US 11,717,024 B2
Apparatus for inserting microcapsule objects into a filter element of a smoking article, and associated method
Charles Jacob Novak, III, Winston-Salem, NC (US); Vernon Brent Barnes, Advance, NC (US); Robert William Benford, Kernersville, NC (US); Margarette Elisa Lovette, Winston-Salem, NC (US); Quentin Paul Guenther, Jr., Winston-Salem, NC (US); Jerry Wayne Pipes, Clemmons, NC (US); and William Robert Collett, Lexington, NC (US)
Assigned to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US)
Filed by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, NC (US)
Filed on Nov. 13, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/682,787.
Application 16/682,787 is a division of application No. 13/248,847, filed on Sep. 29, 2011, abandoned.
Prior Publication US 2020/0077695 A1, Mar. 12, 2020
Int. Cl. A24D 3/02 (2006.01)
CPC A24D 3/0216 (2013.01) 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of forming a cigarette filter rod member defining a longitudinal axis, the method comprising:
forming a continuous supply of a filter material into a continuous cylindrical rod member using a rod-forming unit;
engaging a plurality of frangible microcapsule objects with a carrier using an insert forming unit by depositing at least a portion of the plurality of microcapsule objects into regularly-spaced troughs along a continuous corrugated member; and
inserting the carrier carrying the plurality of frangible microcapsule objects into the rod member using an insertion unit.