chute 26.

Further, an acceleration roller 43 is disposed above the guide plate 44 so as to be rotatable adjacent to the picker roller 42. As shown in FIG. 3, the accelerating roller 43 has a number of teeth 43 on its outer peripheral surface. These teeth 43 a have a triangular shape and are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the acceleration roller 43. The cut tobacco discharged from the picker roller 42 is sandwiched between the acceleration roller 43 and the guide plate 44, and the rotation of the acceleration roller 43 causes the cut tobacco on the guide plate 44 to be toothed. 4 3 It is extracted by a and accelerates toward the jet diffuser 46.

The jet diffuser 46 is disposed below the chimney 10 described above, and a guide passage 54 is provided between the jet diffuser 46 and the chimney 10. The jet diffuser 46 is composed of a plate having a number of inclined slits, and is attached to the upper end of the air duct 52. Here, the inclination angle of the inclination slit matches the inclination angle of the chimney 10 described above.

The air duct 52 extends downward from the jet diffuser 46 and is connected to the discharge port of the blower 58. The blower 58 supplies air to the jet diffuser 46 through the air duct 52, whereby the jet diffuser 46 blows out air toward the chimney 10 via the guide passage 54.

The air flow ejected from the jet diffuser 46 generates a rising air flow in the chimney 10 through the guide passage 54. Such an updraft guides the tobacco accelerated by the accelerating roller 43 into the chimney 10 and then ascends to the tobacco band 1 in the chimney 10.

Here, the inclined slits of the jet diffuser 46 rectify the air, and are generated in the chimney 10 in an upward airflow that matches the inclination of the chimney 10 as shown by an arrow C in FIG. Therefore, the speed component in the traveling direction of the tobacco band 1 is given to the tobacco rising toward the tobacco band 1, so that the tobacco is stably adsorbed on the lower surface of the tobacco band 1 in a layered manner. Form a chopped tobacco layer. As a result, the cut tobacco is not adsorbed to the tobacco band 1 and does not stay near the tobacco band 1, so that the air exposure of the cut tobacco can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 2, the blower 58 described above is disposed in the housing 70 of the tobacco feeder 4. More specifically, the housing 70 has a lower chamber 72 sectioned below the above-mentioned mouth—the shell 48 and the conveyor shell 58. 670

The blower 58 is disposed in the lower chamber 72, and has a suction port opened to the lower chamber 72. Note that an adjustment valve 60 is disposed in the suction port.

On the other hand, a blower 74 connected to the suction chamber 3 of the tobacco band 1 is also arranged in the lower chamber 72 of the housing 70, and the discharge port of the blower 74 is open to the lower chamber 72. . Therefore, the air flow sent from the upper end of the chimney 10 is returned to the lower chamber 72 of the housing 70 via the suction chamber 3 and the blower 74, thereby establishing a circulation path of the air flow. ing.

In the case of the tobacco feeder 4, the time required for the cut tobacco to reach the tobacco band 1 from the feed roller unit 34, that is, the air contact time of the cut tobacco is 0.077 sec, whereas In the case of the conventional trough type feeding device, the air contact time of the cut tobacco is 0.298 sec. For this reason, the tobacco feeder 4 of the embodiment can significantly reduce the air exposure of the cut tobacco as compared with the conventional trough type feeder. When disclosed specific measurement data, in the case of tobacco feeder 4, whereas air exposure in the individual cut tobacco is 4. A 4 cm ^3, the conventional trough supply system, the individual cut tobacco amount air exposure is 1 ^3. 7 cm 3.

On the other hand, since the feeder of one embodiment has two tobacco feeders 4, even if the width of each chimney 10 is narrower than the trough of the conventional trough type feeder, the total of the two chimneys 10 can be obtained. The width W is wider than in conventional troughs, so the two chimneys 10 increase the area of supply of tobacco in the direction of travel of the tobacco band 1. As a result, in forming a cut tobacco layer having a predetermined thickness on the tobacco band 1, the supply amount of cut tobacco required for each chimney 10, that is, the speed of the rising airflow in the chimney 10 is determined. Can be lowered. By the way, in the case of the conventional chimney, the speed of the updraft is 29. O mZsec. In the case of the trough-type supply device, while the injection speed of the air flow along the trough is 4 OmZsec, the speed of the ascending airflow in the chimney 10 is reduced to 26.5 mZsec. When the speed of the updraft in the chimney 10 is reduced, the air exposure of the shredded tobacco is reduced. In the case of the conventional chimney-type feeding device, the empty exposure of each cut tobacco is 7.0 cm ³ .

As described above, if the width of each chimney 10 is narrow, the upward air flow in chimney 10 is likely to be generated as a uniform laminar flow in the width direction of chimney 10. Such an updraft uniformly supplies the tobacco on the lower surface of the tobacco band 1 and enables the quantitative supply of the tobacco to the tobacco band 1. As a result, the density of the cut tobacco layer formed on the tobacco band 1 becomes uniform in the running direction of the tobacco band 1, and the quality of the cigarette is improved.

On the other hand, when the supply amount of the tobacco in each tobacco feeder 4 is reduced, the rotation speed of the feed roller unit 34, that is, the feed roller 38 and the picker roller 40 is also reduced. Therefore, when the tobacco is ejected from the accumulation chute 26 by the feed roller unit 34, the shredding of the tobacco is greatly reduced.

As described above, the tobacco feeder 4 of one embodiment reduces the air exposure of shredded tobacco, thereby suppressing the volatilization of the top flavor added to the shredded tobacco and stably maintaining the flavor of cigarettes. it can.

Further, as described above, since the airflow generated by the blower is circulating in the tobacco feeder 4, the top flavor volatilized from the cut tobacco in the tobacco feeder 4 does not escape to the outside of the tobacco feeder 4. Therefore, the air in the tobacco feeder 4 is saturated with the top flavor, and the volatilization of the top flavor from the cut tobacco thereafter is reliably prevented.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A tobacco supply device for a cigarette manufacturing machine, wherein the supply device includes a tobacco feeder, and the tobacco feeder includes:

A reservoir with carved tobacco,

A lifting conveyer that receives the tobacco from the reservoir and transports it upward;

A deposition chute for receiving the cut tobacco from the ascending conveyor and depositing the received cut tobacco;

A fixed-feed-type feed roller unit for sending the cut tobacco from the stacking shot;

Acceleration means for accelerating the tobacco sent from the feed roller unit without using air pressure;

Pneumatic conveying means for conveying the cut tobacco accelerated by the accelerating means together with an air flow toward the tobacco band of the cigarette making machine;

Including

The pneumatic conveying means has a chimney for guiding the cut tobacco and the air flow toward the tobacco band, and the chimney is inclined in a traveling direction of the tobacco band.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

The apparatus further includes a bottom conveyor forming a bottom wall of the reservoir, and transferring the tobacco from the reservoir toward the ascending conveyor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1,

The apparatus includes a plurality of the tobacco feeders, and the chimneys of the tobacco feeders are arranged adjacent to each other in the traveling direction of the tobacco band.

4. In the apparatus of claim 1, The pneumatic conveying means includes a jet diffuser for jetting an air flow toward the chimney, and the jet diffuser jets the air flow at an inclination angle that matches the inclination angle of the chimney.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein

The acceleration means includes an acceleration roller rotatably disposed between the feed roller unit and the jet diffuser, and the acceleration roller mechanically accelerates the cut tobacco by its rotation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1,

The pneumatic conveying means circulates the air flow.