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:
Feb. 08, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 03, 1997
Sydney Keith Seymour, Clemmons, NC (US);
Balager Ademe, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Gary Lee Wood, Rural Hall, NC (US);
Ford Mitchell Shore, Clemmons, NC (US);
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Abstract
A method of and system for detecting glue skips on tipping paper used to secure filters to cigarette tobacco rods and the rejection of defective cigarettes based thereon in which a particle radiation sensor is used to monitor the amount of glue applied to the tipping paper and a laser edge detector is used to monitor for proper alignment of the tipping paper during cigarette tipping operations in a typical cigarette manufacturing machine. The signals output from the particle radiation sensor are fed to a skip detection system which produces an output signal upon detecting a glue skip or a loss of glue. The glue skip or loss of glue signals as well as the paper edge detection signal produced by the laser edge detector are all fed to a programmable logic controller which, upon detecting a defective condition, generates a cigarette reject signal which is fed to the cigarette rod rejection system of the typical cigarette manufacturing machine in order to prevent the defective cigarettes from entering the stream of commerce.