CA1068579A - Apparatus for separating tobacco from cigarettes - Google Patents

Abstract

An APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING TOBACCO FROM CIGARETTES

Abstract of the Disclosure The separating apparatus is mounted for vibration on a stationary support and employs a pair of vertically spaced screens and a cover plate spaced a preset distance over the upper screen. The spacing of the screen from the cover plate is such that the vibrating means imparts a suf-ficient amount of energy into the frame to lift the ciga-rettes on the upper screen off the upper screen to impact against the cover plate. The bouncing reaction of the cigarettes between the upper screen and cover plate effects an efficient separation of the tobacco from the paper and filter material, if any. The tobacco passes through the upper screen onto the lower screen and is removed at the end of the frame.

Description

BACKC:ROUND OF THE INVENllON
This invention relates to an apparatus for separating tobacco from cigarettes. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for reclaiming tobacco from cigarettes.
As is known, various types of equipment have been used in order to reclaim tobacco from cigarettes which have been damaged in manufacture or which otherwise have some defect. Generally~ in the case of non-filter cigarettes, the cigarettes have been slit or otherwise ripped open and thereafter sub~ected to a separating action in which the tobacco and paper are separated from each other. In the case of filter cigarettes, additional separating steps have been carried out in order to permit removal of the filter- -ing media from the paper and the tobacco as well. Systems of this type are described in U.S. Patent 3,665,931. In such systems, the cigarettes are generally supplied in a random fashion, aligned, wetted and ripped open on a table.
Thereafter, the opened cigarettes are fed to a vibrating sieve where most of the tobacco is separated from the paper and falls into an underlying conveyor which discharges the tobacco into a container. The separated cigarette paper and filter plugs, if any, pass from the sieve to a tumbler and are drawn off by a duct to collecting bag. However, in those systems where the vibrating sieve ls disposed below the table on which the cigarettes are wetted and aligned, it is difficult to inspect and clean the vLbrating sieve when the need arises. Further, should the sieve become clogged over a period of use, it is cumbersome to replace or clean the sieve. In s~me cases, brushes are employed to . ~

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ensure against clogging of the sieve or to aid in passage ~`~
of the tobacco through the sieve. However, in these cases, small pieces of paper are frequently passed through the sieve ;
along with the tobacco. As a result, a quantity of paper appears in the reclaimed tobacco. Because this paper must then be removed~ additional equipment and time becomes necessary for this purpose. This additional processing `~
causes increased degradation of the tobacco particle size.
In addition, because the cigarettes require a relatively large amount of wetting in order to be ripped open, the reclaimed tobacco has sometimes been dried to about 7% to g~ levels. This, however, creates a potential for tobacco breakage in subsequent processing.
Accordingly~ it is an ob~ect of the invention to provide a means of optimizlng the amount of tobacco separa- ;~
ted from cigarettes in a separating apparatus.
It is another ob~ect of the invention to provide an apparatus for separating tobacco from cigarettes which is easy to maintain and clean.
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It is another ob~ect of the invention to provide an apparatus for separating good tobacco from cigarettes of filter or non-filter type which is simple and efficient.
It is another ob~ect of the invention to provide -^ an apparatus for separating good tobacco from cigarettes ~` 25 which utilizes a minimum of energy and produces minimum degradation and moisture changes.
Briefly~ the invention provides an apparatus for separating tobacco from cigarettes which comprises a frame having at least one screen and a cover plate disposed above the screen at a preset vertical spacing. In addition, :

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the apparatus includes a means for vibrating the frame to cause passage of tobacco through the screen while retaining pieces of paper and pieces larger than the tobacco on the screen. The preset spacing of the screen from the cover plate is such that the vibrating means imparts a sufficient amount of energy into the frame to lift the cigarettes re-siding on the screen off the screen to impact against the cover plate.
The action imparted by the vibrating means on the frame bounces the partially opened cigarette containing tobacco. This bouncing of the c~garettes between the screen and cover plate while being conveyed along the ex-tent of the frame creates an efficient technique for sepa-rating the tobacco from the cigarette paper. In addition~
any mass of loose tobacco and paper received on the screen is likewise efficiently separated by the bouncing, vibra-ting action imposed thereon.
In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus employs two screens~ one above the other with the upper screen being made with openings of a size larger than the openings in the lower screen. In addition, the upper scr~en is used to retain paper and pieces of material larger than the tobacco while allowing the tobacco including the tobacco fines to pass through. me lower screen is sized to re-~ 25 tain the tobacco while permitting passage therethrough of ; the tobacco fines. The frame also has a floor below the screens to receive the tobacco fines.
The means used to vibrate the frame includes a motor, a cam wheel which is rotatably driven by the motor about a fixed axis of rotation, and a strut which is connected at one end to the frame and at the opposite end to the cam ;~
wheel at a point eccentric to the axis of rotation. In addition, the frame is mounted on the stationary support by means of a plurality of flexions which permit displace-; 5 ment of the frame relative to the support.
The outlet end of the frame communicates with suitable take-off devices so that the paper, tobacco and tobacco fines can be readily removed in separate fashion. ~ `
The spacing between the cover plate and the upper screen has been found to be critical in that the amount of recovery of good tobacco depends upon the amount of energy imparted to the frame. For example, it has been found that a clear spacing of 1.5 inches of cover to upper screen for a 5 hp motor with an eccentricity of 9/16 inch and a frame displacement of 1 l/ô inch obtains a separation of 98% of the tobacco from a batch of cigarettes whereas a spacing of three inches obtains a recovery of less than 70%
of the tobacco. A spacing of less than one inch is un-desirable because of reduced throughput. It has also been ; 20 found that the energy of the vibrating means is optimized for this spacing of 1 1/2 inches. It is not intended to - restrict this invention to the dimensions cited above.
Once having understood the invention as described herein, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art that~ for -- 25 each energy input, there is an optimum combination of RPM, displacement and spacing between the screen and cover plate.
The apparatus is used in a system which includes a feeder for conveying a mass of cigarettes~ a vibratory conveyor having a corrugated deck for receiving and aligning : 1068S'79 .
a flow of cigarettes from the feeder and a cigarette wetting and opening table for receiving and opening ~he cigarettes from the conveyor. This table includes a means to wet a seam on each cigarette and an openi~g mechanism for tear-ing open each cigarette along a wet seam. In addition, a -delivery conveyor receives the open cigarettes from the table and delivers the cigarettes to the separated frame.
These and other ob~ects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following de-tailed description and appended claims taken in con~unc-tion with the accompanying drawings in which:
Fi8. l illustrates a side view of an apparatus according to the invention;
; Pig. 2 illustrates a schematic of a cigarette ripping and opening system which employs an apparatus accord-ing to the invention;
Fig. 3 illustrates a view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. l;
~ig. 4 illustrates a top view of the apparatus of Fig. l;
Fig. 5 illustrates a partial side view of a mass of cigarettes on the upper screen of the separating frame;
and Fig. 6 illustrates an outlet end of the separating ~ 25 frame of Fig. l.
- Referring to Fig. 1~ the apparatus 9 for separa-ting tobacco from cigarettes includes a stationary support 10 composed of horizontal channel-shaped members 11 and vertical supports 12 which can be bolted to a floor 8 or the like and a frame 13 which is mounted on the stationary , .
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support 10 via a plurality of flexions 14. The flexions 14 ~ `
are each formed of a pair of plates 15 and a somewhat rigid but flexible strap-like part 16 between the plates 15. The plates 15 of each flexion 14 are secured to the support -member 11 and the frame 13, respectively. The strap-like part 16 is made of a composition material as is known.
Both the support 10 and frame 13 are of known construction as shown, for example in U.S. Patent 3,665,931. Accord-ingly, no further description is believed to be necessary.
Referring to Fig. 3, the frame 13 which i5 of -elongated box-like construction has two flat horizontally disposed screens 17, 18 which are mounted in vertically spaced relation to each other. Both screens 17, 18 are mounted at the longitudinal side edges on the sidewalls 19 of the frame 13 in a known manner such as via spaced apart brackets 20 and spacers20' on which the screens 17, 18 rest. In addition, the frame 13 includes a cover plate 21 which is mounted in spaced relation over the uppermost screen 17. This cover plate 21 is of solid channel-shaped ;
construction and ls ad~ustably mounted on the sidewalls 19 of the frame 13 via bolts 22. In order to secure the screens 17, 18 in place, suitable clamps 60 are mounted on the frame 13 and are clamped against the upper screen 17 via suitable cup-shaped members 61.
Referring to Fig. 4~ the inlet end of the frame 13 has a crown spreader 23 mounted on a flat horizontal sheet 24. This spreader 23 is disposed over the upper screen 17 and~ as shown in Fig. 1~ the cover plate 21 is spaced from the spreader 23 to provide an opening to the frame interior.

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: ~6368579 Referring to Fig. 3, in order to vibrate the frame 13, a motor 25 is mounted on the support member ll in fixed manner along with a cam wheel 26 which is rotatably mounted via a bearing 27 on the support 10 to rotate about a stationary horizontal axis. In addition, a strut 28 is pivotally ~onnected to the cam wheel 26 by a pin 29 at a point which is eccentrically spaced from the axis 27 of the cam wheel 26. The strut 28 is also connected to a pin 30 secured on a side plate 31 of the frame 13~ A transmission belt 32 passes from a drive wheel 33 of the motor 25 over the cam wheel 26 to cause rotation of the cam wheel 26 upon activation of the motor 25.
Upon rotation of the cam wheel 26~ thc end of the strut 28 secured to the wheel 26 moves in an orbital fashion about the axls of the cam wheel. This, in turn, causes the frame 13 to move via the flexions 14 relative to the support 10. This action causes the frame to vibrate, The upper screen 17 is made with larger openings than the lower screen 18. To this end~ the openings in the - 20 uppper screen 17 are sized to permit passage of tobacco and tobacco fines while retaining paper and particles larger than the tobacco particles while the lower screen has openings which are sized to retain the tobacco and to permit the tobacco fines to pass through.
Referring to Fig. 1, during operation, the separa-- ting apparatus receives a mass 34 of tobacco, paper and par-tially opened cigarettes on the spreader 23. This mass of material then moves along the upper screen 17 under the vibrating action imparted to the frame 13. During this time~ the tobacco 35 and tobacco fines 37 (Fig. 6) pass 8.

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through the openings in the upper screen 17 and are de- ;
posited on the lower screen 18 while larger particles 36 --are retained. Further, any tobacco fines 37 pass through the lower screen 18 onto the floor of the frame 13. ;
The delivered cigarettes 38 (Fig. 5~ which have -~
been slit for example in a manner as described below are sub~ected to a bouncing action while moved along the upper ;
; screen 17. mis bouncing action is caused by the vibra-ting action of the frame 13. This combined action forces substantially all of the tobacco to be loosened and sepa-rated from the paper and filter, if any, and thereafter passed through the upper screen onto the lower screen 18. -To this end, as shown in Fig. 5, as the cigarettes 38 move along the upper screen 17, they are bounced aga~nst the cover plate 21 and then against the screen 17. This im-pacting of the cigarettes against the cover plate 21 and screen 17 over a periot of time causes a substantially complete separation of the tobacco within the cigarettes 38 from the paper and filter, if any.
Referring to Figs. 4 and 6, the frame 13 has suit-` able take off means at the discharge end in order to take off the various separated materials. As shown, a horizon-tal plate 39 is disposed in line with the upper screen 17 at the discharge end to receive the separated paper and ; 25 large particles 36. In addition, a deflector 40 is positioned ; at an angle to the axis of the frame 13 on this plate 39 to direct the paper and larger particles 36 towards the side of the frame 13. A suitable conveyor or container 41 ; is located alongside the frame 13 at this point to receive the paper and large particles 36.

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In addition, one or more slots 42 are provided in the floor of the frame 13 at the discharge end to communi- -cate with a chute 43 in order to take off the tobacco fines ; 37 conveyed to the slot 42. These particles 37 may be de-posited under gravity into the chute 43 or may be drawn off pneumatically under a slight force. A conveyor 44 is also located under the end of the frame 13 to receive the tobacco 35 from the lower screen 18. This conveyor 44 may be connected to any suitable system for using the reclaimed tobacco, It has been found through experimentation that the distance between the cover plate 21 and the upper screen 17 is critical for a given amount of energy imparted to the frame 13. ~or example, for an upper screen 17 of

3 mesh slze, a lower screen of 28 mesh si~e, a motor of five horsepower~ an eccentricity of 9/15 inch of the strut connection point from the cam wheel axis, a displacement of 1 1/8 inch of the frame 13, relative to the support 10 and a cam wheel rotation of 610 rpm, the optimum distance ; 20 has been found to be 1.5 inches. This distance gives a recovery of 98% of the reclaimable tobacco. If the dis-; tance is increased to three inches for this energy input, it has been found that less than 70Z of the reclaimable tobacco is recovered. Distances less than one inch are not desirable because of reduced throughput.
Referring to Fig. 2, the separating apparatus 9 can be used with any suitable cigarette opening and ripping system. For example, as shown in Fig. 2~ one such ripping and opening apparatus includes a feeder 45 with a variable drive mechanism which feeds cigarettes at rates of from .

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~C~68579 ;~ 100 to 1000 pounds per hour to a vibratory conveyor 46 with ; a corrugated deck. The corrugated deck of the conveyor 46 allows the clgarettes to be aligned in a longitudinal manner and is of known construction. Any loose tobacco S which may fall out in the conveyor 46 can be discharged at the end of the conveyor 46 and delivered by some means, for example, a chute and conveyor belt to the separating appa-ratus 9. In addition, the system includes a cigarette -wetting and opening table of known construction. In this `-regard, the wetting table includes a continuous belt 48 which passes over guide rolls 49 into a bath of water 50 and receives the cigarettes delivered from the vibratory con-veyor 46. A sponge roll 51 is mounted over the belt 48 to rotate at a peripheral speed equal to the belt speed and to cause any bent or crooked cigarettes to lay down before passing under a magnet 52 and into an opening mechanism.
The magnet 52 is mounted over the belt to remove any metal particles which may pass by. The opening mechanism consists of two smooth rolls 53, a threaded roll 54, a flail 55 and a brush 56. The positions of these various elements 53-56 are ad~ustable in relation to each other.
One smooth roll 53 is mounted directly over a belt roll 49 at the discharge end of the belt 48 and imparts a gentle press to each cigarette passing therebetween so that a wet seam will be applied along the paper of each cigarette.
The other smooth roll 53 is mounted in parallel relation and in close relation to the other smooth roll 53 and is ; located directly over the threaded roll 54 which has, for example, a pitch of fi~e sharp threads per inch. The threaded roll 54 and smooth roll 53 cooperate to impart a screw action alDng the wet seam of the paper to cause the : `

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~a6ss~s -cigarette to open. As the open cigarettes emerge from the rolls 53, 54, the flail 55 strikes the cigarettes so as to give the cigarettes a downward kick and to aid in removing the tobacco from the paper and filters of the cigarette. The brush 56 below the threaded roll 54 serves to clean the roll 54 periodically. A conveyor belt 57 is disposed under the opening rolls 53, 54 to receive the mass of tobacco, paper, and remaining cigarettes and filters, if any. This conveyor belt 57 then transports the mass of material to the inlet of the separating apparatus 9.
Referring to Fig. 1~ the apparatus also includes a counterweight assembly 62 as is known. This assembly 62 includes a pair of hori~ontally disposed bar-like members 63 which are interconnected by cross-pieces 64 (Fig. 3) to form a unit which is mounted on and secured to the support 10 via flexions 64 similar to the flexions 14 described above. In addition, the assembly 62 is connected to the motor 25 via a strut 65 and cam wheel 66. To this end, the strut 65 is pivotally connectet to pins 67, 68 re-spectively located on one bar-like member 63 and the cam wheel 66. As viewed in Fig. 3~ the cam wheel 66 ls secured on a common shaft with the çam wheel 26. Further, the pins 29, 67 are angularly disposed out-of-phase relative to each other so that the counterweight assembly 62 is moved in opposition to the frame 13 during portions of a givPn cycle as is known.
Various modifications can of course be made in the construction of the overall apparatus. For example~
instead of using the struts 28, 65, the frame 13 and counter-weight assembly 62 may be connected to the motor 25 via a 12.

1~3685'79 common shaft. In this case, the motor drives a shaft which carries two cams, each of which cooperates with a cam follower rod affixed to a somewhat rigid but flexible `
strap-like part sim$1ar to the flexible parts 16 of a flexion 14. Each flexible part is, in turn, secured to a block or the like on the topside of the counterweight assembly 62 and the underside of the frame 13, respectively.
The cams are arranged to drive the frame 13 and assembly 62 in an out-of-phase relation.
The invention thus provides a separating apparatus -~
which is able to simply and efficiently separate tobacco from a mass of opened cigarettes with a minimum of energy.
At the same time~ the apparatus permits the removal of to-bacco fines from the tobacco.
Further, since the tobacco can be passed through a screen through a vibrating action, there is no need to im-pose any pressing force on the tobacco. Thus, the pieces of paper from the cigarettes are precluded from being passed through the screen along with the tobacco.
Further, the invention provides an apparatus which can recover up to 98% of the reclaimable tobacco without a significant change in moisture content while leaving only about 2% in the paper waste. Thus, the reclaimed tobacco can be d~rectly returned to a cigarette making machine without any need to re-process for moisture or blending purposes.

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Claims (3)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In combination, a feeder for conveying a flow of cigarettes;
a vibrating conveyor having a corrugated deck for receiving a flow of cigarettes from said feeder to align the cigarettes thereon;
a cigarette wetting and opening table for receiving the aligned cigarettes from said conveyor, said table having means to wet a seam on each cigarette and an opening mechanism for tearing open each cigarette along a wet seam;
a delivery conveyor for receiving the opened cigarettes from said table;
a vibrating frame for receiving loose tobacco and the remains of the opened cigarettes from said delivery conveyor, said frame having at least one screen extending along a longitudinal axis of said frame, a cover plate disposed above said screen at a preset vertical spacing and a floor extending below said screen;
means for vibrating said frame to permit passage of tobacco and tobacco fines through said screen while retaining pieces of paper on said screen; and a take-off means for receiving separated tobacco from said screen.

2. The combination as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said means for vibrating said frame imparts a sufficient amount of energy into said frame to lift the cigarettes on said screen off said screen to impact against said cover plate.

3. An apparatus as set forth in Claim 1 or 2 wherein said spacing is 1.5 inches.

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