Claims
- 1. A method of manufacturing an integrated heater assembly for use in a smoking system for delivering a flavored tobacco response to a smoker, comprising the steps of:
- cutting a sheet of resistive material to form a plurality of heater elements connected to one another at at least one end; and
- forming the sheet into a cylindrical shape;
- further comprising the step of shaping the heater elements such that at least a portion of the heater elements are bowed inwardly.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of smoothing the edges of the heater elements.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein, during the smoothing step, the heater elements are electro-polished.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sheet is formed into a cylindrical shape after the sheet is cut to form the plurality of heater elements.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of welding together edges of a connecting portion that connects the plurality of heater elements.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein, during the welding step, the edges are welded with a laser.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the laser is a yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) laser.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the cutting step, the sheet of resistive material is cut with a laser.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the laser is a CO.sub.2 laser.
- 10. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the cutting step, the sheet of resistive material is cut by die stamping.
- 11. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the cutting step, the sheet of resistive material is cut by precision stamping.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the cutting step, the sheet of resistive material is cut by chemical milling.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the cutting step, the sheet of resistive material is cut by chemical etching.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the the heater elements are bowed inwardly toward a centerline of the cylindrical shape.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/380,718, filed Jan. 30, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,189 and Ser. No. 08/118,665, filed Sep. 10, 1993, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,594 on Feb. 14, 1995, and being a continuation-in-part of commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/943,504, filed Sep. 11, 1992 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,214.
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
380718 |
Jan 1995 |
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