Abstract
A method for opening cigarettes constituting cigarette waste in a device comprising a rotational drum (1) the inner wall of which is provided with at least one scraping away element (2, 2, 2) extending generally along the drum, and at least one rotational beater (4, 4, 4) located inside the drum (1) striking against the cigarettes, wherein the cigarettes fed into the rotating drum (1) and being lifted by means of at the least one scraping away element (2, 2, 2) and falling by gravity, are struck against by means of the at least one rotational beater (4, 4, 4) in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axes of the cigarettes with a force enabling their opening. A device for realization of the method of the invention.
Claims
1. A method of opening cigarettes constituting cigarette waste in a device comprising a drum configured to rotate about a rotation axis inclined with respect to a horizontal direction, at least one scraping away element disposed on an inner wall of the rotational drum, each at least one scraping away element having a longitudinal axis that extends generally along a longitudinal axis of the drum, at least one rotational rod-shaped beater located inside the drum and configured and disposed so as to strike against the cigarettes located inside the drum, and a rotatable cylindrical surface limiting a working space of the beaters inside the drum, the rotatable cylindrical surface being located between the at least one beater and the longitudinal axis of the drum, the axis of rotation of the rotatable cylindrical surface being aligned with the axis of rotation of the beaters, wherein said at least one beater is pivotally mounted on an axis of rotation directed along the longitudinal axis of the drum and is rotatable in a space between the longitudinal axis of the drum and the at least one scraping away element in such a way that each beater is oriented substantially along the longitudinal axis of the drum, the method comprising: feeding the cigarettes into the drum, causing the drum to rotate about the rotation axis, lifting the cigarettes, by at the least one scraping away element and so that the cigarettes fall within the drum by gravity, and are thus struck by the at least one rotational beater in a direction substantially perpendicular to longitudinal axes of the cigarettes with a force sufficient to open the cigarettes.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cigarettes are struck against along their whole length.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each beater rotates in the same direction as the drum.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein each beater rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the drum.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cigarettes are cut or perforated before being fed into the drum.
6. A device for opening cigarettes constituting cigarette waste, comprising: a drum configured to rotate about a rotation axis inclined with respect to a horizontal direction, at least one scraping away element disposed on an inner wall of the rotational drum and extending substantially along a longitudinal axis of the drum, at least one rotational rod-shaped beater located inside the drum and configured and disposed so as to strike against the cigarettes located inside the drum, and a rotatable cylindrical surface limiting a working space of the beaters inside the drum, the rotatable cylindrical surface being located between the at least one beater and the longitudinal axis of the drum, the axis of rotation of the rotatable cylindrical surface being aligned with the axis of rotation of the beaters, wherein said at least one beater is pivotally mounted on an axis of rotation directed along the longitudinal axis of the drum and is rotatable in a space between the longitudinal axis of the drum and the at least one scraping away element in such a way that each beater is oriented substantially along the longitudinal axis of the drum.
7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the rotatable cylindrical surface is extended at one side by a frusto-conical surface.
8. The device according to claim 6, wherein a distance between the rotatable cylindrical surface and the scraping away element corresponds to at least two diameters of a cigarette.
9. The device according to claim 6, wherein the at least one scraping away element protrudes radially inward from the inner wall of the drum.
10. The device according to claim 6, wherein at the least one scraping away element protrudes inward from the inner wall of the drum in a non-radial direction.
11. The device according to claim 6, wherein the at least one scraping away element is oriented obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the drum.
12. The device according to claim 6, wherein a distance between the cylindrical surface and the scraping away element corresponds to three diameters of a cigarette.
Description
(1) The preferred embodiments of the device according to the invention are presented in a drawing, wherein:
(2) FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of the device in the first embodiment of the invention;
(3) FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the device from FIG. 1;
(4) FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the device in the second embodiment;
(5) FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal section of the device from FIG. 3;
(6) FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the device in the third embodiment;
(7) FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the device from FIG. 5;
(8) FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the device in the fourth embodiment;
(9) FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of the device from FIG. 7;
(10) FIG. 9 shows a cross-sectional view of the device in the fifth embodiment.
(11) The device according to the first embodiment of the invention consists of a cylindrical rotational drum 1 (FIG. 1, FIG. 2), to the inside wall of which partition-type scraping away elements 2 are fitted extending substantially along the drum 1. The cylindrical drum 1 is pivotally mounted on the axis 3, the axis 3 of the drum 1 being inclined to the horizontal plane. Inside the drum 1, the device is provided with at least one rotational beater 4, rotating around the axis 5 oriented in parallel to the rotation axis 3 of the drum 1. For the purpose of simplification, conventional driving elements rotating the drum 1 and the beaters 4 are not shown in the drawing.
(12) The cigarettes 6 are delivered to the open space of the drum 1 on the side of this end of the drum which is located higher (on the right side in FIG. 2). While the drum 1 is rotating the cigarettes are repeatedly lifted by the scraping away elements 2 which cause the cigarettes 6 to move along the drum 1 (to the left side in FIG. 2) due to the inclination of the axis 3 of the drum 1. The scraping away elements 2 have a width adapted to the diameter of the cigarettes being opened, preferably to the diameter of a typical cigarette, i.e. of approx. 8 mm. The scraping away elements 2 may have a form of a slat type thin-walled elements, e.g. metal sheet elements. The cigarettes 6, which are lifted by the scraping away elements 2 slide down from them when the scraping away elements 2 reach the upper part of the drum 1. FIG. 1 shows a device provided with four evenly spaced scraping away elements 2 protruding radially from the inner side of the drum in the direction toward the drum axis. Embodiments with other numbers of the elements 2 are also possible, although one scraping away element 2 is sufficient to ensure correct operation of the device. The device shown in FIG. 1 is provided with two rod type beaters 4 having a circular cross-section, situated in parallel to the scraping away elements 2, rotating around the axis 5 arranged in parallel to the axis 3 of the drum 1. During the operation of the device the beaters 4 rotate in the space between the axis 3 of the drum 1 and the wall of the drum 1 striking against the cigarettes sliding down from the scraping away elements 2. The cigarettes 6, when slipping off the scraping away elements, are oriented substantially along the scraping away element and along the drum, hence they are struck against perpendicularly to their axes, mostly along their entire length. The area of the contact of the cylindrical rod type beater with a cigarette which is also cylindrical, extends along the cigarette length. The device in the first embodiment in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with two beaters, however one beater 4 is sufficient to ensure correct operation. In this embodiment, the beaters 4 rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow 7 concurrently with the direction of rotation of the drum 1, indicated by the arrow 8, the rotational speed of the beaters 4 being higher than the rotational speed of the drum 1. The force with which the beater 4 strikes against the cigarette 6 causes temporary deformation of the cigarette. In the case of striking against a cigarette having its paper wrapper cut or perforated, the cigarette deformation causes the paper wrapper to tear. In the case of the cigarettes, the paper wrapper of which has been neither cut nor perforated, multiple strikes and deformation of the cigarettes while passing through the device will result in loosening the tobacco inside the cigarette and will enforce ejection of the tobacco outside the cigarette in course of the subsequent strikes. An embodiment in which the beaters 4 and the drum 1 rotate in opposite directions is also possible.
(13) FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show a second embodiment of the device in which the scraping away elements 2 are placed substantially along the drum but obliquely against its axes and generatrices. The scraping away elements 2 are therefore slightly curved in this embodiment, the curve being invisible in FIG. 4 due to its scale. In this embodiment, the rotation axis 5 of the beaters 4 is aligned with the axis 3 of rotation of the drum 1, while the drum 1 and the beaters 4 rotate in opposite directions; the beaters 4 extend substantially along the scraping away elements, in fact, they are also slightly curved, similarly to the scraping away elements 2.
(14) FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show a third embodiment of the device in which the device is provided with a cylindrical surface 9 rotating together with the beaters 4 around an axis 10 extending in parallel to the rotation axis 5 of the beaters 4; the axis 10 does not need to be aligned with the axis 3 of the drum and the length of the cylindrical surface corresponds to the length of the beaters. Preferably, the rotation axis 10 of the cylindrical surface 9 is aligned with the axis 5 of rotation of the beaters 4. The diameter of the cylindrical surface is adjusted so as to ensure that the distance between the scraping away element 2 and the cylindrical surface in the upper part of the drum 1 in FIG. 5 does not exceed three diameters of the cigarette. The distance between the scraping away element and the cylindrical surface can be reduced to two diameters of the cigarette. In this embodiment, during the operation of the device the cigarettes move in the cylindrical space limited by two cylindrical surfaces: the outer surface of the drum 1 and the inner cylindrical surface 9. Due to the small distance between the two cylindrical surfaces, the cigarettes cannot take an orientation that is e.g. a radial in relation to the rotation axis 3 of the drum 1; they can only be positioned along the drum 1. Provision of the cylindrical surface 9 in the device ensures that the cigarettes 6 sliding down from the scraping away elements 2 cannot set themselves obliquely before being struck against by the beaters 4 and will be struck against by the beaters 4 substantially perpendicularly to their axes.
(15) FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show the fourth embodiment of the device, also provided with the cylindrical surface 9 rotating along with the beaters 4 around the axis 10 which is aligned with the axis 5 of rotation of the beaters 4. In this embodiment, the device is provided with two beaters, each of them having its length close to the half of the length of the drum, the beaters being arranged on the opposite sides of their axis of rotation, one of them extending from the centre of the drum towards its one end and the other extending from the centre of the drum towards its other end. Furthermore, the cylindrical surface 9 is extended on its side close to the higher end of the drum 1 by a frusto-conical surface 9. In this embodiment, the frusto-conical surface 9 facilitates introducing the cigarettes 6 into the space limited by the outer surface of the drum 1 and by the inner cylindrical surface 9 described in the previous embodiment.
(16) FIG. 9 shows the fifth embodiment of the device, in which the scraping away elements 2 are arranged along the drum 1, but they protrude from the inner surface of the drum in the direction deflected from the radial direction. The beaters 4 have a form of rods of a rectangular cross section and hence the cigarettes 6 are struck against with a flat surface of the beaters 4 which ensures linear contact of the beater 4 with a cigarette 6 even if the cigarette slides down from the scraping away element 2 not in parallel to the axis 3 of the drum 1.
