Patents Examined by D. Glenn Yuan
  • Patent number: 5657850
    Abstract: A receiving apparatus for cigarettes having a catcher drum rotatable in one direction, a large number of receiving grooves formed in the outer peripheral surface of the catcher drum, each receiving groove being tunnel-shaped and permitting a received double cigarette to advance, a stopper member formed in each receiving groove and having a stopper surface, a plurality of suction holes formed in the bottom of each receiving groove for supplying a suction pressure to the receiving groove, and a hole permitting the atmosphere or suction pressure to be introduced into the receiving groove from the stopper surface of the stopper member, where the suction pressure supplied from the suction holes and the atmospheric pressure introduced from the stopper surface cooperatively cause the double cigarette advancing in the receiving groove to be stopped at a position short of the stopper member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 19, 1997
    Assignee: Japan Tobacco, Inc.
    Inventors: Minoru Suzuki, Takehiro Suzuki