Tobacco – Cigar or cigarette making – Including perforating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-08
2002-04-02
Silverman, Stanley S. (Department: 1731)
Tobacco
Cigar or cigarette making
Including perforating
C219S121710, C219S121770, C219S121600, C219S121140
Reexamination Certificate
active
06363942
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a perforating apparatus for producing openings in a peripheral surface of a substantially elongate, cylindrical object, in particular a cigarette, comprising a light source for producing at least an energy-rich light beam by means of which the openings can be formed in the object, an operative zone which can be produced by a guidance tracking means for guidance tracking of the light beam and within which the light beam acts on an object moving through the operative zone for forming the openings therein, rolling means for producing a rotary movement of the objects about their own longitudinal axis while the objects move through the operative zone in order to expose the peripheral surface to the light beam, and transport means for conveying the object through the operative zone.
Apparatuses for providing perforations in elongated cylindrical objects are known from the prior art, but none have the advantages provided for by the current invention. Such apparatuses serve in the prior art, in particular in the tobacco-processing industry, to provide smoking articles, in particular cigarettes, with a zone affording the desired permeability for air. This zone involving the desired permeability for air is usually formed in a sheathing material strip of the smoking article or cigarette. That perforation in the peripheral surface of the smoking article, which is mostly provided in the region of the tip end, is of significance in the cigarette industry as smoking articles which are perforated in that way provide that cool air from the ambient atmosphere is added to the smoke when the smoker draws on the smoking article or cigarette. That cool air serves in turn to influence the proportions of nicotine and condensate in the smoke.
In regard to forming perforations in the peripheral surface of a substantially elongate, cylindrical object, in particular a cigarette, a fundamentally important consideration is that the perforation can be produced uniformly and reproducibly. For that purpose, lasers are mostly used as the light source in the state of the art. In that situation, the size of the holes forming the openings in the peripheral surface can be varied by means of suitable focusing of the laser beam.
In the state of the art, rolling drums and the like are mostly used as the transport means for the cigarettes to be perforated. Those rolling drums convey the cigarettes with their axis disposed transversely, through the point of impingement of the laser beam. In order to achieve a perforation effect not only at one location on the peripheral surface but in order to produce the perforation effect at least over a part of the periphery, the cigarette, while it is being conveyed with its axis in a transverse position by the rolling drum serving as the transport means, is usually rolled by means of rolling means which engage the cigarettes from the side in opposite relationship to the rolling drum. It is important in regard to rolling the object between two surfaces in that way that the cigarette or the smoking article is subjected to pressure forces and the like, to the minimum possible extent. For, forces of that kind have an adverse effect on the quality of the cigarette.
A known perforating apparatus which operates with a laser is shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,818. The reference discloses a perforating apparatus using a plurality of rollers as the transport means for the cigarettes. A conveyor belt serving as the rolling means rotates on those rollers so that the cigarettes are disposed between the conveyor belt and the rollers. Because the conveyor belt moves at a different speed from the rollers, the cigarettes which are disposed between the conveyor belt and the rollers are caused to perform a rotary movement about their own axis. In addition, disposed at the centre of one of the rollers is a laser with a laser beam which also rotates and which burns the perforations into the rotating cigarettes.
A disadvantage with this prior art device is that the laser beam must also rotate with one of the rollers and that the rotary movement of the laser beam must be exactly matched to the conveying movement of the cigarettes. This arrangement involves a very high level of technical complication and expenditure to operate and thus a very high level of cost.
A further device is known from DE 33 10 930. This reference discloses a perforating apparatus in which, with the cigarettes circulating on a drum, the appropriate perforations are formed in the sheathing or casing of the cigarettes to be perforated by means of a heart-shaped reflector in which a laser beam circulates.
This device similarly suffers from the disadvantages of requiring a very high level of technical complication and expenditure, as it is necessary to rotate the laser beam in the heart-shaped reflector. This must be done while simultaneously rotating the cigarettes synchronously with the rotational movement or reflection of the laser beam to the correct position so that the perforations are formed uniformly in the casing of the cigarettes. This synchronisation is difficult and costly to maintain.
Still a further device is known from DE 34 31 051. In that publication, a laser is also connected to a complicated reflector arrangement. In this case also, the laser beam is guided by way of a highly complicated arrangement of mirrors and rotating reflectors to the location to be perforated, on the casing of the cigarette that rotates on a roller. This apparatus is also extremely complicated and expensive and in addition can only be synchronised with a very great deal of difficulty, suffering from the same disadvantage of cost and complexity of the earlier cited devices.
A further device is known from DE 34 31 067. This reference represents a combination of the teachings of the two previously disclosed references. It therefore also suffers from the disadvantages described hereinbefore with reference to the last two publications.
A further perforating apparatus is known from DE 42 18 266. In this apparatus, the cigarettes that are being conveyed are disposed between a plurality of rollers so that they can be rotated between these rollers. Carried on the conveyor roller for the cigarettes is a polygonal mirror which projects a laser beam onto the cigarettes to be perforated.
This arrangement also suffers from the disadvantage that the cigarettes must be perforated by means of an expensive and complicated polygonal mirror configuration. Furthermore, this apparatus suffers from the disadvantage that the cigarettes are respectively disposed between three rollers so that the individual cigarettes are subjected to the effect of very high forces which can have a disadvantageous effect on the condition of the cigarette.
Finally, DE 27 51 522 discloses a further perforating apparatus. In this perforating apparatus, the cigarettes are caused to rotate about their own axis between a rolling drum and a so-called rolling block. During the rotary movement of the cigarettes, a laser beam perforates the cigarettes. As, during their rolling movement between the rolling drum and the rolling block, the cigarettes are advanced in the rolling passage formed in that way, relative to the laser, the laser beam is guided in such a way as to track the cigarette which moves in the rolling passage. That guidance tracking action for the laser beam is performed in this prior-art perforating apparatus by means of a drum, which at its periphery carries a plurality of mirrors. This rotating polygonal mirror arrangement must be activated synchronously with the movement of the cigarettes in the rolling passage formed by the rolling block and the rolling drum. This state of the art therefore requires a very high level of synchronisation and precision in order to be able to achieve a satisfactory perforating result.
Besides the disadvantages just referred to above, the device further suffers from the disadvantage that the perforations can only be formed in the cigarette during half a rotation of the cigarette about it
Dombek Manfred
Voss Helmut
Halpern Mark
Hauni Maschinenbau AG
Kinberg Robert
Silverman Stanley S.
Venable
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