Abstract: A process for converting the more easily synthesized and stored AMP hexahydrate into monohydrate of high purity. The resultant monohydrate (dittmarite) can then be either dried to stabilize it, or used directly in cigarette production such as paper making as filler or a filler component together with calcium carbonate.

Abstract: A cigarette with burn rate modification is described. The cigarette has a partial double wrap design and incorporates an inner wrap material which extends partially around the interior portion of the outer wrapper of a cigarette. The inner wrap can be a single element or can be a plurality of strips which extend coaxially along the tobacco column and which affect the burn rate of the cigarette. The partial inner wrap material exhibits a low porosity and forms zones of high diffusion and low diffusion along the length of the tobacco rod. These zones may be singular or may be alternating and are coaxial. The low diffusion zones are aligned with the inner wrap material.

Abstract: Cigarettes are manufactured using modified automated cigarette making apparatus. Those cigarettes possess smokable rods having paper wrapping materials having additive materials applied thereto as patterns. The additive material can be applied as a coating formulation in an off-line manner to a continuous paper sheet web that is later used for cigarette manufacture. The additive material can be applied as a coating formulation in an on-line manner to continuous paper web moving through an operating cigarette making machine. The coating formulation is applied to the paper web using roll applicator techniques, ink jet printing techniques or electrostatic precipitation techniques. Liquid coating formulation are curable, and are virtually absent of solvent or liquid carrier. Radiation, such as ultraviolet or electron beam radiation, is used to solidify and fix polymerizable liquid components of the coating formulation that have been applied to the paper web.

Abstract: A transparent aluminum oxynitride product is produced by a first heat treating step wherein a combination of Al2O3 and AlN at a temperature within the solid-liquid phase and a second step of sintering the heat treated combination at a temperature at least 50° C. less than the heat treating temperature. The method introduces a small fraction of liquid that aids in pore elimination and densification. In a single step, the material is shifted from the liquid/solid region into a solid AlON solution region, wherein the liquid is fully reacted with the solid AlON phase, with further sintering occurring. The procedure is sufficient to eliminate voids and other imperfections which often result in a reduction in optical clarity.

Abstract: A vessel according to the present invention is made of a transparent or translucent material and includes a main portion and end portions which are integrated into the main portion, respectively. At least a central area of the main portion has a thickness smaller than at the respective end portions and at the boundary areas of the respective end portions and the main portion. The inner diameter of the respective end portions is not more than about 2 mm.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an encapsulated material for use in chewable compositions. The encapsulated material is formed by blending an encapsulating solution with essential oils or other hydrophobic or amphipathic compounds flavoring solution to form a homogenous coating solution. The homogenous coating solution is contacted with a substrate to provide a flavored composition.

Abstract: The invention is a method to reduce the number of cigarettes consumed by a smoker, preferably towards the goal of eventual cessation. The method comprises collecting data that describes a smoker's cigarette consumption, using said data to generate a reduced smoking regimen, and implementing said reduced smoking regimen. By reducing the number of cigarettes consumed and equally distributing their consumption over the smoker's smoking hours, the method helps the smoker to reduce tobacco consumption and break psychological smoking associations. The method implemented for tobacco reduction is flexible enough to accomodate smokers who are not compliant as it continues to reduce scheduled consumption. Likewise, the method may accomodate smokers capable of accelerating their reduction.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for dispersing fine catalyst powders having nanoscale or microscale particles throughout the tobacco rod portion of a cigarette. A source of vacuum is connected to the filter end of a cigarette through a tube that is sealingly engaged with the filter end of the cigarette. The opposite cut filler end of the tobacco rod portion of the cigarette is placed in the proximity of a predetermined amount of the catalyst powder contained in a container. The vacuum is applied to the cigarette filter in an amount and for a period of time that is a function of the size and quantity of the particles to be drawn into and dispersed throughout the tobacco rod portion of the cigarette.

Abstract: The flavor and aroma characteristics of the smoke of a tobacco blend incorporating Oriental tobacco are improved by subjecting that blend to heat treatment. Oriental tobacco having a relatively high sucrose ester content is combined with a second dissimilar Oriental tobacco material and/or a non-Oriental tobacco material to form a tobacco mixture, and that mixture is heated for a time and under conditions sufficient to reduce the concentration of sucrose esters in the Oriental tobacco. Tobacco blends having reduced levels of sucrose esters yield smoke that does not possess undesirable off-notes provided by pyrolysis products of those sucrose esters; namely, 2-methylpropionic acid, 3-methylbutyric acid and 3-methylpentanoic acid.

Abstract: A method for the homogeneous heating of semitransparent and/or transparent glass and/or glass-ceramic articles using infrared radiation so that the glass and/or glass-ceramic articles undergo heat treatment at between 20 and 3000° C., notably at between 20 and 1705° C. Heating is achieved by a component of infrared radiation which acts directly on the glass and/or glass-ceramic articles and by a component of infrared radiation which acts indirectly on said glass and/or glass-ceramic articles. The radiation component indirectly acting on the glass and/or glass-ceramic articles accounts for more than 50% of total radiation output.

Abstract: Glass produced on basis of a raw material in form of a mixture of mainly mineral-containing components comprising sludge from e.g. purification plants and waste products from the industry, and having a determined chemical composition adjusted on basis of knowledge of the chemical composition of the mineral-containing components forming part of the glass. The glass is produced from the raw material which after mineralization is pressed into briquettes that are hardened and subsequently melted in e.g. a blast furnace under oxygen supply, and where the melt is quenched and dried. Large amounts of waste products and waste substances that are normally deposited either treated or untreated can be reused and utilized at production of the glass.

Abstract: A cigarette comprises a tobacco section including a columnar tobacco filler material and at least one cellulose-based wrapping paper sheet for wrapping the outer circumferential surface of the columnar tobacco filler material. The outermost wrapping paper sheet among the wrapping paper sheets has a thermal conductivity not lower than 0.5 W·K?1·m?1.

Abstract: Cut filler compositions, cigarettes, methods for making cigarettes and methods for smoking cigarettes are provided, which involve the use of nanoparticle additives capable of reducing at least one constituent from mainstream and/or sidestream tobacco smoke, the at least one constituent being selected from the group consisting of aldehyde, carbon monoxide, 1,3-butadiene, isoprene, acrolein, acrylonitrile, hydrogen cyanide, o-toluidine, 2-naphtylamine, nitrogen oxide, benzene, N-nitrosonornicotine, phenol, catechol, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the nanoparticle additives are effective as an oxidant for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and/or as a catalyst for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and/or catalyst for conversion of aldehydes such as acetaldehyde and acrolein, hydrocarbons such as isoprene and/or phenolic compounds such as catechol to carbon dioxide and water vapor.

Abstract: Cut filler compositions, cigarettes, methods for making cigarettes and methods for smoking cigarettes are provided, which involve the use of nanoparticle additives capable of acting as an oxidant for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and/or as a catalyst for the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Cut filler compositions are described which comprise tobacco and at least one nanoparticle additive. Cigarettes are provided, which comprise a tobacco rod, containing a cut filler having at least one nanoparticle additive. Methods for making a cigarette are provided, which involve (i) adding a nanoparticle additive to a cut filler; (ii) providing the cut filler comprising the additive to a cigarette making machine to form a tobacco rod; and (iii) placing a paper wrapper around the tobacco rod to form the cigarette.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an improved blank such that an optical member of a high homogeneity can be obtained therefrom, and to provide a vessel and a heat treatment method for heat-treating a highly uniform synthetic quartz blank. In a first aspect of the invention a special designed blank is provided showing a concave shaped outer surface. In a second aspect of the invention a special designed vessel for heat-treating blanks is provided, whereby the degree of heat emission at the center is set higher than that of the surroundings.

Abstract: Microporous ceramic materials used in structural materials, high-temperature filters, electrode materials or preform materials for infiltration by homogeneously mixing and molding a ceramic precursor powder polymer. The powder is saturated by introducing fluid to a pressure vessel. The fluid is super saturated by adjusting pressure in the vessel. Micropores are formed in the molded bodies by evolving the fluid from the molded bodies by heating and hardening the molded bodies. The hardened molded bodies are heated to pyrolysis. Pore characteristics (e.g., pore size and pore size distribution) suitable to target materials are controlled by adjusting pressure at a non-critical state without requiring additional processes or devices.

Abstract: A plunger for intermittently delivering counterblow air to a gob glass at a formidable temperature in a blank mold of an I.S. glass container forming machine being operated on the blow and blow process. The plunger comprises a fixed annular member with an enlarged recess at an inlet end and a valve seat at an upper end. The plunger has a sliding valve member with an annulus of the annular member, and the valve member has a stem portion and an enlarged valve seat portion at a free end thereof. The plunger further has a collar threadably and adjustably secured to the stem portion of the sliding valve member, and the collar, which is slidable within the recess of the annular member, has a plurality of air flow passages extending therethrough. Pressurized air is intermittently delivered to the recess of the annular member through an inlet line, which as an on/off valve therein.

Abstract: A spinner is adapted to produce a dual glass curly fiber component and a single straight glass fiber component insulation product. The spinner includes a plurality of horizontal channels within the spinner peripheral wall. The channels separate two molten glasses of differing coefficients of thermal expansion from one another which emerge outwardly together as a dual glass curly fiber. In other portions of the spinner peripheral wall a plurality of horizontal channels carry single molten glass which emerges as straight glass fibers. The spinner provides mechanical strength and resistance to reduce deformation of said spinner as well as creating a fiber glass product with stability, compressibility and expendability.

Abstract: The sleeve-type glass melt agitator has a rotatable cylindrical sleeve provided with outwardly protruding vane elements and through-going openings in its outer cylindrical surface to stir the glass melt when the sleeve is rotated. The sleeve type agitator is arranged vertically in a glass melt feed channel in a glass melt feed system for making glass tubes or pipes according to the Vello or down-drawn process. During formation of glass tubes or pipes from the glass melt the sleeve-type agitator is rotated as the glass melt flows downward to prevent formation of schlieren in the glass melt, which causes glass material losses.

Abstract: A method of producing a ceramic multilayer substrate involves: producing a green composite laminate 11 containing first and second shrink-suppressing layers formed on the main surfaces of a green multilayer mother substrate 12 containing ceramic powder, the first and second shrink-suppressing layers containing a sintering-difficult powder substantially incapable of being sintered under the sintering conditions for the ceramic powder; forming first grooves 16 extending from the first shrink-suppressing layer 13 side into a part of the multilayer mother substrate 12; firing the composite laminate 11; removing the first and second shrink-suppressing layers 13 and 14; dividing the multilayer mother substrate 12 along the grooves 16 and obtaining a plurality of the ceramic multilayer substrates. Thereby, shrinkage in the plan direction at firing can be suppressed. Thus, a ceramic multilayer substrate having a high dimensional accuracy and a high reliability can be produced with a high production efficiency.