The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 03, 1992
Filed:
Oct. 19, 1990
Clifford R Marritt, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Francis R Oakley, Kernersville, NC (US);
Gregory A Holmes, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method of delivering smokable material to a cigarette maker with reduced degradation of the smokable material. A vertical reservoir tube is provided directly overhead of a plurality of rotatable and longitudinally vibratable rollers having interdigitating pins attached thereto. The rollers serve to meter and open the smokable material. The opened smokable material then falls as a shower from the rotating rollers to a convergent channel formed by two walls oriented at different angles to the horizontal. Air flow channels are provided which feed air along each wall, thereby providing an essentially laminar stream of air downwardly along the walls. An arrangement of multiple hoppers is also provided which permit blending of different types of smokable material prior to forming the smokable material into a braid and feeding the braid to the cigarette maker garniture.