Abstract: A cigarette carton comprises opposite front and rear walls, opposing side walls, a top portion and a generally open bottom portion. The bottom portion comprises a plurality of closure flaps connected to at least several of the front, rear and side walls, and a horizontal hinge line connects each closure flap to its respective carton wall. Each closure flap has a fully open position where the flaps are inside the carton and rest on the carton walls to which they are connected to thereby enable cigarette packs to be placed in and removed from the carton. The closure flaps have a closed position where the flaps are positioned at an angle slightly inside the carton to retain the contents of the carton.

Abstract: An apparatus for the opening of paper bobbins and other rolls of material is provided. A flat blade is advanced from the side of a wound roll of material such that it intersects the roll over substantially its entire width. A cutting blade or other cutting mechanism then severs the layers of the roll which are outside the flat blade, and the flat blade protects the inside layers from being damaged. In preferred embodiments, a jet of air or other gas may be used to ease the insertion of the flat blade, or a gripping device which pinches the surface of the roll between opposed friction pads creates an arch in the surface of the roll through which the blade is inserted. The device is particularly suitable for use in cigarette making machines which require undamaged paper feeds.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for drying reconstituted tobacco sheets includes positioning a steam box below an endless conveyor belt. A slurry is cast onto the conveyor belt and conveyed over a steam box before entry into a drying apparatus. The steam box functions to pre-treat the slurry so as to increase the rate by which the slurry may be dried. The steam box includes the use of a perforated plate which encloses an upper portion of the steam box and which functions to uniformly distribute steam to the underside of the conveyor belt.

Abstract: In an apparatus for making and inspecting a multi-component cigarettes, each cigarette including two or more different components arranged relative to one another, the apparatus includes a device for advancing a web in a first direction. The apparatus further includes a device for positioning at least two different components of a cigarette relative to one another on the web as the web advances in the first direction. The apparatus further includes a garniture device for wrapping the web around the at least two different components by moving opposite edges of the web transversely to the first direction such that, at a closure point in the garniture device, the opposite edges overlap each other. The apparatus further includes an imaging device disposed upstream of the closure point for generating an image of the at least two different components.

Abstract: A cigarette filter having a reagent which chemically reacts with and removes a gaseous component of a smoke stream. The reagent contains functional groups covalently bonded to a non-volatile inorganic substrate which is incorporated in the filter. The filter can remove gaseous components such as aldehydes from tobacco smoke. Preferred functional groups are 3-aminopropylsilyl groups covalently bonded to silica gel (APS silica gel). The reagent can be contained in a space in the filter or incorporated in one or more filter elements such as tipping paper, shaped paper insert, mouthpiece plug, solid filter element, or free-flow filter element. The reagent can be part of or coated on paper such as tipping or filter paper or incorporated in non-paper filter elements formed from fibrous materials such as cellulose acetate or polypropylene fibers.

Abstract: A nozzle for the application of a fluid to a passing substrate in a bead form.

Abstract: A station optically inspects banded cigarette paper by directing an elongated beam of white light laterally across a web of the cigarette paper. The elongated beam impinges on the surface of the cigarette paper and forms reflections. A plurality of line scan camera containing linear CCD arrays receive the reflections and generate output signals. One or more processing units process the output signals to generate data indicative of the spacing between bands, the width of the bands, and the contrast of the bands. These calculations can be periodically transferred to a separate computer workstation over a network. The workstation generates statistical reports on the basis of the calculations, such as the band width, band spacing and band contrast as a function of lane number, and as a function of time. The statistical reports provide a convenient way of quickly detecting irregularities in application of the bands.

Abstract: A front opening cigarette box comprises a container portion and an integral cover portion which articulates between opened and closed positions. The container portion includes a front face, a rear face generally parallel to the front face, a bottom face, and spaced apart side walls interconnecting the front and rear faces. The cover portion includes a front face that fully covers the container portion when the cover portion is in its closed position. The cover portion also includes top and bottom faces, and a rear face contiguous with and forming a continuation of the rear face of the container portion when the cover portion is in its closed position. Spaced apart side walls on the cover portion interconnect the front and rear faces thereof. A hinge line extends between the rear faces of the container and cover portions, and the cover portion articulates about that hinge line between its opened and closed positions.

Abstract: A cigarette packing apparatus comprising means for repetitively progressing labels through a print location, a signal generator configured to generate a signal indicative of presence of the label as it passes adjacent the print location, a second signal generator configured to generate a signal indicative of a speed at the print location; a fluid jet printer head adjacent the print location and a controller configured to operate the printer head responsively to the first and second signal generators, with an additional arrangement within the packing apparatus defining a contact-free path portion sufficient for ink to dry at the indicia-bearing portion of the label as the label is progressed beyond the print location.

Abstract: A cigarette cartoner apparatus comprising a folding station configured to wrap a carton blank about a pre-arranged bundle of cigarette packets; means for repetitively dispensing carton blanks along a pathway; a signal generator adjacent a print location along the aforementioned pathway; at least one fluid jet print head adjacent the print location; a controller configured to operate the print head responsively to the signal generator; and a guide arrangement within the cartoner defining a contact-free path portion as the packaging material is progressed from said print location.

Abstract: A brand flexible, fixed tipping paper guide including guide frame; a guide receivable in the guide frame; a register for aligning a first portion of the fame relative to a paper feed path and an adjustable mount operative to adjust a second portion of said guide frame transversely relative to said feed path.

Abstract: A pump cleaning unit for a heater fixture of a smoking device includes a base member. The base member includes a cup having an open end and a closed end, and a pedestal including a top part disposed in the cup proximate the open end of the cup and a leg connecting the top part to the closed end of the cup. A peripheral edge of the top part and an interior wall of the cup define a circumferential gap. The unit further includes a cylinder having a lower chamber and an upper chamber separated by a wall, a port extending through the wall. The cylinder has a cylinder wall proximate the lower chamber that fits in the circumferential gap and permits axial movement of the cylinder relative to the cup. A holder is provided for holding the heater fixture in the upper chamber over the port such that a central opening of the heater fixture is in flow communication with the port.

Abstract: A drum elevator and method of elevating cigarettes, the apparatus having a series of rotatable cigarette transferring drums including a first plurality of horizontally disposed drums at a first elevation and a second plurality of vertically disposed drums extending to a second elevation, the second plurality of vertically disposed drums receiving output from the first plurality of drums, the series of drums adapted to receive a procession of cigarettes at the first elevation and to elevate the cigarettes along a transfer path to the second elevation while maintaining the cigarettes arranged substantially in the procession; a rejection station at a location along the transfer path; a controller operative to selectively actuate the rejection station; and a stack former at the second elevation, the stack former receiving output of the second plurality of vertically disposed drums.