JPH027627B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the control of tobacco filler rod formation, and more particularly to the use of recirculation of trimmed tobacco as a control mechanism.

In the manufacture of cigarettes, cut tobacco is metered from a tobacco storage device or hopper to provide a metered stream, a vertically flowing shower of tobacco granules is formed from the metered stream, and the tobacco contents are A rod is formed from a tobacco shower and paper is wrapped around the tobacco filler rod.

Because tobacco filler rods tend to have different amounts of tobacco at various locations along their length, resulting in variations in their thickness, it is generally not possible to The rod of granules contains a greater amount of tobacco granules within its cross-sectional area than is ultimately required for the tobacco sliver rod, and the excess tobacco provides the tobacco sliver rod to be wrapped with cigarettes. It is cut from a stick of tobacco granules. This procedure of cutting after overfeeding ensures that all locations along the length of the tobacco rod have the necessary thickness of tobacco to form a cigarette.

The tobacco clippings are typically recycled to a tobacco hopper from which a metered tobacco stream is formed. The metered stream of tobacco forming the tobacco shower is generally some type of control mechanism, such as a carding drum, to control and meter the amount of tobacco flowing from the hopper to the tobacco rod forming operation. It is provided by a tobacco hopper with a refuser mechanism.
Such refuser mechanisms, including means for recirculating tobacco to the hopper, result in a reduction in the quality of the tobacco;
This impairs the filling power of the cigarette.

In most cigarette making machines, the feed rate, i.e. the metering of the refresher roll, is usually not continuously controlled but is preset to a desired average flow rate, and the density of the tobacco, moisture content, Variations in the size of the tobacco granules and similar variables result in variations in the tobacco flow rate and changes in the amount of tobacco that is cut. Since the quality of the cut tobacco is reduced, thereby impairing its filling power, it is desirable to control the amount of cut tobacco by taking into account the above-mentioned variables. Previous attempts have been made to use clipped tobacco to control tobacco bar shaping. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,914, cut tobacco is fed into a storage container, from which tobacco is returned from a shower to a rod of formed tobacco granules, and the tobacco is withdrawn from the storage container and recycled. The amount of tobacco is tested and adjusted accordingly by testing the amount of tobacco in the cut tobacco filler rod or the uncut tobacco granule rod. Moreover, the amount of tobacco clippings in the storage container is detected which increases and decreases depending on the amount of excess tobacco clipped. If an excessive amount of tobacco is detected in the storage container, the mechanism forming the vertically flowing tobacco shower is adjusted to reduce the tobacco feed rate. However, the rate of ejection of tobacco from the cut tobacco storage container is controlled by measurements performed on the tobacco rods before or after cutting. Two independent measurements are thus made and two different operational controls are implemented from the results of these measurements.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,604 discloses a tobacco dispensing device that includes a generally vertically extending thin and laterally wide passageway with a carding drum and picker roller for controlling the flow of tobacco. A combination device stacks the tobacco granules fed from the hopper to form a carpet of tobacco granules between the front and rear walls of the passageway. One wall of the passageway is movable to feed a carpet of tobacco downwardly through the passageway, and a conveyor is disposed at the lower end of the passageway and advances to form a shower that moves the carpet of tobacco in a vertical direction. let

In one embodiment of this prior art device, cut tobacco is fed to the top of the aisle over a portion of the width of the aisle, while fresh tobacco from the hopper is fed across the remainder of the width of the aisle. As fed, the tobacco carpet within the aisle consists of side-by-side sections of fresh tobacco and recycled tobacco clippings. A pair of independently acting carding rollers are disposed at the lower end of the passageway, thereby feeding tobacco separately from the side-by-side tobacco portions of the carpet. The height of the cigarettes in each side-by-side section of the carpet was independently detected, and such detection was used to predetermine the level of the side-by-side sections by separately controlling the speed of the carding rollers. used to maintain the level.

Therefore, in this prior art device, recycled tobacco clippings and new tobacco are provided side by side in a carpet enclosed between vertical front and rear walls, and the height of each section is detected. and the flow rate of tobacco from each section is controlled individually as a result of separate measurements.

To the best of the applicant's knowledge, the feeding rate of recirculated cut tobacco is used as a control mechanism for metering of cut tobacco from its storage device to form a stream of metered tobacco granules. Attempts to do so have not been made public.

According to the invention, recirculation of tobacco clippings is used to control the rate of tobacco feed to the tobacco core forming means. The feed rate control achieved in this invention eliminates the need for the use of a refuser mechanism and is used to avoid the tobacco quality deterioration associated with its use. In this invention, only the tobacco cut from the tobacco filler rod is recycled within the tobacco filler rod forming means. Moreover, the present invention avoids the need for multiple measurements of multiple levels of the tobacco storage device and measurement of separate variations in flow rate of different streams based on such measurements.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an improvement in the method of forming tobacco filler rods suitable for forming cigarettes, wherein cut tobacco is metered from its storage device to provide a metered flow and the tobacco is A vertically flowing shower of granules is formed from the metered stream, a rod of tobacco granules is formed from the shower, and this rod has a greater amount of tobacco in its cross section than is required for the tobacco filler rod. Excess tobacco is trimmed from the tobacco granule rod to provide a tobacco filler rod and cut tobacco, and the cut tobacco is recycled to the cut tobacco storage tank.

The improvement of the invention lies in the combination of various aspects. First, the cut tobacco storage device is divided into two physically separate storage areas that are not in communication with each other, such that cut tobacco is recycled into only one of said storage areas and fresh cut tobacco is recycled into the other storage area. Delivered to storage area only. Second, the tobacco is metered continuously from both storage areas at the same rate per unit width of storage area to provide a metered flow and the tobacco is continuously metered from both storage areas at the same rate per unit width of the storage area and the tobacco is recirculated in said one storage area. Tobacco levels are continuously monitored. Third, the metering rate of tobacco from the storage device is adjusted when the level of recirculated tobacco clippings in one storage area is detected above a predetermined upper level. is maintained between the predetermined levels by increasing the metering rate when a decrease is detected below the predetermined lower level.

In this way, the detected level in the recirculated cut tobacco is the only control parameter for feeding the tobacco to the tobacco rod forming means, and measurements are carried out on the tobacco filler rod before or after cutting. The work required with conventional devices to measure the level of or new cut tobacco storage devices is avoided. Thereby a new and greatly simplified tobacco flow rate control means is provided.

The invention further includes a novel shredded tobacco hopper device for use with a cigarette making machine, the device having an upper inlet and a lower outlet for tobacco and having horizontally extending vertically extending physical pipes disposed therein. a storage device with a buttful as a separating means to form a demarcated storage area, and acting with a lower outlet for metering and feeding tobacco from both storage areas at the same rate per unit width of the storage area; including a common metering spreader arranged in relation to each other.

The storage device is therefore vertically divided into two chambers, one of which is typically narrow and the other wide, the narrow chamber being fed with recycled tobacco clippings; The height of the cigarette in the narrow chamber is detected and the flow rate of cigarettes per unit width of the storage device from both chambers is responsive to a predetermined "too low" or "too high" level in the narrow chamber. speed up or deceleration. Additionally, the width of the narrow chamber relative to the width of the wide chamber is used to determine the extent of mowing.

Controlling the shaping action of the tobacco filler rod according to the invention is simple and extremely effective. As mentioned above, in many machines, the feed rate (i.e., the refuser roll metering) is generally not continuously controlled, and as a result of variations in tobacco density, moisture content, tobacco granule size, etc. The flow velocity fluctuates,
This causes variation in the amount of tobacco cut. By monitoring the amount of tobacco cut and recycled, the flow rate is completely controlled and the problems associated with these prior art techniques are overcome.

The figure shows a cigarette manufacturing machine 10 constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In the illustrated embodiment,
Tobacco is supplied to the tobacco inner rod forming mechanism 12,
Here, the tobacco filler rod 14 is formed from a side stream of tobacco by forming layers one above the other on the periphery of the vacuum ring 16. These substreams form a descending stream or shower 20 of separated tobacco granules.
is formed on the vacuum ring 18. The core rod forming mechanism 12 is fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,088 and reference is made thereto for details of construction and operation. The inner rod forming mechanism 12 includes a trimmer device 22 for removing excess tobacco from the inner rod 14.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to the tobacco core forming mechanism 12, the principle of the tobacco feed means for the core rod forming mechanism and its control method is as follows.
It can be applied to any method for forming tobacco filler rods in which tobacco filler rods are formed directly or indirectly from rising or falling flow or showering of substantially separated tobacco granules. The down-flow tobacco shower 20 is formed by dropping tobacco from the end of a conveyor 24 that conveys spread tobacco granules on a thin carpet 26. Conventional winnowing operations are generally performed on thin carpet 26 when shower 20 is formed to remove heavy tobacco particles. In order to avoid the complexity of the description, a detailed explanation of wind selection will be omitted.

The tobacco carpet 26 is formed by the evacuation action from a novel hopper or storage device 28. The storage device 28 and its structure and principle of operation constitute a feature of the invention.

Storage device 28 has a generally rectangular cross-section tobacco storage area that is internally divided into two physically separated storage chambers 30 and 32 by a buffer 34.
It is divided into Reservoir 32 has a relatively narrow width compared to 30. The width of the storage chamber 32, which is a narrow chamber, with respect to the width of the storage chamber 30, which is a wide chamber, determines and controls the degree of cutting of the tobacco stick 14, as will become clear from the description below.

A shredded tobacco separator and ejector 36 is disposed at the upper end of the storage device 28 in communication with the wide chamber 30 to remove the shredded tobacco from the feed pipe 38 by application of a vacuum from line 40.
The storage chamber 30 receives cut tobacco conveyed through it, separates the tobacco from the conveying air by a suitable screen 42, and intermittently transfers the tobacco so separated from the conveying air by the screen 42. feed within.

If desired, this discontinuous discharge device 36 can be replaced by a continuous discharge device, whereby the feed pipe 3
The tobacco fed by 8 is continuously transferred to the storage chamber 3.
Ejected within 0. To this end, the interior of the storage device 28 is maintained under a vacuum condition and within the structure of the storage device 28 there is a A continuous airlock system is required. One suitable structure is disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,446,786, and reference is made to that patent for details of its structure and operation.
Separately, the discontinuous evacuation device 36 is connected to the storage device 2.
This can be replaced by a rotary air lock device disposed at the upper end of the tube 8 which allows the tobacco to be discharged continuously or discontinuously from the feed pipe 38 into the storage chamber 30 without breaking the internal vacuum. In this modification, the reservoir chamber 30 is at atmospheric pressure. Another modification is to manually feed the cut tobacco into the wide chamber 30.

Feeding tobacco, whether discontinuously or continuously, to the storage chamber 30 using the above-described apparatus causes tobacco 44 to be stored within the storage chamber 30.

Tobacco separation and discharge device 4 constituting another feeding device
6 is disposed at the upper end of the storage device 28 communicating with the narrow chamber 32 to receive the recirculated feed tobacco trimmed from the tobacco filler rod 14 by the trimmer device 22. Recirculation of the tobacco clippings is accomplished in the illustrated embodiment by air drawn through recirculation line 48. Any other convenient feeding device can also be used, such as a conveyor.

In a separating and discharging device 46, which in the illustrated embodiment takes the form of a cyclone separator, the tobacco is separated from the conveying air stream and continuously discharged into a hopper or storage chamber 32 by means of a rotary airlock device 50. , the air lock device is device 46.
At the same time, the vacuum state is maintained within the storage chamber 32 and the tobacco is discharged into the storage chamber 32 at atmospheric pressure. Depending on the manner in which the conveying airflow in line 48 is provided, the rotary air lock device may be omitted. Any other suitable tobacco separation and ejection equipment may also be used.

Tobacco is continuously cut from the tobacco rod 14 by the trimmer device 22, and as described later, the amount of cut tobacco in the storage chamber 32 is:
In practice, to be used as a control parameter, the recirculation of the tobacco clippings and their discharge into the narrow chamber 32 must be carried out continuously as shown.

The recirculated cut tobacco discharged into the narrow chamber 32 is stored in a tobacco storage section 52 within the narrow chamber 32.
form. The sensor means 53 and 54 are located in the narrow chamber 3
2 to detect whether the level of cigarettes in the reservoir 52 is too high or too low. The tobacco storage section 52 in the storage section 52 and the tobacco storage section 44 in the wide room 30 are connected to the conveyor 2.
4 to form a tobacco carpet 26.

A tobacco dispensing device 56 is disposed at the lower end of the storage device 28 and includes a pair of mutually dispensing tobacco dispensing devices 56 extending across the width of the storage device 28 that communicate with the tobacco reservoirs 44 and 52 of both the storage chambers 30 and 32. It includes metering rollers 58 that rotate in opposite directions. These counter-rotating rollers 58 have a plurality of radially oriented pins 60 that cooperate with each other to dispense the desired amount of tobacco from both reservoirs 44 and 52 simultaneously. The rotational speed of the pair of rollers 58 determines the amount of tobacco discharged from the storage device 28 onto the conveyor 26. The metering roller 58 extends over the entire width of the storage device 28 and covers the storage chambers 30 and 3.
2. Since tobacco is measured from both sides, the storage chamber 30
The feeding speed of tobacco from and 32 is the same per unit width.

Tobacco metering spreader 56 also includes a third roller 62 which is a spreader roller positioned generally equidistant from the pair of rollers 58 . Third roller 6
2 has a protruding pin 64, which pin is connected to the roller 58.
A pair of rollers 58 intertwine and cooperate with the upper pin to supply reservoirs 44 and 5, which are supply sources.
The tobacco metered from 2 is separated into individual particles and discharged onto the top surface of the conveyor 24 to provide a tobacco carpet 26.

The thickness of the carpet 26 on the conveyor 24 and thus the tobacco shower 2 forming the tobacco filler rods 14
The amount of tobacco that forms a zero is determined by the speed of the conveyor surface and the rotational speed of the pair of rollers 58. Normally, the speed of the conveyor 24 is maintained constant so that the flow rate of tobacco is controlled by the action of the metering and spreading device 56.

As can be seen from the above description, the tobacco recycled within this system is only cut tobacco and no refusers are needed or used. The tobacco forming the carpet 26 is properly metered and discharged from the storage device 28 in spread form by the tobacco metering and spreading device 56, and has the amount necessary to form the tobacco filler rod. Deterioration in tobacco quality induced by refreshers and metering mechanisms such as those used in conventional cigarette manufacturing machines can be eliminated. The use of the storage device 28 not only allows completely unrolled and relatively undamaged tobacco to be fed to the tobacco rod former, but also greatly simplifies the components of the cigarette making mechanism.

In this invention, the recirculation of cut tobacco by line 48 is accomplished by
used to control the effects of A metering and spreading device 56 controls the rate at which tobacco is fed from the reservoir chambers 30 and 32 so that the level of tobacco 52 in the narrow chamber 32 is maintained substantially constant.

Assuming that the amount of cigarettes in the narrow chamber 32 has increased,
This means that the amount of tobacco that is cut has increased, and therefore the cigarette making machine is being operated using more tobacco than the required amount. In this case, in response to an increase in the amount of tobacco in the narrow chamber 32, the amount of tobacco delivered from the storage device 28 is adjusted until the desired level of recirculated tobacco in the narrow chamber 32 is restored. The amount is reduced by reducing the operating speed of the spreading device 56.

Similarly, if the amount of tobacco in the narrow chamber 32 decreases, it means that the amount of tobacco being cut has decreased, and therefore the cigarette making machine is being operated with less tobacco than the required amount. There will be. In this case, the feed rate of tobacco from the storage device 28 is increased to compensate for the inadequate feed rate until the desired level of recirculated tobacco within the narrow chamber is restored.

The level of tobacco within the narrow chamber 32 is sensed in any desired manner, such as for example by optical sensors 53 and 54, and typically by sensor means 53 and 5.
The tobacco level is allowed to vary within a range as predetermined by the interval 4. Using appropriate circuitry, the "too high" and "too low" signals drive the drive motor 66 of the metering and spreading device 56 to appropriately speed up or slow down the tobacco feed from the reservoirs 44 and 52. This is used to appropriately vary the motor control device 65 for use.

The level of recirculated tobacco in the narrow chamber is used to control the amount of metered tobacco fed to the tobacco core forming operation to ensure the proper amount of tobacco present within the tobacco core 14. It is an extremely simple and highly functional operation to use. For the above-mentioned reasons, it is necessary to carry out overfeeding and cutting in the cigarette filler rod formation and to recirculate the cut tobacco for economical use of the tobacco. The present invention utilizes conventional technology operations in a unique and practical manner to control the tobacco filler rod forming operation.

In the present invention, recirculation of tobacco clippings is uniquely incorporated into the process of forming a tobacco filler rod that does not involve either a refuser or a recirculation of tobacco from the refuser that occurs with the use of a refuser. As a result of its incorporation, the present invention has been able to eliminate the deterioration of tobacco quality that occurs during conventional feeding and forming processes.

The degree of tobacco cutting from the tobacco filler rod 14 can also be controlled by one embodiment of the present invention. The degree of trimming required of the tobacco filler rod 14 to eliminate variations in tobacco thickness along the length of the tobacco filler rod depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the tobacco forming operation.

In this embodiment of the invention, the extent of mowing is controlled by the width of the narrow chamber 32. Because the lateral dimensions of this chamber are narrow, less tobacco is required to maintain the desired level of tobacco reservoir 52 within this narrow chamber 32, thus reducing the amount of tobacco that is recirculated by line 48. should be less. Similarly,
When the horizontal dimension of the narrow chamber 32 is widened, the narrow chamber 32
More tobacco is required to maintain the desired level of tobacco reservoir 52 within, and therefore more tobacco must be recirculated by line 48.

Therefore, the width of the narrow chamber 32 is preset to the desired degree of cutting taking into account the predetermined operating speed of the cigarette bar forming method, and the degree of cutting is determined by the recirculation within the narrow chamber 32. This is maintained by maintaining the cut tobacco reservoir 52 at a predetermined level.

In the illustrated embodiment, cut tobacco is fed to the vacuum wheel 16 at a location adjacent to the tobacco filler forming surface. It is also possible and preferred to arrange the apparatus 10 to supply recycled tobacco clippings to the outside surface of the tobacco filler rod 14 and thus to the side opposite the tobacco filler forming surface of the vacuum ring 16. In this way, the cut and recirculated tobacco is cut again, thereby minimizing overall tobacco quality loss, and increasing the amount of tobacco waste within the cut tobacco to form tobacco sticks. Since the content of tobacco crumbs in the tobacco bar is in a normal amount, an improved distribution of tobacco crumbs over the width of the tobacco filler rod is obtained.

To summarize the disclosure of the present invention, the present invention provides a novel method for controlling the cigarette filler rod forming process by controlling the amount of recycled tobacco clippings. This recirculation operation is combined with a novel tobacco feeding method that can provide a feeding means for tobacco bar forming without reducing the quality of the tobacco due to recirculation effects from the refusers and refusers. It is preferable that this is also carried out. The extent of pruning is also controlled by the invention. Various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a cigarette manufacturing apparatus embodying the principles of the present invention. 10... Cigarette manufacturing machine, 12... Tobacco inner rod forming mechanism, 14... Tobacco inner rod, 16...
Vacuum ring, 18... Vacuum ring, 20... Downward powder flow (shower), 22... Trimmer device, 24... Conveyor, 26... Carpet, 28... Storage device, 3
0...Storage chamber (wide room), 32...Storage chamber (narrow room), 34...Bassful, 36...Shredded tobacco separation and discharge device, 38...Feeding pipe, 40...Line, 42...Screen , 44... tobacco storage section, 46... tobacco separation and discharge device, 48... recirculation line, 50... air lock, 52... tobacco storage section, 53, 54... sensor means, 56...
Tobacco metering spreader, 58... Measuring roller, 60
...Pin, 62...Third roller (spreading roller),
64...Pin, 65...Motor control device, 66...
...Drive motor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Shredded tobacco is metered from a shredded tobacco storage device to form a metered stream, and a vertically moving shower of tobacco granules is formed from the metered tobacco stream; A tobacco rod consisting of granules is formed from the shower, and the tobacco rod contains more tobacco in its cross section than is required for the tobacco filler rod, and the excess tobacco is added to the tobacco rod. In a method of forming tobacco filler rods suitable for forming cigarettes, the tobacco filler rods being cut from tobacco to form tobacco filler rods and the cut tobacco being recycled to said cut tobacco storage device, wherein: (a) said cut tobacco storage device comprises: partitioned into two physically separate storage areas not in communication with each other, with cut tobacco being recirculated only in one area of said storage area and fresh cut tobacco being only in the other area of said storage area; (b) tobacco is continuously metered from both storage areas at the same rate per unit width of storage area to form a metered stream and recirculated within said one storage area; and (c) when the level of tobacco clippings in said one storage area is detected to be higher than a predetermined upper level; and increasing the tobacco dispensing rate when the level of cut tobacco is detected below a predetermined lower level;
Tobacco, characterized in that the rate of dispensing tobacco from said storage device is controlled so as to maintain the level of recycled tobacco clippings in said one storage area between predetermined levels. How to form the inner rod. 2. A method of forming a tobacco filler rod according to claim 1, characterized in that one storage area is narrow and the other storage area is considerably wide. 3. Tobacco is metered continuously from both storage zones by a pair of metering rollers extending over the entire width of said storage device and communicating with the lower ends of both storage zones, and the tobacco metering rate 3. A method for forming a tobacco filler rod according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: is determined by the rotational speed of a metering roller. 4. A spreading roller is combined with the metering roller to spread the metered stream of tobacco from the metering roller to provide a wide carpet of tobacco spread on the conveying surface and to shower the tobacco granules. Claim 3 is characterized in that it is formed from carpet-like tobacco granules in which
Method for forming tobacco inner rods as described in Section 1. 5 Tobacco cut from tobacco granule sticks,
5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method comprises tobacco that has been cut and recycled in a previous cutting stage. 6. A tobacco hopper for receiving and storing cut tobacco until required for cigarette manufacturing; and a vertical tobacco shower forming device for forming a vertically flowing shower of tobacco granules separated from the cut tobacco stored in the hopper. a tobacco filler rod forming mechanism suitable for manufacturing cigarettes from a separated tobacco granule shower, including a cutting device for cutting excess tobacco from the tobacco filler rod to form a tobacco filler rod; ) A container having an upper inlet for receiving tobacco and a lower outlet for discharging tobacco, having therein a storage chamber 32 extending narrowly vertically through the interior of said container and having a fairly wide and a shredded tobacco storage device 28 having a vertically extending buttful 34 dividing it into a vertically extending storage chamber 30 forming a tobacco hopper for receiving and storing shredded tobacco; (b) tobacco cut by the trimmer device 22; (c) a tobacco dispensing device disposed at the lower outlet of the storage device 28 for simultaneously discharging tobacco from the narrow chamber 32 and the wide chamber 30; 56; and (d) a conveyor 24, forming part of a shower forming device, for receiving the tobacco discharged by the metering spreading device 56 as a carpeted tobacco 26. Bar forming equipment. 7 storage device 28 in which the metering spreader meteres tobacco from the lower ends of both the narrow chamber 32 and the wide chamber 30 at a speed proportional to the rotational speed of the metering roller 58;
a pair of metering rollers 58 extending over the entire width of the
The metering roller 58 is operatively associated with the metering roller 58 to spread out the tobacco metered by the metering roller 58 from the storage device 28 and discharge the spread tobacco onto the conveyor 24 to form a carpet of tobacco thereon. 7. The cigarette filler rod forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a third roller 62 for forming a cigarette filler rod. 8. A recirculation line 48 in which a tobacco cuttings feeding device conveys the tobacco cuttings from the trimmer device 22 to the portion of the upper inlet combined with the narrow chamber 32, and a recirculation line 48 in which the tobacco cuttings are conveyed to the narrow chamber 32. Tobacco separating and discharging device 4 that continuously discharges removed tobacco
8. The tobacco filling rod forming apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the device comprises: 6. 9. A shredded tobacco separator and discharge device 36 is operatively assembled with a portion of the upper inlet combined with the wide chamber 30 for discharging continuously or discontinuously the shredded tobacco conveyed to said separator and discharge device into the wide chamber. Claim 6, Clause 7, characterized in that they are combined.
8. The tobacco inner rod forming apparatus according to any one of Items 1 and 8. 10 Cigarette level sensor means 53, 54 are associated with the narrow chamber 32 to detect whether the tobacco level in the narrow chamber is higher or lower than a predetermined level, and The tobacco dispensing device is adapted to vary the feed rate of tobacco from both the narrow chamber 32 and the wide chamber 30 in response to a detected undesirable level that is too high or too low relative to a predetermined level value. 9. The tobacco filling rod forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising devices 65 and 66 for varying the rotational speed of the cigarette rod.