Philip Morris Inc.

Chrysalis Technologies Incorporated

Philip Morris USA Inc.

A Clifton Lilly, Jr

Seetharama C Deevi

Grier S Fleischhauer

Vinod Kumar Sikka

Mohammad R Hajaligol

Warren E Claflin

D Bruce Losee

Harry V Lanzillotti

Peter Martin

F Murphy Sprinkel, Jr

Mary Ellen Counts

Francis V Utsch

Edward B Stultz

Susan E Wrenn

Michael L Watkins

Willie G Houck, Jr

John R Hearn

Alfred L Collins

Kenneth S Houghton

Charles R Hayward

Charles T Higgins

Henry M Dante

Everett C Grollimund

Billy J Keen, Jr

Edward B Sanders

Walter W Duley

Randall M German

Amitabh Das

Clive Scorey

James L Myracle

Jerry F Whidby

Mark A Serrano

G Robert Scott

Robert L Ripley

Patrick H Hayes

Constance H Morgan

Robert E Lee

Renzer R Ritt, Sr

Constance H Nichols

Henry B Merritt

George H Burnett

Wynn R Raymond

John F Nienow

Thomas S Osdene

Hugh J McCafferty, Ii

Alline R Wayte

Mohammed R Hajaligol

William R Hardesty

Ulysses A Brooks

Cassandra D Owens

Edward S Gee

Peter J Lipowicz

William R Sweeney

Yezdi B Pithawalla

John Bryant Paine, Iii

Sarojini Deevi

Kent Brian Koller

William J Crowe

Herbert Herman

Bernard A Semp

George Robert Scott

James M Washington

Joseph L Banyasz

Bernard C LaRoy

Eugene B Fischer

Andrew G Kallianos

Rowland W Dwyer

Francis M Watson, Iii

M Samy El-Shall

Hector Alonso

Ernest Cashwell

Purusottam Jena

Leo C Lanzel

Robert V Gansert

John S Price

Roger L Hopkins

Harry V Lanzilliotti

Elizabeth D Mooz

Bijan K Rao

William S Nystrom

Traci L Franklin

Grier Fleishhauer

Clifford H Goldsmith

Jim M Ehrman

A method of making Cu, Zn, and/or Cu/Zn alloy nanoparticles subjects one or more targets to laser energy to form a vapor and condenses the vapor to form nanoparticles having an average particle size of less than 20 nm. The optional application of an electric field results in nanoparticles with aspect ratios greater than 1.0. The target(s) can be a single target or separate targets comprising a mixture of copper, zinc, and/or copper/zinc. When separate targets are used, the laser beam can be split to form two separate beams each of which is made incident upon one of the targets. The nanoparticles can be formed in a chamber having an inert atmosphere or a reactive atmosphere and a convection current is created in the chamber by maintaining the top plate at a lower temperature than the bottom plate.

Copper and/or zinc alloy nanopowders made by laser vaporization and condensation

A piezoelectrically driven fluid pump includes a chamber having two opposite sidewalls formed by flexible membranes, and an inlet and an outlet each regulated by a valve. Separate piezo elements are fixed to each of the membranes, to flex the membranes and increase or reduce the chamber volume and thereby draw fluid into the chamber or expel fluid from the chamber. The valves are each formed by two adjacent piezo elements that are supported or flexibly joined together at two opposite ends. When actuated, the valve piezo elements flex outward between the two opposite ends, opening the valve to form an aperture between the two piezo elements. In another embodiment, a fluid pump includes a chamber having one flexible membrane sidewall. A valve-regulated inlet or outlet aperture through the membrane communicates with the pump chamber. A ring-shaped piezo centered around the aperture, on the membrane, flexes the membrane.

Piezoelectrically driven fluids pump and piezoelectric fluid valve

A filter such as a cigarette filter having a metal reagent which selectively binds with a gaseous component of a gas stream such as tobacco smoke. The metal reagent comprises nanometer or micrometer size clusters of a transition metal or alloy containing a transition metal. The transition metal can be incorporated in an intermetallic compound such as titanium aluminide or iron aluminide. The metal clusters can be incorporated in or on a support material such as silica gel, porous carbon or a zeolite. The metal reagent can remove the gaseous component by selectively binding to unsaturated hydrocarbons such as 1,3-butadiene. The binding can occur by insertion of a metal atom of the metal reagent into a C&#x2014;H bond or a C&#x2014;C bond of the gaseous component.

Cigarette filter using intermetallic compounds

An on-demand inkjet printhead includes an ink chamber provided with a plurality of nozzles and a single piezoelectric actuator for increasing pressure of ink within the chamber. Each nozzle is equipped with a heater element. Ink is ejected from selected nozzles of the printhead by energizing the heater elements of the selected nozzles to reduce surface tension and viscosity of ink at the selected nozzles, and applying an actuation voltage to the piezoelectric actuator to generate a pressure pulse in the ink within the ink chamber that ejects ink droplets from the selected nozzles but not from the non-selected nozzles. The ink chamber can also be provided with a plurality of piezoelectric actuators, each of which can be actuated independently.

Inkjet printhead with high nozzle to pressure activator ratio

An electrical smoking system comprising a cigarette and an electric lighter, wherein the cigarette comprises a tubular tobacco mat partially filled with material tobacco so as to define a filled tobacco rod portion and an unfilled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the electrical heater element of the lighter at least partially superposes at least a portion of the filled tobacco rod portion. The cigarette and the lighter are also mutually arranged so that when the cigarette is received in the lighter, the free end of the cigarette is occluded. The cigarette includes a zone of perforations at a location along the filled tobacco rod portion, with the cigarette being free of perforations along the unfilled tobacco rod portion. An apparatus for perforating a cigarette which can be smoked in an electrical smoking device includes a drum link-up assembly and a laser perforating apparatus. The apparatus can be used in a method of perforating a tobacco rod of the cigarette prior to assembly of the tobacco rod to a filter rod via tipping paper. In the method, a tobacco rod is supplied to the drum link-up assembly wherein the tobacco rod is moved from a combining apparatus to a tipping apparatus which attaches the tobacco rod to a filter rod by tipping paper. In making the cigarettes with a tobacco rod and a filter rod, a combining apparatus forms a continuous tobacco rod which is cut into 2-up tobacco rods.

Electrical smoking system and method

A method and apparatus for detecting, locating, isolating and controlling variations in the manufacturing process by transient thermography. A heat source ( ) imparts heat to a surface which is radiated in the infrared region. Infrared sensors ( ) are coupled to a processor which tracks the physical characteristics of the sample, and provides feedback to a central process controller to make adjustments to the manufacturing process. The sample can be a continuous product such as a green powder metal sheet or tobacco product.

Process control by transient thermography

A powder metallurgical process of preparing a sheet from a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as an iron, nickel or titanium aluminide. The sheet can be manufactured into electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 4 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as &lE;1% Cr, &gE;0.05% Zr &lE;2% Ti, &lE;2% Mo, &lE;1% Ni, &lE;0.75% C, &lE;0.1% B, &lE;1% submicron oxide particles and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, &lE;1% rare earth metal, and/or &lE;3% Cu. The process includes forming a non-densified metal sheet by consolidating a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as by roll compaction, tape casting or plasma spraying, forming a cold rolled sheet by cold rolling the non-densified metal sheet so as to increase the density and reduce the thickness thereof and annealing the cold rolled sheet. The powder can be a water, polymer or gas atomized powder which is subjecting to sieving and/or blending with a binder prior to the consolidation step. After the consolidation step, the sheet can be partially sintered. The cold rolling and/or annealing steps can be repeated to achieve the desired sheet thickness and properties. The annealing can be carried out in a vacuum furnace with a vacuum or inert atmosphere. During final annealing, the cold rolled sheet recrystallizes to an average grain size of about 10 to 30 &mgr;m. Final stress relief annealing can be carried out in the B2 phase temperature range.

Method of manufacturing aluminide sheet by thermomechanical processing of aluminide powders

A tobacco smoking mixture is provided that includes tobacco and at least one inorganic particulate material. The at least one inorganic particulate material is effective to reduce the temperature of a burning portion of the tobacco smoking mixture upon combustion/pyrolysis thereof. The at least one inorganic particulate material can be an inorganic carbonate, an inorganic hydrate, an inorganic oxide, an inorganic phosphate, a carbon material or combinations thereof.

Tobacco smoking mixture for smoking articles such as cigarettes

The invention relates generally to aluminum containing iron-base alloys useful as electrical resistance heating elements. The aluminum containing iron-base alloys have improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The alloy has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and includes, in weight %, over 4% Al, &lE;1% Cr and either &gE;0.05% Zr or Zro stringers extending perpendicular to an exposed surface of the heating element or &gE;0.1% oxide dispersoid particles. The alloy can contain 14-32% Al, &lE;2% Ti, &lE;2% Mo, &lE;1% Zr, &lE;1% C, &lE;0.1% B. &lE;30% oxide dispersoid and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, &lE;1% rare earth metal, &lE;1% oxygen, &lE;3% Cu, balance Fe.

Oxidation, carburization and/or sulfidation resistant iron aluminide alloy

A miniature heat source capable of being used in a hand-held device for delivering a metered pulse of fuel to a combustion chamber where it is converted into a pulsed amount of heat. For example, the heat source apparatus can be used in a hand-held cigarette smoking system or within a portable device wherein a microturbine generates electricity, as well as any type of environment where a high energy pulse of heat is desired. The heat source includes a valve such as a sliding, rotatable or timed valve which delivers a metered volume of fuel to the combustion chamber. The valve can deliver the fuel, in an expanded gaseous form, to a venturi conduit which increases the velocity of the gas flow, and delivers the fuel to a combustion chamber where the gas is mixed with air. The combustible mixture is then combusted within the combustion chamber by ignition and/or by catalyzed oxidation. The heat source provides a consistent, controlled and pulsed amount of heat with a higher energy capacity as compared to battery powered heat sources.

Miniature pulsed heat source

Thermomechanical processing of plasma sprayed intermetallic sheets

A powder metallurgical process of preparing iron aluminide useful as electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 20 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as &lE;1% Cr, &gE;0.05% Zr or ZrO,stringers extending perpendicular to an exposed surface of the heating element, &lE;2% Ti, &lE;2% Mo, &lE;1% Zr, &lE;1% C, &lE;0.1% B, &lE;30% oxide dispersoid and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, &lE;1% rare earth metal, &lE;1% oxygen, and/or &lE;3% Cu. The process includes forming a mixture of aluminum powder and iron powder, shaping the mixture into an article such as by cold rolling the mixture into a sheet, and sintering the article at a temperature sufficient to react the iron and aluminum powders and form iron aluminide. The sintering can be followed by hot or cold rolling to reduce porosity created during the sintering step and optional annealing steps in a vacuum or inert atmosphere.

Method of manufacturing iron aluminide by thermomechanical processing of elemental powers

The invention relates generally to aluminum containing iron-base alloys useful as electrical resistance heating elements. The aluminum containing iron-base alloys have improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The alloy has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and includes, in weight %, over 4% Al, &lE;1% Cr and either &gE;0.05% Zr or ZrO,stringers extending perpendicular to an exposed surface of the heating element or &gE;0.1% oxide dispersoid particles. The alloy can contain 14-32% Al, &lE;2% Ti, &lE;2% Mo, &lE;1% Zr, &lE;1% C, &lE;0.1% B, &lE;30% oxide dispersoid and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, &lE;1% rare earth metal, &lE;1% oxygen, &lE;3% Cu, balance Fe.

Iron aluminide useful as electrical resistance heating elements

A powder metallurgical process of preparing iron aluminide useful as electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 20 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as .ltoreq.1% Cr, .gtoreq.05% Zr or ZrO.sub.2 stringers extending perpendicular to an exposed surface of the heating element, .ltoreq.2% Ti, .ltoreq.2% Mo, .ltoreq.1% Zr, .ltoreq.1% C, .ltoreq.0.1% B, .ltoreq.30% oxide dispersoid and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, .ltoreq.1 % rare earth metal, .ltoreq.1% oxygen, and/or .ltoreq.3% Cu. The process includes forming a mixture of aluminum powder and iron powder, shaping the mixture into an article such as by cold rolling the mixture into a sheet, and sintering the article at a temperature sufficient to react the iron and aluminum powders and form iron aluminide. The sintering can be followed by hot or cold rolling to reduce porosity created during the sintering step and optional annealing steps in a vacuum or inert atmosphere.

Method of manufacturing iron aluminide by thermomechanical processing of

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Chesterfield, VA, United States of America

A Clifton Lilly, Jr