B.a.t. Cigarettenfabriken Gmbh

Fhg Corporation

Hartmut Federle

Friedrich Walther

Meinhard Meyer

Jorn Ulrich

Friedrich Weinhold

Manfred Kuhne

Klaus Melchior

Viktor Baumgartner

Hayo Giebel

Werner Rech

Rudiger Arnold

Hans Heinold

Ralf-Dietrich Tilgner

Manfred Rueff

An apparatus for the continuous determination of two physical properties of the constituents of a smokable article from the mechanical properties of a rod of tobacco or filter fibres during the production of said rod employs a format finger for compacting the rod of tobacco or filter fibres to a predetermined diameter; the format finger made from hard metal comprises at a first point, at which the diameter of the rod corresponds substantially to the diameter of the finished rod, at least one opening for subjecting the rod to a gas stream; the one or each opening is connected via a critically traversed nozzle in a supply conduit to a gas source; a measuring-value transducer determines the pressure drop of the gas stream with constant volume occurring at the rod and thus the draw resistance. At a second point of the format finger a transducer of the temperature of the format finger caused by the friction heat at a predetermined conveying speed of the rod is disposed in a blind bore; said temperature represents a measure for the hardness of the smokable article.

Apparatus for the continuous determination of two physical properties of

In a method for controlling at least two physical properties, decisive for the quality of the finished smokable article, of a material rod of filter or tobacco material for the manufacture of smokable articles, in particular in filter or cigarette manufacture, the actual values of said properties are detected, the respective differences between the actual and desired values are determined and from the differences determined control signals are obtained for actuating elements influencing the mass of the material making up the rod; to facilitate the generation of the desired values, the control is performed during start-up or when specific events occur by means of only a single primary product parameter. On reaching the desired value for this primary product parameter, the associated actual values for at least one other secondary product parameter are detected; and at least one of said actual values is used after calculation and evaluation as desired value for the then switched on or added control by means of said secondary product parameter.

Method for controlling at least two of the physical properties, decisive

Method for the determination of a geometrical parameter for crimped,

An apparatus for optical monitoring of the surface of rod-shaped smoking articles and/or filter rods for the tobacco industry comprises a conveying means transporting the rods perpendicularly to their longitudinal direction and a high-pressure lamp which serves as light source and which is connected via an optical fibre cable to a sensor block; the optical fibre cable is divided amongst at least two cross-section transformers with strip-shaped light exit regions whose light rays are directed via a further optical system from above and below respectively onto the line-shaped region of the surface of the rod. In addition the sensor block contains a row of photoelectric transducers which simultaneously the line-shaped surface region in the longitudinal direction of the rod and thereby pick up the light reflected at the surface of the rod. An arrangement controlled by the production cycle clock pulse determines by comparison surface faults from the output signals of the photoelectric transducers dependent on the reflectivity of the line-shaped region of the surface.

Apparatus for optical monitoring with a high pressure lamp connected to

A device for determining continuously the hardness of a smokable article, more particularly a cigarette, from the mechanical properties of a rod of tobacco fibres during the manufacture of this smokable article, which ascertains the temperature of the former finger which compacts the rod of tobacco fibres to a predetermined diameter dependent on the diameter of the finished smokable article. This temperature measurement, which can be carried out by a thermocouple element, a resistance thermometer or a semiconductor temperature sensor, represents an exact reproducible measure of the hardness of the smokable article which is produced with this rod of tobacco fibres.

Device for determining continuously the hardness of a smokable article

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Ahrensburg, Germany

Hartmut Federle