HK1178393A - Flow control device for a smoking article - Google Patents

Description

Flow control device for a smoking article

Technical Field

The present application relates to flow control devices for smoking articles which can be used to modify the flow of gas, such as smoke, supplied to a consumer.

Background

It is known from EP0317154A and US4,677,995 to provide a filter for a cigarette comprising a rotatable filter section having two smoke flow paths containing different flavourant (flavour) materials, which filter section can be rotated to select different paths through which smoke travels to reach the consumer. This enables the user to select a filtered flavourant or different degrees of filtering based on the angle of rotation of the filter section.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a flow control device for a smoking article comprising an elongate body having first and second body portions rotatable relative to each other about a common axis, and a gas flow passage for allowing gas to flow through the body, the body portions being configured to vary the flow of gas along said passage based on the relative angle of rotation of the body portions about the axis, and a ratchet mechanism associated with the first and second body portions for controlling manual rotation of the first and second body portions relative to each other about the axis to provide a selected variation in gas flow.

The ratchet mechanism may allow unidirectional rotation of the body portions relative to each other and may produce an audible clicking sound during rotation. This enables the consumer to check the angle of rotation of the body portion. Each click may indicate that the body portion has rotated through a predetermined angle.

The second body portion may include different zones configured to produce at least one different gas flow modification along the channel. The gas flow modification may include a modification of its smell. Different regions of the second body portion may contain different flavourants for tobacco smoke so that gas flow modification is provided by modifying the flavour of tobacco smoke. These zones may include a sector structure, three of which may each contain different flavourants, and a fourth which may contain no flavourants to provide a tasteless option for channeling smoke to consumers.

The device may include a third body portion rotatable relative to the first and second body portions, the third body portion having an airflow passage allowing airflow through the third portion, and a ratchet mechanism allowing manual rotation of the third body portion relative to the second body portion. The ratchet mechanism may allow unidirectional rotation of the second body portion relative to the first body portion in a first rotational direction and unidirectional rotation of the third body portion relative to the second body portion in an opposite second rotational direction. In this way, the third body portion can be used to rotate the second body portion relative to the first body portion to select different regions of the second portion to selectively alter the gas flow.

A smoking article filter, for example a plug of cellulose acetate material, may be received within the first body portion or the third body portion. A tobacco rod may be coupled to the first body portion.

The or each ratchet mechanism may comprise co-operating peripheral teeth and recesses formed in the body portion.

Flow devices according to the invention may be used in smoking articles, which may include smokeable products, such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes, heated non-combustible products and other nicotine delivery systems, such as aerosol/aerosol delivery devices that deliver a substantially gaseous flow to the consumer.

Drawings

The invention will now be described by way of illustrative embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cigarette with a filter containing a flow control device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded perspective view of the flow control device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the first tobacco end body portion of the device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the second intermediate body portion (with regions containing different flavorants) shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, inverted perspective view of the third, mouth end body portion shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a partially disassembled view of the device of FIG. 2 when assembled; and

fig. 7 illustrates a schematic operation of the flow control device.

Detailed Description

Referring to figure 1, a smoking article in the form of a cigarette comprises a tobacco rod 1, the tobacco rod 1 being adjacent to a filter unit comprising a flow control device 2 comprising a first generally tubular body portion 3 adjacent to the tobacco rod 1, the body portion 3 comprising a second intermediate body portion 4. A third rotating mouth end body section 5 abuts the second body section 4. The body portions 3, 4, 5 are generally tubular, coaxial and may be formed from moulded plastics material. The filter unit further comprises a plurality of plugs 6, 7 of filter material, conveniently of cellulose acetate material, fitted into opposite ends of the flow control device 2.

The flow control device 2 is illustrated in more detail in figures 2-5, in which the filter plugs 6, 7 and the tobacco rod 1 are omitted. The first body 3 has a diameter corresponding to a conventional cigarette so that the tobacco rod 1 in figure 1 can be attached to the body portion 3 by the paper wrapper 8 shown in figure 1. Referring to fig. 3, the first body portion has a tubular outer wall 9 and a diametrically extending inner partition wall 10, the inner partition wall 10 dividing the body portion 3 into a distal cavity 11 receiving the filter plug 6 of fig. 1 and a proximal cavity 12 receiving the second body portion 4 of fig. 2. The partition wall 10 has a cut away portion which provides an air flow passage 13 from the chamber 11 to the chamber 12 to allow airflow, i.e. smoke, from the tobacco rod 1 through the filter plug 6 to the second body portion in the chamber 12.

The partition wall 10 has circumferential wedge-shaped teeth 14 which form part of a first ratchet mechanism which controls the rotation of the second body part 4.

The second body portion 4 is illustrated in more detail in figure 4 and comprises a cylindrical outer wall 15, a central axial portion 16 and a plurality of radial arms 17, in this example 4 such arms, dividing the interior of the body portion 4 into several zones, in this case 18-1, 18-2, 18-3 and 18-4 sector structures or quadrants (quadrants). In alternative embodiments of the invention, two, three or more than four zones may also be provided.

Sectors 18-1, 18-2, 18-3 are each filled with a different flavourant suitable for modulating smoke flavour, the flavourant being located on a porous smoke-permeable substrate, such as cellulose acetate. While sector 18-4 provides an open channel that is not filled with flavorants. In other examples of the invention, sector 18-4 may include a substrate through which smoke may pass similar to that used in the other sectors 18-1, 18-2, 18-3, such that the attractive resistance of each of sectors 18-1 through 18-4 is substantially equalized. The discrete/individual sectors 18 can be aligned by rotation of the second body portion 4 relative to the first body portion 3 about the longitudinal central axis a-a' so that the discrete sectors 18 are aligned with the airflow passages 13 of the smoke from the tobacco rod 1.

The distal end of the wall 15 has a circumferential wedge-shaped recess 19 which cooperates with the circumferential wedge-shaped teeth 14 shown in figure 3 on the wall 10 of the first body part 3 to enable the second body part to rotate unidirectionally relative to the first body part in the direction of arrow X shown in figure 4. The depressions 19 and teeth 14 thus define a first ratchet mechanism that allows each sector 18 to be aligned with the airflow path provided by the cut-out 13. The ratchet mechanism may produce an audible click each time the teeth 14 fall into the recesses 19. In one embodiment, four such clicks are produced each time the second body portion 4 is rotated through 90 ° so that the next sector 18 is aligned with the cut-out 13.

The second body portion 4 also includes a peripheral recess 20 at its proximal end which cooperates with the third body portion 5 to form a second ratchet mechanism which will now be described.

The third body portion 5 is illustrated in more detail in figure 5 and comprises a main generally cylindrical main wall 21, which main wall 21 may have the same outer diameter as the outer wall 9 of the first body portion. The wall 21 extends from a proximal end 21A to a lip 21B connected to a reduced diameter wall portion 22, the wall portion 22 fitting into the cavity 12 of the first body portion. A diametrically extending distal wall 23 is formed with wedge-shaped teeth 24 which cooperate with the recesses 20 on the second body portion 4 as shown in figure 4. The apertures formed in the distal wall 23 act as airflow channels 25 allowing smoke to flow to the consumer at the distal end 21A past the plug 7 shown in figure 1 after having passed through a selected one of the sectors 18 shown in figure 4.

The third body portion 5 has a lip (not shown) to allow the wall portion 22 to be retained within the cavity 12, and the second body portion 4 is clamped between the wall 10 of the first body portion 3 and the wall 23 of the third body portion 5.

The teeth 24 on the third body portion 5 cooperate with the depressions 20 on the second body portion 4 to provide a second ratchet mechanism which acts in the form of a freewheel to enable the third body portion 5 to rotate the second body portion 4 in the direction of arrow X shown in figure 4, whilst rotation of the third body portion 5 in the direction Y opposite to arrow X allows the third body portion to rotate relative to the second body portion. The second ratchet mechanism 20, 24 also produces an audible click and four clicks are produced for a 90 ° rotation of the third body part 5 relative to the second body part 4.

The device operates as shown in fig. 7. The device is initially installed as shown and the open sectors 18-4 containing no flavourant are aligned with the channels 13 in the wall 10 of the first body portion 3 and also with the channels 25 of the third body portion 5. Thus, the smoke drawn from the tobacco rod 1 by the consumer flows through the open section 18-4 and does not impart any flavor to the smoke. The third body portion 4 is then rotated 90 clockwise as viewed in figure 7 from the direction of arrow X and then rotated 90 anticlockwise in the direction of arrow Y to align the sectors 18-3 with the airflow passages between the apertures 13, 25. The 90 deg. movement in the direction of arrow X may be determined by hearing four clicks of the first ratchet mechanism and corresponding return, and when rotating in the direction of arrow Y, the counter-clockwise rotation is determined by hearing four clicks of the second ratchet mechanism. Furthermore, the individual sectors can be marked by sector-defining marks 27 on the exterior of the flow control device 2 and the aligned marking lines 26, 26' in the initial configuration of the device. Such indicia are arranged to indicate to the user when a 90 rotation has occurred.

This process is then repeated to align the flavourant from sector 18-2 with the airflow channel and repeated a third time to align sector 18-1 with the channel to allow the user to select a different flavourant among the three sectors containing the flavourant.

Although three different flavourants have been described in the preceding description, alternatively, the individual flavours may be set to different intensities for different sectors to allow the user to select different flavour intensities.

The flow control device 2 may also be used to create different flow modifications to the gas flow through the device, for example by introducing different filter materials, such as activated carbon or other selected filter materials, within the gas flow passages 13, 25.

As used herein, "aroma" and "flavourant" refer to materials that are used in products to produce a desired taste or aroma as permitted by local regulations. They may include extracts such as licorice, hydrangea, japanese white book cover yulan leaf, chamomile/chamomile, fenugreek, clove, menthol, japanese mint, star anise/anise, cinnamon, vanilla, wintergreen, cherry, berry, peach, apple, scotch whisky, bourbon, scotch whisky, spearmint, mint, lavender, cardamom, celery, sorrel, nutmeg, sandalwood, bergamot, geranium, honey essence, rose oil, vanilla, lemon oil, orange oil, cassia/cinnamon, coriander, cognac brandy, jasmine, ylang, sage, fennel, allspice, ginger, anise, coffee, or mint oil from any species of the genus mentha, flavoring/taste masking agents, bitter taste receptor blocking agents, receptor enhancing agents, sweeteners, for example, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate, lactose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, sorbitol, or mannitol, and other additives, such as chlorophyll, minerals, botanicals, or breath fresheners. They may be imitations, synthetic or natural ingredients or mixtures thereof. They may be in any suitable form, such as in oil, liquid or powder form.

Claims (15)

1. A flow control device for a smoking article comprising: an elongate body having first and second body portions rotatable relative to each other about a common axis, and a gas flow passage for allowing gas to flow through the body, the body portion being arranged to modify the flow of gas along the passage based on the relative angle of rotation of the body portions about the axis; and a ratchet mechanism associated with the first and second body portions for controlling manual rotation of the first and second body portions relative to each other about the axis to provide a selected gas flow modification.

2. The flow control device of claim 1, wherein the ratchet mechanism is configured to permit manual rotation of the body portion about the axis to a selected angle and to maintain the body portion at the selected angle to provide the selected gas flow modification.

3. A flow control device according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the ratchet mechanism allows unidirectional rotation of the body portions relative to each other and produces a series of clicking sounds during rotation.

4. A flow control device according to claim 3 wherein the clicking sounds each indicate that the body portion has rotated through a predetermined angle.

5. A flow control device according to any preceding claim wherein the second body portion comprises different regions configured to produce at least one different gas flow modification along the passage.

6. A flow control device according to claim 5 wherein the gas flow modification includes modification of the odour thereof.

7. A flow control device according to claim 5 wherein the second body portion includes a plurality of different zones containing different flavourants for tobacco smoke to provide said gas flow modification by modifying the flavour of the tobacco smoke.

8. A flow control device according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the zones comprise a four-sector arrangement, three of which contain different flavourants and the fourth which does not contain a flavourant.

9. A flow control device according to any preceding claim including a third body portion rotatable relative to the first and second body portions about the common axis, the third body portion having an airflow passage allowing airflow through the third portion, and a ratchet mechanism associated with the second and third body portions allowing manual rotation of the third body portion relative to the second body portion.

10. A flow control device according to claim 9 wherein the ratchet mechanism permits unidirectional rotation of the second body portion relative to the first body portion in a first rotational direction and unidirectional rotation of the third body portion relative to the second body portion in a second, opposite rotational direction.

11. A flow control device according to claim 10, characterised in that the second body portion is arranged to rotate relative to the first body portion when the third body portion is rotated in the first direction; and the third body portion is arranged to rotate relative to the first and second portions when the third body portion is rotated in a second direction opposite the first direction.

12. A flow control device according to any preceding claim including a smoking article filter received in the first body portion.

13. A flow control device according to any preceding claim including a tobacco rod coupled to the first body portion.

14. A flow control device according to any preceding claim wherein the body portion is of moulded plastics material of generally tubular form.

15. The flow control device of claim 13, wherein each ratchet mechanism comprises cooperating peripheral teeth and recesses formed in the body portion.