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:
Apr. 09, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 26, 2000
Charles Gary Atwell, Mechanicsville, VA (US);
Ricky N. Cooper, Concord, NC (US);
Martin T. Garthaffner, Chesterfield, VA (US);
Andrew J. Gillespie, Richmond, VA (US);
Ronald D. Honaker, Powhatan, VA (US);
William H. Pettigrew, Richmond, VA (US);
William H. Smick, III, Richmond, VA (US);
Philip Morris Incorporated, Richmond, VA (US);
Abstract
A drum elevator and method of elevating cigarettes, the apparatus including a series of rotatable cigarette transferring drums including a first plurality of horizontally disposed drums at a first elevation and a second plurality of vertically disposed drums extending to a second elevation, the second plurality of vertically disposed drums receiving output from the first plurality of drums, the series of drums adapted to receive a procession of cigarettes at the first elevation and to elevate the cigarettes along a transfer path to the second elevation while maintaining the cigarettes arranged substantially in the procession; a rejection station at a location along the transfer path; a controller operative to selectively actuate the rejection station; and a stack former at the second elevation, the stack former receiving output of the second plurality of vertically disposed drums.