Cigarette dense end monitoring and controlling apparatus

Claim 5

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco rod, said apparatus having means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having a recurrently varying portions corresponding to the said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, means for generating a recurrent waveform, and means for correlating said recurrent waveform with one of said density and cutting signals to provide an output signal indicative of a characteristic of said dense regions, wherein said apparatus includes means for synchronizing the phases of said density signal and said recurrent waveform, irrespective of the positions of said dense regions with respect to said cutter at the instant the rod is cut.

Claim 6

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco rod, said apparatus having means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having a recurrently varying portions corresponding to the said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, means for generating a recurrent waveform, and means for correlating said recurrent waveform with one of said density and cutting signals to provide an output signal indicative of a characteristic of said dense regions, wherein said apparatus includes means for synchronizing the phases of said density signal and said recurrent waveform, irrespective of the positions of said dense regions with respect to said cutter at the instant the rod is cut.

Claim 7

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco rod, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having recurrently varying portions corresponding to said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, waveform generating means responsive to said cutting signal for generating a recurrent waveform in synchronized phase relationship with said varying portions of said density signal, and means for correlating said recurrent waveform with said cutting signal to provide an output signal indicative of any displacement between the dense regions and the cut ends of the cigarettes.

Claim 8

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco rod, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having recurrently varying portions corresponding to said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, waveform generating means responsive to said cutting signal for generating a recurrent waveform in synchronized phase relationship with said varying portions of said density signal, and means for correlating said recurrent waveform with said cutting signal to provide an output signal indicative of any displacement between the dense regions and the cut ends of the cigarettes.

Claim 9

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, including means responsive to said cutting signal for generating an additional recurrent waveform in synchronized phase relationship with said density signal, and means for correlating said additional recurRent waveform with said density signal to provide an additional output signal indicative of the relative density of said dense regions.

Claim 10

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, including phase comparison means for correlating said recurrent waveform with said density signal to provide a control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said waveform and said density signal, and control means responsive to said control signal for maintaining said recurrent waveform in exact phase synchronization with said density signal.

Claim 11

Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, in which said control means includes means for triggering the operation of said waveform generating means, and variable delay means responsive to said control signal and connected to said triggering means, so that said waveform is triggered in exact phase synchronization with said density signal.

Claim 12

Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said variable delay means comprises a first information storage means for storing information relating to said control signal, a second information storage means responsive to said cutting signal and cycling through a plurality of informational states for each cigarette cut from the tobacco rod, and a comparison means responsive to both information storage means for causing said triggering means to trigger said waveform generator to generate said waveform at the frequency of said cutting signal and in exact phase synchronization with said density signal.

Claim 13

Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, in which said first and second information storage means are digital registers and said comparison means is a digital comparator.

Claim 14

Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, including an additional phase comparison means for comparing the phase of said cutter signal with respect to one of the informational states occurring during each cycle of said second informational storage means, said additional phase comparison means delivering an additional control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said cutter signal and said re-occurring informational state, said additional control signal controlling the rate at which said second informational storage means cycles through its plurality of informational states.

Claim 15

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, including output means responsive to said output signal for providing said relationship between the dense regions and the cut ends of the cigarettes in the form of a visual indication.

Claim 16

Apparatus as set forth in claim 5, including output means responsive to said additional output for providing a visual indication of the relative density of said dense regions.

Claim 17

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, including a controller means responsive to said output signal for controlling the physical relationship between said cutter and said locally dense regions.

Claim 18

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said recurrent waveform is defined approximately by the equation f(t) -f(-t), with the origins of the time axis, t, and f(t) axis positioned so as to pass through the point midway between the lowest and highest values of a waveform period.

Claim 19

Apparatus as set forth in claim 14, in which said recurrent waveform is a sawtooth waveform.

Claim 20

Apparatus as set forth in claim 5, in which said additional recurrent waveform is defined approximately by the equation f(t) f(-t), with the f(t) axis positioned to coincide with the positive peak occurring within a waveform period and the time axis, t, positioned to coincide with points midway along the slopes between the highest and lowest points of the waveform.

Claim 21

Apparatus as set forth in claim 16, in which said additional recurrent waveform is a triangular waveform.

Claim 22

Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said correlating means comprises a sample-and-hold circuit.

Claim 23

Apparatus as set forth in claim 5, in which said correlatinG means comprises an analog multiplying circuit.

Claim 24

Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, in which said phase comparison means comprises an analog multiplying circuit.

Claim 25

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having recurrent portions corresponding to the said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, first waveform generating means for generating a sawtooth-shaped recurrent waveform, means for sampling said sawtooth waveform with said cutting signal to provide an output signal indicative of the phase relationship between the dense regions and the cut ends of the cigarettes, second waveform generating means for generating a triangular-shaped recurrent waveform, means for correlating said triangular waveform with said density signal to provide an output signal indicative of the percent density increase in tobacco in said dense regions, phase comparison means for correlating said sawtooth waveform with said density signal to provide a control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said sawtooth waveform and said density signal, an up/down counter responsive to said control signal for storing a number representative of the phase relationship between said sawtooth waveform and said density signal, a cycling counter responsive to said cutting signal and cycling through a plurality of numbers for each cigarette cut from the tobacco rod, a digital comparator responsive to said up/down counter and to said cycling counter for generating an output pulse when one of the plurality of numbers stored in said cycling counter equals the number stored in said up/down counter, means for triggering the operation of both said waveform generating means, said means being responsive to the output pulse of said digital comparator, additional phase comparison means for comparing the phase of said cutter signal with respect to a particular one of the plurality of numbers stored in said cycling counter during each cycle, said additional phase comparison means delivering an additional control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said cutter signal and said re-occurring particular number, said additional control signal controlling the rate at which said cycling counter cycles through its plurality of numbers, and output means responsive to said output signals for providing visual indications of said phase relationship and said percent density increase, respectively.

Claim 26

Apparatus for monitoring the operation of a cigarette-making machine having a cutter providing a plurality of cigarettes cut from a continuous rod of tobacco moving along a path relative to said cutter and having locally dense regions spaced along said tobacco, said apparatus comprising: means for measuring the density of said tobacco rod as it passes a point along said path to generate a density signal having recurrent portions corresponding to the said dense regions in said moving rod, means responsive to the action of said cutter for generating a cutting signal, first waveform generating means for generating a sawtooth-shaped recurrent waveform, means for sampling said sawtooth waveform with said cutting signal to provide an output signal indicative of the phase relationship between the dense regions and the cut ends of the cigarettes, second waveform generating means for generating a triangular-shaped recurrent waveform, means for correlating said triangular waveform with said density signal to provide an output signal indicative of the percent density increase in tobacco in said dense regions, phase comparison means for correlating said sawtooth waveform with said density signal to provide a control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said sawtooth waveform and said density signal, an up/down counter responsive to said control signal for storing a number representative of the phase relationship between said sawtooth waveform and said density signal, a cycling counter responsive to said cutting signal and cycling through a plurality of numbers for each cigarette cut from the tobacco rod, a digital comparator responsive to said up/down counter and to said cycling counter for generating an output pulse when one of the plurality of numbers stored in said cycling counter equals the number stored in said up/down counter, means for triggering the operation of both said waveform generating means, said means being responsive to the output pulse of said digital comparator, additional phase comparison means for comparing the phase of said cutter signal with respect to a particular one of the plurality of numbers stored in said cycling counter during each cycle, said additional phase comparison means delivering an additional control signal indicative of the phase relationship between said cutter signal and said re-occurring particular number, said additional control signal controlling the rate at which said cycling counter cycles through its plurality of numbers, and output means responsive to said output signals for providing visual indications of said phase relationship and said percent density increase, respectively.