AN IMPROVEMENT IN CIGARETTES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN CIGARETTES."-A communication from abroad
by Joseph Count de Susini-Ruiseco, of 13, Boulevart St. Martin,
Paris.
Sealed the 19th July 1872, and dated the 31st January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st January 1872.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
3 of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CIGARETTES," to be as follows:-
Cigarettes are sometimes provided with a mouth-piece by which it is
held more firmly in the mouth, and it also serves to retain the tobacco
and to prevent the products of condensation passing into the mouth.

page_text: This mouth-piece usually consists of a stiff paper tube, and sometimes
a wood tube is employed for the purpose.
This Invention consists in the application as a mouth-piece for
cigarettes (as a substitute for paper, wood, or other tubes) of rattan,
reed, cane, or other like vegetable stems having capillary channels
allowing of a free passage for the smoke. Rattan stems when barked
or decorticated, or the pith or interior substance of the rattan or reed,
may be adapted as mouth-pieces for, cigarettes in a similar manner to the
tubes above mentioned, whether applied to the interior or exterior
of the cigarettes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland; the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for “AN
IMPROVEMENT IN CIGARETTES," a communication to me from abroad by
Joseph Count de Susini-Ruiseco, of 13, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and. ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and.
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
Cigarettes are sometimes provided with a mouth-piece by which they
are held more firmly in the mouth, and it also serves to retain the
tobacco and to prevent the products of condensation passing into the
mouth. This mouth-piece usually consists of a stiff paper tube, and
sometimes a wood tube is employed for the purpose.
This Invention consists in the application as a mouth-piece for
cigarettes (as a substitute for paper, wood, or other tubes) of rattan,
reed, cane, or other like vegetable stems having capillary channels
allowing of a free passage for the smoke. Rattan stems when barked or
decorticated, or the pith or interior substance of the rattan or reed, may
be adapted as mouth-pieces for cigarettes in a similar manner to the
tubes abové mentioned.
Cigarette mouth-pieces made of porous vegetable substances possess
the following advantages, which are not obtained so well when cartridge
paper is used for the purpose as usual :--In the first place the mouth-
piece may be made of oval section, which is better adapted for holding in
the mouth. Another advantage is that they are completely tasteless and
inodorous. In the next place, from the homogeneous nature of the
material the mouth-piece does not become softened or leave a dis-
agreeable taste in the mouth as is the case when made of paper,
the chlorine and other substances in which become dissolved by the
absorption of moisture. The smallness of the capillary channels in the
reed mouth-piece prevent any tobacco dust being drawn into the mouth
while smoking. These channels also serve to intercept the greater part
of the nicotine contained in the tobacco and so purify the smoke, which
is thus deprived of its pernicious qualities before being drawn into the
mouth.
Another objection to paper mouth-pieces of cigarettes is that they are
very liable to tear or break at the point of junction with the paper
TUWOnnen
owing to the latter becoming softened in smoking thus causing

page_text: considerable waste of tobacco, but the reed mouth-piece of this Invention
being lighter than those made of stiff paper is free from this objection,
and all waste from this cause is avoided, while owing to the firm con-
nection between the mouth-piece and the paper tube containing the
tobacco, the cigarette can be held in the lips without the aid of the fingers
and smoked like a cigar, which is not possible with those having paper
mouth-pieces. These reed mouth-pieces have also the further advantage
of being cheaper than those made of stiff paper.
The mouth-pieces may also be steeped in some medicated or aromatic
mixture, with the object either of administering a remedy by such
means or of imparting an agreeable flavor.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the Invention
to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
application to cigarettes of a mouth-piece of rattan pith or other
naturally porous vegetable substance having capillary channels and
suitable for the purpose, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.