Abstract
The check of the cigarette weight can be made “a posteriori”, that is when a certain number of cigarettes has been manufactured, and then it is aimed at verifying the acceptability of the lot. Conversely, it can also be executed during the manufacturing process in order to produce acceptable cigarettes. In the first case the ordinary statistical theories can be applied, whereas in the second case, which is the more interesting from cigarette manufacturers' viewpoint, Wiener's theories must be applied on both checks and servo-mechanisms. Consequently, it is necessary to revise the basic principles of the "check'' and then those of the operation of weight-governors in order to attain the highest possible precision, regardless of the external causes which might affect the result. So, the idea of ''self-optimizing'' governors is assumed, that is regulators adjusting their own action to obtain the best results. Molins, Decoufle and, lately, the Industrial Nucleonic Corp., though not having yet developed an adaptive adjuster, have made in recent times the most significant efforts in this field.