Tobacco – Cigar or cigarette making – Tobacco feeding
Patent
1982-12-15
1985-08-13
Millin, V.
Tobacco
Cigar or cigarette making
Tobacco feeding
131 843, A24C 102, A24C 539
Patent
active
045343683
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
Cigarette manufacture commonly involves the delivery of predetermined quantities of tobacco at substantially regular intervals into a tobacco storage space in a hopper of a cigarette making machine from which a metered carpet of tobacco is fed continuously to form a cigarette filler stream. The term "carpet" in this context refers to a wide fleece or stream of tobacco which is very much wider than the cigarette filler stream, each portion of which is commonly formed from tobacco derived from various positions across the width of the carpet, so that there is an averaging effect tending to produce a substantially uniform cigarette filler stream. For example, the carpet is commonly fed continuously into a channel through which the tobacco is showered (e.g. upwards with the aid of an air stream) onto a conveyor on which the filler stream is formed and is carried by suction. Examples of such cigarette making machines are the Molins' Mark 8 and Mark 9 machines. A hopper of a type commonly used in such machines is shown in British Patent Specification No. 909,222; British Patent Specification No. 916,141 shows in principle how a cigarette filler stream is formed from tobacco fed from the hopper.
This invention is concerned with feeding tobacco substantially continuously into the hopper of a cigarette making machine, thus avoiding the need for the hopper to store a large quantity of tobacco. Prior proposals in this connection are described in our British Patent Specifications Nos. 1,192,177 and 1,456,498.
According to one aspect of the present invention, apparatus for feeding tobacco pneumatically into a cigarette making machine comprises a duct defined on one side by a wall which increases in width (i.e. in cross-section) along the length of the duct from an inlet end to an outlet end, is concave in longitudinal section so that centrifugal force on the tobacco will urge the tobacco against that wall of the duct, and carries a splitter member arranged to split the tobacco stream flowing along the said wall into separate streams passing along opposite sides of the splitter member, and to spread apart the two streams. The splitter member preferably extends, from the wall carrying it, only part of the way towards the opposite wall of the duct, thus allowing a substantially unrestricted flow passage for air in the duct across part of the thickness of the duct.
The air transporting the tobacco through the duct is preferably separated from the tobacco by means of an air separator downstream of the duct. Alternatively, the air (or most of it) may be separated before the tobacco enters the duct, the tobacco being carried through the duct mainly or entirely by its forward momentum.
The splitter member may be followed by two further splitter members carried by the same wall of the duct and arranged to split each of the two separate streams to produce four separate streams. Further splitter members may be provided if desired.
The wall of the duct carrying the splitter member or members is preferably a lower wall of the duct. Thus gravity assists in urging the tobacco onto it.
Because of the splitting and spreading of the tobacco stream, apparatus according to this invention can be used to feed tobacco from a relatively narrow pipe (e.g. of round cross-section) into a channel having a width considerably greater than its thickness (both measured transversely to the direction of movement of the tobacco through the channel). The width of the channel may correspond approximately to the width of the carpet to be formed from the tobacco delivered from the channel.
In the case of a cigarette making machine producing discard tobacco (e.g. tobacco removed from the cigarette filler stream by a trimmer), the discard tobacco may be fed pneumatically into the duct via an opening in the wall carrying the splitter member or members, preferably in the following manner. At a position along the duct where centrifugal force has already caused the tobacco stream in the duct to pass along the wall carrying the splitter member or members, the disc
REFERENCES:
patent: 2684690 (1954-07-01), Lee
patent: 3949763 (1976-04-01), Labbe et al.
patent: 4155367 (1979-05-01), Rudszinat et al.
patent: 4175570 (1979-11-01), Heitmann
patent: 4372326 (1983-02-01), Seragnoli
patent: 4458698 (1984-07-01), Brackmann
Macey H.
Millin V.
Molins PLC
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