Vacuum cleaning wheel and vacuum applicator

Abstract

A vacuum cleaning wheel and vacuum applicator having a stationary vacuum chamber, a ported wheel that rotates around the stationary vacuum chamber, and a stationary shoe that acts as the vacuum applicator and is positioned between the ported wheel and an article such as a cigarette filter rod to be cleaned. An article or articles having cavities filled with granular particles is passed underneath the stationary shoe and rotating ported wheel, with the movement of the article being synchronized with the rotation of the ported wheel. The stationary shoe provided between the rotating ported wheel and the article having particle filled cavities ensures that vacuum is only applied to remove loose particles in between the particle filled cavities, with vacuum being cut off abruptly to ports that are passing over the particle filled cavities and with the particles that have been cleaned being removed completely.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001] The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for removing undesired granular particles that may remain on surfaces of an article surrounding a cavity that has been filled with the granular particles. More particularly, the invention provides an apparatus and method for removing scattered granular particles from surfaces of a combined filter rod made up of filter components and particle filled cavities.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002] Certain articles of manufacture such as charcoal cigarette filters, individual-sized packets of granular food products or condiments, capsuled pharmaceuticals, ammunition and the like require repetitive placement of precisely metered charges of particulate matter at some location along the production-line of the articles.[0003] The high speed production of a quality product requires that accurate amounts of the granular particles be inserted only into desired cavities, with excess particles being remov...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004] In view of the above problems of prior art systems for cleaning articles during manufacture, the present invention is embodied in a system that includes a ported wheel rotating around a stationary vacuum chamber, and a stationary shoe or vacuum applicator that is positioned between the ported wheel and an article or articles having cavities to be filled with particles. The article or articles can be moved along a vacuum rail underneath the ported wheel so that the cavities travel in synchronization with the ports in the ported wheel. The placement of ports in the ported wheel and the design of the stationary shoe allow the system to clean particles from different length surfaces of the article interspersed between the cavities where it is desired to leave the particles undisturbed.

Problems solved by technology

While it has been known to apply vacuum to remove scattered material from sites intended to be free of material so as to enhance cleanliness of the operation, existing means for removing scattered particles from the undesired areas have suffered from the problem of also removing particles from the desired locations such as particle filled cavities.

This problem has been compounded during high speed manufacture of articles such as cigarette filter rods since no means has been provided to prevent the application of vacuum over areas of the article where granular particles should not be disturbed, while at the same time ensuring that undesired particles that have been vacuumed are removed completely.

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