Patents by Inventor Donald Horace Jones

Donald Horace Jones 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).

  • Smoking article component transfer device and method
    Patent number: 7882843
    Abstract: Described herein is a method and apparatus for transferring rods, or tubes, comprising feeding a plurality of rods into a hopper, feeding the rods through a hopper using agitation and gravity to align the rods in a single-file stacked configuration, and transferring the rods with pushers on a continuous cable so that that the rods may be transferred for insertion in the tobacco column. This method and apparatus may utilize one or more drums for transferring rods from the hopper to the pushers on the continuous cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc.
    Inventor: Donald Horace Jones
  • SMOKING ARTICLE COMPONENT TRANSFER DEVICE AND METHOD
    Publication number: 20080073253
    Abstract: Described herein is a method and apparatus for transferring rods, or tubes, comprising feeding a plurality of rods into a hopper, feeding the rods through a hopper using agitation and gravity to align the rods in a single-file stacked configuration, and transferring the rods with pushers on a continuous cable so that that the rods may be transferred for insertion in the tobacco column. This method and apparatus may utilize one or more drums for transferring rods from the hopper to the pushers on the continuous cable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Publication date: March 27, 2008
    Inventor: Donald Horace Jones