Cigarette-Making Machine Handle Drive Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing manual cigarette-making machines require significant force to operate, risk finger injury, and often result in fragile cigarette tubes being damaged and filled cigarettes falling to the ground, leading to inefficiencies and hygiene issues due to the need for large surfaces for disposal.
Innovation Solution
A cigarette-making machine design featuring a reduced number of moving parts, with a handle drive mechanism that allows for forward and reverse rotation to compact and eject tobacco into a cigarette tube, incorporating a grasping volume for ergonomic handling and a tobacco receptacle to collect stray tobacco, ensuring secure tube engagement and discharge without manual contact hazards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional handle drive mechanism is used, then tobacco compacting and ejection functions are achieved, but operational force requirement increases and user safety decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The handle drive mechanism is segmented into distinct functional zones: a grasping volume for secure hand placement, a tobacco receptacle area, and a discharge path. This segmentation allows the user's hand to be positioned safely within the grasping volume while the tobacco is compacted and ejected in separate zones, reducing the risk of finger injury while maintaining operational effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle drive acts as an intermediary mechanism that transfers the user's rotational input into controlled compacting and ejection motions. By designing the handle to rotate about a fixed axis with the user's hand positioned in the grasping volume, the mechanism mediates between user input and the internal compaction/ejection actions, reducing the force required while maintaining safety.
2Device complexity
If tube holder is controlled by compactor or plunger means, then number of moving parts is reduced, but tube positioning precision and reliability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The handle drive mechanism serves multiple functions: it controls the compactor, the plunger/ejection mechanism, and the tube holder positioning. By making the handle drive a universal control element that coordinates all these functions through its rotation about a fixed axis, the patent reduces the number of independent moving parts while maintaining reliable tube positioning through the coordinated action of all components driven by the single handle.
3Area of stationary object
If machine requires large surface area for operation, then filled cigarette disposal is facilitated, but hygiene and efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions the filled cigarette discharge from a horizontal drop to a vertical or controlled ejection path. By changing the dimension of discharge (from horizontal placement requiring large surface area to vertical/elevated discharge), the machine reduces the surface area needed while preventing cigarettes from falling to the floor, thereby eliminating hygiene issues and improving efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
A cigarette-making machine (10) comprises a casing (14), a tobacco slot (18) in the casing (14), and a nipple (16) for retaining a cigarette tube outside the casing (14). A handle (20) / handle drive (22) is accessible from an exterior of the casing (14) to be manually handled. An internal mechanism has a compactor (32) to compact tobacco inserted into the machine through the tobacco slot (18), and a spoon (60) to eject the compacted tobacco into the cigarette tube through the nipple (16). The internal mechanism is operatively connected to the handle (20) / handle drive (22) so as to be actuated by manual handling of the handle (20) / handle drive (22) to compact and eject tobacco into the cigarette tube. A cigarette receiver (17A) supports a filled cigarette released from the nipple (16). A method to operate the machine (10) is also provided.