WO2016120470A1

WO2016120470A1 - Tobacco rod comprising a plurality of tobacco materials

Info

Publication number: WO2016120470A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/051977
Authority: WO
Inventors: Otto Virag; António José ALCOBIA
Original assignee: Philip Morris Products SA
Current assignee: Philip Morris Products SA
Priority date: 2015-01-30
Filing date: 2016-01-29
Publication date: 2016-08-04
Anticipated expiration: 2017-07-30
Also published as: ES2704175T3; RU2665402C1; BR112017014309A2; KR102024446B1; CN107105757A; TR201818756T4; EP3250057A1; BR112017014309B1; JP6465986B2; JP2018506276A; HUE041670T2; CN107105757B; KR20170093223A; PL3250057T3; EP3250057B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing of smoking articles with tobacco rods formed from a plurality of tobacco materials. The apparatus comprises a conveyor on which a continuous stream of a first tobacco material is transported to a tobacco rod forming device, and deposition means adapted to deposit a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to predefined areas on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material, and further adapted to simultaneously adjust the height of at least sections of the continuous stream of first tobacco. In particular this invention relates to a method and an apparatus for smoking articles comprising tobacco rods with dense ends.

Description

TOBACCO ROD COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF TOBACCO MATERIALS

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing of smoking articles with tobacco rods formed from a plurality of tobacco materials. In particular this invention relates to a method and an apparatus for smoking articles comprising tobacco rods with dense ends.

In conventional cigarette manufacture a single tobacco material, typically a blend of cut filler tobacco is provided via a single supply means and is formed into a homogenous and continuous tobacco rod. The tobacco rods are cut to a desired length and are optionally combined with filter tips in order to form a finished cigarette product.

In the manufacture of smoking articles such as cigarettes, it is common industrial practice to increase the tobacco density at the extremities of the tobacco rod. This technique helps to prevent tobacco from falling out of the ends of the cigarette tube. In case of filter cigarettes, an increased tobacco density on the filter end of the tobacco rod further helps to ensure good and solid attachment of the tobacco rod to the filter.

In conventional processes, the increased density at the extremities of the tobacco rod is obtained by providing an increased amount of cut filler at the ends of the tobacco rod.

British patent application GB-A-2 072 483 discloses a method for forming tobacco rods with dense ends, whereby a continuous stream of cut filler tobacco is provided from a tobacco supply to a perforated endless conveyance band. Due to under pressure the tobacco material is suctioned against the conveyance band. The tobacco stream is conveyed past a trimming device consisting of two oppositely arranged trimmer disks similar to the device shown in Figure 1 . Below the trimmer disks a rotary brush is provided which extracts and removes the excess tobacco. The trimmer disks comprise so called pockets on their outer periphery. The depth of the pockets corresponds to a different cutting height of the trimmer device, such that the height of the resulting tobacco stream has regions of increased height which are arranged at regular intervals along the tobacco rod. When cigarette paper is applied to the tobacco rod, the tobacco density is increased in the regions of increased cutting height. The continuous tobacco rod is cut in the middle of the regions of increased density such that the resulting individual tobacco rods have a region of increased density at each end.

U.S. Patent US-A-5,003,996 discloses another method for forming cigarettes with dense ends. As illustrated in Figure 2A, a continuous tobacco stream is conveyed on an endless suction band. The tobacco material is conveyed past a trimmer device which cuts the tobacco material at a desired height in order to obtain a tobacco rod having a uniform height distribution. A rotary cam is provided upstream from the trimming disks for compressing the continuous stream of tobacco at regular intervals. The intervals are predefined such that the compressed portions with increased density are located at the extremities of the tobacco rod. Directly after the cutting device the compressed tobacco will re-expand such that a continuous tobacco stream with increased height at regular intervals is obtained (see Figure 2B).

In the above discussed prior art methods the density of the tobacco rod is increased by either changing the cutting height of the continuous tobacco stream or by compressing the continuous tobacco stream at predefined areas before cutting the tobacco stream to a constant height. These methods have in common that there is only a single tobacco supply for each continuous stream of tobacco and that the conventionally used machinery only allows changing the amount of excess tobacco that is cut from the tobacco stream.

It is further known from U.S. Patent US-A-4,009,722 to manufacture cigarettes form two different tobacco materials. A deposition means in form of a rotary wheel is depositing predefined portions of a second tobacco material to a continuous stream of a first tobacco material. The resulting stream of tobacco material is conveyed to a separate downstream trimming device, in which the stream of tobacco is cut to a constant height. The resulting tobacco stream basically consists of alternating portions comprising either the first or the second tobacco material. Finally, the tobacco stream is then rolled and cut into cylindrical cigarettes having alternating tobacco portions with constant density.

The present invention aims at manufacturing cigarettes with tobacco rods having at least one dense end, wherein the portions of increased tobacco density additionally are obtained by addition of a second tobacco material. The present invention further aims at improving current cigarette manufacturing techniques in order to provide a more flexible and cost efficient cigarette production.

The present invention is therefore directed to an apparatus for manufacturing of cigarettes with tobacco rods having dense ends. The apparatus comprises a conveyor on which a continuous stream of a first tobacco material is transported from a first tobacco supply means to a tobacco rod forming device. The apparatus further comprises a deposition means adapted to deposit a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to predefined areas on the continuous stream of said first tobacco material. The deposition means is further adapted to simultaneously interfere with the continuous stream of first tobacco, namely to adjust the height at least of sections of the continuous stream of first tobacco.

Advantageously, the present invention improves cigarette manufacturing techniques in that a desired amount of a second tobacco material can be provided at predefined positions to the tobacco stream. At the same time the deposition means adjusts the height of the continuous stream of first tobacco material. In this way the overall amount of tobacco material and, thus, the density of the tobacco rod to be manufactured can be actively changed, while the continuous stream of tobacco is provided with a desired height profile. In addition, this feature allows for selectively adjusting the composition of the blend of tobacco material in order to optimize the tobacco blend with regard to the particular manufacturing process.

The second tobacco material can be any desired tobacco material, in particular the second material can be identical to the first tobacco material. Typically the first tobacco material is cut filler tobacco. The second tobacco material can be a different blend of cut filler than the first tobacco material. The second tobacco material can also be lower quality tobacco material such as waste tobacco material like tobacco dust and winnower that is obtained in conventional cigarette manufacturing machinery.

It is particularly advantageous to use waste tobacco material in order to increase the density of at least one end of tobacco rods used in manufacture of cigarettes. It is well known that smokers usually do not consume the tobacco rod of cigarettes completely. Therefore a significant amount of rather valuable cut filler tobacco located on the filter end is not burned when a filter cigarette is stubbed out.

With the present invention lower quality tobacco material may be used to increase the density of the tobacco rod in particular at the filter end of the tobacco rod.

Using waste tobacco material as second tobacco material is particularly useful in manufacturing filter cigarettes with increased density at the filter end of the tobacco rod. Experiments have shown that with the present invention about 1 to 2 percent of high quality cut filler material can be saved compared to conventional manufacturing techniques. Due to the large throughput of today's cigarette manufacturing machinery, such savings sum up and significantly reduce the overall production costs.

During a conventional cigarette making process, about 2 to 2.5 percent of the processed tobacco is extracted from the manufacturing line in forms of dust and winnower. This waste tobacco material is hitherto sent to re-processing facilities in order to improve the filling power of this waste tobacco. With the present invention the extracted waste tobacco material may be re-introduced in the current manufacturing process and is used as additional filler material for increasing the density in desired areas of the cigarette rod.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the deposition means are provided in the form of at least one rotating disk. The second tobacco material is provided at regular intervals to the continuous stream of the first tobacco material via the at least one rotating disk. The at least one rotating disk comprises one or more pockets. The second tobacco material is provided to the one or more pockets of the rotating disk by any suitable feeding apparatus. The feeding apparatus may be a gravity feeder. However, any similar feeding apparatus known to the skilled artisan may be used. The rotation speed of the at least one rotating disk substantially corresponds to the speed of the conveyor band on which the continuous tobacco rod is formed. Due to the under pressure of the conveyor band the tobacco material is deposited on the continuous stream of first tobacco material when a pocket filled with second tobacco materials enters the proximity of the tobacco material stream on the conveyor band.

The rotating disk is also adapted for trimming the height of the continuous tobacco stream. To this end the outer circumference of the rotating disk is provided with cutting edges, as is known for conventional trimmer disks. The rotating disk cuts the height of the continuous stream of first tobacco material to a constant height, while the areas, to which the second tobacco material is provided, are cut to an increased height.

The rotating disk may be used to create dense ends on either side or only on one side of the tobacco rod. The rotating disk may also be used to add the second tobacco material at any desired position of the tobacco rod. For example the rotating disk may comprise at least one pocket for increasing the cutting height and in consequence the tobacco density of a first end of the tobacco rod according to the conventional way and at least one second pocket for increasing the tobacco density of a second end of the tobacco rod by providing a second tobacco material, for example waste tobacco material. The first end of the tobacco rod advantageously is the burning end of the tobacco rod and the second end is the filter end of the tobacco rod.

The at least one rotating disk may comprise one or more pockets. The number of the pockets, the dimension and the rotating speed of the at least one rotating disk can be chosen according to the requirements of the instant manufacturing process. Preferably a pair of rotating disks is used similar to the configuration shown in Figure 1 , whereby the rotation of these rotating disks is controlled in a synchronous manner. If two different kinds of pockets are used, these pockets are preferably arranged in alternating order on the at least one rotating disk.

Thus, the rotating disk fulfils two tasks simultaneuously. Firstly, it is used to trim the continuous stream of a first tobacco material according to a predefined height profile, wherein the pockets define areas of increased cutting height. Secondly, the pockets are at the same time employed for providing a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to the predefined areas of the continuous tobacco stream having increased cutting height.

In an further embodiment of the present invention, the deposition means are provided in the form of at least one rotating cam. The second tobacco material is provided to the continuous tobacco rod via the rotating cam. The rotation axis of the cam is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor band which transports the continuous tobacco rod. The continuous cam is provided with a cavity at its outer end which is sized to receive a portion of the second tobacco material that is to be deposited on the continuous stream of first tobacco material transported on the conveyor band. Again the second tobacco material may be provided to the cavity of the cam via a gravity feeder or any other suitable feeding mechanism known to the skilled artisan. In order to prevent the second tobacco material from falling out of the cavity before the cavity reaches the proximity of the tobacco material stream on the conveyor band, a guidance structure may be required. Such guidance structure assists in retaining the second tobacco material in the cavity between feeding the second tobacco material in the cavity and deposition thereof on the continuous stream of first tobacco material on the conveyor band.

In one embodiment of the present invention only the dense end located at the filter side of the tobacco rod is to be formed via deposition of the second tobacco material, while the burning end may be provided with a conventionally formed dense end.

The rotating cam is also adapted for interfering with the continuous stream of first tobacco material. The radially outer portion of the cam is formed such that predefined areas of the continuous stream of first tobacco material are compressed to a desired height. Preferably the predefined areas of the continuous stream of first tobacco material are compressed such that the resulting height of these areas together with the deposited second tobacco material equals the height of the remaining portion of the continuous stream of first tobacco material.

Thus, the rotating cam also fulfils two tasks simultaneuously. Firstly, it is used to compress predefined areas of the continuous stream of a first tobacco material. Secondly, the cam is used to deposit a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to these predefined areas such that the resulting density in these areas is increased.

The invention may also provide further deposition means in order to allow deposition of several tobacco materials on the continuous stream of first tobacco material. To his end further rotating disks, pairs of rotating disks, cams or combinations thereof may be used. Each deposition means can be designed to deposit identical or differing tobacco materials on the continuous stream of first tobacco material.

The present invention is also directed to a method for forming smoking articles with tobacco rods having dense ends wherein a first tobacco material is conveyed in a continuous stream to a tobacco rod forming device, wherein an additional and predefined amount of a second tobacco material is deposited via deposition means to predefined portions of the continuous stream of the first tobacco material, the deposition means being adapted to simultaneaously adjust the height of at least sections of the continuous stream of first tobacco, and wherein subsequently the continuous tobacco material stream is wrapped with wrapping material in order to form a continuous tobacco rod.

In the method of the present invention the additional and predefined amount of second tobacco material is preferably deposited by deposition means in the form of at least one rotating disk comprising at least one pocket, wherein the rotating disk is further adapted to trim the height of the continuous stream of the first tobacco material.

The second tobacco material may also be deposited on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material by a cam comprising at least one arm with a cavity, wherein the arm is further adapted to compress the continuous stream of the first tobacco material in the sections on which the second tobacco material is deposited.

The present invention is also directed to a smoking article comprising a tobacco rod with dense ends wherein the dense end portions of the cigarette comprise extracted tobacco material.

Preferably the smoking article according is a filter cigarette and the dense end portion of the filter end of the tobacco rod comprises waste tobacco material.

The terms extracted tobacco material or waste tobacco material refers to tobacco dust and winnower, which is produced during the manufacturing process of tobacco products.

Features described in relation to one aspect may equally be applied to other aspects of the invention.

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

Figure 1 shows a first prior art trimming device utilizing a trimmer disk with pockets; Figure 2a shows a second prior art trimming device utilizing a cam for compressing the tobacco stream;

Figure 2b shows a continuous tobacco stream after passing a trimming device, with periodically arranged areas having increased amount of tobacco; Figure 3a, b shows a top view and a cross sectional view of a rotating disk for use with an apparatus according to the present invention;

Figure 4 shows a rotatable cam for use with an apparatus according to the present invention;

In Figure 3 a rotating disk 10 is depicted which is used for producing a tobacco rod for filter cigarettes. The dense end at the burning end of the tobacco rod is conventionally created, while the dense end at the filter end of the tobacco rod is obtained with the help of a deposition means in accordance with the present invention. The deposition means in this embodiment is a rotating disk 10, which simultaneously trims the continuous tobacco stream to a desired height profile and deposits a second tobacco material to the continuous tobacco stream. The rotating disk 10 comprises three larger pockets 12 and three smaller pockets 14 which are evenly arranged in alternating order along the perimeter of the rotating disk 10. The larger pockets 12 are used for trimming the areas of the continuous tobacco stream that correspond to the burning end portions of the tobacco rod to be manufactured. The smaller pockets 14 are used for forming the dense ends at the filter end portions of the tobacco rod.

Extracted tobacco is provided via supply means (not depicted) to the smaller pockets 14. When a smaller pocket 14 with the extracted tobacco material comes into proximity of the tobacco material stream on the conveyor belt, the extracted tobacco material is deposited on the continuous tobacco stream. As the conveyor band is usually an aspirating belt, the underpressure ensures that the extracted tobacco is pulled out of the pocket. Additional tobacco unloading means may be provided in order to deposit the extracted tobacco on the continuous tobacco stream. The area of deposition of the extracted tobacco coincides with the filter end portion of the tobacco rod.

After the passing the rotating disk 10 the tobacco stream is wrapped with cigarette paper and is subsequently cut to the desired length. The tobacco rod is cut in the middle of each dense end portion. In this way tobacco rods with increased density at each end are obtained. Preferably, the dense end at the burning end of the tobacco rod comprises high quality cut filler material, only. The filter dense end may comprise lower quality extracted tobacco material. A conventional cigarette filter is attached to the filter dense end of the tobacco rod in order to obtain the finished smoking article.

In Figure 4 a cam 20 suitable as deposition means for producing a tobacco rod for filter cigarettes is depicted. The cam 20 has two different cam arms 22, 24. The dense end at the burning end of the tobacco rod is created by compressing the corresponding portion of the continuous tobacco stream via the longer arm 22 of the cam 20.

The shorter arm 24 of the cam 20 comprises a cavity 26 to which extracted tobacco material is provided via a supply means (not depicted). When the shorter arm 24 of the cam 20 comes into proximity of the tobacco material stream on the conveyor band the tobacco comprised in the cavity 26 is deposited on the continuous tobacco stream. Again this deposition is easily facilitated when an aspiring belt is used which pulls the extracted is tobacco out of the cavity 26. Thus, cam 20 simultaneously adjusts the height of the continuous tobacco stream by compression and deposits a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to the continuous tobacco stream. ln an alternative embodiment (not shown) the cam may also be equipped with only a single arm having a cavity. The rotation speed of the cam is adjusted to the respective manufacturing process and is used in order to deposit a desired quantity of extracted tobacco on a continuous tobacco stream. The cam can also be used in combination with conventional means for adjusting the height of the tobacco stream such as trimming discs.

Claims

1 . Apparatus for manufacturing of cigarettes, comprising:

- a conveyor on which a continuous stream of a first tobacco material is transported to a tobacco rod forming device, and

- a deposition means adapted to deposit a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to predefined areas on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material, and further adapted to simultaneously adjust the height of at least sections of the continuous stream of first tobacco.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising supply means adapted for supplying the predefined amount of the second tobacco material to the deposition means.

3. The apparatus according to one of the previous claims, wherein the deposition means comprise at least one rotating disk comprising at least one pocket for receiving the predefined amount of the second tobacco material from the supply means and for depositing the predefined amount of the second tobacco material on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material, and wherein the rotating disk is further adapted to trim the height of the continuous stream of the first tobacco material.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the trimming height of the at least one pocket is larger than the trimming height of the remainder or the rotating disk.

5. The apparatus according to claims 3 or 4, wherein the at least one rotating disk, comprise a plurality of identical pockets, evenly distributed at the peripheral circumference of the at least one rotating disk.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the at least one rotating disk, comprise at least one first pocket of a first dimension and at least one second pocket of a second dimension, wherein the pockets are evenly distributed at the peripheral circumference of the at least one rotating disk in alternating order.

7. The apparatus according to any of the previous claims, wherein the deposition means comprises two identical counter-rotating disks.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the deposition means comprise a rotating cam with at least on arm, wherein the arm comprises a cavity at its outer periphery for receiving the predefined amount of the second tobacco material from the supply means and for depositing the predefined amount of the second tobacco material on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material, and wherein the arm is further adapted to compress the continuous stream of the first tobacco material in the secctions on which the second tobacco material is deposited.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the deposition means further comprise a guidance structure for preventing the second tobacco material from falling out of the cavity, before the cavity assumes the area of interference with the continuous stream of the first tobacco material.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the rotating cam comprises two arms.

1 1 . Method for manufacturing smoking articles, comprising the steps of:

- conveying a first tobacco material in a continuous stream to a tobacco rod forming device,

- periodically depositing via deposition means a predefined amount of a second tobacco material to predefined portions of the continuous stream of the first tobacco material,

- the deposition means being adapted to simultaneaously adjust the height of at least sections of the continuous stream of first tobacco,

- wrapping the resulting continuous stream of the first and second tobacco material with wrapping material in order to form a continuous tobacco rod.

12. The method according to claim 1 1 , wherein the predefined amount of the second tobacco material is deposited on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material by at least one rotating disk comprising at least one pocket, and wherein the rotating disk is further adapted to trim the height of the continuous stream of the first tobacco material.

13. The method according to claim 1 1 , wherein the predefined amount of the second tobacco material is deposited on the continuous stream of the first tobacco material by a cam comprising at least one arm with a cavity, and wherein the arm is further adapted to compress the continuous stream of the first tobacco material in the sections on which the second tobacco material is deposited.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 1 to 13, wherein the second tobacco material is tobacco dust and winnower that is obtained as waste material during the manufacturing process of the smoking article.

15. Smoking article comprising a tobacco rod with at least one dense end, wherein the at least one dense end portion of the cigarette comprises the second tobacco material.

16. The smoking article according to claim 15, wherein the smoking article is a filter cigarette and the dense end portion of the filter end of the tobacco rod of the filter cigarette comprises the second tobacco material.