Tobacco – Cigar or cigarette making – Wrapping devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-27
2004-10-19
Walls, Dionne A. (Department: 1731)
Tobacco
Cigar or cigarette making
Wrapping devices
C131S069000, C131S090000, C131S284000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06805133
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an art of manufacturing filter cigarettes of a type designed to take air into a filter through small holes in a tip-paper piece to thereby achieve a desired dilution characteristic, and especially to a filter cigarette air permeability characteristic stabilization device for stabilizing the ratio of the amount of the air which flows into a filter through small holes in a tip-paper piece.
BACKGROUND ART
The taste of a filter cigarette of this type depends on its dilution characteristic, and the dilution characteristic depends much on the amount of air taken in, especially taken in through a filter. Specifically, the higher the degree of dilution, the milder the cigarette tastes. Conversely, the lower the degree of dilution, the stronger the cigarette tastes. Hence, in order to ensure that manufactured filter cigarettes (products) have stable quality, it is required to stabilize the ratio of the amount of the air which flows through a filter to the amount of the air which flows through an entire filter cigarette (this ratio will be hereinafter referred to as “air-flow ratio”).
One of the causes of difference in air-flow ratio between products is difference in space between the circumference of a filter-tip and a tip-paper piece (hereinafter, this difference will sometimes be referred to as “difference in circumferential tip space”). Thus, there is found large difference in circumferential tip space, among all manufactured products. Specifically, when a tip-paper piece is rolled around the circumference of a filter-tip more tightly, the space between the circumference of the filter-tip and the tip-paper piece is smaller. Hence, air-flow resistance in small holes is larger, and accordingly, the ratio of the air flowing into the filter is lower. Conversely, when a tip-paper piece is rolled around the circumference of a filter-tip less tightly, the space between the circumference of the filter-tip and the tip-paper piece is larger. Hence, air-flow resistance in small holes is smaller, and accordingly, it can be said that the air-flow ratio tends to be higher.
In this connection, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H5-268928, Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. H7-45200 etc. disclose a technique in which, when a tip-paper piece is rolled around a cigarette and filter-plug in a filter attachment machine, rolling of the tip-paper piece is performed following rotation of the cigarette and filter-plug stably, to thereby prevent inappropriate rolling of the tip-paper piece. It is recognized that, in the technique known from those publications, glue on the tip-paper piece is preliminarily dried prior to rolling of the tip-paper piece, to enhance the initial adhesive power of the glue to thereby help stable rolling of the tip-paper piece.
However, paper like tip-paper has a material property such that, when it is dried, fibers shrink as the water content thereof decreases. Here, the larger the reduction in water content of paper, the larger the fiber shrinkage tends to be. In manufacturing filter cigarettes, if the water content of a tip-paper web as a material is not uniform, tip-paper pieces, which are cut from the tip-paper web, shrink to different degrees of shrinkage (at different shrinkage percentages) when glue on them is dried after they are rolled around half-finished filter cigarettes, respectively. The difference in shrinkage percentage between tip-paper pieces leads to difference in the above-mentioned circumferential tip space between products, and hence difference in air-flow resistance in small holes. Thus, in manufacturing filter cigarettes, the ratio of the air flowing into a filter cannot be stabilized perfectly, only by preventing inappropriate rolling of a tip-paper piece.
In this connection, it is conceivable, in manufacturing filter cigarettes, to keep rolls of tip-paper web as a material under control so that they may have the same water content all the time, to thereby keep the percentage of shrinkage caused by glue-drying within a certain range. However, in paper factories, printing factories and tobacco-manufacturing factories, conditions such as humidity, temperature, etc. under which tip-paper webs are stored are different. In addition, the water content of a tip-paper web varies depending on countries and regions of the world, and are much affected by external factors such as seasons, change in weather, etc. in different regions and countries. Thus, it is technically very difficult to keep all rolls of tip-paper web as materials in the same water-content condition, under normal environmental conditions of existing factories.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in order to achieve many objects. One of the objects is to make it possible to manufacture high-quality filter cigarettes, without adding large-scale new equipment.
One mode of an apparatus for stabilizing air permeability characteristic of filter cigarettes according to the present invention can be carried out, for example, by modifying filter cigarette manufacturing equipment. Specifically, it is designed to dry a tip-paper web forcibly in the process of supplying the tip-paper web to a rolling section of a filter attachment machine, to thereby stabilize the water content of a tip-paper piece, which is to be rolled around a cigarette and filter-plug, in an absolute dry region. It is however to be noted that the present invention is not restricted to a mode achieved by modifying cigarette manufacturing equipment. It may be of a mode such that all the structure is built separately anew.
As stated above, the water content of a web as a material varies depending on environmental conditions. The normal range of water content is defined depending on environmental conditions of a country or region where filter cigarettes are to be manufactured. For example, in Japan, normally, the water content of a web is, on average, in a region of about 4% and above, throughout the year. It can be said that also in other countries and regions, the water content of a web is lower, for example, in dry climate, and higher in humid climate.
As stated above, the range of water content of a web varies as environmental conditions vary. However, it can be said that the water content of a web has a lower limit which depends on the environmental conditions of a country or region. The present invention intends to eliminate the influence of difference in water content of a web (material) upon manufactured filter cigarettes (products), by preliminarily drying the web to thereby lower, in advance, the range of water content of the web into an absolute dry region, which is a lower water-content region as compared with a normal water-content region.
For example, in a filter attachment machine suited for high-speed operation, a double-length cigarette received from a cigarette making machine is divided in two, and a filter-plug of twice the length of a filter-tip is arranged between those two cigarettes in the manner that the two cigarettes and the filter-plug are in line, to thereby form a half-finished double-filter cigarette. The half-finished product is supplied to a rolling drum in a rolling section. While the half-finished double-filter cigarette as a whole rolls on the rolling drum, a tip-paper piece is rolled around the half-finished double-filter cigarette, to thereby form a double-filter cigarette. A tip-paper web is drawn out continuously from a roll. While the web is guided along a feed path, glue is applied to one side thereof in accordance with a predetermined pattern. Then, the web is cut into tip-paper pieces. Each tip-paper piece is supplied to the rolling section, where the tip-paper piece is rolled around two cigarettes with a filter-plug between, in the manner that the tip-paper piece covers the filter-plug and one end of each cigarette. Then, glue is dried.
In the present invention, since the water-content of a tip-paper piece is, in advance, stabilized in an absolute dry region, i.e., a lower water-content regio
Matsumura Takeshi
Takagi Yasuyuki
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Japan Tobacco Inc.
Walls Dionne A.
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