Abstract:
A self-cleaning cigarette tobacco compacting mechanism with a compacting member mounted for reciprocal up and down motion between top and bottom plates and either a single self-cleaning slot or multiple slot portions extending across one of the plates to engage the compacting member during its up and down motion between the plates.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application is a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/453,671, filed Apr. 23, 2012. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention pertains generally to cigarette-making machines and, more particularly, to self-cleaning tobacco compacting mechanisms for use in cigarette-making machines. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Various types of manual, semi-automatic and automatic cigarette-making machines are known in which loose tobacco is compacted into a rod-like shape and transported into a hollow cigarette tube to prepare a cigarette. In many of these cigarette-making machines loose tobacco is first placed into a compacting apparatus including a compacting chamber in which a reciprocating compacting member engages and compresses the loose tobacco into the rod-like shape and then is withdrawn from the compacting chamber. This compressed tobacco rod-like shape is typically carried on an injection spoon which moves across the compacting chamber to transport the rod-like shape into a hollow cigarette tube positioned outside the cigarette-making machine and adjacent the chamber. 
         [0004]    Cigarette tobacco naturally contains sugars and other natural components and may also contain liquid additives all of which are partially released as a gummy mixture when the tobacco is compressed as in a compacting mechanism. Compressing loose tobacco not only releases such gummy mixtures but it also breaks up some of the loose tobacco to produce tobacco fines. The tobacco fines as well as the gummy mixtures released during the compressing operation may present impediments to the efficient operation of the compacting apparatus. 
         [0005]    Although problems are not likely to arise in the initial use of cigarette-making machines with compacting apparatuses as described above, after myriad loose tobacco loads are compressed and transported into cigarette tubes, the build-up of tobacco fines and gummy tobacco materials may impede the movement of the reciprocating compacting member. If this impediment to movement could be reduced or eliminated, the operation of cigarette-making machines using compacting apparatuses could be substantially improved. 
         [0006]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a structure for controlling the build up of tobacco fines and gummy tobacco materials during the operation of cigarette-making machines using compacting apparatuses. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0007]    Embodiments of the invention include a self-cleaning cigarette tobacco compacting mechanism having a compacting chamber for receiving loose tobacco. The compacting chamber is positioned between top an bottom plates and a compacting member is mounted for reciprocal up and down motion between the plates. The compacting member has a bottom face that moves opposite the bottom plate. 
         [0008]    A self-cleaning slot extends across the bottom plate and is positioned to engage the bottom face of the compacting member during its reciprocal up and down motion between the plates. This up and down motion of the face of the compacting member against the slot will scrape away tobacco fines and gummy materials that may accumulate in the interstice between the compacting member and the plate. 
         [0009]    The scraping action is accomplished most efficiently if the self-cleaning slot includes sharp edges that engage the bottom face of the compacting member. In an alternate embodiment, the edges of the self-cleaning slot may be serrated. Also, the self-cleaning slot may be angled with respect to the horizontal across the bottom plate. 
         [0010]    In embodiments of the invention the self-cleaning slot may extend perpendicularly across the bottom plate between its back and front faces. Alternatively, the self-cleaning slot may be angled between the back and front faces of the back plate. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    In order to aid in understanding embodiments of the invention, it will now be described in connection with exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numerical designations will be given to like features: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a manually operated cigarette-making machine fitted with a self-cleaning mechanism in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2A  is a bottom plan view of the cigarette-making machine of  FIG. 1  in which the bottom cover has been removed to reveal the internal workings of the device; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2B  is a partial bottom plan view of the cigarette-making machine of  FIG. 1  illustrating the advancing tobacco compacting member of the device; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2C  is a partial bottom plan view of a self-cleaning slot with an intermediate support member; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is another (enlarged) partial bottom plan view of the cigarette-making machine of  FIG. 1  in which tobacco is present in its compacting chamber and about to be compressed; 
           [0017]      FIGS. 4A-4C  are partial cut-away views of the compacting chamber of the cigarette-making machine of  FIG. 1  showing the reciprocating compacting member advancing against loose tobacco in the chamber to compact the loose tobacco against an injection spoon in which the movement of the compacting member against a self-cleaning slot in the bottom plate of the chamber acts to control the build-up of tobacco fines and gummy tobacco materials; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a series of partial cross-sectional and plan views of alternative configurations of self-cleaning slots in the bottom plate of the compacting chamber. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0019]    The embodiments described below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise structures and operation disclosed. Rather, the described embodiments have been chosen to explain principles of the invention and their application, and the operation and use of embodiments of the invention in order to best enable others skilled in the art to follow its teachings. 
         [0020]    Referring now to the figures,  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a manual cigarette-making machine  10 , including a top  12 , a compacting chamber access opening  14  and a crank handle  16 . The self-cleaning cigarette tobacco compacting mechanism of the invention may be used with crank handle operated manual cigarette-making machines as described in detail herein or it may be used with semi-automatic and automatic cigarette-making machines respectively. Semi-automatic and automatic cigarette-making machines respectively use a handle for part of the cigarette-making process and an electric motor for the rest or use an electric motor for the entire process. 
         [0021]    In the illustrated manual, a cigarette-making machine  10 , a compacting chamber  18  lies below the access opening. Sidewall  22  of the machine, which lies adjacent one end of the compacting chamber, has a hollow nipple  24  in communication with the compacting chamber. Hollow cigarette tubes (not shown) may be slid onto the nipple and held in place by a spring loaded locking arm  26 . 
         [0022]    Cigarette-making machine  10  is operated by placing loose tobacco through compacting chamber access opening  14  and into compacting chamber  18 . A hollow cigarette tube may be placed onto the nipple either before or after this step. 
         [0023]      FIG. 2A  is a bottom view of the manual cigarette-making machine of  FIG. 1  in which the bottom cover of the machine has been removed in order to reveal the working parts of the device. Compacting chamber  18  is a generally rectangular cuboid space lying between a top plate  21  attached to the back surface  20  of top  12  of the cigarette-making machine and a bottom plate  30  which is spaced from top plate  21  a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the reciprocating compacting member in order to minimize friction between the compacting member and the top and bottom plates. The interstices between the reciprocating compacting member and top and bottom plates  21  and  30  are labeled respectively  42  and  44  in  FIG. 4C . 
         [0024]    Side edges  32 A and  30 B of the compacting chamber are walled off to laterally confine the tobacco in the chamber and to help guide the up and down movement of the compacting member within the chamber. Top edge  32 C of the compacting chamber is open to permit reciprocating compacting member  28  to move from its initial rest position adjacent the top of the compacting chamber shown in  FIG. 2A  down into the compacting chamber to compact the loose tobacco in the chamber into a rod-like shape as it comes to rest at the fully extended bottom-most end of its downward movement as shown in  FIG. 2B . As the cigarette-making process is completed the reciprocating compacting member moves back up from the fully extended bottom-most position to return to its rest position. 
         [0025]    The reciprocating up and down movement of the compacting member is controlled by a compacting drive mechanism  34  which is operated by crank handle  16  ( FIG. 1 ). The compacting drive mechanism includes two arms  36 A and  36 B that are pivotally attached near the top of the compacting member at attachment points  38 A and  38 B and pivot as the compacting drive mechanism drives the reciprocating compacting member up and down in the compacting chamber. 
         [0026]    Further details of exemplary manual cigarette-making machines can be seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,215,705; 4,005,716; 3,886,952; and 3,202,156, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. As can be seen in those patents, injection spoons are typically positioned adjacent to the bottom of the compacting chamber. When the compacting member is moved to its bottom-most position, it will compact the loose tobacco in the compacting chamber against the top surface of the injection spoon forming a compressed rod-like tobacco shape. The injection spoon (feature  58  in the embodiment of  FIG. 4A ) then moves across a compacting chamber like compacting chamber  18  of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention carrying the compressed rod-like shape from the compacting chamber through a hollow nipple like hollow nipple  24  of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention and into a hollow cigarette positioned on the nipple. 
         [0027]    In the present embodiment, the lateral movement of the injection spoon is controlled by injection drive mechanism  40 . Following the emplacement of the compressed tobacco in the hollow tube, the injection spoon is withdrawn from the now fully-filled cigarette tube and returned to its initial position within the compacting chamber and then the compacting member is retracted from the compacting chamber so that it returns to its initial position depicted in  FIG. 2A . Both compacting drive mechanism  34  and injection drive mechanism  40  are activated and advanced by turning the crank handle from its initial position depicted in  FIG. 1  to a fully rotated position and then returning the handle to its initial position. As noted earlier, in semi-automatic and automatic machines the action of the compacting drive mechanism and/or the injection drive mechanism may be motor driven. 
         [0028]    Turning now to  FIG. 3 , a self-cleaning generally horizontal slot  50  running across the bottom plate  30  can be seen. Preferably, slot  50  will be generally perpendicular to the back face  31  of the bottom plate ( FIG. 4A ) and of a length equal to or greater than the width of the compacting member, although the slot may be angled with respect to the back face. The height “A” of the slot may vary but it should be sufficiently narrow to ensure that little or no loose tobacco can escape from the slot as the compacting member moves downwardly in the compacting chamber to compact the loose tobacco against the top surface of the injection spoon. For example, where the compacting member is about 2.5 inches in width, slot  50  will be about 2.4 inches in width and about 0.13 inches in height. Also, the slot may be angled from the horizontal across the plate to present a longer self-cleaning slot. 
         [0029]      FIG. 2C  is an enlarged partial plan view of bottom plate  30  in which the self-cleaning generally horizontal slot is formed as a slot  50 A having an intermediate support member  51  which improves the rigidity of the plate in the area of slot  50 A by replacing a single long horizontal slot with two shorter open slot portions. Slot  50 A performs generally in the same fashion as the single horizontal slot  50 . Slot  50 A may have more than one intermediate support member to effectively provide slot  50 A with a series of more than two slot portions. The intermediate support members may be spaced to evenly bisect or divide slot  50 A into even slot portions as shown, or the intermediate support members may be spaced unevenly. Also, the number and width of the intermediate support members should be chosen to ensure that at least 50%, more preferably at least 75% and most preferably at least 90% of the overall slot is made up of open slot portions. 
         [0030]    The function and operation of self-cleaning slot  50  may be best understood from  FIGS. 4A-4C . These figures are enlarged partial cross-sectional views of the compacting chamber showing the compacting member advancing toward the injection spoon. In  FIG. 4A , slot  50  is shown with internal edges  52 A and  52 B which preferably are sharp corners. In this figure, loose tobacco  54  is shown resident in compacting chamber  18  before reciprocating compacting member  28  begins to move downwardly within the chamber. As can be seen in this figure, the leading edge  56  of the compacting member is curved, and has a radius of curvature generally corresponding to the radius of curvature of the injection spoon  58 . 
         [0031]    In the configuration depicted in  FIG. 4B , the compacting member has been moved downwardly in the chamber to its fully extended position to compact loose tobacco  54  into a compressed tobacco rod-like shape  60  between the curved leading edge  56  of the compacting member and the curved surface of the spoon. In the next stage of the operation of the cigarette-making machine, the cigarette spoon moves the compressed tobacco rod-like shape from the chamber into the hollow tube and the compacting member is retracted from the compacting chamber to the position depicted in  FIG. 4C . 
         [0032]    As noted earlier, cigarette tobacco naturally contains sugars and other components that are partially released as a gummy mixture when the tobacco is compressed in a compacting mechanism. Compressing the loose tobacco also breaks up portions of the tobacco to produce tobacco fines. Over time the tobacco fines as well as the gummy mixtures released during the compacting operation may accumulate in the interstices  42  and  44  between the outer surfaces  46  and  48  of the compacting member and the inner surfaces of top and bottom plates, particularly where there are variations intolerances between the thickness of the compacting member and the width of the compacting chamber. Self-cleaning slot  50 , however, helps control this build-up. 
         [0033]    Thus, as the reciprocating compacting member is retracted from the compacting chamber as shown in  FIG. 4C , its outer surface moves across self-cleaning slot  50  causing the accumulated tobacco fines and gummy materials in interstice  44  to scraped-off against corner  52 A of the slot so that these materials are ejected from the compacting chamber through the slot as shown at  53  and fall to the bottom of the cigarette making machine where they will not cause any difficulties. Additional cigarette fines and gummy materials will be removed from interstice  44  as the compacting member moves from its initial position of  FIG. 4A  to its fully extended position of  FIG. 4B  past corner  52 B in the same fashion. This further helps remove cigarette fines and gummy materials from the interface on each cycle of the operation of the machine. The self-cleaning slot thus help ensure long-term continued operation of the cigarette-making machine without undue friction due to build-up of fines and gummy materials in interstice  44 . 
         [0034]    As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , slot  50  may extend perpendicularly across bottom plate  30  between its back face  31  and front face  33 . In alternative embodiments, slots  50   a  and  50   b  are shown angled across the back plate to present sharp corners  68  and  70  where the slot engages the front surface of the reciprocating compacting member to help remove cigarette fines and gummy materials. Finally, in yet another embodiment a slot  50   c  may be provided in which the edges  72  and  74  of the slot are serrated to further facilitate the scraping and removal of cigarette fines and gummy materials. Such serrated edges may be used with either a perpendicular slot or with an angled slots  50   a  or  50   b.    
         [0035]    All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein. 
         [0036]    The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing embodiments of the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. It should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are exemplary only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.