PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR RECOVERING TOBACCO PARTICLES FROM INTACT CIGARETTE PACKAGES

摘要

A process for recovering tobacco particles from intact cigarette packages in which the intact packages are subjected to disintegrating action effected between impeller members and one or more pairs of longitudinally extending rows of teeth, of which the teeth in each row project transversely toward the teeth in the adjacent row, each impeller member having its cross-section elongated in the longitudinal direction and moving generally longitudinally relative to said rows. The disintegration may be carried out on a modified tobacco threshing machine and is effective to tear the packages and paper tubes of the cigarettes containing the tobacco particles into a mixture comprising tobacco particles and non-tobacco fragments which are substantially larger than the tobacco particles. This allows the resulting mixture of non-tobacco fragments and tobacco particles to be separated to obtain tobacco particles which are substantially free of non-tobacco fragments.