Apparatus and method for metering oral tobacco in portions suitable for consumption

Abstract

An apparatus for metering oral tobacco into portions suitable for consumption including a delivery device to hold and deliver the tobacco and a metering device to receive the tobacco from the delivery device. The metering device includes a shaping component operative to shape and press the tobacco into at least one endless tobacco rod and a slicing component operative to slice the endless tobacco rod into pre-defined tobacco portions with respect to shape and weight and to discharge the tobacco portions for subsequent processing. Further, a method for metering oral tobacco in portions suitable for consumption, includes the steps of delivering the tobacco, continuous shaping and pressing the tobacco into at least one endless tobacco rod, slicing the endless tobacco rod into pre-defined tobacco portions with respect to shape and weight, and conveying the tobacco portions to a subsequent processing station.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention concerns an apparatus for metering oral tobacco in portions suitable for consumption, comprising a delivery device for the tobacco and a metering device for forming and discharging tobacco portions suitable for consumption. The invention further concerns a method for metering oral tobacco in portions suitable for consumption.[0002]Apparatuses and methods of this kind are used in the tobacco-processing industry to process oral tobacco (or tobacco mixtures), that is, tobacco which is put wholly in the mouth for smoke-free consumption, namely, in particular to meter and dispense it. Here, a distinction is made between the so-called sliced tobacco which is put in the mouth for consumption e.g. in a bag made of cellulose or the like, and the so-called loose tobacco which is put in the mouth for consumption directly, that is, without a surrounding package. For this there are in general the two product groups SNUS and SNUFF. SNUS is a product ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]In an embodiment, by shaping and pressing the tobacco on the one hand and slicing into defined tobacco portions on the other hand, even damp tobacco with a high residual moisture content (usually between 30% and 60%, or higher) can be sliced precisely into so-called pressed blanks or pellets, so that reproducible metering which soils the apparatus only to a minor extent is ensured. Due to the fact that the pellets are already pressed and shaped before introduction into the bag, careful and inherently stable transport can be ensured. This crucially helps to obtain the so-called “white portions.”“White portions” means that the bags remain unchanged in colour on filling with the tobacco portions, and so in particular no tobacco juice leads to colouration of the bags. The embodiment allows precise metering of tobacco portions ready for consumption, which are to be consumed optionally directly or in a bag. In general, the design according to the embodiment leads to increased process reliability with few downtimes.

[0009]In another embodiment, the apparatus is constructed and designed for simultaneously shaping and pressing a plurality of endless tobacco rods. As a result, the efficiency of the apparatus is increased. In particular this design allows, for example, direct allocation of one endless tobacco rod to each feed pipe of a sealed-edge or tubular bag machine, as a result of which the output of the sealed-edge or tubular bag machine is increased.

Problems solved by technology

However, the known apparatuses have the drawback that only free-flowing tobacco, that is, tobacco with a low residual moisture content, can be processed.

This means that the damp and therefore sticky tobacco leads to deposits in the apparatuses and, at worst, blockage of the apparatus and interruption of the process.

Hence short cleaning intervals are necessary, which leads to downtimes and outage times. Another drawback lies in that metering and slicing of the individual portions is very imprecise in particular due to the deposits.

Slicing of the loose tobacco also has the drawback that, because it is done by the consumer, it is very imprecise, as a result of which consumption may be impaired.

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