A cigarette machine comprises a suction belt conveyor including a rod guide channel, wherein the rod guide channel is delimited on one side by a material-conveying suction belt. Two channel cheeks are positioned opposite one another and configured to adjoin the rod guide channel An electromagnetic measuring apparatus comprises a resonator. The resonator comprises a first resonator half positioned on the side of the rod guide channel with the conveying suction belt, and a second resonator half of which is provided on the side which is situated opposite the first resonator half. The first resonator half is connected to the suction belt conveyor.

The technology described herein generally relates to particular form of folded package and the method of forming that folded package. The package packages loose particles into a conical container and secures the filling with a folded distal end. More specifically, loose plant matter, such as crumbled dried leaves, are supplied as filling and the package may further be provided with a fluid core.

Apparatus is disclosed for determining the weight of tobacco in a tobacco product (10), the tobacco product comprising a tobacco component (16) and a plurality of non-tobacco components (12, 14, 18, 20, 22). The apparatus comprises means (26) for determining the total weight of the tobacco product (10), means (30) for producing an x-ray image of the tobacco product, means (34) for determining weights of the non-tobacco components from the x-ray image, and means (34) for determining the weight of the tobacco component based on the total weight of the tobacco product and the weights of the non-tobacco components. This may allow an accurate determination of tobacco weight to be achieved. Furthermore, measurements can be taken where components are present which might interfere with microwave measurements.

The present invention relates to method for inspecting an inductively heatable aerosol-generating article (1) for the presence of a susceptor (21) using at least one sensor (110) that is responsive to the susceptor (21) being at least one of electrically conductive, magnetic or magnetized. The invention further relates to method and apparatus for inspecting an inductively heatable aerosol-generating article for a desired article alignment at a specific article location in an article manufacturing apparatus, wherein the susceptor is provided for inductively heating an aerosol-forming substrate comprised in the article, and wherein an arrangement of the susceptor at or in the article is asymmetric with regard to a length axis of the article. The method and the apparatus comprises usage of at least a first senor which is arranged and configured to detect at a first test site of the article location a presence or absence of a susceptor, wherein the presence of the susceptor at the first test is indicative of the presence of the desired article alignment at the article location. The first sensor is responsive to the susceptor being at least one of electrically conductive, magnetic or magnetized and responsive to the presence of the susceptor at the first test site.

The present invention relates to method for inspecting an inductively heatable aerosol-generating article (1) for the presence of a susceptor (21) using at least one sensor (110) that is responsive to the susceptor (21) being at least one of electrically conductive, magnetic or magnetized. The invention further relates to method and apparatus for inspecting an inductively heatable aerosol-generating article for a desired article alignment at a specific article location in an article manufacturing apparatus, wherein the susceptor is provided for inductively heating an aerosol-forming substrate comprised in the article, and wherein an arrangement of the susceptor at or in the article is asymmetric with regard to a length axis of the article. The method and the apparatus comprises usage of at least a first senor which is arranged and configured to detect at a first test site of the article location a presence or absence of a susceptor, wherein the presence of the susceptor at the first test is indicative of the presence of the desired article alignment at the article location. The first sensor is responsive to the susceptor being at least one of electrically conductive, magnetic or magnetized and responsive to the presence of the susceptor at the first test site.

Smoking-related article inspection systems and associated methods are disclosed herein. In some aspects, the systems include an x-ray imaging device configured to capture at least one image of the smoking-related articles, a smoking-related article transporting device configured to sequentially introduce the smoking-related articles into the imaging zone; and an analysis unit in communication with the x-ray imaging device and configured to analyze the at least one image captured by the x-ray imaging device for each of the smoking-related articles, the analysis unit being configured to execute: an inspection tool to determine values for one or more parameters of each of the smoking-related articles based on the analysis of the at least one image; and a comparison tool to determine an acceptability of the smoking-related articles for further processing based on comparing the determined values for the one or more parameters to ideal values for the one or more parameters.

A feeding apparatus for feeding a tobacco industry segment (C) comprising a hopper (12) for rods (10C) with a length being a multiple length of the segment (C), a cutting a conveying unit (13), situated underneath the hopper (12) for the rods (10C), for cutting the rods (10C) into individual segments (C), whereas from the rod (10C), after cutting the rod (10C), a group (G) of the segments (C) is formed, a transferring unit (15) situated underneath the cutting and conveying unit (13), adapted to receive the groups (G) of the segments (C) and to form of them a stream (SF) of the segments (C), whereas the gaps (U) between the groups (G) of the segments (C) in the stream (SF) are retained, and the transferring unit (15) is adapted to reduce the gaps (U) between the groups (G) so that at the outlet (23) of the transferring unit (15) the segments (C) are conveyed without gaps.

A sensor apparatus may include a channel structure configured to couple with an external element and a fluid conduit, such that the channel structure may receive a fluid, at least partially drawn through the external element from an ambient environment, and direct the fluid through the fluid conduit. A sensor may generate sensor data indicating a flow rate of the fluid through the fluid conduit based on monitoring a variation in a pressure at a location in hydrodynamic contact with the fluid conduit and in relation to an ambient pressure of the ambient environment. The sensor apparatus may enable generation of improved topography information associated with flows of fluid drawn from the external element based on measuring a local pressure at the location in hydrodynamic contact with the fluid conduit and determining the ambient pressure based on monitoring the local pressure over time.

The present disclosure provides a method for assessing hot coal fallout propensity of burning cigarettes based on human behavior features of ash-tapping action. The method is characterized in that the method is accomplished through an apparatus for detecting hot coal fallout propensity based on human behavior features of ash-tapping action, which include behavior features of human action of tapping cigarette ash, features of holding a cigarette, and features of force applying process and other aspects. This method can provide objective and accurate test basis for evaluation of cigarette fallout performance.

A method and device for examining rod-shaped products of the cigarette industry, having a cylindrical lateral surface and two end faces formed by two filter elements arranged at opposite ends, the product having smokable material between the two end faces, by: a) irradiating the lateral surface using examination light whereby the examination light penetrates through the lateral surface at least partially into the product and at least partially exits again through one end face, the beams of which are incident on the lateral surface at an angle of at least 30° in relation to the longitudinal extension of the product; b) acquiring the examination light exiting the end face of the product using an electro-optical receiver, the main viewing direction of which is directed onto the end face; and c) evaluating the brightness or light intensity of the examination light exiting the end face and acquired by the electro-optical receiver.