Patents by Inventor Stefano ZAPPOLI

Stefano ZAPPOLI 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: 11825869
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus and a method of manufacturing a crimped sheet (70) of material for an aerosol-generating article. The method comprises the step of feeding a substantially continuous sheet of material to a set of crimping rollers (11, 21) in a transport direction (1), the set of crimping rollers comprising a first roller (11) having a first surface (12) and having a first plurality of ridges (17) across at least a portion of its width and a second roller having a second surface, the second surface (22) being formed at least for a portion thereof in a material having an hardness lower than the hardness of a material forming the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Publication number: 20230337715
    Abstract: An apparatus for manufacturing a crimped web for an aerosol-generating article is provided, the apparatus including: a set of crimping rollers including a first roller and a second roller, each of which is corrugated across at least a portion of a width thereof, the first and the second rollers being arranged such that corrugations of the first roller substantially interleave with corrugations of the second roller, pitch values of the corrugations of one or both of the first and the second rollers varying across the width of the rollers, and the pitch values of substantially all of the corrugations of the first and the second rollers varying from about 0.5 mm to about 1.7 mm. A crimped sheet, and a method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating article component, are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano ZAPPOLI
  • Patent number: 11730185
    Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of manufacturing a crimped web for an aerosol-generating article is provided, including feeding a substantially continuous web to a set of crimping rollers including a first roller and a second roller, each of which is corrugated across at least a portion of a width thereof; and crimping the web by feeding the web between the rollers in a longitudinal direction of the web such that corrugations of the rollers apply a plurality of longitudinally extending and substantially parallel crimp corrugations to the web, wherein pitch values of the corrugations of one or both of the rollers vary across the width thereof such that pitch values of the crimp corrugations vary across a width of the crimped web.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Patent number: 11350660
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus (100) for crimping a sheet of material (6), the apparatus comprising: a first (9) and a second (10) facing crimping rollers defining a first (1) and a second (22) rotational axis, respectively, the first and second axis being parallel to each other, wherein at least one of the first and second crimping roller includes a plurality of corrugations; an angle changing device, the angle changing device being adapted to change a crimping angle (11) formed between a fixed reference plane (12) and a movable plane (13) containing the first and the second rotational axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Pietro Davide La Porta, Alberto Monzoni, Stefano Malossi, Antonella Giannini
  • Publication number: 20220151287
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for crimping a sheet of material, the apparatus comprising a first and second facing crimping roller defining a first and second rotation axis, respectively, the first roller including: a first plurality of circumferential ridges, each ridge defining a ridge amplitude; wherein each of said first plurality of ridges is interrupted along its circumferential extension forming an interruption gap where for a given interruption angle an amplitude of the ridge differs from the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge; wherein said plurality of interruption gaps forms an interruption band defining a direction of extension, said direction of extension being angled with respect to a direction defined by the first rotation axis of an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25°. The invention also relates to a method for crimping a sheet of material as well as a crimped sheet of material and a rod made of a crimped sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2022
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Ilario Lodi
  • Patent number: 11252995
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method or apparatus (10) for crimping a sheet (70) of material The apparatus comprises a transport device to transport the sheet of material along a transport direction (1), and a set of crimping rollers (11, 21). The set comprises a first (11) and a second (21) main crimping roller, defining a first (18) and a second (28) rotational axis and being faced one in front of the other, the first roller including a first plurality of ridges (17) across a portion of its width (16), and the second roller having a second plurality of ridges (27) across a portion of its width; and a pre-crimping roller facing the first roller and having a third plurality of ridges across a portion of its width, the pre-crimping roller having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the first and second main roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Patent number: 11252994
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus (10) for crimping a sheet (40) of material, the apparatus comprising a first and second facing crimping roller (11, 21) defining a first and second rotation axis, respectively, the first roller including: •a first plurality of circumferential ridges (16), each ridge defining a ridge amplitude; •wherein each of said first plurality of ridges is interrupted along its circumferential extension forming an interruption gap where for a given interruption angle an amplitude of the ridge differs from the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge; •wherein said plurality of interruption gaps forms an interruption band defining a direction of extension, said direction of extension being angled with respect to a direction defined by the first rotation axis of an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25°. The invention also relates to a method for crimping a sheet of material as well as a crimped sheet of material and a rod made of a crimped sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Ilario Lodi
  • Patent number: 11166488
    Abstract: The apparatus for shaping substantially flat continuous material comprises a shaping device for gathering substantially flat continuous material transverse to a longitudinal direction of the continuous material to form a gathered continuous material. The apparatus further comprises a cooling device for cooling the gathered continuous material. The shaping device and the cooling device are combined such as to immediately cool the gathered continuous material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Gianni Caprini, Michele Pagnoni
  • Patent number: 11091341
    Abstract: The apparatus (10) for processing a continuous band of wrapping material (40) comprises a roller pair (20, 30) defining a roller gap (12) there between, wherein the rollers (20, 30) have matching convex and concave shapes, respectively. The invention is also directed to a corresponding method for treatment of wrapping material (40).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Publication number: 20200337361
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus (10) for crimping a sheet (40) of material, the apparatus comprising a first and second facing crimping roller (11, 21) defining a first and second rotation axis, respectively, the first roller including:•a first plurality of circumferential ridges (16), each ridge defining a ridge amplitude;•wherein each of said first plurality of ridges is interrupted along its circumferential extension forming an interruption gap where for a given interruption angle an amplitude of the ridge differs from the ridge amplitude in the remaining circumferential extension of the ridge;•wherein said plurality of interruption gaps forms an interruption band defining a direction of extension, said direction of extension being angled with respect to a direction defined by the first rotation axis of an angle comprised between about 2° to about 25°. The invention also relates to a method for crimping a sheet of material as well as a crimped sheet of material and a rod made of a crimped sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2018
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Ilario Lodi
  • Publication number: 20200337362
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method or apparatus (10) for crimping a sheet (70) of material The apparatus comprises a transport device to transport the sheet of material along a transport direction (1), and a set of crimping rollers (11, 21). The set comprises a first (11) and a second (21) main crimping roller, defining a first (18) and a second (28) rotational axis and being faced one in front of the other, the first roller including a first plurality of ridges (17) across a portion of its width (16), and the second roller having a second plurality of ridges (27) across a portion of its width; and a pre-crimping roller facing the first roller and having a third plurality of ridges across a portion of its width, the pre-crimping roller having a diameter smaller than a diameter of the first and second main roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Publication number: 20200138095
    Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus and a method of manufacturing a crimped sheet (70) of material for an aerosol-generating article. The method comprises the step of feeding a substantially continuous sheet of material to a set of crimping rollers (11, 21) in a transport direction (1), the set of crimping rollers comprising a first roller (11) having a first surface (12) and having a first plurality of ridges (17) across at least a portion of its width and a second roller having a second surface, the second surface (22) being formed at least for a portion thereof in a material having an hardness lower than the hardness of a material forming the first surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Publication number: 20200113226
    Abstract: The apparatus for shaping substantially flat continuous material comprises a shaping device for gathering substantially flat continuous material transverse to a longitudinal direction of the continuous material to form a gathered continuous material. The apparatus further comprises a cooling device for cooling the gathered continuous material. The shaping device and the cooling device are combined such as to immediately cool the gathered continuous material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Publication date: April 16, 2020
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Gianni Caprini, Michele Pagnoni
  • Publication number: 20200046015
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus (100) for crimping a sheet of material (6), the apparatus comprising: a first (9) and a second (10) facing crimping rollers defining a first (1) and a second (22) rotational axis, respectively, the first and second axis being parallel to each other, wherein at least one of the first and second crimping roller includes a plurality of corrugations; an angle changing device, the angle changing device being adapted to change a crimping angle (11) formed between a fixed reference plane (12) and a movable plane (13) containing the first and the second rotational axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Pietro Davide La Porta, Alberto Monzoni, Stefano Malossi, Antonella Giannini
  • Publication number: 20200000140
    Abstract: The apparatus (10) for processing a continuous band of wrapping material (40) comprises a roller pair (20, 30) defining a roller gap (12) there between, wherein the rollers (20, 30) have matching convex and concave shapes, respectively. The invention is also directed to a corresponding method for treatment of wrapping material (40).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2018
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventor: Stefano Zappoli
  • Patent number: 10512280
    Abstract: The apparatus for shaping substantially flat continuous material comprises a shaping device (500) for gathering substantially flat continuous material transverse to a longitudinal direction of the continuous material to form a gathered continuous material. The apparatus further comprises a cooling device (75) for cooling the gathered continuous material. The shaping device and the cooling device are combined such as to immediately cool the gathered continuous material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Gianni Caprini, Michele Pagnoni
  • Publication number: 20170332695
    Abstract: The apparatus for shaping substantially flat continuous material comprises a shaping device (500) for gathering substantially flat continuous material transverse to a longitudinal direction of the continuous material to form a gathered continuous material. The apparatus further comprises a cooling device (75) for cooling the gathered continuous material. The shaping device and the cooling device are combined such as to immediately cool the gathered continuous material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Inventors: Stefano Zappoli, Gianni Caprini, Michele Pagnoni
  • Publication number: 20170245542
    Abstract: An apparatus for and a method of manufacturing a crimped web for an aerosol-generating article is provided, including feeding a substantially continuous web to a set of crimping rollers including a first roller and a second roller, each of which is corrugated across at least a portion of a width thereof; and crimping the web by feeding the web between the rollers in a longitudinal direction of the web such that corrugations of the rollers apply a plurality of longitudinally extending and substantially parallel crimp corrugations to the web, wherein pitch values of the corrugations of one or both of the rollers vary across the width thereof such that pitch values of the crimp corrugations vary across a width of the crimped web.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2015
    Publication date: August 31, 2017
    Applicant: Philip Morris Products S.A.
    Inventor: Stefano ZAPPOLI