Abstract: Cigarettes with composite fillers wherein the mouthpiece consists of first tobacco shreds having a low nicotine content and the major portion of the filler consists of second shreds having a higher nicotine content are manufactured by showering second shreds onto a narrow band conveyor to form a continuous stream, by depositing batches of first shreds on the band conveyor at regular intervals so that the batches overlie the adjacent portions of the first stream or vice versa, by trimming the thus obtained composite stream so as to remove second shreds in the region of the batches whereby the resulting filler contains batches of first shreds alternating with filler portions consisting of second shreds, wrapping the filler into a web of cigarette paper, and severing the resulting rod across or adjacent to the batches.

Abstract: Plain cigarettes which are produced in a multi-speed cigarette rod machine are transported toward a filter cigarette machine. Some or all of the cigarettes which are produced while the cigarette rod machine operates at less than normal speed are ejected before they reach the filter cigarette machine. The filter cigarette machine is started with a delay following starting of the cigarette rod machine and the ejecting device between the two machines removes all such cigarettes which are defective for one or more additional reasons, such as the presence of a splice in the wrapper of a cigarette, a defective seam on the wrapper and/or when the filler of the cigarette contains too little or too much tobacco.

Abstract: Blanks for the making of inner envelopes of hinged-lid cigarette packs are obtained by withdrawing from a bobbin a web of metallic foil or thin paper which is coated with metallic foil, severing the web lengthwise to form two strips of unequal width, severing the strips crosswise to form two rows of rectangular sections, and moving each section of one row sideways toward the adjacent section of the other row so that the two sections partially overlap each other and form a composite blank which is transported sideways to be draped around a mandrel on a turret-shaped assembly conveyor.

Abstract: Tobacco particles, particularly Burley tobacco, which form a continuous stream are conditioned during transport by a series of vibratory conveyors. The foremost conveyor receives tobacco particles from a unit which contacts the particles with an atomized liquid, especially casing, and the conveyors thereupon transport the particles seriatim through preconditioning, heating, cooling and moisturizing units. The preconditioning unit has a housing consisting of one or more coiled steam pipes having orifices which discharge currents of steam against the underside of the tobacco stream at a pressure which suffices to enable the currents to form a cushion for the moving tobacco particles. The currents condense on contact with the relatively cool tobacco particles whereby the particles entrain the condensate into the heating unit wherein the particles are relieved of nitrogen and the casing is caused to penetrate into the fibrous structure of each particle with attendant roasting of the casing.

Abstract: Relatively small tobacco particles (including short tobacco and larger particles of tobacco dust) are extracted by suction from the tobacco filler stream in a cigarette making machine and are separated from the suction air stream or streams for immediate introduction into the magazine of the distributor or into the tobacco stream building zone of the machine. The separated particles are sprinkled by gravity onto the supply of tobacco in the magazine or are conveyed in a stream of compressed air which is admitted into the lower portion of the magazine or discharges the particles into the stream building zone so that the thus admitted particles form an intermediate layer of the filler stream.

Abstract: Apparatus for manipulating filter rod sections in a filter cigarette making machine has a magazine for filter rod sections of six times unit length and a drum-shaped first conveyor which is formed with axially parallel flutes receiving filter rod sections from the magazine and serving to transport the removed sections past two rotary cutters which subdivide each section into three coaxial filter plugs of two times unit length. The filter plugs are introduced into discrete flutes of three coaxial disks which form a staggering conveyor and wherein the flutes of each disk are staggered circumferentially with respect to the flutes of the other disks. The groups of filter plugs are removed from successive flutes of the first conveyor by the inclined edge faces of arcuate shrouds which extend along the path of movement of filter plugs in the flutes of the disks and are located downstream of the transfer station between the two conveyors.

Abstract: For each rod-shaped article or group of articles there is generated a respective first signal dependent upon both the density and the moisture of the filling material. There is also generated a second signal dependent upon the moisture of the filling material. The first and second signals are processed to form for the respective articles respective third signals dependent upon the mass of the filling material but not exhibiting the moisture dependency of the corresponding first signals. The second signal is generated by determining from the generated third signals which of the articles are defective because they contain insufficient filling material and which are non-defective because they contain sufficient filling material. An average signal is derived from only those first signals derived from non-defective ones of the articles. The second signal is derived from the average signal.

Abstract: A distributor for use in cigarette rod making machines has a magazine for a supply of shredded tobacco, a carded drum which draws from the magazine a continuous layer of tobacco shreds, and a device which homogenizes the layer of the drum adjacent to the magazine and comprises a strip-shaped barrier extending transversely of the layer and having a grooved surface adjacent to the exposed side of the layer and a second surface which faces the magazine and intercepts those shreds which extend beyond the grooved surface. The barrier is reciprocated transversely of the layer by a motor, and a paddle wheel is provided to return the piled-up shreds into the magazine. The carding of the drum consists of longer and shorter pins or needles which alternate with each other in the circumferential as well as in the axial direction of the drum.

Abstract: A waterproof bathing cap wherein a pouch consisting of shape-retaining flexible synthetic plastic sheet material serves to loosely surround the hair of a wearer, an elastic band engages the skin close to and along the hairline on the wearer's head, and a preferably elastic flexible oval ring connects the band with the pouch in the region of an opening through which the hair passes into and out of the pouch when the cap is put onto or removed from the head. The ring flares outwardly toward the opening and is sealingly bonded to the band and pouch.

Abstract: A distributor for use in a cigarette rod making machine has a magazine for shredded tobacco, a carded drum which rotates about a horizontal axis and draws from the magazine a continuous layer of tobacco shreds toward its apex, a homogenizing device which equalizes the layer between the region where the shreds are being withdrawn from the magazine and the apex, a rapidly rotating picker roller which is adjacent to the apex of the drum and expels the shreds of the equalized layer tangentially from the carding of the drum whereby the flight spans of heavier tobacco particles exceed the flight spans of other tobacco particles. The other tobacco particles descend onto and form a sliver on a wide belt, and the heavier particles are intercepted by a receptacle. A second picker roller expels remnants of tobacco particles from the carding and transfers such particles onto the belt.

Abstract: A filter cigarette making machine wherein the web which is to yield adhesive-coated uniting bands is flexed by a curling device before it reaches the paster. The curling device is rigid with or is movable relative to a supporting device which is mounted in the frame of the filter cigarette making machine. A safety device can be activated to disengage the web from the curling device during starting of the web and/or to temporarily disengage the web from the curling device when a splice in the web approaches the curling station. The safety device has a rod which can bodily disengage the web from the edge of the curling device or a shaft which can rotate the supporting device to thereby move the curling device out of the way.

Abstract: A machine processes tobacco, filter material or other constituent material of smokers' products, or the like, with a stream of such material moving along a predetermined path. An arrangement for detecting the mass of the material in the stream includes a first circuit operative for generating a first periodic signal having a first frequency, and a second circuit operative for generating a second periodic signal having a second frequency. At least one of the two circuits is comprised of a frequency-determining capacitor structure positioned in proximity to material moving along a predetermined portion of the stream travel path and so disposed as to have a capacitance value dependent upon the mass of material penetrated by electric field lines of the capacitor structure. A signal combining circuit combines the first and second periodic signals to form a resultant periodic signal exhibiting a beat.

Abstract: An apparatus which forms and transfers thin films of a viscous or freely flowable liquid has a housing which supports or includes a vessel for a supply of liquid, a fountain roll which is rotatable in the housing and a median portion of which extends transversely of an outlet of the vessel so that liquid which flows into the outlet forms a layer on the periphery of the median portion, and a cylindrical doctor having at one end a diametrically extending blade which defines with the periphery of the median portion of the fountain roll a narrow clearance through which a film of liquid passes toward a station where the film is transferred onto a ductor roll. The doctor is adjustable radially of the fountain roll and the latter is surrounded by two O-rings which prevent the liquid layer from spreading from the median portion to the end faces of the fountain roll. A further O-ring is mounted in the housing to sealingly engage and to prevent leakage of liquid along the periphery of the doctor.

Abstract: There are passed through at least one portion of at least one rod-shaped article the electric field lines of a high-frequency electric field joining the electrodes of a measuring capacitor, and a density-dependent measurement signal is generated by detecting the effect upon the capacitance of the capacitor of the passage of the field lines through the article. There are passed through a reference dielectric medium the electric field lines of a high-frequency electric field joining the electrodes of a measuring capacitor, and a comparison signal is generated by detecting the effect of the reference dielectric medium upon the capacitance of the capacitor. The measurement signal and comparison signal are automatically compared to form a compensated density-dependent signal.

Abstract: A first signal is generated indicative of the gas permeability of the wrapper of the article being tested. A second signal is generated indicative of the porosity of the material of the wrappers of the articles being tested. The first and second signals are processed to form for each article a third signal indicative, to an extent greater than the respective first signal, of the component of the gas permeability of the article not attributable to the porosity of the material of the wrapper. The third signal is compared to a reference signal to determine whether the wrapper of the tested article is defective. The aforementioned second signal is generated by averaging out the gas permeabilities of the wrappers of a number of such articles.

Abstract: Tobacco shreds which are conveyed from a source in the form of a continuous stream are mixed with expanded tobacco ribs in such a way that the ratio of dry weights of successive unit lengths of the two streams which reach a mixing station remains constant. To this end, the moisture content of successive unit lengths of the two streams is measured by discrete detectors, and the overall weight of successive unit lengths of the stream of tobacco shreds is determined by a weighing device. A first analog computer is connected with the moisture detector for tobacco shreds and with the weighing device and transmits signals which are indicative of the dry weight of successive unit lengths of the stream of shreds. A ratio selector circuit determines the required dry weight of successive unit lengths of the rib stream in response to signals from the first computer and transmits such signals to a second analog computer which is further connected with the moisture detector for the rib stream.

Abstract: Moist tobacco is conveyed through a rotating drum which is heated by steam circulating coils and wherein a current of hot air is caused to flow counter to the direction of tobacco transport. The moisture content of conditioned tobacco is monitored by a detector which produces a first signal when the monitored moisture content deviates from a desired moisture content. The first signal is used to rapidly change the temperature of the air current from a standard temperature by adjusting the position of a valve which mixes hot air with cooler air whereby the extent of adjustment corresponds to the extent of deviation of monitored moisture content from desired moisture content. A second signal whose intensity is indicative of the extent of valve adjustment is transmitted to the input of a proportional-plus-integral amplifier which immediately changes the steam pressure in the coils and additionally changes the steam pressure while the temperature of the hot air current deviates from the standard temperature.

Abstract: Particles of a tobacco stream are first expanded by passing through a liquid bath with attendant increase in volume. The thus expanded particles of the tobacco are thereupon conveyed through a drying zone wherein the particles are externally heated by hot air for a short period of time to thus effect rapid drying of strata immediately adjacent to external surfaces of the particles and to thereby stabilize the particles against shrinkage. In the last step, the tobacco stream is forcibly cooled with air to effect a condensation of vaporized moisture in the capillaries.

Abstract: The material whose mass is to be determined is transported along a predetermined path. At a measurement station it forms the dielectric of a capacitor which is part of a high-frequency oscillator circuit. The capacitance of the capacitor and the attenuation of the high-frequency oscillator circuit at resonance are measured and the mass of the material, such as tobacco, is automatically calculated by means of an nth degree polynomial whose constants are stored in the computer and whose variables are the signals corresponding to the resonant attenuation and capacitance. The mass of a substance, such as moisture, associated with the tobacco is calculated similarly, but utilizing different constants. The polynomials can be expanded to include temperature terms.

Abstract: A distributor for comminuted tobacco wherein a first conveyor, such as a carded drum, an endless apron or a pneumatic conveyor, supplies tobacco at a variable rate into the path of orbital movement of bristles on a rapidly rotating accelerating device. The bristles propel the particles of tobacco onto a narrow foraminous transporting belt which travels in a horizontal channel and accumulates a dense tobacco stream which is transported past a trimming device and into the wrapping mechanism of a cigarette rod making machine. The accelerating device is driven by a separate motor so that the peripheral speed of its bristles exceeds the speed of tobacco travel on the first conveyor. The stream is attracted to the transporting conveyor by suction, and the accelerating device is placed sufficiently close to the channel to insure that, during impact against the transporting conveyor or against the layer of tobacco thereon, the kinetic energy of all or nearly all tobacco particles is substantially identical.