AEROSOL-GENERATING ARTICLE HAVING BRIDGING ELEMENT WITH BASIS WEIGHT

Abstract

An aerosol-generating article (10) comprising a rod (20) comprising an aerosol-generating substrate (22); a filter (30) in axial alignment with the rod (20); a bridging element (40) comprising a first wrapper (42), the first wrapper circumscribing the rod (20) and the filter and securing the filter to the rod; and a cavity (44) located between the rod and the filter, the cavity (44) being partially delimited by the inner surface of the first wrapper (42) in a first portion of the bridging element (40), wherein the first portion of the bridging element (40) has a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or greater.

Claims

1. An aerosol-generating article comprising: a rod comprising an aerosol-generating substrate; a filter in axial alignment with the rod; a bridging element comprising a first wrapper, the first wrapper circumscribing the rod and the filter and securing the filter to the rod; and a cavity located between the rod and the filter, the cavity being partially delimited by the inner surface of the first wrapper in a first portion of the bridging element, wherein the first portion of the bridging element has a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or greater.

2. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the cavity has a length of at least 2 millimetres.

3. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of bridging element has a basis weight of 70 grams per square meter or greater.

4. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the bridging element has a thickness of between 50 micrometres and 140 micrometres.

5. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the downstream end of the cavity is delimited by the rod and the upstream end of the cavity is delimited by the filter.

6. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the bridging element extends along the length of the bridging element by a distance of at least 1.2 times the length of the cavity.

7. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the first portion of the bridging element extends a distance of between 4 millimetres and 10 millimetres along the length of the bridging element.

8. An aerosol-generating article according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter is circumscribed by the first portion of the bridging element.

9. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the rod is circumscribed by the first portion of the bridging element.

10. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the bridging element comprises a single wrapper.

11. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the bridging element comprises a second wrapper circumscribing the first wrapper.

12. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the first wrapper in the first portion of the bridging element extends circumferentially around the cavity by a distance of greater than 5 millimetres.

13. The aerosol-generating article according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the first wrapper in the first portion of the bridging element has a surface area of greater than 25 millimetres squared.

14. A container comprising a plurality of aerosol-generating articles, wherein at least 50 percent of the aerosol-generating articles in the container are aerosol-generating articles according to claim 1.

15. A method of manufacturing an aerosol-generating article comprising: providing a rod comprising an aerosol-generating substrate; providing a filter; providing a bridging element comprising a first wrapper; and securing the filter to the rod using the bridging element such that the first wrapper circumscribes the rod and the filter in a spaced-apart relationship to form a cavity between the rod and the filter, the cavity being partially delimited by the inner surface of the first wrapper in a first portion of the bridging element, wherein the first portion of the bridging element has a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher.

Description

[0134] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating article in accordance with the disclosure, the aerosol-generating article comprising a bridging element comprising a single wrapper;

[0135] FIG. 2 shows another aerosol-generating article in accordance with the disclosure, the aerosol-generating article comprising a bridging element comprising a first wrapper and a second wrapper;

[0136] FIG. 3 shows the inner surface of a bridging element in an unwrapped state;

[0137] FIG. 4 shows a bridging element as part of an aerosol-generating article, in accordance with the disclosure, but with the bridging element unwrapped to show the inner surface of the bridging element with respect to the other features of the aerosol-generating article; and

[0138] FIG. 5 shows an aerosol-generating article in accordance with the invention, configured to generate an aerosol by heating rather than burning the aerosol-generating substrate.

[0139] FIG. 1 shows an aerosol-generating article 10 having an upstream end and a downstream end and comprising a tobacco rod 20 which is attached at its downstream end to an axially aligned filter 30. Aerosol-generating article 10 is a cigarette which is configured to be consumed by ignition of the tobacco rod 30.

[0140] The tobacco rod 20 comprises a charge of cut filler 22 that is circumscribed by a tobacco rod wrapper 24. The filter 30 comprises a single segment of cellulose acetate tow 32 circumscribed by a filter wrapper 34.

[0141] The aerosol-generating article 10 also comprises a bridging element 40 comprising a single wrapper 42. The single wrapper 42 circumscribes the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30. The single wrapper comprises adhesive (not shown in FIG. 1) to permanently secure the filter 30 to the tobacco rod 20. The bridging element 40 has a basis weight of greater 50 grams per square meter. The bridging element has a thickness of 80 micrometres.

[0142] A cavity 44 is located between the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30. The cavity 44 is delimited by the ends of the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30 and by the inner surface of the single wrapper 42 of the bridging element 40. The inner surface of the single wrapper extends circumferentially around the cavity 44, extending around the complete circumference of the cavity 44. The cavity 44 being partially delimited by the single wrapper 42 of the bridging element 40 having a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or greater provides strength to the aerosol-generating article in the region of the cavity. This can reduce the risk of the cavity 44 collapsing, particularly when the aerosol-generating article experiences longitudinal forces, for example, when being inserted into a cigarette pack.

[0143] The cavity 44 has a length of 3 millimeters. In other words, the separation between the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30 is 3 millimeters.

[0144] FIG. 2 shows an aerosol-generating article 100. The aerosol-generating article 100 comprises a bridging element 50 comprising a first wrapper 52 and a second wrapper 53. In all other respects, the aerosol-generating article 100 is the same as the aerosol-generating article 10 of FIG. 1.

[0145] The first wrapper 52 of the bridging element 50 circumscribes the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30. The first wrapper 52 comprises adhesive (not shown in FIG. 2) to permanently secure the filter 30 to the tobacco rod 20. The second wrapper 53 circumscribes the first wrapper 52.

[0146] The bridging element 50 has a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher. Both the first wrapper 52 and the second wrapper 53 contribute to the basis weight of bridging element 50. For example, the first wrapper 52 may have a basis weight of 25 grams per square meter or higher, and the second wrapper 53 may have a basis weight of 25 grams per square meter or higher. The cavity located between the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30 is delimited by the ends of the tobacco rod 20 and the filter 30 and by the inner surface of the first wrapper 52.

[0147] It is not necessary for the entire length of each bridging element 40, 50 of the aerosol-generating articles shown respectively in FIGS. 1 and 2 to have a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher. FIG. 3 shows an example of a bridging element where the portion of the bridging element having a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher does not extend along the full length of the bridging element.

[0148] FIG. 3 shows a bridging element 60 comprising a first wrapper 62 and a second wrapper 64. The bridging element 60 is shown separately to any aerosol-generating article and from the perspective of the inner surface of the bridging element. The bridging element 60 comprises a first portion 65 having basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher. This first portion 65 is made up of both the first wrapper 62 and the second wrapper 64. Therefore, this region or portion has a higher basis weight than the basis weight of either of the wrappers on their own.

[0149] The bridging element 60 also comprises lines of adhesive 66. The inner surface of the first wrapper 62 comprises two lines of adhesive 66. One of these line of adhesive 66 is used to secure the bridging element to the filter 20, the other 66 is used to secure the bridging element 60 to the rod 30. The inner surface of the second wrapper 64 comprises one line of adhesive 66 to secure the bridging element to the filter. This is shown more clearly in FIG. 4.

[0150] FIG. 4 shows the bridging element 60 as part of an aerosol-generating article 200 but unwrapped to show the inner surface of the first wrapper 62 and second wrapper 64 with respect to the other features of the aerosol-generating article 200. FIG. 4 shows how the first portion 65 is aligned with cavity so that the cavity 44 is delimited by the first portion 65 when the aerosol-generating article 200 is fully assembled.

[0151] The cavity 44 has a length of 3 millimeters. The first portion 65 extends along the length of the single wrapper 62 by a distance of 7 millimetres. Therefore, the first portion extends along the bridging element 60 by a distance, which is greater than the length of the cavity 44. This ensures that cavity 44 is delimited by the first portion 65 of the bridging element 60 along the entire length of the cavity 44, even if manufacturing tolerances cause the bridging element 60 and the cavity 44 to not be centrally aligned. As a result, the first portion 65 of the bridging element 60 circumscribes a portion of the tobacco rod 20 and a portion of the filter 30. The first portion 65 of the bridging element 60 extends a distance of 2 millimetres along the length of the filter and 2 millimetres along the length of the rod and is secured to both the rod and filter by the line of adhesive 68.

[0152] FIG. 5 shows an aerosol-generating article 300 configured to generate an aerosol by heating rather than burning the aerosol-generating substrate. The aerosol-generating article 300 comprises a rod 70 at an upstream end. The rod 70 comprises an aerosol-generating substrate 72. The aerosol-generating article 300 also comprises a filter 80 at a downstream end. The filter 80 comprises an aerosol-cooling element 76 and a segment of filtration material 78 downstream of the aerosol-cooling element 76. The filter 80 and rod 70 are in axial alignment with one another and each of the components of the filter 70 are in axial alignment.

[0153] The aerosol-generating article 300 also comprises a bridging element 82 comprising a single wrapper. The single wrapper comprises adhesive (not shown in FIG. 5) to permanently secure the filter 80 to the rod 70. The bridging element 82 has a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or higher.

[0154] A cavity 84 is located between the rod 70 and the filter 80. The cavity 84 is delimited by the ends of the rod 70 and the filter 80 and by the inner surface of the single wrapper of the bridging element 80. The inner surface of the single wrapper extends circumferentially around the cavity 84, extending around the complete circumference of the cavity 84. The cavity 84 being partially delimited by the single wrapper of the bridging element 80 having a basis weight of 50 grams per square meter or greater provides strength to the aerosol-generating article in the region of the cavity and so prevents the cavity 84 from collapsing, particularly when the aerosol-generating article experiences longitudinal forces, for example, when being inserted into packaging or when being inserted into an aerosol-generating device.

[0155] It should be clear to the skilled person that the bridging element 40, 50 and 60, as described above in relation to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, can be applied to the heated aerosol-generating article of FIG. 5.