GB1205631A - Method of and apparatus for controlling the movement of and retarding and/or retaining tobacco particles or articles formed from tobacco - Google Patents

Abstract

1,205,631. Electrostatic control of cigarette, filter rod and tobacco transport. HAUNI-WERKE KORBER & CO. K.G. 29 Jan., 1968 [8 March, 1967], No. 10659/67. Heading A2C. The travel of tobacco rods, cigarettes or filter rods &c. is controlled or regulated by subjection to the action of electrostatic forces by at least two conductive members at least partially surrounding such products and connected to a high voltage source to cause the products to engage and grip upon surfaces which receive such products. In one embodiment, cigarettes conveyed in a tube of insulating material are first charged by brushing against wire connected to a high voltage supply and are then braked by subjection to an electrostatic force, fed from the same high voltage supply and of the same polarity, applied to a semi-circular electrically conducting plate incorporated in the tube beyond the said wires. In a second embodiment, cigarettes conveyed in a tube are braked by the application of high voltage charges of opposite polarities to two substantially semicircular plate electrodes insulated from the tube and each other, and having insulated surfaces. The curvature of the plate electrodes is slightly flattened downwards. In a third embodiment, cigarettes are braked and held on a conveying drum by electrostatic forces, preferably supplemented by conventional suction means. Cigarette receiving grooves on the drum each comprises two electrodes, having insulated surfaces and insulated from each other and from the main body of the drum, and which are connected to opposite poles of a high voltage supply during that part of the rotation of the drum in which it is desired to retain the cigarettes thereon. Connection to the high voltage supply is effected by means of two concentric sets of mutually insulated segments disposed around the periphery of one end of the drum, the segments being earthed when not connected to the supply. Two groove electrode constructions are disclosed. A fourth embodiment discloses the application of electrostatic forces to the retention of a cigarette in a suitably modified holder of a known kind of apparatus for turning cigarettes end for end. In a fifth embodiment, electrostatic forces are used to hold tobacco in the tobacco filler forming channel of a forming wheel. The two sides of the filler forming channel are each formed of segments of conductive material insulated on their exposed surfaces, from each other and from the wheel itself, and the segments are connected to a high voltage supply by means of slip rings and brushes as they pass through the region in which it is desired to hold tobacco to the drum, the two sides being connected to opposite poles. A trimming device is associated with the wheel.