Patents by Inventor Alan Benson Norman

Alan Benson Norman 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).

  • Patent number: 9220297
    Abstract: Cigarettes are manufactured using modified automated cigarette making apparatus. Those cigarettes possess smokable rods having wrapping paper having additive materials applied thereto as patterns. The additive materials, which can include a starch and/or a polymer, are applied to a continuous paper web either online or offline the cigarette making apparatus. The formulation can be applied to the paper web using application apparatus possessing a series of rollers. In particular, a wrapping paper for a smokable rod can include a pattern of bands having a water-insoluble material comprising a starch ester, a starch-coated inorganic filler, and/or a thermoplastic polymer in an amount such that the material is sufficiently deformable so as to (a) reduce an amount of pressure to apply the bands, (b) decrease paper diffusivity, and (c) maintain paper opacity at a level acceptable for commercial production of the smokable rods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: Andries D. Sebastian, Alan Benson Norman, Paul Stuart Chapman, Robert Leslie Oglesby, Scott William Foor
  • Patent number: 8997755
    Abstract: The invention provides a filter element of a smoking article having a longitudinal axis and adapted for filtration of mainstream smoke generated by the smoking article, the filter element including a first region extending along the longitudinal axis of the filter element and exhibiting a first pressure drop and a second region extending along the longitudinal axis of the filter element and exhibiting a second pressure drop lower than said first pressure drop, wherein the first and second regions are arranged in a side-by-side configuration such that both regions are visible in a cross-section of the filter element perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and wherein mainstream smoke can move from the second region into the first region, and further comprising a smoke-altering material, such as an oxidation catalyst, positioned in the first region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: Alan Benson Norman, Bradley James Ingebrethsen
  • Publication number: 20110108044
    Abstract: The invention provides a filter element of a smoking article having a longitudinal axis and adapted for filtration of mainstream smoke generated by the smoking article, the filter element including a first region extending along the longitudinal axis of the filter element and exhibiting a first pressure drop and a second region extending along the longitudinal axis of the filter element and exhibiting a second pressure drop lower than said first pressure drop, wherein the first and second regions are arranged in a side-by-side configuration such that both regions are visible in a cross-section of the filter element perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and wherein mainstream smoke can move from the second region into the first region, and further comprising a smoke-altering material, such as an oxidation catalyst, positioned in the first region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2009
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Inventors: Alan Benson Norman, Bradley James Ingebrethsen
  • Publication number: 20110030709
    Abstract: Cigarettes are manufactured using modified automated cigarette making apparatus. Those cigarettes possess smokable rods having wrapping paper having additive materials applied thereto as patterns. The additive materials, which can include a starch and/or a polymer, are applied to a continuous paper web either online or offline the cigarette making apparatus. The formulation can be applied to the paper web using application apparatus possessing a series of rollers. In particular, a wrapping paper for a smokable rod can include a pattern of bands having a water-insoluble material comprising a starch ester, a starch-coated inorganic filler, and/or a thermoplastic polymer in an amount such that the material is sufficiently deformable so as to (a) reduce an amount of pressure to apply the bands, (b) decrease paper diffusivity, and (c) maintain paper opacity at a level acceptable for commercial production of the smokable rods.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Publication date: February 10, 2011
    Inventors: Andries D. Sebastian, Alan Benson Norman, Paul Stuart Chapman, Robert Leslie Oglesby, Scott William Foor
  • Patent number: 7600518
    Abstract: A smoking article including a smokable rod manufactured using a paper wrapping material having an additive material applied thereto as a pattern. The additive material is applied as aqueous coating formulation incorporating both an alginate and hydroxypropylcellulose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
    Inventors: Robert Leslie Oglesby, Alan Benson Norman, John Fitzgerald