Molins Plc

Godfrey A Wood

Derek H Dyett

Francis A Labbe

David B Stewart

Edward G Preston

Hugh M Arthur

Ivan Yehudi Hirsh

Albert D Seim, Ii

Paul R Wiese

John R Nowers

Ronald A Ahern

John A Mills

High M Arthur

Hugh M Arther

Apparatus for feeding tobacco in or to a cigarette making machine comprises a number of carded rollers (10, 11, 12, 18) which transfer a metered stream of tobacco from one to the other while allowing relatively short strands or particles of tobacco to drop out from the transfer point or points, means (29, 30, 31, 32) for collecting and metering the tobacco shorts, and means (23, 24, 26, 28) for collecting and metering longer particles of tobacco which travel beyond the transfer point or points from which tobacco shorts drop out, the metered streams of tobacco shorts and longer particles being combined to form a cigarette filler stream which is to be enclosed in a continuous wrapper to form a continuous cigarette rod.

Cigarette making machine

A cigarette making machine has an arrangement for showering tobacco A (a high-taste tobacco) on to a first conveyor carrying outward projections defining the ends of portions of tobacco A which are then transferred at spaced intervals to a second conveyor arranged thereafter to receive a layer of tobacco B (a low-tar tobacco or substitute) filling the spaces between the portions of tobacco A and extending over those portions. The machine includes a trimming device for removing excess tobacco B to form a cigarette filler stream ready for enclosing in a paper wrapper to form a continuous rod. This allows the manufacture of 'light' cigarettes of which the first few puffs have an enhanced taste as a result of the tobacco A at the lit end.

Cigarette manufacture

Cigarettes are perforated by being rolled along a row of pins which are excited, for example by being vibrated. Vibration may be towards and away from the cigarettes so that the pins penetrate as a result of the vibration; the depth of penetration may be varied to control the size of the perforations. Alternatively the vibration may be in a direction transverse to the axes of the pins. In either case the pins may be mounted on a flexible member having a resonant frequency equal to the frequency of vibration. The vibratorary drive may be an electro magnetic device or a piexoelectric crystal. An alternative form of excitation of the pins involves passing compressed air through the pins and into the cigarettes, the pins being tubular for that purpose.

Manufacture of ventilated cigarettes

This application describes various possible modifications in the cigarette machine hopper described in G.B. specification No. 2,045,595. In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, a concave member 126 around a carded roller 23 from which tobacco is removed by a picker roller 24 has a straight land 126A along which the tobacco is propelled by the picker roller.

Cigarette making machine hopper

Filler material, particularly for cigarette filters, is produced by feeding a first stream of substantially continuous filaments of filler material onto a pin roller which is driven at a speed such that the filaments are broken by the pins into irregular lengths and are projected from the roller in random orientations. The broken filaments are collected on a carrier stream, also comprising filamentary material, for delivery to a rod-making unit. More than one stream could be supplied to the pin roller so that the broken filaments can comprise a mixture of filaments of different filler materials. The carrier stream may comprise filler material which is different from that in the first stream and may comprise a fibrillated web.

Producing filler material, particularly for cigarette filters

This invention is concerned with a cutting head for a cigarette filter attachment machine, for cutting a filter attachment web at regular intervals in cooperation with a cutting drum, comprising a rotary member which carries one or more knives, an arrangement for urging the rotary member towards the cutting drum with a predetermined force, and a damping member arranged to resist movement of the rotary member towards the cutting drum, at least along part of the range of such movement. Each end of the rotary member is preferably supported by a separately movable carrier member, each carrier member having its own urging arrangement and its own damping member. The or each damping member may comprise a dashpot or a rubber pad or sleeve.

Growing community of inventors

High Wycombe, United Kingdom

Godfrey A Wood