Patents by Inventor Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr.

Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr. 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: 7552735
    Abstract: A cigarette filter for removing gas phase constituents from mainstream cigarette smoke as the smoke is drawn through the filter primarily comprises an activated carbon fiber filter section including a bundle of activated carbon fibers. Particulate adsorbent materials such as granules, beads or course powders may be dispersed amongst the activated carbon fibers to aid in removal of the gas phase constituents. Additionally, the activated carbon fiber filter section may be used in combination with a separate bed or beds of particulate adsorbent material. In one embodiment, the activated carbon fibers are positioned within a helical groove on the outside of a threaded rod within the activated carbon fiber filter section. Relatively smaller amounts of activated carbon fibers produce the same smoke constituent reduction as larger amounts of particulate adsorbent material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventors: Lixin Xue, Jose G. Nepomuceno, Shuzhong Zhuang, Timothy Scott Sherwood, John Bryant Paine, III, Jay A Fournier, Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr., Kent Brian Koller, Liqun Yu
  • Patent number: 6863074
    Abstract: Cigarette filters, methods for making cigarettes and methods for smoking cigarettes are provided, which involve the use of an unfunctionalized porous polyaromatic resins, which is capable of removing at least some of at least one gas phase constituent from mainstream smoke through sorption. The unfunctionalized porous polyaromatic resin may be a polymerization product of non-polar styrene and divinyl benzene. Various gas phase constituent can be removed from mainstream tobacco smoke, such as dienes, furans, pyrroles, aromatics and ketones, for example. The cigarette filters and cigarettes can provide low resistance-to-draw and/or high total particulate matter delivery. Additionally, the unfunctionalized porous polyaromatic resin may further include flavorant(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventors: Lixin Xue, Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr., Liqun Yu, Kent B. Koller
  • Patent number: 6116247
    Abstract: A cleaning unit used to clean condensates formed during use of a component of a smoking system. The component can be a heating fixture having a cigarette receiving section and a plurality of longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced apart heating elements located within a can which accumulates the condensates. During a cleaning operation, the heating fixture is fitted within a cavity in the cleaning unit such that the cigarette receiving end of the heating fixture engages an O-ring and the terminal base portion abuts against an indented stop in an interior sidewall of a removable portion of the housing. The cleaning unit includes a water inlet connected to a source of pressurized water such as a faucet and a spray member extends into the cigarette receiving section to spray jets of water against the interior of the can.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: Philip Morris Incorporated
    Inventors: Joseph Leslie Banyasz, Aubry T. Burton, John M. Campbell, Woontung Geoffrey Chan, Mary Ellen Counts, William James Crowe, Jay A Fournier, Patrick H. Hayes, Willie Gray Houck, Jr., Robert E. Lee, III, Donald Bruce Losee, John B. Paine, III, Robert L. Ripley, Charles Edwin Thomas, Jr.