US3841337A

US3841337A - Control system for a cigarette making machine or the like

Info

Publication number: US3841337A
Application number: US00085426A
Authority: US
Inventors: D Varner
Original assignee: Industrial Nucleonics Corp
Current assignee: Industrial Nucleonics Corp; ABB Automation Inc
Priority date: 1961-01-27
Filing date: 1961-01-27
Publication date: 1974-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 1991-10-15
Also published as: GB958772A; GB955189A; DE1961304U

Abstract

A control system for a cigarette making machine or the like having a device for feeding shredded tobacco in excess of that required on to a relatively narrow belt to form a filler stream thereon. The belt conveys the filler stream to and through a compression chamber having a valve controlled compressed-air inlet and an air exhaust port, the air compressing the stream within the chamber. A pair of rotary trimming knives removes the excess tobacco from the stream in the chamber and the rod stream formed thereby is advanced to rod former and to other apparatus adapted to form finished cigarettes. A detector is placed adjacent to the rod and provides a signal which is used to control the valve in the compressed-air inlet thereby controlling the degree of pressure in the chamber so that the rod stream produced thereby has a uniform density.

Description

United States Patent [191 Varner [451 Oct. 15, 1974 CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Donald E. Varner, Columbus, Ohio Industrial Nucleonics Corporation, Columbus, Ohio Filed: Jan. 27, 1961 Appl. No.: 85,426

Inventor:

Assignee:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1946 Richardson 131/84 B UX 11/1953 Rault 131/84 12/1953 Milmore 73/194 M X 5/1960 Lanore 131/21 B 4/1962 Lanore 131/84 B FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 12/1951 Great Britain 131/84 Primary Examiner-Joseph S. Reich Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Anthony D. Gennamo; Robert K. Schumacher; C. Henry Peterson [57] ABSTRACT A control system for a cigarette making machine or the like having a device for feeding shredded tobacco in excess of that required on to a relatively narrow belt to form a filler stream thereon. The belt conveys the filler stream to and through a compression chamber having a valve controlled compressed-air inlet and an air exhaust port, the air compressing the stream within the chamber. A pair of rotary trimming knives removes the excess tobacco from the stream in the chamber and the rod stream formed thereby is advanced to rod former and to other apparatus adapted to form finished cigarettes. A detector is placed adjacent to the rod and provides a signal which is used to control the valve in the compressed-air inlet thereby controlling the degree of pressure in the chamber so that the rod stream produced thereby has a uniform density.

2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Actuator Controller Pmrmw 5w 3.841337 SHEEI 281 2 ControHer Actuator Iuvzuron CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE OR THE LIKE This invention relates generally to industrial process control systems, and more particularly to arrangements for controlling the basis weight of a finished product by automatically adjusting the density of the material utilized in the process to make the product.

Various arrangements have been employed in the past for controlling the quantity of material which is continuously introduced into a process device in order that the finished product produced by the process device may have a uniform weight per unit length. Many of these arrangements have provided for adjusting the cross-sectional size or shape of the moving strand of material at a trimming station where a portion of the strand of material may be trimmed off and discarded or recirculated in the process thereby providing control of the ultimate basis weight of the finished product. While these prior arrangements have proved satisfactory in particular applications, certain disadvantages exist due to the difficulty involved in mechanically altering the cross-sectional size of the moving material flow. This change in size of the material flow presented to the process device must obviously be compensated for in the process in order that the finished product may be uniform and not reflect the change in size or crosssectional shape of the stream of material flowing into the process.

The present invention is applicable to a wide class of continuous industrial processes in which a flow of material is involved that is capable of having its density altered. More specifically, the control of the weight per unit length of a finished product manufactured from such material is accomplished by feeding to the process a substantially constant cross-sectional area of the material. With this arrangement the weight of material in the finished product is determined by the multiplication of the rate of flow times the cross-sectional area of the material times the density of the material. Therefore, by maintaining the linear rate of flow and the cross-sectional area of the flow constant, the weight can be controlled directly by controlling the density of the material.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide arrangements for the automatic control of industrial processes which utilize materials which are capable of having their densities controlled.

A further object is to provide arrangements for compressing a stream of moving material thereby adjusting the density of material supplied to a process for the purpose of controlling the finished product produced.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a combination of density and cross-sectional area control for the material in a process in order to control the final weight of the product produced.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a schematic elevational view of a continuous process with mechanical means for altering the density of the material supplied to the process;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIG. I with the actuator and controller omitted for clarity;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a process showing the density control of a material by means of air pressure;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-S of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a schematic elevational view of a portion of a cigarette making machine adapted to be controlled in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the supply of material 11 to an industrial process is obtained by means of a conveyor belt 12 which transports the material 11 through a channel 13. This channel confines the horizontal transverse dimension of the material flow 11. At the delivery end of the channel 13 a pair of horizontal rotary knife blades l4, 15 are provided to trim the material flow 11 into two portions. A constant cross-sectional dimension portion 16 is defined by the horizontal transverse interior dimensions of the channel 13 and the distance between the bottom of the channel 13 and the horizontal cutting plane of the cutting knives l4, 15. The remainder of the material 11 constitutes a discard portion 17 which may be recycled in the process, if desired. The constant crosssection portion 16 is delivered to an input chute 18 of a process apparatus 19 in which the material is formed into a finished product 21. The product 21 may be any of the various manufactured materials which are formed from raw materials capable of being compressed or expanded to alter the density thereof. The present invention is especially suited to a cigarette making process.

The density of the material 11 is altered by controlling the position of a roller 22 to adjustably compress the material 11 in the channel 13 just ahead of the trimming station formed by knives l4, 15. The basic feed rate for the material 11 is sufficient to maintain the quantity in channel 13 in excess of that needed for the process. In this way the vertical height of the material flow is higher than the cutting level of the knives l4, l5 and the vertical position of the roller 22 will determine the density of the material flow as it reaches the trimming station.

In order to adjustably position the roller 22, a suitable support, such as yoke 23, is provided to rotatably support the roller 22 and connect the same by means of bell crank 24'to an actuating arm 25. The bell crank 24 is pivoted on a horizontal pin 26 so that the horizontal position of the actuator arm 25 determines the verti cal position of the roller 22. Various other mechanical arrangements for movably supporting a roller over a compressible stream of material are possible such as, for example, those shown in US. Pat. Nos. 548,686 and 554,635.

The position of the actuator arm 25 may be con trolled by any suitable control system, the one shown in FIG. I being operated by a well-known beta ray gauging and control system. In such systems as disclosed and claimed in US. Pat. No. 2,955,206 to Spergel et al., the mass per unit length of the material 21 is determined by directing beta rays from a source 27 through the material 21. The unabsorbed radiation detected by a suitable radiation detector 28 is applied to a controller 29 for developing a product variable signal. This variable signal is then compared with a standard value to produce a control signal in accordance with the mass per unit length of the material 21. Thus the controller 29 provides an operating signal for an actuator 31 of any suitable type capable of moving the arm 25 in accordance with the signal detected by the detector 28.

In operation of the system of FIG. 1 the signal detected by the detector 28 produces a control signal in controller 29 to energize the actuator 31 and adjust the position of the arm 25 in accordance with the deviation of the weight of the product 2] from the specification weight. This adjustment of the arm 25 has a sense such that if the weight of product 21 is less than the specification value, the arm 25 will move in the direction to depress the roller 22, thereby compressing the material 11 into a more dense condition. In that instance the material in portion 16 will have a constant crosssectional size of greater density and hence greater weight to supply to the process 19. The adjustment to arm 25 is made in an amount sufficient to make up the deficiency in weight of the product 21. If the product 21 is heavier than the specification value, the opposite control signal will raise the roller 22, thereby permitting the material 1 1 to be less dense. In this instance the mass of the portion of the material 16 entering the process will thus have a lower weight per unit length of the flow.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a modification of the invention is shown in which the density of the material supplied to the process is controlled by air pressure. The material 11 is delivered on belt 12 to a housing 32 wherein there is located a forming station 33. The station 33 consists of suitably shaped die members which progressively form the belt 12 into a substantially cylindrical shape, with the material 11 contained therein, as indicated by the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 4. After the belt 12 is formed into a cylindrical shape, the die extension 34 passes through an airtight partition 35 separating the housing 32 from a pressurized housing 36. Within the housing 36 the belt guide goes through a gradual transition by the forming member. This forming transition occurs at 37 until at section -5, the belt 12 is laid open and the contents 11 are exposed above the surface of the belt, as shown in FIG. 5. To the right of section 5-5 in FIG. 3, the belt 12 passes over a chamber 38 having an open top in airtight contact with the undersurface of the belt 12. In this modification, the belt 12 will be constructed of air-pervious material such that air can flow through the material 11 through the belt 12 and into the chamber 38. Port 39 provides an exhaust for chamber 38 to the atmosphere. Located approximately midway of the longitudinal dimension of the chamber 38 are cutting knives 14, separating the moving strand of material 11 into a constant crosssectional portion 16 and a discard portion 17. The cutting plane of the

knives

14, 15 is indicated by the line 40 in FIG. 5.

The housing 36 is substantially airtight except for the leakage path through the material 11 within the forming

members

37 and 34, the exit chute 18, and the exhaust port 39. The length of the path transversely through the material within the forming

members

37 and 34 and the exit chute 18 is sufficient to maintain considerable air pressure within the housing 36. High pressure air is supplied to a valve 41 which is controllable to vary the pressure within the housing 36 by controlling the amount of air supplied through conduit 42 leading from the valve 41 into the housing 36. The pressure within the housing 36 is effective to compress the material 11 as soon as the material is positioned above the chamber 38. The amount of compression, and hence the density, of the material 11 when it reaches the knife station for trimming by the knives l4, 15 will be determined by the setting of the valve 41. In accordance with the invention, the valve 41 is controlled by a suitable detector of the weight of the finished product via a control loop similar to that shown in FIG. 1, with the controller 29 and the actuator 31 operating to adjust the setting of the valve 41.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the modification of a known cigarette-making machine to incorporate the invention will be described. The general arrangement of said machine provides a tobacco feed belt 43 with the stream of tobacco 44 under a pickup wheel 45. The bottom of the peripheral groove 46 is perforated and communicates with the interior of the wheel 45. A slight vacuum is drawn by connecting a suitable pump to a pipe 47 communicating with the interior of the wheel 45. The vacuum is effective to pick up the tobacco 44 in the groove 46 and carry it upward on the wheel 45 to a position adjacent a cutting wheel 48. The tobacco stream is divided by the cutting wheel into a uniform crosssection portion 49 and a return excess portion 51. The uniform cross-section stream 49 is fed to a rod former 52 encasing the tobacco in cigarette paper to form a cigarette rod 53. The position of the knife 48 is manually adjustable to control the cross-sectional size of the stream 49.

In accordance with the present invention, the abovedescribed cigarette making machine is modified as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. This adjustment of both the density of the tobacco in the stream 49 and the crosssectional size of the stream 49 is accomplished without modifying the position of the knife 48. Thus, in the present invention the knife 48 occupies a fixed position spaced from the periphery of the wheel 45. As shown in FIG. 7, the wheel 45 and the return wheel rotate about a stationary hub 54. This hub 54 supports the rotating parts and provides a communicating passageway I from the pipe 47 to the interior of the wheel 45. The communicating passageways between the interior of the wheel 45 and the bottom of the peripheral groove 46 are indicated at 55. The hub 54 has a sector-shaped extension 56 to render the vacuum within the wheel 45 inefi'ective over that portion of the peripheral groove 46 adjacent the arcuate boundary of the sector 56. Thus the tobacco 44 is not influenced by the vacuum when it arrives at the cutting station of knife 48.

The density of the tobacco 44 at the knife 48 and the cross-sectional size of the stream 49 are determined by the horizontal position of a wheel 57. There is provided on wheel 57 a continuous flange rim 58 with the end face thereof forming one side wall of the peripheral groove 46. The flange wheel 57 is mounted for rotation with the wheel 45 by a plurality of pins 59 projecting from the surface of the wheel 45. These pins 59 make a sliding fit with holes 61 in the wheel 57. The wheel 57 is connected by a shaft 62 to an actuator capable of moving the assembly toward or away from the wheel 45, as indicated by the double-headed arrow in FIG. 7.

The control system shown in FIG. 6 is substantially identical with that described for FIG. 1 with the actuator 31 operating to control the horizontal position of the shaft 62. The quantity of tobacco in the groove 46 is thereby viewed to provide control of the weight of the tobacco in the stream 49. The tobacco stream is then utilized to form the cigarette rod 53. Variations in the position of the shaft 62 cause greater or lesser amounts of tobacco to be trimmed off and recirculated in the stream 51. As hereuntofore described the system provides an effective control means for selecting that portion of the tobacco stream 44 which is utilized in making the cigarette rod 53.

Many modifications of the invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art, and such modifications together with the various equivalents of the disclosed embodiments are to be considered within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. This application is directed to improvements on the invention disclosed in the co-pending application of Victor S. Levadi, Ser. No 85,228 now abandoned.

I What is claimed is: I

1. In an industrial processing system using compressible material to form a product and including a conveyor for said material, and means for feeding an amount of said material to said conveyor in excess of that required to form the product, the material on said conveyor having a free surface, a control system for controlling the quantity of said material used in forming said product, said control system comprising separating means for separating said material into a first portion of predetermined cross section and a second portion containing the excess, adjustable means comprising an air jet of adjustable magnitude for pressing the free surface of said material with a pressure exceeding atmospheric pressure toward said conveyor ahead of said separating means thereby controlling the density of said material as conveyed to said separating means, means for feeding said separated first portion to form said product, detecting means for detecting the quantity of said material in said product, and means responsive to said detecting means for controlling said adjustable means in accordance with the quantity of said material detected to maintain said quantity constant.

2. In an industrial processing system using compressible material to form a product and including a conveyor for said material, a station for the material on said conveyor, and means for feeding an amount of said material to said conveyor in excess of that required for said product, a control system for controlling the rate at which said material is used in forming said product, said control system comprising adjustable air pressure means for varying the density of the material conveyed to said station, said adjustable air pressure means having a substantially air-tight housing adapted to contain said station and have said material enter said housing on said conveyor and exit to said process, a chamber within said housing and separated from said material by an air permeable wall, means for applying adjustable air pressure in said housing, and means for venting said chamber to a pressure lower than that in said housing; means at said station for separating said material into a first portion of predetermined cross-section and a second excess portion; means for feeding said separated first portion to form said product; means for detecting the quantity of said material in said first portion; and means for controlling said adjustable air pressure means in accordance with the quantity of said material detected to maintain said quantity constant.