Patents by Inventor Eric J. Churcher

Eric J. Churcher has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Treatment of tobacco
    Patent number: 4148325
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method and apparatus for conditioning and/or drying or otherwise treating tobacco, in which cut tobacco is treated with a liquid and/or vapour medium in a chamber in which a columnar bed of the tobacco is maintained in a fluidized state by air, which may be heated. The treatment medium may comprise water, which is introduced as a spray into the bed and/or in co-current with the fluidizing air through diffusing means at the bottom of the bed, and/or steam. The tobacco may be treated in continuous flow or batchwise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 1976
    Date of Patent: April 10, 1979
    Assignee: British-American Tobacco Company Limited
    Inventors: Graeme R. Solomon, Eric J. Churcher