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, 2011
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2007
Applicant:
Donald Horace Jones, Midlothian, VA (US);
Inventor:
Donald Horace Jones, Midlothian, VA (US);
Assignee:
Philip Morris USA Inc., Richmond, VA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A24C 1/18 (2006.01); A24C 1/20 (2006.01); A24C 5/06 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Described herein is a method and apparatus for transferring rods, or tubes, comprising feeding a plurality of rods into a hopper, feeding the rods through a hopper using agitation and gravity to align the rods in a single-file stacked configuration, and transferring the rods with pushers on a continuous cable so that that the rods may be transferred for insertion in the tobacco column. This method and apparatus may utilize one or more drums for transferring rods from the hopper to the pushers on the continuous cable.