Abstract: Tobacco products (2), typically cigarettes, are manufactured on a line (1) including a cigarette maker (3) and a filter tip attachment machine (4), both equipped with a number of production devices and units connected to respective master control units (82, 83) and visual display units (84). Key characteristics of sample tobacco products (2) are tested by an auxiliary inspection unit (45) forming part of a monitoring and control system associated with the manufacturing line (1), and connected up to a common interface network (48) so that signals reflecting the monitored characteristics can be fed back to a number of control units (81) associated respectively with the devices and the units of the line (1) on which the characteristics in question depend, and programmed to pilot corrective actions in response to the feedback signal.

Abstract: In a cigarette maker, shredded tobacco passes through a feed and transport section toward a unit by which divided particles of the tobacco are gathered into at least one stream providing the filler for cigarettes. By positioning one or more sensors either along the feed and transport section or at a point upstream, relative to the feed direction of the tobacco, it becomes possible to identify the type of tobacco being handled at any given moment, so that when production schedules include a changeover from one brand to another, supervisors can be certain that the right type of tobacco has been selected, and ensure that different types of tobacco will not mingle.

Abstract: Tobacco products (2), typically cigarettes, are manufactured on a line (1) including a cigarette maker (3) and a filter tip attachment machine (4), both equipped with a number of production devices and units connected to respective master control units (82, 83) and visual display units (84). Key characteristics of sample tobacco products (2) are tested by an auxiliary inspection unit (45) forming part of a monitoring and control system associated with the manufacturing line (1), and connected up to a common interface network (48) so that signals reflecting the monitored characteristics can be fed back to a number of control units (81) associated respectively with the devices and the units of the line (1) on which the characteristics in question depend, and programmed to pilot corrective actions in response to the feedback signal.

Abstract: In a cigarette maker, shredded tobacco passes through a feed and transport section toward a unit by which divided particles of the tobacco are gathered into at least one stream providing the filler for cigarettes. By positioning one or more sensors either along the feed and transport section or at a point upstream, relative to the feed direction of the tobacco, it becomes possible to identify the type of tobacco being handled at any given moment, so that when production schedules include a changeover from one brand to another, supervisors can be certain that the right type of tobacco has been selected, and ensure that different types of tobacco will not mingle.

Abstract: Single cigarettes selected as samples at the outfeed stage of a manufacturing line undergo a systematic quality control operation, performed by a testing unit, that consists in verifying a given number of characteristics for each cigarette and generating a set of signals each reflecting the quality of a respective characteristic; the succession of signals, each assigned a value on a predetermined scale, is represented in the form of a graph. Once a significant sample has been processed, the values assigned to all the characteristics of the tested cigarettes are displayed in a table, ordered such that each column will serve effectively as a production report on an individual cigarette.

Abstract: A cigarette, with a cigarette paper and a filter paper of different colors and separated by a boundary line with a given nominal position, is fed past a pair of optical sensors located on either side of the nominal position of the boundary line. The optical sensors generate a pair of electric signals each related to the color of the respective monitored portion of the cigarette, and which are compared with each other; and, in the event the difference between the signals is below a given threshold value, an error signal is generated for rejecting the cigarette.