Method for manufacturing curved edge cigarette rolling paper

Abstract

A method of manufacturing packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers including stacking a cigarette rolling paper blanks to form a leaf stack. The leaf stack is enclosed within a folded cover to form a covered leaf stack. A band is wrapped around the covered leaf stack to hold the leaf stack in alignment with the cover while the cover and leaf stack is die cut to form packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers. The curved edge is continuous arc, for example an elliptical arc which eliminates the corners that can interfere with cigarette hand rolling.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers comprising the steps of: stacking a multiplicity of rectangular cigarette rolling paper blanks to form a leaf stack having a top face, a bottom face opposing said top face, a front side, a back side opposing side front side, a spine side and a trim side opposing said spine side; enclosing said leaf stack within a three sided folded cover which completely overlies the top face, spine side and bottom face to form a covered leaf stack having a trim end and an opposed spine end; banding a portion of said covered leaf stack within a sleeve that wraps around the covered leaf stack overlying the top and bottom faces and contacting the front and back sides; and cutting the cover and leaf stack at the trim end while said sleeve retains the leaf stack in alignment with said folded cover to form packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said cover is folded into three parts including a top flap, a spine flap and a bottom flap which completely overlie said top face, said spine side and said bottom face, respectively.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said sleeve wraps around the top flap and bottom flap of the cover to retain the spine side of said leaf stack in alignment with said spine flap of said cover during said cutting step, and wherein said enclosing step forms a rectangular covered leaf stack.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further includes the step of creasing said top flap to form a hinged access door which hinges at one edge of said sleeve while the opposed edge of said sleeve is aligned with said spine flap, wherein opening the access door exposes the top face of the leaf stack so that one leaf can be removed from said stack.

5. The method of claim 2, said sleeve includes a top strip that overlies the top flap of the cover, a bottom strip that overlies the bottom flap of the cover, a front strip that extends down from the top strip to the bottom strip and a back strip that extends up from the bottom strip to the top strip to form a banded covered leaf stack.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein prior to said cutting step the method further includes holding said banded covered leaf stack stationary by aligning said spine flap against a fence.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said cutting step includes die cutting said top flap, said leaf stack and said bottom flap at the trim end in one continuous pass to form a cut curved composite edge.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said cutting step converts each of said cigarette rolling paper blanks from a rectangle to a cigarette rolling paper comprising one edge shaped as a convex curve, and three straight edges.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said curve is a generally smooth continuous arc with no significant corners or inflection points.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said curve is selected from the group consisting of a regular arc, an irregular arc, a circular arc, an elliptical arc and a complex arc.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cigarette rolling paper is adapted to roll into a cigarette having a circumference, wherein said curve includes an arch height measured from the trim end having a length approximately of the circumference.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said an arch height is proportional to the length of spine side of the rectangle of said rolling paper blank.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein each of said cigarette rolling paper blanks includes a strip of adhesive on one face adjacent said spine side.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the cigarette rolling paper is adapted to roll into a cigarette beginning at said curve and ending at said adhesive strip at the spine side.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the cigarette rolling paper blanks has a thickness between about 0.025 mm and about 0.0025 mm, a length L of the spine side between about 60 mm and about 100 mm, and a width W perpendicular to the spine side between about 35 mm and about 45 mm, and wherein the cigarette rolling paper is made from a material suitable for burning and human inhalation.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said cutting step converts each of said cigarette rolling paper blanks from a rectangle to an apparatus comprising: a cigarette rolling paper having a generally rectangular shape with three rectilinear sides and a one curved side; said three rectilinear sides form three sides of a regular rectangle comprising (i) a first rectilinear side oriented perpendicular to a second rectilinear side, (ii) a third rectilinear side oriented perpendicular to said second rectilinear side, and (iii) said first rectilinear side being parallel to said third rectilinear side; and said curved side comprising an elliptical arc having an arch height and an arch width that contacts the end points of said first and third rectilinear sides to form a closed figure; wherein said cigarette rolling paper has reflective symmetry about a central axis that is collinear with the arch height.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and third rectilinear sides each have a width W, and the arc is part of an ellipse having a major axis, wherein the length of the major axis is between 1 and 10 times the width W.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and third rectilinear sides have a width W that is the width of the rolling paper blank minus the arch height, wherein the length of the arch height is between and times the width W.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the region of contact between the elliptical arc and the first and third rectilinear sides includes a curvature different from the central portion of the elliptical arc.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the elliptical arc is a geometric segment from an ellipse having a major axis that is between about 2 times and about 10 times the length of the minor axis.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The advantages, nature, and various additional features of the invention will appear more fully upon consideration of the illustrative embodiments now to be described in detail in connection with accompanying drawings. In the drawings wherein like reference numerals denote similar components throughout the views:

(2) FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the steps in the manufacturing process according to the invention.

(3) FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing the leaf stack, cover and sleeve.

(4) FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing the aligning and cutting steps.

(5) FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the cut covered leaf stack.

(6) FIG. 3B is a front side elevational view of the cut covered leaf stack with the access door hinged open.

(7) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of rolling a cigarette with a prior art rectangular rolling paper.

(8) FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a prior art rolling paper having a rectangular shape.

(9) FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a prior art rolling paper have cut corners.

(10) FIG. 7 is a top plan view of an embodiment of a rolling paper with a curved edge according to the invention.

(11) FIG. 8 is an isometric view of the rolling paper according to the invention with an adhesive strip opposite the curved edge.

(12) FIG. 9 a top plan view of the rolling paper according to the invention with an adhesive strip opposite the curved edge.

(13) FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the rolling paper according to the invention with the first roll formed.

(14) FIG. 11 is a front side elevational view of the rolling paper according to the invention with the first roll formed.

(15) FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the geometry of the elliptical arc.

(16) FIG. 13 is a schematic drawing showing the relationships between the elliptical arc and the paper.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(17) Referring now in detail to the drawings, and in particular FIG. 1, there is shown a flowchart detailing the steps according an embodiment of a method according to the invention for manufacturing packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers. A spool of paper, also known as a web, is converted to blanks. Typically the web is unspooled and cut into rectangular blanks. A narrow strip of adhesive may be applied to one edge of the blank. The method can produce rolling papers with or without adhesive. The process of transforming the web into blanks is referred to as step 100 converting web to blanks.

(18) The blanks are stacked in step 102 to form a leaf stack. The leaf stack may contain between several dozen to 100+ blanks. In practical applications of the method, the leaf stack contained 50 blanks. The method can be employed with a greater or lesser number of blanks. A cover of pre-printed lightweight cardboard is provided. The cover is folded twice in step 104 to form three sides. A separate folding step is employed to symmetrically fold the rectangular cover with a narrow spine flap and two equally sized top and bottom panels. A further fold or crease may be formed across one of the panels. The leaf stack is enclosed within the folded cover in step 106. A band is formed from a pre-printed lightweight cardboard material that is folded into a loop or sleeve. A portion of the leaf stack is banded within the sleeve in step 108. The banded covered leaf stack is held against a fence in step 110. The covered leaf stack is cut to form packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers 112.

(19) The leaf stack, cover and sleeve that are processed according the method are shown in FIG. 2A. Leaf stack 10 is composed of several dozen blanks, for example, 50 blanks. The leaf stack includes a top face 10a, a bottom face 10b, a spine side 10c, a trim side 10d, a back side 10e and a front side 10f. Cover 20 is formed from pre-printed rectangular cardboard that has a first fold 20a and a second fold 20b resulting in a top flap 20c, a spine flap 20d and a bottom flap 20e. One of the flaps 20c or 20e may include a fold to form a hinged access door. Cover 20 is sized and configured to cover three sides of leaf stack 10. More particularly, top flap, spine flap and bottom flap will completely overlay the top face, spine side and bottom face of the leaf stack. Sleeve 30 is formed from pre-printed cardboard folded at four corners with the ends glued together. Sleeve 30 includes a top strip 30a, a bottom strip 30b, a front strip 30c and back strip 30d.

(20) Leaf stack 10 is tucked into cover 20 and then banded with sleeve 30. The resulting banded, covered leaf stack 40 is shown in FIG. 2B. The sleeve holds the cover closed to retain the leaf stack in alignment during the cutting operation. The four parts of the sleeve contact four sides of the covered leaf stack 40, as follows; the sleeve top strip, bottom strip, front strip and back strip overlie the covered leaf stack's top panel 40a, bottom panel 40b, front edge 40c and back edge 40d, respectively.

(21) The banded covered leaf stack is fixture within a jig comprised of a support plate 50 and a fence 52. Fence 52 may be a single backstop, or more ideally a three-sided wall that surrounds the spine flap 20d and holds the banded covered leaf stack in a place. A curved cutting die 60 slices through the entire covered leaf stack 40 along the cutting line 40e. The cutting element may comprise a steel rule die and a clicker press. Other paper cutting tools may be used with a pneumatic or hydraulic press.

(22) The resulting manufactured product is packaged curved edge cigarette rolling papers as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. After the cutting step, the covered leaf stack has a cut curved composite edge 40f comprised of top panel, bottom panel and the leaf stack all trimmed along a common edge. One or more covered leaf stacks may be cut in one pass. The covered leaf stacks may be conveyed to the cutting station, and conveyed from the cutting station to be master boxed.

(23) Cover 20 may be provided with a further fold or crease 40g. Crease 40g is formed parallel to folds 20b and 20c. As can be seen in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the left edge of sleeve 30 is aligned with spine flap 20d. Crease 40g is positioned at the right edge of sleeve 30 to form a hinged access door 40h. FIG. 3B illustrates how hinged access door 40h is pivoted upward. The access door extends from the right edge of sleeve 30 to include the entire cut curved composite edge 40f. Hinged access door 40h could be provided on the top flap, bottom flap, or both. The combination of sleeve 30 and hinged access panel 40h allows a single rolling paper leaf 42 to be removed while the sleeve holds the remainder of the leaf stack. This configuration allows the covered leaf stack to be formed without the use of adhesive at the spine.

(24) The invention produces packaged cigarette papers having a curved edge which makes that edge very easy to tuck in and roll up. In a rolling process using a prior art rectangular paper 202 as shown in FIG. 4, the leading corner 201 of the bottom edge of rectangular paper 202, has caught and is not tucking in. FIG. 5 shows this paper laid out flat with the conventional corner 201 having a right angle. FIG. 6 shows an improved paper design where a section has been cut from corner 205 thereby eliminating the corner at the tucking edge 203. However, corner 205 still has two angular edges or sharp corners on each side that can bind if the rolling paper is not perfectly aligned at the outset of the rolling process.

(25) FIG. 7 shows a rolling paper or paper 210, having a curved edge 212 according to an embodiment of the invention. Note that in the corner region 214 there are no longer angular edges or sharp corners. Curved edge 212 is the starting edge or tucking edge, used to begin the rolling process. The curved tucking edge 212 is the most elegant solution to provide the optimal tolerance for the normal not quite straight hand rollup.

(26) FIGS. 8 and 9 show a further embodiment of the curved edge 222 of the invention formed on paper 220 having a strip of glue 226 at the sealing edge. The presence of glue is an optional feature. The curved edge works equally well on both plain and glued papers. The curved edge is designed to facilitate the beginning of the rolling process. The glue is used at the end of the rolling process.

(27) FIG. 10 shows a side view of the initial roll, without tobacco for the sake of clarity. The roll forms a cylinder having a circumference. The curved edge 222 is shown as extending from the 9:00 position to the 12:00 position. Thus the curved edge 222 extends of the circumference of the cigarette. Any smooth curve in this region will assist to make rolling easier, but the dimension is optimal. The specific character and dimensions of the curve are determined by the overall dimensions of the paper, and this invention works for any size paper or material. FIG. 11 shows the middle point of the arc 222 has been tucked into the far edge of the paper 220 as the rolling begins. Since the paper curves away from the middle point toward the edge of the paper, there is less material present at the troublesome corners, and the likelihood of binding is greatly reduced or eliminated. The adhesive 226 will be contacted when the cylindrical roll has reached the top of paper 220.

(28) The paper according to the invention includes a smooth curved edge on one side of an otherwise rectangular shape. The curved edge may have a variety of geometries contemplated by the invention, for example, circular, oval or arc shaped.

(29) In one embodiment the curved edge has an elliptical shape. FIG. 12 shows an ellipse 240 having a major axis 242 across the widest section of the ellipse and a minor axis 250 across the narrowest section of the ellipse. The major axis 242 corresponds to a first arch height of 252 measured orthogonal from the major axis 242 to the top 240a of the ellipse. The arch width 244 corresponds to a second arch height 254 measured orthogonal from the arch width 244 to the top 240a of the ellipse. The curved edge of the invention may include any shape from the major axis 242 up to the top 240a of the ellipse.

(30) FIG. 13 illustrates the section above arch width 244 to top 240a as comprising the curved edge 222 of paper 220. Curved edge 222 represents the bottom of the paper where the tobacco is placed and the rolling process begins. The left side of paper 220 optionally includes adhesive 226 to seal the cigarette once the rolling process is complete. A minor axis segment 250a, which represents the largest dimension of the curve is located in the center of paper 220. More particularly, minor axis segment 250a extends collinear to line 260 which represents an axis of symmetry for paper 220. In other words, if paper 220 is folded along line 260, the two halves will have an identical shape. It is axiomatic that the central angle 244a of the arch width 244 is 180 degrees. The first arch width segment 244c extending orthogonal from line 260 to the right edge of paper is equal in length to the second arch width segment 244d extending orthogonal from line 260 to the opposite left edge of paper 220.

(31) Paper 220 includes a width W. The curved edge is a section from an ellipse. The ellipse includes a major axis. The major axis 242 has a length that is between 1 and 10 times longer than width W. Note the relationship of width W is in comparison to the major axis, even when a narrower arch width is used on the actual paper. Ellipses may be selected from the group having a major axis that is between 2 and 10 time the length of the minor axis. The region between the elliptical arc 222 and the first and third rectilinear sides may have a smooth rounded transition which may be slope shaped or filleted. This rounded transition or fillet may have a curvature different than the central portion of the elliptical arc.

(32) Paper 220 includes a length L. In general, the length L will be greater than the width W. At the shortest, assume W is five units in width, and the paper will be rolled one and one-quarter revolutions, with one revolution taking up four units. The resulting cigarette will have a circumference of 4 units, with a one unit overlap. Arch height 254, following the formula of the circumference, would be 1 unit long, or of width W. At the longest, assume W is eight units in width, and the paper will be rolled two complete revolutions, with each revolution taking up four units. The resulting cigarette will have a double wall and a circumference of 4 units. Arch height 254, following the formula of the circumference, would be 1 unit long. Accordingly, arch height 254 will be between and of width W. The arch height 254 is also referred to as the curve deflection.

(33) This invention relates to the configuration of a rolling paper, and can be applied to rolling papers of any type. By way of example only, rolling papers are made from cellulose, plant fibers, rice, flax, hemp and tobacco. When made from cellulose, a synthetic or natural polymer may be selected. Several patents disclose the composition of rolling papers as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,060,675 and 5,450,862 and 5,878,754 and 6,138,684 and 8,701,681 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto. Rolling papers have a thickness on the order of several millimeters, or less than one millimeter, for example between 0.025 and 0.0025 mm. The rolling papers may be manufactured in a sheet or web of indefinite length. The rolling papers may be cut from the web by die-cutting, stamping or any other suitable means. The length L can range between about 60 mm and about 100 mm, and the width W can range between about 35 mm and about 45 mm. The curved edge can be formed by trimming a rectangular paper.

(34) Having described preferred embodiments for (which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting), it is noted that modifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. The covered leaf stack may be of various rectangular configurations. The cutting step may be selected from cutting or trimming operations known within the paper industry. In the resulting product, the curved edge can be of various geometries as long as the central portion is longer than the end portions. Oval or elliptical shapes are ideally suited, but other regular, irregular or compound curves may be employed as long as the transition between the curved edge and the rectilinear side edges is smooth without sharp corners. The use of any rolling paper material, composition and manufacturing methods are intended to be included within the scope of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiments of the invention disclosed which are within the scope and spirit of the invention as outlined by the appended claims. Having thus described the invention with the details and particularity required by the patent laws, what is claimed and desired protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims