GB1584552A

GB1584552A - Manufacture of filter tipped cigarettes

Info

Publication number: GB1584552A
Application number: GB3222179A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Molins Ltd
Current assignee: Mpac Group PLC
Priority date: 1977-04-06
Filing date: 1977-04-06
Publication date: 1981-02-11

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FILTER TIPPED CIGARETTES (71) We, MOLINS LIMITED, a British Company, of 2 Evelyn Street, Deptford, London SE8 5DH., do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention is concerned with a device for conveying rods of the tobacco industry onto a fluted drum having axially extending flutes which receive the rods.

The rods may, for example, be double cigarette assemblies. Such assemblies may, as described in the complete specification of cognate applications 14940/76 and 53685/76 (Serial No. 1584551) (from which this application has been divided), be conveyed as a stack-like stream from a making machine to a packing machine at, in or near which the assemblies are cut to form individual filter cigarettes which are then packed by the packing machine. The specific device shown in the accompanying drawings has been designed for use in such a system.

Broadly speaking, however, the present invention involves a device for conveying rods of the tobacco industry, including a fluted drum having axially extending flutes which are to receive the rods, and means for feeding rods into the flutes, characterised in that the rod feeding means comprises a conveyor arranged to carry a stack-like stream of the rods towards the fluted drum, and means for controlling the movement of the conveyor.

An example of a device according to this invention for use with double cigarette assemblies is shown in the accompanying drawings. In these drawings: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front elecation of the device, which is intended to be mounted above the hopper of a packing machine.

Figure 2 is a view from the left of Figure 1 and shows also the packing machine hopper; and Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part of the fluted drum shown in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1, double cigarette assemblies are fed as a continuous stack-like stream 88 by an overhead conveyor 89 to what may be regarded as a small intermediate "hopper" 90 where the outer surface of the stack is free to expand. This "hopper" is partly defined by a fluted drum 91 which rotates in a counter-clockwise direction and carries the double assemblies out of the "hopper". Movement of the conveyor 89 is controlled by a photo-electric sensing device 92 to maintain cigarettes in the "hopper" approximately to the level of the device 92.

A disc knife 93 with associated sharpening wheels 94 and 95 cuts the double assemblies through the middle. The cigarettes are then drawn apart, for example by means of suction applied to both ends of the flutes in cooperation with a fixed cover plate 97. The two streams of oppositely-orientated cigarettes then arrive above two twisted chutes 98 and 99 shown particularly in Figure 2. As the cigarettes pass down the chutes, they are rotated through 90" so that all the cigarettes arrive in a packing machine hopper 100 with the same orientation. The cigarettes then pass downwards through a set of vanes 101 from which batches of cigarettes are plunged out in the usual way.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part of the fluted drum 91 shown in Figures 1 and 2. As shown, the flutes 102 in the drum are deep enough to accommodate two double assemblies 103. During rotation of the drum, suction is applied initially through passages 104 leading to the bottoms of the flutes to ensure that the inner parts of the flutes are filled; this suction is transmitted from a suction manifold 105 via axial bores 106 with which a number of axially spaced passages 104 for each flute communicate.

Subsequently, suction is transmitted from a suction manifold 107 via axial bores 108 and passages 109 to ports 110 lying outside the inner double assemblies to ensure that cigarettes are drawn into the outer parts of the flutes.

The fluted drum 91 is capable of delivering more cigarettes than are needed by the packing machine, and is arranged to be driven (e.g. via a disengageable electromagnetic clutch) only when a photo-electric device 99A indicates a space for more cigarettes in the upper end of the chute 99.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A device for conveying rods of the tobacco industry, including a fluted drum having axially extending flutes which are to receive the rods, and means for feeding rods into the flutes, characterised in that the rod feeding means comprises a conveyor arranged to carry a stack-like stream of the rods towards the fluted drum, and means for controlling the movement of the conveyor.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the means for controlling movement of the conveyor comprises a photoelectric sensor device responsive to the height of the rods in the vicinity of the end of the conveyor adjacent to the drum.

3. A device according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the conveyor extends substantially horizontally towards the drum.

4. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in which each of the flutes of the drum is deep enough to receive at least two rods.

5. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, including a knife which is arranged to cut the rods while they are in the flutes of the drum.

6. A device according to claim 1 and substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. Subsequently, suction is transmitted from a suction manifold 107 via axial bores 108 and passages 109 to ports 110 lying outside the inner double assemblies to ensure that cigarettes are drawn into the outer parts of the flutes. The fluted drum 91 is capable of delivering more cigarettes than are needed by the packing machine, and is arranged to be driven (e.g. via a disengageable electromagnetic clutch) only when a photo-electric device 99A indicates a space for more cigarettes in the upper end of the chute 99. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A device for conveying rods of the tobacco industry, including a fluted drum having axially extending flutes which are to receive the rods, and means for feeding rods into the flutes, characterised in that the rod feeding means comprises a conveyor arranged to carry a stack-like stream of the rods towards the fluted drum, and means for controlling the movement of the conveyor.