IE31882B1 - Method and apparatus for testing cigarettes for loosely packed ends - Google Patents

Abstract

1,186,311. Testing cigarettes. R. J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO. 12 Jan., 1968 [31 Jan., 1967; 13 Nov., 1967], No. 1990/68. Heading A2C. In a method of testing the ends of cigarettes to determine the acceptability of the end textural fabrication thereof, a jet of air is directed towards an end of a cigarette to be tested and the pressure of air at a locality adjacent the nozzle opening is measured. In one embodiment, cigarettes 3 are conveyed on a suction drum 1 past a pair of test heads 4. Each head 4 is supplied by a conduit 5 with compressed air which passes through a fixed restriction 6 to a nozzle 7 and to a conduit 8. The conduit 8 leads to a diaphram type pressure sensitive switch 9. Actuation of either switches 9, by a pressure drop below a predetermined value in either conduit 8 due to the detection of a faulty cigarette end, causes a solenoid 10 to actuate a pneumatic ejecting mechanism 11 after a suitable delay. The nozzle 4 may be mounted so that its axis makes an acute angle x with the axis of the cigarettes 3 when tested, Fig. 3, to compensate for loss of air from the nozzle 7 in the intervals between the passing of cigarettes 3. In another embodiment, Fig. 4, compressed air at a regulated pressure is supplied by a conduit 24 to a central passage of a nozzle 20 and, via a fixed restriction and a conduit 26, to a peripheral passage 22 of annular cross-section. Conduits 24, 26 are connected to a fluid amplifier (29) that actuates a suitably delayed ejection mechanism whenever a faulty cigarette is detected. Alternatively a pressure sensitive switch may be used as in the first embodiment. The nozzle 20 may be angled as is the nozzle 4 in Fig. 3, or the conduit 26 may include a rotary valve (40) synchronized with the drum to close the conduit 26 in the intervals when a cigarette is not passing the end of the nozzle 20. Other forms of nozzles disclosed are: a nozzle with two adjacent rectangular openings; a nozzle having a central supply tube surrounded by a plurality of interconnected hollow sensing tubes; and two tubes set with their axes at an acute angle to each other and to the axes of the cigarettes to be tested. The cigarettes to be tested may be filter tipped, untipped, or may be double length with an interposed filter element. [GB1186311A]