CN106998792A - Smoking article assembly machine and method for making smoking article - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to a smoking article assembly machine. The smoking article assembly machine has a conveying path for a web of tipping paper. The smoking article assembly machine also has: a mechanical cutter (70) configured to perform a cutting action to form a pattern (5) including lines (6) having a size of at least 5 mm on a web (11) of tipping paper (4) passing along the conveying path for the web of tipping paper; and a web cutting device (60) configured to cut the web (11) of tipping paper (4) into sections for wrapping smoking articles. The present application also relates to a method for making smoking articles.

Description

Smoking article assembly machine and method for making smoking article

technical field

The invention relates to a smoking article assembling machine. The invention also relates to a method of making a smoking article.

Background technique

Smoking articles, such as filter cigarettes, are generally formed from a tobacco rod and a filter wrapped in a material such as paper. A paper tape, such as tipping paper, may be used to join the wrapped tobacco rod and wrapped filter together. Cigarettes of different configurations and configurations are possible, but generally include rod-shaped components such as tobacco rods and filters wrapped in material in various arrangements.

A machine for preparing and wrapping a web of material around a tobacco rod, a filter, or an assembly of a tobacco rod and filter may include a web handling system that processes thin strips of material such as tipping paper, arranged The strip of material is brought into alignment with the relevant components and the strip is fed into a wrapping process to wrap the strip of material around the components of the smoking article.

It is known to assemble smoking articles from a web of sheet material, such as tipping paper, which web has predetermined slits or holes formed therein.

Contents of the invention

According to aspects of the invention there is provided a smoking article assembly machine having a transport path for a web of tipping paper, the smoking article assembly machine comprising: a mechanical cutter configured to perform a cutting action to cut along the A pattern comprising lines is formed on the web of tipping paper that the transport path of the web of tipping paper passes, and the lines have a size of at least 5 mm; and a web cutting device configured to cut the web of tipping paper The wood is cut into segments for wrapping smoking articles.

This line can be a separation line.

The cutting action of the mechanical cutter may be configured to define at least two sections of the web of tipping paper.

The mechanical cutter may be configured to perform a cutting action to form a pattern comprising lines in a direction along a transport path of the web of tipping paper.

The smoking article assembly machine may further comprise a crimping station configured to act on the web of tipping paper. The mechanical cutter may be configured to perform a cutting action downstream of the crimping station along the transport path of the web of tipping paper.

The mechanical cutter may be configured to perform a cutting action upstream of the web cutting device along the transport path of the web of tipping paper.

The mechanical cutter may be a press cutter. Alternatively, it may be another type of mechanical cutter, such as a shear action cutter, such as a rotary scissor cutter or a contact cutter.

The press cutting device may comprise a forming roll and an anvil roll defining therebetween a transport path for the web of tipping paper.

The interval between the forming roll and the anvil roll may be in the range of 3 μm to 5 μm.

The smoking article assembly machine may also comprise a pre-cutter. The pre-cutter may be configured to perform a first cutting action on the web of tipping paper, and the cutting action performed by the mechanical cutter may be a second cutting action on the web of tipping paper action.

The pre-cutter may perform a mechanical cutting action.

The pre-cutter may be arranged downstream of the crimping station and upstream of the mechanical cutter along the transport path of the web of tipping paper. More specifically, the pre-cutter is preferably arranged after the crimping station, but before the mechanical cutter, in the direction of movement of the web of tipping paper along the conveying path.

The pre-cutter may be arranged upstream of the crimping station along the transport path of the web of tipping paper.

The pre-cutter may be a punch for forming the perforations. Alternatively, the pre-cutter may be a shear action cutter, such as a rotary scissor cutter, a contact cutter, or a laser cutter, among others.

The wires may have a minimum aspect ratio of 60:1.

According to other aspects of the invention there is provided a method of making a smoking article comprising: conveying a web of tipping paper along a conveyance path;

mechanically cutting the web of tipping paper to form a pattern on the web of tipping paper comprising lines, the lines having a dimension of at least 5 mm; cutting the web of tipping paper into segments and assembling smoking articles using segments of these tipping papers.

The method may further comprise: crimping the web of tipping paper using a crimping station; wherein after the web of cutting paper is crimped by the crimping station, the web of tipping paper may be mechanically Cutting to form a pattern comprising lines having a dimension of at least 5mm.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partially exploded view of a cigarette;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a section of tipping paper used to form a cigarette;

Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the cigarette maker;

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the press-cutting device of the cigarette making machine;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the process steps performed by the cigarette making machine shown in Figure 3; and

Fig. 6 is a schematic side view of another cigarette maker.

detailed description

As used herein, the term "smoking article" includes smokeable products, such as cigarettes, cigars, and cigarillos, whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco, or tobacco substitutes, and also includes heated non-smoking Combustion products and other nicotine delivery products such as aerosol generating devices, including e-cigarettes. The smoking article may be provided with a filter through which the smoker draws air. Examples of smoking articles as described herein may include cigarettes having a filter in a fixed position on a rod of smokeable material such as tobacco, while other smoking articles may be retractable in construction.

Referring to Figure 1, a smoking article in the form of a cigarette 1 comprises a tobacco rod 2 comprising, in conventional manner, a smokeable material, such as tobacco or tobacco-containing material, etc. wrapped in a wrapper. It will be understood that throughout, the term "cigarette" may be replaced by the term "smoking article". A substantially cylindrical filter segment 3 comprising a filter material, such as cellulose acetate wrapped in a paper plug wrap, is arranged adjacent to the tobacco rod 2 . The filter segment 3 is attached to the tobacco rod 2 by means of a protective layer of a sheet 4, preferably tipping paper. Alternatively, the tobacco rod 2 may comprise a longitudinally aligned smokable material and a second filter section (not shown).

The tipping paper 4 in Figure 2 is shown as a section 10 of a web (web) of tipping paper 11 having a shape suitable for wrapping two cigarettes back-to-back in a cigarette making machine. The width of the cigarette 1, as will be explained below. Each length L of web 11 is used to form individual back-to-back pairs of cigarettes, and in use, web 11 is cut along cut-off lines 12, 13 which form the leading and trailing edges of each segment 10. edge. When wrapping the tipping paper 4 to form the smoking article 1 , the section 10 of the web of tipping paper 11 is separated along a separation line 14 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , the tipping paper 4 is formed with a pattern 5 . The pattern 5 is formed by an array of lines 6 . These lines 6 are formed by cutting into the sheet forming the tipping paper 4 . The section 10 of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 shown in Figure 2 forms a blank. In this embodiment, the wire 6 is formed by a mechanical cutting action. The depth of at least some of the threads 6 extends through the thickness of the sheet. That is, line 6 forms a separation line. However, some of the threads 6 may extend only partly through the thickness of the sheet. The or each line 4 forming a separation line defines at least two sections of tipping paper 4 . For example, line 4a defines two sections 8a, 8b of tipping paper 4 in FIG. 2 .

Although an array of wires 6 forming the pattern 5 is shown, it should be understood that the pattern 5 could be made by one wire 6 . Each line 6 is elongated. At least one wire 6 has a length equal to or greater than 5 mm. Preferably, at least one wire 6 has a length equal to or greater than 10 mm. When assembled, at least one thread 6 extends at least 50% around the circumference of the cigarette 1 . Preferably, at least one thread 6 extends at least 80% around the circumference of the cigarette 1 when assembled.

The tipping paper 4 is also formed with an array of perforations 7 . The perforations 7 may be formed by laser cutting, embossing such as pin embossing, or any other suitable method. Perforations 7 provide ventilation through the tipping paper 4 . It will be appreciated that each perforation 7 typically has a diameter of up to 0.5 mm. It has been found that perforations with a diameter larger than 0.5mm can lead to _CO2 production.

A cigarette making machine suitable for producing cigarettes 1 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 . This machine can be considered as a modification of the machine of Hauni Maschinenbau AG, which has been adapted to utilize rolls 22a of web 11 of tipping paper 4 in the manufacture of cigarettes. Reference is also made to FIG. 5 , which schematically illustrates the process steps performed by parts of the machine shown in FIG. 3 .

Tobacco rods 20 of a length suitable to form two cigarettes back-to-back are supplied to a tobacco rod feeding device 33 shown in FIG. 3 . Furthermore, filter rods 21 are fed into the machine from a hopper 35 . The filter rod 21 has a length suitable for forming two cigarettes back to back.

The tobacco rod 20 is fed onto a receiving drum 36 and conveyed to a tobacco rod cutting drum 37 with an associated knife wheel 38 which cuts the tobacco rod 20 into two parts 20a, 20b which The individual portions 20a, 20b are then axially separated by means of a separating drum 39 and conveyed to a filter feeding drum 40 where a single filter rod 21 is placed between them, as shown in FIG. 5 .

Filter rods 21 are fed from a hopper 35 to a filter feed drum 40 by means of feed rollers 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d, and as shown in FIG. The upper end adjoins the opposite end of the filter rod 21.

The contiguous arrangement of rods 20a, 21, 20b is then transferred to the swash drum 41, where they are coupled together by means of tipping paper segments 10 comprising the splices shown in FIG. A cut portion of the web 11 loaded with paper 4 , for example between the cut-off lines 12 and 13 . As will be explained later, the tipping paper segment 10 is cut from the web 11 and coated with glue so that when the arrangement is transferred to the rolling drum 43, the tipping paper segment 10 surrounds the filter rod 21 and is sized Set to overlap the ends of the tobacco rods 20a, 20b so that they become coupled together, as shown in the arrangement in FIG. 5 .

The coupled rods 20a, 21, 20b are then conveyed to a transfer drum 45 to be fed to a cutting drum 46 having an associated rotary knife 47 which cuts the coupled rods 20a, 21, 20b into two parts. two individual cigarettes 1, 1', which are then fed via a transfer drum 48 to a rotating drum 49, where the cigarettes 1, 1' of each pair are arranged to face the same Directions are ready for packaging.

The web 11 of tipping paper 4 is fed sequentially from the feeding arrangement comprising two rolls 22a, 22b such that a continuous supply of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 can be provided to the cigarette making machine. Therefore, when one of the supply rolls 22a is exhausted, the supply can be continued from the other roll 22b, and the empty roll can be replaced.

The flat web roll is acted upon by a perforation station (not shown) to form perforations 7 in the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 before the supply rolls 22a, 22b are placed on the cigarette making machine. A perforating station (not shown) is typically remote from the cigarette making machine, or may be included in the cigarette making machine. Furthermore, the web 11 may be perforated at a perforation station adjacent to the cigarette maker and fed into the cigarette maker from the adjacent station.

Referring again to FIG. 3 , the web 11 of tipping paper 4 is fed to a curling station 50 from one of the rolls 22a, 22b. The curling station 50 operates on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 so as to weaken its structural integrity on one side so that it can easily be rolled into a circle when it is wrapped around the rods 20a, 20b, 21 on the drums 41, 43 cartridge, as shown in Figures 3 and 5. In the crimping station 50, the tipping paper 4 is passed over a fixed crimping edge, also called a crimping strip, to slightly weaken the structural integrity of the tipping paper on one side. In a conventional cigarette making machine, the web 11 with perforations is able to withstand the crimping process. However, it has been found that the presence of a pattern 5 comprising lines 6 having a dimension of at least 5 mm on the web 11 of tipping paper 4 passing through the crimping station 50 can lead to the web being at least partially damaged.

As shown in FIG. 3 , a mechanical cutter 70 downstream of the crimping station 50 acts on the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . The mechanical cutter 70 acts on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 to form at least one line 6 of the pattern 5 . As the web 11 of tipping paper 4 passes through the mechanical cutter 70 along the transport path of the web 11 of tipping paper 4, the mechanical cutter 70 performs a cutting action on it. The mechanical cutter 70 makes a cut in the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 mainly in the machine direction, ie in the direction in which the tipping paper 4 is transported, rather than in the transverse direction perpendicular to the direction of travel of the tipping paper 4 .

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , a web tensioner 65 is arranged upstream of the crimping station 50 . The web tensioner 65 or web container provides precise control over the tensioning of the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 at the mechanical cutter 70 . In an alternative embodiment, a web tensioner 65 is disposed between the crimping station 50 and the mechanical cutter 70 . Paper guides (not shown) align the web 11 of tipping paper 4 in a direction transverse to the direction of the transport path 4 of the web of tipping paper 11 . This paper guide ensures that the web 11 of tipping paper 4 is accurately aligned before being received by the mechanical cutter 70 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , the mechanical cutter 70 in this embodiment is a press-cutting device. The press-cutting device acts on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 to perform a press-cut, also called a burst cut, on the web 11 to form one or each line 6 of the pattern 5 . The press cutting device as the mechanical cutter 70 includes a forming roll 71 and an anvil roll 72 . Forming roll 71 and anvil roll 72 are spaced apart from each other to define a gap 73 . The gap 73 defines a part of the transport path of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . That is, web 11 passes between forming roll 71 and anvil roll 72 .

The forming roll 71 has a cylindrical outer surface 74 . Raised protrusions (not shown) extend from the forming roll 71 . The raised protrusions define the or each line 6 of the pattern 5 . The raised protrusion defines a rotary mold. Anvil roll 72 has a cylindrical outer surface 75 . The cylindrical outer surface 75 of the anvil roll 72 is smooth. That is, the cylindrical outer surface 75 of the anvil roll 72 does not have any convex protrusions.

In this embodiment, the spacing between the free edges of the raised protrusions (not shown) on the forming roll 71 and the cylindrical outer surface 75 of the anvil roll 72 is between 3 μm and 5 μm. The thickness of the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 is typically 0.025-0.055 mm. However, it will be understood that the dimensions may vary. The rotations of the forming roll 71 and the anvil roll 72 are synchronized. The rotational speed of the forming roll 71 and the anvil roll 72 corresponds to the throughput speed of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . The rolls 71 , 72 act on either side of the web 11 as the web 11 passes between the forming roll 71 and the anvil roll 72 . The portion of the web 11 received between the raised protrusions on the forming roll 71 and the cylindrical outer surface 75 of the anvil roll 72 is compressed. That is, the material is flattened between them. The material on which the cutting action is performed is flattened by at least 80% of the thickness of the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 . The flattening action splits the material along the line of material acted upon by the forming rollers 71 and thus forms a separation line. With this action, it is possible to perform a detaching action of the web 11 that does not require piercing the tipping paper 4 . In this embodiment, the or each line 6 has a minimum aspect ratio of 60:1.

It has been found that by performing a cutting action on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 downstream of the crimping station 50, the pattern 5 can be formed on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 without producing a In case of damage, the pattern 5 was previously impossible. For example, in this embodiment the mechanical cutter 70 is configured to perform a cutting action to form a pattern 5 comprising lines in a direction along the direction of the transport path 4 of the web 11 of tipping paper. Furthermore, a pattern 5 comprising lines 6 having a dimension of at least 5 mm may be formed on the cigarette maker. It will also be understood that the mechanical cutter 70 may be retrofitted to a cigarette maker.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the web 11 of tipping paper 4 is conveyed from the mechanical cutter 70 to the gluing station 55 . This includes a gluing roll 56 which applies glue in a predetermined pattern to one side of the web 11 which is transferred from a pallet 58 by a transfer roll 57 . The glued web 11 is then conveyed through a feed roll 59 to a web cutting device 60 . The web cutting device 60 has a rotary patch cutter comprising a plurality of radially extending blades which cut the web 11 into sections 10 of tipping paper Section 10 is to be applied in a successive tobacco rod and filter rod arrangement as shown in FIG. 5 . Referring to FIG. 2 , the web cutting device 60 cuts the web 1 along cutting lines 12 , 13 to form individual tipping paper sections 10 .

In the embodiments described above, the cutting action is performed at the mechanical cutter 70 to form one or more lines 6 having a dimension of at least 5 mm on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 and, optionally, The perforations 7 are formed before the rolls 22a, 22b of the web 11 of 4 are received by the cigarette maker. However, it will be appreciated that in another embodiment the cigarette maker has a pre-cutter to perform a cutting action on the web 11 of the tipping paper 4 to form the perforations 7 . One such embodiment is shown in FIG. 6 . The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is generally the same as the above-described embodiments, and thus a detailed description will be omitted. However, in this embodiment the cigarette maker has a pre-cutter 80 arranged along the transport path of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 .

In this embodiment, a pre-cutter 80 is arranged upstream of the crimping station 50 along the transport path of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . The pre-cutter 80 is configured to form a perforation or other cutting action in which the cut has a dimension of less than 5 mm. The pre-cutter 80 can take different forms including a laser cutting device, a pin embossing device or a shear action cutter.

The pre-cutter 80 is configured to perform a first cutting action on the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . The cutting action performed by the mechanical cutter 70 is a second cutting action of said web 11 of tipping paper 4 . By providing a pre-cutter 80 upstream of the crimping station 50, it is possible to separate the first cutting action from the second cutting action. Such an arrangement allows a robust web 11 on which an in-line cutting action is performed to pass through the crimping station 50, while providing further cutting actions to be performed on the web 11 before being combined with the bars 20a, 20b, 21 .

In another embodiment, it will be appreciated that a pre-cutter is provided downstream of the crimping station 50 and upstream of the mechanical cutter 70 along the transport path of the web 11 of tipping paper 4 . With such an arrangement, perforations or other cutting actions not performed by the mechanical cutter 70 can be formed in-line on the cigarette maker.

In order to solve various problems and to advance the art, the entirety of this disclosure shows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimed invention can be practiced and provides an excellent smoking article assembly machine and/or methods of making smoking articles. The advantages and features of the present disclosure are only those of representative examples of the embodiments, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to aid in understanding and to teach the claimed features. It should be understood that the advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures and/or other aspects of the present disclosure should not be considered as limitations on the present disclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on the equivalents of the claims , and other embodiments may be utilized and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the present disclosure. Embodiments may comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, various combinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means etc., as appropriate. Additionally, this disclosure includes other inventions that are not presently claimed, but which may be claimed in the future.

Claims (15)

1. a kind of smoking product kludge of the transport path of the web with tipping paper, the smoking product kludge includes：

Mechanical cutter, it is configured to perform cutting action, the tipping paper passed through with the transport path in the web along tipping paper Web on formed and include the pattern of line, the line is with least 5mm size；And

Web shearing device, it is configured to cutting into the web of the tipping paper into the section for wrapping up smoking product.

2. smoking product kludge according to claim 1, it is characterised in that the line is defiber.

3. the smoking product kludge according to claim 1 or claim 2, it is characterised in that the mechanical cutter Cutting action be configured to limit at least two sections of the web of the tipping paper.

4. smoking product kludge according to any one of claim 1 to 3, it is characterised in that the mechanical cutter It is configured to perform cutting action, includes the pattern along the line in following direction to be formed, i.e.,：The direction is along the tipping paper The direction of the transport path of web.

5. smoking product kludge according to any one of the preceding claims, in addition to curling station, curling station structure Cause to act in the web of the tipping paper, and

Wherein, the mechanical cutter is configured to the downstream stood along the transport path of the web of the tipping paper in the curling Perform cutting action.

6. smoking product kludge according to any one of the preceding claims, it is characterised in that the mechanical cutter It is configured to perform cutting action in the upstream of the web shearing device along the transport path of the web of the tipping paper.

7. smoking product kludge according to any one of the preceding claims, it is characterised in that the mechanical cutter It is crush-cutting device.

8. smoking product kludge according to claim 7, it is characterised in that the crush-cutting device includes format roll and anvil Roller, limits the transport path of the web of the tipping paper between.

9. smoking product kludge according to claim 7, it is characterised in that between the format roll and the anvil roller It is spaced in the range of 3 μm to 5 μm.

10. smoking product kludge according to any one of the preceding claims, in addition to pre-cut cutter, wherein, it is described Pre-cut cutter is configured to perform the first cutting action to the web of the tipping paper, and performed by the mechanical cutter Cutting action is the second cutting action to the web of the tipping paper.

11. smoking product kludge according to claim 9, it is characterised in that the pre-cut cutter performs machine cuts Action.

12. the smoking product kludge according to claim 10 or claim 11, it is characterised in that the pre-cut cutter The upstream at the curling station is arranged on along the transport path of the web of the tipping paper.

13. smoking product kludge according to any one of the preceding claims, it is characterised in that the line has 60:1 Minimum length-width ratio.

14. a kind of method for making smoking product, including：

The web of tipping paper is conveyed along transport path；

The web of the tipping paper is mechanically cut, includes the pattern of line, the line to be formed in the web of the tipping paper With at least 5mm size；

The web of the tipping paper is cut into section；And

Smoking product is assembled using the section of these tipping papers.

15. method according to claim 14, in addition to：

The web of the tipping paper is crimped using curling station；

Wherein, stood in the web of cutting paper by the curling come after crimping, the web of the tipping paper is mechanically cut, Include the pattern of line to be formed, the line has at least 5mm size.