APPARATUS FOR CREATING ZONES EXHIBITING DESIRABLE PERMEABILITY TO AIR, DISTRIBUTOR OF RADIATION BEAMS, IN PARTICULAR THAT FOR USE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THAT APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CREATING ZONES EXHIBITING DESIRABLE PERMEABILITY TO AIR

摘要

A perforation device comprises a multiple beam-generating device having an optical element that is fixed relative to a single energy-rich beam in an operating position of the optical element. ??A perforation device comprises a beam-guiding device for focusing a multiple beam generated from a single energy-rich beam originating from a radiation source onto the enveloping material in order to create perforation zones (62, 64); and a multiple beam-generating device located for creating a multiple beam from the single energy-rich beam. The multiple beam-generating device comprises an optical element that is fixed relative to the single energy-rich beam in an operating position of the optical element. ??INDEPENDENTS CLAIMS are included for the following: ??(a) a method for producing zones of desired air permeability in enveloping material of rod-shaped articles, in particular in the tobacco-processing industry, comprising generating a single, energy-rich beam by a radiation source; generating a multiple beam from the single beam by fanning out the single beam in a diffractive optical element into partial beams (39-I, 39 II) diverging at an angle to each other in order to form the multiple beam; and focusing the partial beams onto the enveloping material in order to form the perforation zones; and ??(b) a beam divider (44) comprising a beam dividing optical component in which a beam incident on the component is partially reflected as a first partial beam and partially transmitted as a second partial beam where the component includes mechanism for forming each of the first and second partial beams as a multiple partial beam.