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. 15, 2000
Filed:
May. 26, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Japan Tobacco Inc., Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B23K / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
2191217 ; 131281 ;
Abstract
A piercing apparatus includes a laser oscillation head for irradiating a pulsed laser beam onto a tip paper which travels at a prescribed speed along a traveling path to form minute holes at spacial intervals in the tip paper, a camera for picking up a picture image of a minute hole formed in the tip paper, and a controller for feedback-controlling the drive of the laser oscillation head in accordance with the size of and the spacing between minute holes obtained by analyzing one or more picture images of minute holes, so that minute holes of a desired size are formed in the tip paper with a desired spacing, to provide the tip paper with a desired air permeability.