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Cigarette makerRelated Patent Categories: Tobacco, Cigar Or Cigarette Making, Tobacco FeedingCigarette maker description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20050268924, Cigarette maker. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a cigarette maker. [0002] In a typical cigarette making machine, shredded tobacco is directed normally along a feed duct to an infeed hopper, from which it is taken up by a picking or carding unit and fed into a descending channel or chute. [0003] At the bottom end of the chute, the tobacco is transferred by a toothed outfeed unit onto a feed conveyor and then carried by this same conveyor toward the bottom end of an ascending channel or riser, of which the top end is enclosed by an air-permeable transport belt. [0004] An air current set up in the ascending channel, generated at least in part by suction through the permeable belt, ensures that the lighter particles of tobacco consisting in dust and relatively minute shreds are directed upwards, whereas any heavier particles such as scraps and stems, stones, metal or plastic fragments and the like, are caused to drop by gravity into a collection vessel at the bottom end of the ascending channel, from where they are rejected. [0005] Whilst the method outlined above is effective enough, it can present certain drawbacks inasmuch as the carding unit is susceptible to damage from the heavier particles, and in particular the metal or plastic foreign matter. [0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a cigarette maker that will be unaffected by the drawbacks in question, and will also be of simple and economic embodiment. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0007] The stated object is realized according to the present invention in a cigarette maker comprising: an infeed hopper, a pneumatic feed duct carrying a flow of shredded tobacco to the hopper, a carding unit by which the tobacco is taken up from the hopper and released as a flow of divided particles directed first through a descending channel then through an ascending channel, toward an aspirating outfeed conveyor belt placed at the top end of the ascending channel. [0008] The machine disclosed includes a separator device for the removal of foreign matter from the flow of shredded tobacco, comprising means by which to form and feed a carpet of tobacco, descending conveyor means into which tobacco is directed by the forming and feeding means in free fall, an outfeed duct interposed between the outlet of the descending conveyor means and an inlet connecting with the hopper, and means by which to generate a stream of air directed along the outfeed duct. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0009] The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which: [0010] FIG. 1 illustrates a cigarette maker equipped with a separator device embodied in accordance with the present invention, viewed schematically and in elevation and with parts in section; [0011] FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate three embodiments of the separator device indicated in FIG. 1, viewed schematically and in elevation and with parts in section; [0012] FIG. 5 is a plan view of the device illustrated in FIG. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [0013] Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, 1 denotes a cigarette maker, in its entirety, comprising a hopper 2 filled with a mass of shredded tobacco 3, and a pneumatic feed duct 4 through which tobacco is conveyed to the hopper from a storage unit or a shredder shown schematically as a block denoted 5. [0014] The tobacco 3 is directed from the hopper 2 down into a feed chamber 6 occupied by a carding unit 7 equipped with a carding drum 8 driven in rotation about a horizontal axis 9 and turning counter-clockwise as seen in FIG. 1. The carding roller 8 operates in conjunction with a proportioning roller 10 and an impeller roller 11 by which the tobacco 3 is projected, in the form of distinct particles, into a descending channel or chute 12 terminating at the bottom end adjacent to a toothed unit 13 such as will pick up the particles and direct them onto a transfer belt 14 advancing toward the bottom end of an ascending channel or riser 15. [0015] The top end of the riser 15 is enclosed by an aspirating transport belt 16 made of air-permeable material such as will attract the tobacco particles and gather them progressively into a continuous stream 17 providing the filler for the manufactured cigarettes (not illustrated). [0016] 18 denotes a separator device, shown in FIG. 1 as a unit or module 19 that can be installed along the aforementioned pneumatic feed duct 4 carrying the flow of shredded tobacco to the hopper. [0017] More exactly, and with reference to FIG. 2, the separator device 18 establishes a predetermined feed path P to be followed by the flow of shredded tobacco, comprising a first feed section 20 along which the pneumatic pressure generated internally of the feed duct 4 is deactivated, and a second feed section 21 embodied as an ascending outfeed duct 22 along which the pneumatic pressure of the duct 4 is reinstated. [0018] The first section 20 of the separator device 18, which is coupled directly to the feed duct 4, comprises means, denoted 23 in their entirety, by which to form and feed the tobacco as a carpet 24 of predetermined thickness S. [0019] The forming and feeding means 23 of the first section 20 comprise a substantially horizontal looped conveyor belt 25 passing around two return pulleys 26, of which at least one is power driven, and a tray 27 caused to vibrate through the agency of respective actuator means shown schematically as a block denoted 28. [0020] The vibrating tray 27 is inclined, presenting a transverse dimension that increases along the feed direction followed by the tobacco carpet 24, as discernible in FIG. 5, and occupies a position interposed between the runout end of the belt 25 and the entry point of descending conveyor means, denoted 29 in their entirety and constituting the downstream part of the first section 20. Continue reading about Cigarette maker... Full patent description for Cigarette maker Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Cigarette maker patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Cigarette maker or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Nanovibration coating process for medical devices using multi vibration modes of a thin piezo element Next Patent Application: Application of mesoporous molecular sieves as selective smoke filtration additives Industry Class: Tobacco ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Cigarette maker patent info. 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