The present application relates to methods and apparatus for producing small sealed pouches of material such as smokeless tobacco, and more particularly to such methods and apparatus that operate at extremely high speeds to produce pouches at rates of multiple thousands of units per hour.
Snus is a smokeless tobacco product sold in pouch form for adult smokers. In many instances the pouches contain tobacco and flavorants such as spearmint, peppermint or spice to name a few. The pouches are designed for placement in the mouth of the user, and the subsequent release of flavorant and tobacco liquids into the oral cavity. Individual pouches normally are sold in quantities of six or more pouches per retail package.
The production of snus filled pouches has been undertaken with pouching machines such as a MediSeal machine of MediSeal GmbH of Schloss-Holte, Germany and those which are offered by Merz Verpackungs Machinen GmbH of Lich, Germany. These machines generally operate by folding a ribbon of base web into a vertically directed tubular form, sealing along the tubular form to form a longitudinal seam as the tubular form is drawn downwardly, and transversely sealing at a location along the tube to form a first (lower) transverse seam. The web usually comprises paper. The web preferably comprises polypropylene or other suitable material to facilitate thermal sealing of the seams. Tobacco is fed into the partially formed pouch and then a second (upper) transverse seal is formed to complete the pouch structure, which is then severed from the remainder of the tubular form. This operation is repeated for each pouch, one pouch after another, and all of the aforementioned steps are executed within close proximity of each other, such that the desired orthogonal orientation of the longitudinal seam relative to the transverse seams is assured.
These machines, however, have limited production rates at or about 150 to 350 pouches per minute, because of the speed-limiting, one-at-a-time manner by which they construct, fill and complete each pouch.
In addition, the drawing action utilized in the operation of those machines is prone to slippage, which causes the machine to produce pouches that vary in length and volume. Such inconsistency can impact mouth feel, taste and other attributes of the product.
The pouches are relatively small, and high speed production requires very special components that cooperate with one another in a highly beneficial manner.
The present invention is directed to machinery and the methods capable of high speed pouch production, with a capacity to maintain the desired orientation of the seams and enhanced consistency in pouch length, volume and other attributes
Accordingly, one of the objects of the preferred embodiments is to provide a high speed poucher that functions to produce small sealed pouches of material such as tobacco in a highly beneficial and efficient manner.
Another object of the present invention is a poucher that produces multiple thousands of such pouches per hour.
Another object of the preferred embodiments is to provide a method of producing small sealed pouches of material such as tobacco and, optionally, flavors in a highly beneficial and efficient manner.
Still another object the of preferred embodiments is to provide a high speed poucher and method for producing small, sealed pouches of granular, powder or solid materials in a highly beneficial and efficient manner.
In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, an endless supply of paper substrate is conveyed in a downstream direction, and at the same time, a separate endless supply of flavor film or strip also is conveyed in a downstream direction. The flavor strip is cut into pieces of unit length, and ultimately, each piece of flavor strip is glued in place on top of the traveling paper substrate, with equal spacing between the strips on the substrate. Glue also is applied along one edge on top of the paper.
The paper substrate with glue on one edge thereof, and with the flavor strip pieces in place thereon, is then conveyed through a garniture, where the paper substrate is formed into an endless hollow tube with the opposite edges thereof glued together, thereby forming an endless longitudinal seam. A structure within the formed tube may be used to support and maintain the tube shape. Such structure may comprise an interior brush or interior roller bar engaging the interior surface of the tube for the purpose of maintaining the structural integrity of the tube and enhancing the sealing of the longitudinal seam. Alternatively or in addition, outside vacuum may be applied to form the tube and seal the longitudinal seam.
After formation of the endless hollow tube, the tube may be cut into lengths equal to the length of each of the individual pouches being produced. The individual tubular lengths, each with a flavor strip inside, are then transferred to a series of fluted transfer drums for travel in a downstream direction. Alternatively, the tubes may be cut to a length for the production of multiple pouches, and then cut, graded and aligned downstream on the drums.
Consistent placement of the individual or multiple tubular lengths onto the first of the drums helps properly position and orient the longitudinal seam on each of the finished, formed pouches. Hence, the longitudinal seam may be located at (oriented toward) the bottom of a receiving flute or drum cavity or 180° opposite that location. This orientation ensures that subsequent crimping of the ends of the tube occurs with the longitudinal seam midway between the side edges of each formed pouch or other relative position, if desired.
A series of drums, including appropriately fluted and beveled drums, position the individual tubes in a vertical direction at the end of their path of travel from one fluted drum to the next.
Ultimately, the hollow tubes are placed on the outside flutes of a processing wheel having a vertical axis of rotation. Each tube is placed on one of the flutes of the wheel with its longitudinal seam at the bottom of the receiving flute or 180° opposite that location. A pair of crimping rollers directly below the processing wheel functions to crimp and thereby to sealingly close the lower end of each tube. Each crimping roller preferably has a vertical axis of rotation, and both axes are positioned on a radius of the processing wheel. With the longitudinal seam of each pouch positioned as explained above, the lower crimping may be consistently formed, with the seam midway between the sides of each pouch being formed, if desired.
After crimping closed the lower end of each tube, rotation of the processing wheel conveys the tube to a filling station where tobacco or other content is fed into the tubes.
A second pair of crimping rollers is located above the processing wheel for crimping closed the top of each tube. The vertical axis of each of the second crimping rollers is positioned along a radius of the processing wheel, which ensures that the top crimp is parallel to the lower crimp, with the longitudinal seam midway between the sides of each pouch being formed.
The pouches then are removed from the processing wheel, inspected for quality control and packaged for transport.
Novel features and advantages of the preferred embodiments, in addition to those noted above, will be become apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:
With respect to the several preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, a high speed poucher machine 10 is provided, which has the capacity to produce 1, 300 to 1, 700 individual pouches per minute, each pouch preferably containing a predetermined portion of tobacco and a suitable flavorant, if desired, and, optionally, a dissolvable flavor film or strip, such as that which is described in commonly assigned US published Patent Applications US 2007/0261707A1 and US 2007/0012328A1, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring now to
Referring both to
The formation of the continuous paper tube 29 can be executed using the endless, porous belt drive of a KDF-2 of Hauni Körber, Hamburg Germany or similar apparatus to draw the web 12 through the garniture 28. The garniture 28 has folding surfaces and glue applicators similar to those used in garnitures used in tobacco rod makers in cigarette makers, and may include ports to apply vacuum to the outside of the web being folded in the garniture to assure retention of shape.
Referring now to
Once transferred, the tubular elements 101 of multiple unit lengths are moved along a series of fluted drums 36 in section C, C′ in a downstream direction utilizing pocketed or fluted wheel-to-wheel, vacuum transfer technology. Preferably, there are included among the drum or wheel sections those that cut, grade and align pieces of tubular elements 101, such that at the end of the section C, C′ of the machine 10, 10′, there is established a procession of one-up, open-ended tubular elements 101′. For example and in reference to
Section C, C′ of the embodiments of the machine 10, 10′ further may include beveled drums or wheels 46, which turn the procession of one-up tubular elements 101′ from a generally horizontal disposition to a generally vertical disposition conducive to the filling and crimping operations to be executed as the procession of one-up tubular elements 101′ are moved through the section D,D′.
Referring back to section B,B of
The series of drums 36 includes a beveled drum 46 that positions the individual tubes 101′ in a vertical orientation at the end of their path of travel from one drum to the next.
Referring now to
After crimp-closing the lower end of the tube, continued rotation of the processing wheel 48 conveys the partially closed, one-up tubular elements 101′ through to a filling station 300, where tobacco 56 or other content is fed into the tubular elements 101′. Preferably, a hopper 58 and vibratory pan feeder 60 function to perform the tobacco or other content filling operation. Content feeding and filling apparatuses also are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,221,247 and 5,542,901, both of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. A filling method and apparatus is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,824, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Preferably the rejection station 408 is located upstream of (before) the top crimping rollers 70, 72 such that the rejected product is, and remains, open-ended to facilitate both the inspection and recovery of content. Recovered content can be returned to the hopper 58, thereby avoiding waste and minimizing processing steps in the recovery of content.
Optionally, the rejection station 408 may be located downstream of the top crimping rollers 70, 72 such that the rejection of product is executed with fully closed (completed) pouches 100, and content is not allowed to scatter and impact cleanliness of the filling operations. This approach may be preferred if the content is particularly fine or otherwise prone to scatter.
The inspection and control system preferably further comprises one or more final inspection stations or sensors 409 located along the pathway of the procession of completed pouches 100 while they continue movement on the processing wheel 48 or subsequent wheels (drums), so that inspection can be executed in an orderly and complete manner. For example, it is advantageous to execute a machine vision inspection of each of the finished pouches (or a selected number of them) as they move downstream of the top crimping rollers 70, 72 while they remain on the wheel 48. Such arrangement presents the longitudinal and transverse seams 106, 104 and 102 to the sensor 409 for such inspection, repetitively and in an orderly, consistent manner, to facilitate such inspection. To make the inspection complete, it is contemplated that the completed pouches 100 are transferred to another drum having another inspection station or sensor 409′, where the other side of the completed pouches 100 is presented for inspection.
Once the aforementioned processes have been completed, the pouches 100 are removed from the processing wheel 48 or a subsequent wheel, optionally inspected further for quality control, and packaged. Each finished pouch preferably contains a predetermined portion of tobacco and, optionally, a flavor film. The machine 10, 10′ is capable of making and filling pouches with other forms of content, not just tobacco, such as granular, powder or solid content, for example.
Continuing,
As shown in detail in
The paper substrate 12 with glue 25 along edge 27 and with the flavor strips 20 in place then is conveyed through a garniture 28, where the paper substrate 12 is formed into an endless hollow tube 29 and where the opposite edge portions of the paper are glued together forming the longitudinal seam 106.
Several embodiments of the garniture 28 for tube formation may be utilized, including one that includes the interior brush 30 as shown in
Similarly, as shown in
In the embodiment illustrated in
Referring to
The catcher drum arrangement includes a stop 606, operative at each flute 604 to stop and register each tubular element 101 consistently along each of the flutes 604. Preferably, one or more vacuum assisted rotating rollers 602 help move the tubular elements into flutes 604. Preferably, vacuum ports 623 at spaced locations along the periphery of the roller or rollers 602 facilitate movement of the tubular element 101 into place. Preferably, once there, one or more vacuum ports 609 apply vacuum to retain the element 101 in the respective flute 604 with the desired orientation of the seam 106.
Referring also to
Consistent placement of the tubular lengths 101 onto the first drum 202 is important in that the longitudinal seam 106 must be located at the bottom of one of the tube-receiving cavities on the outside of the drum 202 or, alternatively, in a 180° opposite relation to that location. This is necessary in order to ensure that crimping of the ends of the individual tube lengths occurs with the longitudinal seam at a preferred location midway between the side edges of the formed pouch, as shown in
Referring now to
To achieve the desired alignment, the drum 202′ of this embodiment includes a circumferentially wide flute 40, which includes a “backstop” surface 41 and a roll-bar 42, which rolls the delivered tubular element 101 back against the backstop 41 such that the desired radical relation is achieved, such as shown at designation Z in
Although the Spider of section 8′ is illustrated in canted relation to sections A′ and C′, it would be aligned with section A′ such that the axis of rotation of the disk 706 of Spider is at a 90° relation to the axis of rotation of the drum 202′.
Use of the Hauni Protos SE 80 “Spider” is particularly beneficial in the production of pouches having an interior flavor film.
The multi-length tube 101 of
At section C′, the multiple length tubes 101 are cut, graded and aligned by the fluted drums at that section as described above. Ultimately a single tube 101′ for production of a single pouch 100 is conveyed by beveled drum 46, which positions each individual tube 37 in a vertical orientation at the end of the path of travel from one fluted drum to the next at station C′.
As shown in
After the closing of the lower end of the tube 101′, continued rotation of the processing wheel 48 conveys the tubes to filling station, where tobacco 56 or other content is fed into the tubes. The hopper 58 and vibratory pan feeder 60 at the filling station function to perform the tobacco filling operation. The feed rate may be controlled by varying the vibration and the depth of tobacco 56 on the vibrating pan 60.
Referring now to
As each pocket 62 moves through the “waterfall” of tobacco 56 or other content being delivered by vibratory pan feeder 60, the tobacco is funneled through the pocket into the tube 101′ positioned below the bottom opening 64, 66 of each pocket. Since the tobacco flow is consistent in both flow and discharge shape, and each pocket 62 of the processing wheel 48 is identical in size and shape, and the rate of rotation of the wheel is constant, the amount of tobacco captured by each pocket 62 is consistent. As a result, the amount of tobacco 56 or other content loaded into each tube 101′ is Consistent. Also, the sizing of the various components and the tobacco flow rate is such that all of the tobacco is delivered from the pockets to the tubes 101′ in less than a full revolution of the processing wheel 48, and the remainder of the revolution may be used for crimp-closing the tubes, inspection, as noted above, and rejection of pouches out of specification, other quality control measures, unloading the pouches 100 and loading empty tubes 101′ onto the processing wheel 48.
The second pair of crimping rollers 70, 72 are at a fixed location and spaced above the processing wheel 48 for crimp-closing and sealing the top of each tube 101′ to form the upper, second transverse seam 104. Similar to the first pair of crimping rollers 50, 52, preferably the vertical axes of each of the second crimping rollers is positioned along the radius of the processing wheel 48 to thereby ensure that the upper transverse seam 104 is parallel to the lower transverse seam 102, and that the longitudinal seam 106 is midway between the sides of the finished pouch 100, and that the upper transverse seam is in the desired orthogonal relation to the longitudinal seam 106. The crimping rollers may be heated to enhance sealing along the transverse seams of the tubes 101′. Also, adhesive may be applied to the inside open edges of the tube to enhance closure, if desired. These features may also be used to form the lower crimp, as well.
The formed pouches 100 then may be removed from the processing wheel 48, inspected for quality control, as explained above, and packaged for transport. Each finished pouch 100 preferably contains tobacco 56 and, optionally, a dissolvable flavor film 20.
It is to be realized that any embodiment may be modified to produce tubes equal in length of individual pouches so as to avoid the need for cutting, grading and alignment of tube pieces at section C, C′. Otherwise, the sections are similar to those described above.
It also is envisioned that the aforementioned section A, A′ may be configured to form multi-unit tubular elements 101 “from a tubular extrusion process or the like, wherein a cellulosic slurry or other suitable material is extruded through a die and then Cut. In such case, there may be an absence of a longitudinal seam in the tubular element 101′.
The crimping and material filling section preferably comprises a series of drums or wheels to facilitate execution of its functionalities. It is possible to conduct its crimping, filling, closing and, optionally, inspection functionalities at locations along a linear fashion instead of along rotating drums or wheels. Likewise for the section C, C′.
The flavor film 14, whether in pieces 20 or continuous, also functions as an interior liner, which reduces the tendency of the tobacco 56 or other content to discolor (stain) the paper 12 by reducing the opportunity for moisture from the tobacco or its additives, if any, to reach the paper prior to use. The flavor film 14 also allows the moisture content and other properties of the tobacco to be maintained in its original (fresh) condition until actual use.
Variations and modifications of the foregoing will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such variations and modifications are to be considered within the purview and scope of the claims appended hereto.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/103,173, filed Nov. 24, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/022,412, filed Jun. 28, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/457,762, filed Mar. 13, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/072,681, filed on Mar. 26, 2011, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,926, filed Mar. 26, 2010, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17103173 | Nov 2020 | US |
Child | 17847683 | US | |
Parent | 16022412 | Jun 2018 | US |
Child | 17103173 | US | |
Parent | 15457762 | Mar 2017 | US |
Child | 16022412 | US | |
Parent | 13072681 | Mar 2011 | US |
Child | 15457762 | US |