Patent Application
20210030054
The invention relates to the field of marijuana cigarette manufacturing, also referred to herein as cannabis cigarettes. In particular it relates to marijuana cigarette cone filling stations and methods of filling marijuana cigarette cones.
Traditionally marijuana cigarettes, also referred to herein as cannabis cigarettes, comprise a cone-shaped paper housing, also referred to as a cigarette cone or simply as a cone, that is partially filled with ground-up or finely milled parts of a marijuana plant (ground or milled to form a marijuana powder) and then twisted shut at the wide, open end to form a cigarette.
Traditional machinery for filling the cones often make use of a shaker table or vibrator device to help settle the marijuana powder in the cone as it is filled. Nevertheless, the amount of powder in each cone will vary significantly due to varying degrees of settling of the powder. This results in complaints by customers who feel that they haven't received the promised volume of marijuana powder that they've paid for.
The present invention seeks to address this problem, by ensuring a substantially consistent fill.
According to the invention, there is provided a marijuana cone filling machine that includes a marijuana powder dispenser, a cone support for at least one marijuana cone, and a scale for measuring the weight of powder delivered to the at least one cone.
The marijuana powder dispenser may include a hopper that is in flow communication with an upper, wide end of a funnel. The hopper may include an auger or a conveyor belt for conveying marijuana powder to an opening in the hopper, which is in flow communication with, the upper, wide end of the funnel. The hopper may also include an agitator, which may comprise a rotatable shaft with prongs, for loosening up the powder so as to help deliver the powder to the auger. The cone support may be mounted on the scale to measure the weight of the powder dispensed into the cone.
The scale may instead measure changes in weight of the hopper or other portions of the machine, as powder flows from the hopper or other portion of the machine into one or more cones. The powder may, for instance be fed, e.g., by means of an auger or by means of a conveyor belt to an interim weighing station, such as a container that is weighed by means of a scale. Once the correct amount of powder by weight has been fed into the container, the pre-measured amount is dispensed into the hopper or directly into the funnel.
Further, according to the invention, there is provided a method of creating uniformly filled marijuana cigarettes, comprising weighing the marijuana dispensed into each cigarette cone.
The marijuana for each cigarette may be weighed prior to dispensing into the cigarette cone.
The marijuana may for instance be fed into the cigarette cone by means of a funnel, wherein a mass-specific amount of marijuana is dispensed into the funnel for each cigarette. The mass-specific amount may be dispensed into the funnel by means of a pivotable, hemispherical weighing cup connected to a weight-measuring scale.
The weighing may instead comprise weighing the marijuana as it is dispensed into each cigarette cone. In this case the cigarette cone may be mounted on a scale.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the hopper 110 is filled with finely milled or ground-up parts of marijuana plants, e.g. the buds or flower tops of the marijuana plant, that have been ground or milled to a to a fine grind, which will be referred to herein as marijuana powder. In another embodiment, a pre-measured amount of powder, by weight, that is the specific amount required for the cigarette cone to be filled, is dispensed into the hopper 110. The sloped sides 112 of the hopper 110 terminate at a lower slot or opening 114. In practice this lower opening 114 is covered by an auger (also referred to herein as a worm drive), of which only the knurled end-knob 116 is visible in
As shown in the graphic depiction of
As shown in
In embodiments where the weight of the powder is not pre-measured, the weighing may be performed at time of filling the cone 150. In such embodiments, tube 160 is mounted on a scale 170. Thus, as the auger 130 dispenses marijuana powder from its free terminating end 118, the powder flows into the funnel 120, and from there, into the cone 150, where the scale 170 measures the increase in mass of the cone 150 as it is filled, and includes a feedback loop that automatically stops the servo motor 140 and thus any further dispensing of powder once the desired mass of marijuana powder has been dispensed into the cone 150.
In this way an accurate amount of marijuana powder by weight is dispensed into each successive cone.
It will be appreciated that in the present embodiment only one servo motor 140 and hopper with auger 130 is shown, filling only one cone at a time, wherein the cone is held in a cone support, in the form of the cylindrical tube 160. However, in other embodiments one or more of the parts of the cone filling machine can be duplicated to allow filling of multiple cones at the same time.
As mentioned above, in another embodiment, the desired weight of powder for one cone filling is pre-weighed at an interim weighing station, depicted in
In practice the marijuana cone filling machine 100 forms only one part of an assembly line of machines that include closure stations for twisting and closing off the open ends of the cones once they are filled to form marijuana cigarettes; as well as packaging machines for packaging the filled and closed cigarettes.
Due to the fine nature of the marijuana powder that is dispensed into the hopper 110, the powder may on occasion clump or have difficulty moving downward due to electrostatic build-up. This is addressed by including an agitator 190 in the hopper 110. In this embodiment, the agitator 190 comprises a shaft with prongs extending outwardly, as shown in
It will be appreciated that different configurations of the marijuana cone filling machine can be devised without departing from the scope of the invention. By making use of a weight measuring system, in the form of a sensitive scale, an accurate amount of marijuana powder can be ensured each time within very tight limits, as defined by the sensitivity of the scale. Thus, there is no need for a shaker or reliance on filling the cone to a certain fill line in order to attempt a repeatable volume of marijuana powder. In practice a shaker may be included, as well as a compactor, but these serve merely to ensure the requisite compactness of the powder in the cone, not for purposes of ensuring the requisite amount of powder, since consistency in the amount of powder is ensured in the present invention by weighing the amount of powder dispensed into each cone.
In practice, in the first embodiment discussed, the marijuana cone filling machine is simply prepared by placing marijuana powder in the hopper 110, mounting a cone 150 below the funnel 120 and starting the motors to the agitator 180 and auger 130. Once the cone 150 is filled to the pre-defined weight, a signal from the scale stops the servo motor that drives the auger 130 and the cone 150 is ready to be twisted and closed.
In the present embodiment, the cone has to be manually removed and closed, however, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments the support mechanisms (such as the cylindrical tube 160 and platform 162 of the present embodiment can be mounted on a conveyer system that allows the cones, once filled, to be moved onto the next station while the next support mechanism with its empty cone is moved below the funnel 120.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62922280 | Jul 2019 | US |
