Smoke filter

Claim 1

IN A SMOKING MEANS OF THE TYPE WHEREIN A QUANTITY OF TOBACCO IS IGNITED AND SMOKE IS DRAWN THEREFROM BY A SMOKER, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES A FILTER MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE SMOKER AND THE TOBACCO, SAID FILTER MEANS COMPRISING AN ELONGATED PLUG DISPOSED IN SAID SMOKING MEANS SUCH THAT SMOKE PASSES THERETHROUGH TO REACH THE SMOKER, SAID PLUG CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF THE FOLLOWING CONSTITUENTS: (A) FROM IN EXCESS OF 20 TO APPROXIMATELY 75 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF ACTIVATED CARBON PARTICLES, SAID ACTIVATED CARBON PARTICLES HAVING A MAXIMUM DIMENSION WHICH IS A SMALL FRACTION OF THE MINIMUM DIMENSION OF SAID PLUG; (B) FROM IN EXCESS OF 20 TO APPROXIMATELY 75 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF GRANULAR TOBACCO PARTICLES, SAID TOBACCO PARTICLES HAVING A MAXIMUM DIMENSION WHICH IS A SMALL FRACTION OF THE MINIMUM DIMENSION OF SAID PLUG; AND (C) FROM AT LEAST 5 TO APPROXIMATELY 30 PERCENT BY WEIGHT OF A THERMOPLASTIC RESIN, SAID THERMOPLASTIC RESIN BEING OPERATIVE ESSENTIALLY ALONE TO EFFECT BONDING BRIDGES BETWEEN JUXTAPOSED CONSTITUENTS THROUGH HEATING AND SUBSEQUENT COOLING, WITH THE TEMPERATURE OF THE RESIN AT WHICH THE BONDING IS EFFECTIVE EXCEEDING THAT OF THE NORMAL TEMPERATURES OF SMOKE PASSING THROUGH SAID PLUG; SAID PLUG FURTHER BEING CHARACTERIZED BY: (1) SAID ACTIVATED CARBON PARTICLES SERVING AS THE MAJOR ACTIVE COMPONENT OF SAID PLUG AND BEING ACTIVE TO REMOVE BOTH SOLID AND GAS PHASE CONSTITUENTS FROM SMOKE PASSING THROUGH SAID PLUG DURING UTILIZATION OF SAID SMOKING MEANS; (2) SAID THERMOPLASTIC RESIN ESSENTIALLY ALONE SERVING AS A BINDER BETWEEN SAID CONSTITUENTS AND DEFINING A MULTIPLICITY OF DISCRETE BONDING MEANS PREDOMINANTLY INDIVIDUALLY SMALLER THAN SAID ACTIVATED CARBON AND TOBACCO PARTICLES; (3) SAID CONSTITUENTS COOPERATING THROUGH SAID BONDING MEANS TO GIVE STRUCTURAL CONTINUITY TO SAID PLUG AS A SELF-SUSTAINING, SUBSTANTIALLY PARTICULATE STABLE BODY IN THE FORM OF A CONTINUOUS POROUS MATRIX WITH THE DISCRETE BONDING MEANS AND CONSTITUENTS PROVIDING A LABYRINTH OF SMOKE PASSAGES THERETHROUGH; (4) SAID CONSTITUENTS BEING COMINGLED IN ANY CROSSSECTION OF SAID BODY AND WITH SAID ACTIVATED CARBON AND TOBACCO PARTICLES RANDOMLY ARRANGED IN SAID PLUG SUCH THAT A MULTIPLICITY OF SAID ACTIVATED CARBON AND TOBACCO PARTICLES ARE PRESENT IN SUBSTANTIALLY ANY CROSS-SECTION OF SAID BODY; AND (5) SAID BODY DERIVING ITS STABILITY SUBSTANTIALLY ONLY FROM SAID COOPERATION BETWEEN SAID BONDING MEANS AND SAID CONSTITUENTS.