Patent GB-1281371-A (GB)
Title: Method and device for checking or controlling markings on rod-like tobacco articles particularly the imprint on cigarettes
Inventor: SPITZ WOLFGANG
IPC: A24C5/32
Filed: 1969-09-02
Abstract: 1281371 Cigarette making machines HAUNI-WERKE KORBER & CO KG 2 Sept 1969 [25 Oct 1968] 43412/69 Heading A2C [Also in Division G3] In a machine in which cigarettes &c are produced by severing a continuous rod enclosed in a wrapper bearing markings or imprints, e.g. brand markings not easily detectable in high-speed machinery, additional markings are applied to the wrapper in spaced relationship to the first markings and the spacing between the additional markings and the locations at which the rod is severed is controlled so that the first markings are uniformly spaced from the ends of the cigarettes. As shown in Fig. 1 tobacco rod formed on a wheel 1 is wrapped in cigarette paper strip 3 on a forming belt and the paper is gummed and sealed at 7, 8 before the rod passes to a cutter 11. Imprints 18, e.g. a bronze imprint and an ink imprint, are applied to the strip by printing rolls 16, 17 and the additional markings 19, which may coincide with the points at which the rod is to be cut, are applied by the roller 17 or an additional roller 17'. The markings, which are illuminated by a lamp 33, are reflected by a polygonal mirror drum 36, rotated in synchronism with the cutter, into an eyepiece 37 where they appear as a stationary image, and any deviation of the position of this image relative to a mark in the eyepiece, indicating a departure from the desired cutting point, can be corrected by manual adjustment of the length of path traversed by the strip 3 by means of a handwheel 31 which, through gearing, turns a wheel 23 on which are mounted a pair of rollers 21, 22 over which the strip 3 passes. In a modification, the lamp 33, mirror drum 36 and eyepiece 37 are omitted and a stroboscopic lamp which is triggered by a magnet rotated by the cutter mechanism illuminates the markings 19 as they move past a calibrated scale. In a further modification, the rollers 221, 222, Fig. 4, over which the paper strip is fed are adjusted automatically by a reversible motor 262. Opposite faces of a disc rotatable with the cutter 211a carry magnets 244a, 244b coacting with coils 246a, 246b to produce successive pulses which are fed through shapers 256a, 256b to inputs of AND-gates 257, 258. The markings on the cigarette rod are illuminated by a lamp (not shown) to cause a photo-electric sensor 254 to feed a pulse to inputs b of the AND-gates at the passage of each additional marking, and if this is correctly positioned in relation to the cutter, the pulse from the sensor 254 will occur after a pulse generated in the coil 246a but before one generated in the coil 246b, and neither AND- gate will deliver an output. A deviation will result in one of the AND-gates receiving pulses simultaneously at its inputs a and b so that an output will be delivered to one of a pair of amplifiers 259, 261 to cause the motor 262 to execute an incremental corrective movement. The markings 19 may be of a distinctive colour or visibly only in ultra-violet light, for use with suitably selective sensors, or they may consist of iron particles for sensing by a coil 372 instead of by light-sensitive means.