Wrapping rod-like smoking articles

Claim 2

Apparatus for making cigars, comprising a plate, a rotary drum, a substantially concentric plate curved about the axis of the drum and cooperating therewith to enable the drum to roll a succession of assemblies across the plate, each assembly comprising a preformed wrapped cigar and an axially aligned preformed mouth-piece, and means to deliver a strip of sheet material to the assembly at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the cigar, so that as the assembly is rolled across the plate, the sheet material is wrapped into a helix about the cigar and at least partly about the mouthpiece, with each turn of the helix overlapping the previous turn.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1 including a rib on the plate or the drum to reduce the diameter of the mouth end of the smokable rod.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 1 including means to apply glue to the sheet material only at the mouth end of the cigar.

Claim 5

Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the drum and plate wind the sheet material starting from the end of the cigar to be lit remote from the mouthpiece and proceeding towards the mouthpiece.

Claim 6

Apparatus according to claim 4 including means for applying adhesive to the sheet material over an area which overlaps part of the mouthpiece and an adjacent end portion of the cigar.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 5 including means for applying adhesive to the sheet material over a second area adjacent the end of the cigar to be lit and spaced from the first-mentioned area by a major proportion of the length of the cigar.

Claim 8

Apparatus according to claim 5 including means for applying to the sheet material, prior to rolling, a strip of reinforcing paper, the strip being applied along an area of the sheet material which overlaps part of the mouthpiece and part of the adjacent end portion of the cigar, the strip being secured by adhesive to the sheet material and to the portions of the mouthpiece and cigar which it overlaps.

Claim 9

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles, comprising means for feeding a continuous web of sheet material onto a rotating drum; a helical knife cooperating with the drum to cut the web at regular intervals obliquely in relation to the side edges of the web to form a succession of non-rectangular parallelogram portions; control means to allow the web to be drawn from a source at a predetermined speed and to allow the web, while being cut, to move at a higher speed equal to the peripheral speed of the drum; means for feeding a succession of preformed smokable rod-like articles transversely of their lengths and in timed relation to the parallelogram portions, with the axes of the rod-like articles lying transversely to the side edges of the parallelogram portions; and rolling means for rolling each rod-like article relative to the corresponding parallelogram portion to form the parallelogram portion into a helically wound tube at least partly surrounding the rod-like article.

Claim 10

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles, comprising means for feeding a continuous web of sheet material onto a rotating drum; a helical knife cooperating with the drum to cut the web at regular intervals obliquely in relation to the side edges of the web to form a succession of non-rectangular parallelogram portions; control means to allow the web to be drawn from a source at a predetermined speed and to allow the web, while being cut, to move at a higher speed equal to the peripheral speed of the drum; means for feeding a succession of preformed smokable rod-like articles transversely of their lengths and in timed relation to the parallelogram portions, with the axes of the rod-like articles lying transversely to the side edges of the parallelogram portions; and rolling means for rolling each rod-like article relative to the corresponding parallelogram portion to form the parallelogram portion into a helically wound tube at least partly surrounding the rod-like article.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 8 in which the control mmeans comprises first guide means for directing the web towards the drum in a predetermined direction; second guide means for directing the web towards said first guide means transversely to the said predetermined direction, whereby the web passes around the first guide means in moving from the second guide means to the drum; and means for moving the first guide means in substantially the said predetermined direction while the web is being cut on the drum and for moving the first guide means in the opposite direction between successive cutting operations.

Claim 12

Apparatus according to claim 9 in which said rolling means comprises a curved plate cooperating with said drum on which the web is cut.

Claim 13

Apparatus according to claim 8 in which the rolling means comprises a rotating drum cooperating with a plate curved about the axis of the drum and spaced from the drun by a distance substantially equal to the diameter of the rod-like articles, whereby each rod-like article is rolled as it passes through the gap between the drum and the plate.

Claim 14

Apparatus according to claim 8 in which each rod-like article comprises a preformed wrapped cigar and an axially aligned mouthpiece abutting one end of the cigar, and in which the rolling means is disposed to wind each parallelogram portion around the cigar and around at least part of the mouthpiece to join the mouthpiece to the cigar.

Claim 15

Apparatus according to claim 8 in which the rollIng means includes a rib to reduce the diameter of the mouth end of each article during rolling.

Claim 16

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles, comprising means for feeding a continuous web of reconstituted tobacco; means for securing by adhesive along one edge of the web a strip of paper; means for obliquely cutting the web at regular intervals along lines inclined with a predetermined angle to the side edges of the web to form a succession of non-rectangular parallelogram portions; means for feeding in timed relation to the parallelogram portions a succession of assemblies each comprising a preformed wrapped cigar and an abutting, axially aligned mouthpiece with the assemblies lying transversely to the side edges of the parallelogram portions and positioned so that the strip of paper on each parallelogram portion overlaps portions of the abutting ends of the cigar and mouthpiece; and means for rolling each assembly in turn relative to the corresponding parallelogram portion to helically wind the parallelogram portion around the cigar and to join the mouthpiece simultaneously to the cigar.

Claim 17

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles, comprising means for feeding a continuous web of reconstituted tobacco; means for securing by adhesive along one edge of the web a strip of paper; means for obliquely cutting the web at regular intervals along lines inclined with a predetermined angle to the side edges of the web to form a succession of non-rectangular parallelogram portions; means for feeding in timed relation to the parallelogram portions a succession of assemblies each comprising a preformed wrapped cigar and an abutting, axially aligned mouthpiece with the assemblies lying transversely to the side edges of the parallelogram portions and positioned so that the strip of paper on each parallelogram portion overlaps portions of the abutting ends of the cigar and mouthpiece; and means for rolling each assembly in turn relative to the corresponding parallelogram portion to helically wind the parallelogram portion around the cigar and to join the mouthpiece simultaneously to the cigar.

Claim 18

Apparatus according to claim 14 in which the inclination of the oblique cuts across the web is such that each parallelogram portion cut from the web engages first the end of the cigar to be lit remote from the mouthpiece, whereby the parallelogram portion is wound from the said end of the cigar to be lit and towards the mouthpiece, and in which each convolution of the parallelogram portion around the cigar overlaps the previous convolution.

Claim 19

Apparatus according to claim 15, including means for applying adhesive to secure the strip to both the mouthpiece and the adjacent end portion of the cigar, the said adhesive also securing the whole parallelogram portion against unwinding.

Claim 20

Apparatus according to claim 14 comprising duplex side-by-side means for simultaneously winding two oppositely inclined parallelogram portions around axially aligned assembly elements for forming a composite comprising two of the said assemblies connected together, which assemblies can then be separated by cutting the composite across the middle.

Claim 21

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles including a wrapper, comprising a rolling drum; a plate curved about the axis of the drum and arranged so that a rod-like article can be rolled along the plate between the drum and the plate; means for feeding onto the plate a succession of rod-like smoking portions and a succession of rod-like mouthpieces in axial alignment with the smoking portions; means for feeding to the drum a web of wrapper material having a width equal to the desired wrapped length of the articles fed onto the plate; cutter means cooperating with the drum for cutting a succession of oblique strips from the web so that the strips are arranged on the drum at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the rod-like portions fed onto the plate; and means to hold the strip on the drum so that as it rotates it rolls the axially aligned rod-like smoking portion and mouthpiece across the plate and thereby wraps the strip around the smoking portion and at least partly around the mouthpiece so as to overwrap the smoking portion while at the same time joining it to the mouthpiece.

Claim 22

Apparatus for making smokable rod-like articles including a wrapper, comprising a rolling drum; a plate curved about the axis of the drum and arranged so that a rod-like article can be rolled along the plate between the drum and the plate; means for feeding onto the plate a succession of rod-like smoking portions and a succession of rod-like mouthpieces in axial alignment with the smoking portions; means for feeding to the drum a web of wrapper material having a width equal to the desired wrapped length of the articles fed onto the plate; cutter means cooperating with the drum for cutting a succession of oblique strips from the web so that the strips are arranged on the drum at an inclination to the longitudinal axis of the rod-like portions fed onto the plate; and means to hold the strip on the drum so that as it rotates it rolls the axially aligned rod-like smoking portion and mouthpiece across the plate and thereby wraps the strip around the smoking portion and at least partly around the mouthpiece so as to overwrap the smoking portion while at the same time joining it to the mouthpiece.

Claim 23

Apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising means for feeding a relatively narrow web of reinforcing material onto the web of wrapper material and sticking the reinforcing material onto the wrapper material in a position corresponding to the join between the smoking portion and the mouthpiece, so that when the strip of wrapper material has been wrapped around the smoking portion and mouthpiece the reinforcing material encircles the join between them.

Claim 24

Apparatus according to claim 18 including means to apply to the wrapper web a strip of adhesive at a position corresponding to the end of the smokable portion to be lit remote from the mouthpiece, and to the portion bridging the join between the smoking portion and mouthpiece.