Smokeable Material Recovery

Abstract

A machine for making smoking articles that include filters (24) such as filter cigarettes, has fabrication stations configured in a production line to perform sequential steps in their manufacture, and an inspection station to identify those of the smoking articles that are to be rejected as a result of not meeting a quality control criterion. A filter removal device (31) is arranged on the production line to remove the filters (24) from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

Description

FIELD

This specification relates to a machine for making smoking articles such as cigarettes that include filters, for use in recovering smokeable material from the smoking articles rejected during manufacture.

BACKGROUND

It has previously been proposed to recover tobacco from cigarettes that are rejected due to manufacturing faults. Conventionally, tobacco rods are attached to filter segments by tipping paper in a cigarette making machine and the cigarettes manufactured in this way pass around an inspection drum where they are inspected for manufacturing faults. Cigarettes that are faulty are caused to drop from the inspection drum into a hopper below. Then, offline, the rejected cigarettes have their filters removed and the paper wrapper around the tobacco rod is cut in order to release the tobacco so that it can be recovered for re-use in the cigarette making machine. This process is time consuming and requires the rejected cigarette to be lined up after leaving the hopper so that the filters can be removed and the rods opened to release the tobacco.

SUMMARY

An embodiment of a machine for making smoking articles that include filters, described in more detail hereinafter, comprises a plurality of fabrication stations configured in a production line to perform sequential steps in their manufacture, an inspection station on the production line to receive the so manufactured smoking articles sequentially and to identify those of the smoking articles that are to be rejected as a result of not meeting a quality control criterion, and a filter removal device on the production line to remove the filters from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

Also described is a method of using the machine in a process to recover smokeable material

A filter removal device is also described which can be retrofitted to the production line such as to remove the filters from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be more fully understood an embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a cigarette making machine;

FIG. 2 illustrates successive stages during the manufacture of filter cigarettes with the machine shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 illustrates the removal of a filter from a rejected cigarette and the cutting of its wrapper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a cigarette making machine is illustrated which in which smoking articles in the form of filter cigarettes are manufactured in a series of fabrication steps performed at fabrication stations along a production line. The fabrication steps include attaching rods of tobacco to opposite ends of a filter rod, cutting the filter rod to produce two cigarettes back-to-back, re-aligning the cigarettes carrying out a quality control inspection, rejecting unacceptable cigarettes and passing accepted cigarettes for packaging. The machine illustrated in FIG. 1 can be considered as a modification of a conventional machine such as the Hauni Max manufactured by Hauni Maschinenbau AG of Hamburg Germany, in which filters are removed from rejected cigarettes online.

As shown in FIG. 1, successive lengths of tobacco rod 1 manufactured by a rod making machine are fed from a hopper into axially extending grooves 2 on the surface of the inlet drum 3 by means of a spider (not illustrated in FIG. 1 in order to simplify the explanation). As illustrated in FIG. 2A, each of the tobacco rods 1 has a length corresponding to two cigarettes. The tobacco rods 1 may comprise tobacco or like smokeable material wrapped in a paper wrapper, as discussed in more detail hereinafter.

The rods 1 on drum 3 are fed into corresponding grooves 2 of a cutter drum 4 where they pass a rotary cutter blade 5 that cuts the rods 1 in half as illustrated in FIG. 2B to form rods 1,1′. The cut rods then pass onto grooves 2 of a spacer drum 6 which is driven in synchronism with the cutter drum 4. A spacer device 7 separates the cut rods 1, 1′ illustrated in FIG. 2C and passes them onto a filter receiving drum 8 that also has grooves 2. The various rods can be held in the grooves 2 of the drums described herein by negative air pressure through the use of a pumping system (not shown).

The tobacco rods 1, 1′ spaced are apart by a distance sufficient to receive a length of filter rod 9 fed onto the filter receiving drum 8 from filter inlet drum 10 that receives successive filter rods 8 from a hopper (not shown) fed in the direction of arrow B. The filter rods 9 may comprise cellulose acetate tow wrapped in a plug wrap or may include other or additional filter material such as a Dalmatian filter segment, flavourant for example in frangible capsules or adsorbant such as particles of activated carbon.

The resulting configuration of tobacco rods 1, 1′ and filter rod 9 is illustrated in FIG. 2C. This arrangement of aligned rods is then transferred to a tipping drum ii that is driven in synchronism with drum 8 and a swashplate (not shown) ensures that the rods 1, 9 and 1′ abut one another.

Then, a cut length of tipping paper 12 as applied to the filter rod 8 so as to overlap its ends and join the rods 1, 1′, 8 together as illustrated in FIG. 2D. The tipping paper is fed as a web 13 from a supply roll (not shown) in the direction of arrow C onto an applicator roller 14 after having been passed over a curling plate and having adhesive applied in a manner well known per se and not illustrated in FIG. 1 in order to simplify the explanation. A cutter roller 15 with blades 16 cuts the continuous web of tipping paper 13 into individual segments 12 for each pair of cigarettes as illustrated in FIG. 2D. The action of the drum 11 is to roll the tipping paper around the coaxial arrangement of rods 1, 1′, 9 shown in FIG. 2D so that they become joined by the glued tipping paper segment 12 to provide the combined rod arrangement illustrated in FIG. 2E.

The combined rod arrangement 1, 1′, 9 is then transferred to a ventilation forming station that comprises a synchronously driven drum 17 with an associated laser 18 which burns ventilation holes into the filter and/or tobacco rods 1,9,1′. The ventilated rods are then passed by a feeder roller 19 to a cutting station comprising a roller 20 and rotary cutter blade 21 which cuts the joined rods in half by a rotary cutter blade 20 to provide a pair of cigarettes 22, 22′ with tobacco rods 23, 23′ and filter segments 24, 24′ respectively arranged back-to back. The cut cigarettes 22, 22′ are then fed onto the periphery of a drum 25 shown in FIG. 1 that is driven in synchronism with drum 20 at which the cigarettes 22′ are flipped over to be aligned with cigarettes 22 as illustrated in FIG. 2G.

The aligned cigarettes 22, 22′ are then fed into grooves 2 of feeder drum 26 that rotates in synchronism with drum 25 so that the aligned cigarettes are fed successively through an inspection station comprising an inspection drum 27 at which a camera 28 or other optical detector carries out an inspection of the quality of the thus manufactured cigarettes received in grooves 2 of the drum 26. The detector 28 feeds data to a processor P which compares it with stored information corresponding to quality control criteria so as to control a diverter gate G depending on the outcome, so that the cigarettes which meet the quality control criteria are fed in an accept path onto outlet drum 29 driven in synchronism with drum 26 and then pass in the direction of arrow D onto an output conveyor (not shown) for packaging. The diverter gate G diverts rejected cigarettes so that they continue on a reject path around the inspection drum 26 and transfer onto a reject drum 30 towards a filter removal device in the form of a rotary blade 31, which is configured to cut off the filter 24 from the tobacco rod 23 of the rejected cigarettes. The diverting action of the gate G may be implemented or assisted by controlling or releasing the negative pressure that retains the cigarettes 22 in the grooves 2 on the inspection drum.

The processor P may also receive quality control data from other tests performed on the cigarettes whilst they pass along the production line, which can used to control the diverter gate G. For example, the cigarettes may be subject to a pressure test as they pass around the inspection drum 27, in which air is pumped into one end and the pressure drop through the rod is measured. If the pressure drop is too high or too low, this indicates a bad join between the tobacco rod and filter of the cigarettes 22, 22′ such that the cigarette should be rejected. Also an optical detector (not shown) may be provided to detect loose ends where not enough tobacco fills the rod, or strands of tobacco that are protruding from the rod ends.

Referring to FIG. 2H, it can be seen that rejected cigarette 22″ has a filter 23″ that includes a fault 32 at its mouth end which will be unacceptable to the user.

The rejected cigarettes that pass cutter 31 abut against a transverse guide 33 and so are accurately aligned axially. As a result, the cutter blade 31 can accurately cut the filter 24″ from the tobacco rod 23″ as shown in FIG. 2J through the tobacco rod whilst in situ on the reject drum 30. The cut filter 24″ falls along a first reject path 34 whereas the tobacco rod 23″ falls along a second reject path 36 as shown in FIG. 2J.

Thus, the filter 24″ can be cut from the tobacco rod towards the end of the tobacco rod, with the result that the filter remains intact and is not itself cut open by the filter removal process. A small length of tobacco rod remains on the filter so that the end of the filter is not opened by the cutting process. This ensures that there is no release of the contents of the filter as a result of the cutting process, which could otherwise contaminate the region of the cutting blade 31, for example if the filter contains carbon granules or a ruptured liquid containing capsule. Furthermore, the accurate cutting of the tobacco rod 19″ close to the filter ensures that there is little wastage of tobacco in the recovery process to be described below.

Referring to FIG. 3, the filters 24″ cut by the cutter 32 pass into a rejection hopper 36. The tobacco rods 23″ cut by the cutter 31 however fall onto a conveyor belt 37 which moves in the direction of arrows 38, 39. A guide 40 shown in dotted outline ensures that the tobacco rods 23″ are aligned axially in a guide channel 41 so that they are driven past a rotary cutting blade 42. The blade 42 cuts the paper wrapper 43 for each rod 23″ longitudinally so as to release tobacco 44 from the wrapper 43. The tobacco 43 can fall into a chute 45 through an appropriately sized mesh 46 in order to become separated from the paper wrapper 44. Alternatively, the mix of wrappers 43 and tobacco 44 may be fed into a centrifuge (not shown) in order to separate them from one another. Alternatively a cyclone (not shown) can be used. Also, a combination of these separation techniques can be carried out with advantage.

The reclaimed tobacco 44 can then be re-used in the manufacture of tobacco rods 1 and thereby minimise waste. Moreover, the tobacco 44 is not contaminated with any of the filter components which may cause detrimental taste or chemical effect if smoked in conjunction with the tobacco.

Many modifications and variations to the described on-line filter removal will be evident to those skilled in the art. For example the described process may be used for smoking articles other than cigarettes and as used herein, the term “smoking article” includes smokeable products such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes and also heat-not-burn products.

Also on-line filter removal devices other than a rotary cutting blade could be used. For example a wedge shaped member could be used to axially deform the filter to snap it away from the tobacco rod. Also, a reciprocating blade could be used.

In another modification, the cigarettes that are rejected by the processor P may be have their filters cut whilst on the inspection drum rather than use a rejection drum separate from the inspection station.

Also, further quality control measures may be included. For example, the combination of rods shown in FIG. 2C may be rejected either after optical detection or in terms of their combined weight e.g. at drum 8, so as to detect whether a filter rod 8 was successfully placed between the tobacco rods 1, 1′.

It will also be appreciated that the various steps of production described with reference to FIG. 2 can be altered and modified. For example addition drums may be included in the production line to allow additional manufacturing steps to be performed.

Also, it will be understood that the cutting blade 31 and the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 can be included in a bespoke cigarette making machine or can be retro-fitted to a machine already commissioned for use in a factory in order to provide an improved tobacco recovery from rejected smoking articles by on-line filter removal.

An advantage of the described example of online filter removal is that there is less likelihood of contamination of the tobacco with substances incorporated in the filter during the recovery of tobacco if the material is recovered as compared with prior offline methods, for example, maceration by a series of fans or slitting of the complete cigarette length will expose the contents of the filter to the tobacco rod, which in some instances, may lead to a detrimental effect on the nature of the reclaimed tobacco, for instance, altering the taste profile due to inclusion of unwanted particles of capsule or carbon. This is overcome by the described online filter removal in which the filter is accurately cut from the tobacco rod online.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety of this disclosure shows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimed invention(s) may be practiced and provide for superior machines for making smoking articles and methods of their use and retrofitting for use for making such smoking articles. The advantages and features of the disclosure are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimed features. It is to be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to the claims, and that other embodiments may be utilised and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure. Various embodiments may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, various combinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. In addition, the disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed, but which may be claimed in future.

Claims

1. A machine for making smoking articles that include filters, comprising a plurality of fabrication stations configured in a production line to perform sequential steps in their manufacture, an inspection station on the production line to receive the so manufactured smoking articles sequentially and to identify those of the smoking articles that are to be rejected as a result of not meeting a quality control criterion, and a filter removal device on the production line to remove the filters from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

2. A machine according to claim 1 configured to make smoking articles that comprise a rod of smokeable material with a filter attached at one end, and including first and second reject paths extending from the filter removal device to receive the filters and the rods of smokeable material respectively of the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

3. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the rod of smokeable material comprises a body of smokeable material received within a cylindrical wrapper of sheet material, and including a cutter to cut the wrapper, and a separator to separate the smokeable material from the wrapper for re-use.

4. A machine according to claim 3 wherein the separator comprises a mesh to pass the smokeable material but not the wrapper.

5. A machine according to claim 3 wherein the separator comprises a centrifuge.

6. A machine according to any preceding claim wherein the inspection station includes a rotary inspection drum to receive smoking articles around its periphery aligned with its axis of rotation, a detector to detect characteristic of the smoking articles, a processor to make a comparison of the detected characteristic with the predetermined criterion, and a diverter responsive to the outcome of the comparison to route the smoking articles along an accept path or a reject path selectively.

7. A machine according to claim 6 wherein the filter removal device is configured to remove the filters of smoking articles moving along the reject path.

8. A machine according to any preceding claim wherein the filter removal device comprises a cutting blade.

9. A machine according to any preceding claim wherein filter removal device is configured to remove filters so that they remain intact after removal.

10. A device to be retrofitted to a machine for making smoking articles that include filters, the machine comprising a plurality of fabrication stations configured in a production line to perform sequential steps in the manufacture of the smoking articles with filters, and an inspection station on the production line to receive the so manufactured smoking articles sequentially and to identify those of the smoking articles that are to be rejected as a result of not meeting a quality control criterion, the device comprising:

a filter removal device to be retrofitted to the production line such as to remove the filters from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

11. A device according to claim 10 including a rejection drum to receive the rejected smoking articles that comprise a rod of smokeable material with a filter attached, and a cutter to cut the rod of smokeable material so as to separate the filter whilst in situ on the rejection drum.

12. A method of recovering smokeable material from smoking articles performed with the use of a machine as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10.

13. A method of making smoking articles that include filters, utilising a plurality of fabrication stations configured in a production line to perform sequential steps in their manufacture, receiving the so manufactured smoking articles sequentially at an inspection station on the production line, identifying at the inspection station those of the smoking articles that are to be rejected as a result of not meeting a quality control criterion, and utilising a filter removal device on the production line to remove the filters from the smoking articles identified for rejection at the inspection station.

14. A method according to claim 13 including cutting the filters from the smoking articles that are to be rejected on the production line.

15. A method according to claim 13 including recycling smoking material from the rejected smoking articles.