US3282443A

US3282443A - Guiding devices in cigarette handling machines

Info

Publication number: US3282443A
Application number: US405498A
Authority: US
Inventors: Schmermund Alfred
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-10-23
Filing date: 1964-10-21
Publication date: 1966-11-01
Anticipated expiration: 1983-11-01
Also published as: GB1030347A; CH425603A

Description

Nov. 1, 1966 A. SCHMERMUND GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ALFRED SCHHERHUND 4M1: flwle ATTORNEYS Nov. 1, 1966 A. SCHMERMUND 3,282,443

GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 uwsm'on ALFRED ScHnEnnu/w ATTORNEYS GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Filed Oct. 21, 1964 1966 A. SCHMERMUND 5 Sheets-Sheet :5

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ALTRE'D SLHHERMUND By: 91% /hm ATTORNEYS United States Patent GUIDING DEVICES IN CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINES Alfred Schmermund, 62 Kornerstrasse, Gevelsberg, Westphalia, Germany Filed Oct. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 405,498

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Oct. 23, 1963,

41,800/ 63 8 Claims. (Cl. 214-1) The invention relates to guiding devices in cigarette handling machines, for example cigarette packing machines.

A cigarette feeding arrangement in a cigarette packing or handling machine has been proposed in which a plu rality of cigarettes are pushed by a ram having a plurality of fingers, from chutes at the bottom of a cigarette supply hopper, into a transition member and are thence pushed into and through a guiding device which is laterally moved while the cigarettes are contained therein. By means of the guiding device the discharge path for the cigarettes from the guiding device can be offset relative to the entry path for the cigarettes into the guiding device.

The chute walls at the bottom of the cigarette supply hopper have a finite thickness and the cigarettes must have sufiicient clearance from the chute walls in order to be able to fall freely therein. This means that the group of cigarettes, hereinafter termed cigarette bloc fed from the chutes by the ram, is rather loose and must be laterally compressed before packing. Feeding of the cigarette block through narrowing guides results only in a small compression, if damage to the cigarettes is to be avoided.

It is an object of the invention to provide a guiding device for a cigarette handling machine, which device while guiding the cigarettes from one operating station to another effectively compacts the cigarette blocks.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a device which is simple and yet reliable in use.

Those and other objects and advantages of the invention will become clear to those skilled in the art from the following description when read with reference to the appended drawings which are given by way of example, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a guiding device of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a part of the device of FIG. 1 but in a different operational position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, of the device when in the positions of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, partly in section and partly broken away, of a modified device.

The guiding device illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is intended for use in a cigarette packing or handling machine, and comprises three relatively

movable parts

1, 2 and 3. One of the parts, namely part 1, is of generally box shaped form having a bottom opening, another part 2 is of inverted U-shape and is disposed within the box shaped part 1, and'the third part 3 is of inverted T-shape, its stem 4 cooperating with the limbs 5 of the inverted U-shaped part 2 to define two

cells

6 and 7, and its web 8 being disposed in the bottom opening of the box shaped part 1. The ends of the web 8 co-operate with the

margins

11 and 12 of the bottom opening of the box shaped part 1 so that depending on the relative position of the said parts, either a slit 13 is left free in cell 7 and closed in cell 6 when the device is in the position of FIG. 1, or a slit 14 is left in cell 6 and closed in cell 7 when the device is in the position of FIG. 2.

The relatively

movable parts

1, 2 and 3 have

mounting blocks

15, 16, 17 integral therewith, the part 1 having two mounting blocks 15, the part 2 having two mounting blocks 16, and the part 3 having one mounting block 17.

The

parts

1, 2 and 3 are secured by the

mounting blocks

15, 16 and 17 to three

slide rods

21, 22 and 23 which are slidably guided in a frame 18. The

mounting blocks

15, 16, 17 have guide projections 24 which run in slideways 25 of the frame 18. The

slide rods

21, 22 and 23 each have a lateral stud 26 which is in engagement with a forked end 27 of a pivotally mounted operating lever 28. Each lever 28 is rigid with a pair of cam follower levers 31 carrying rollers 32 which engage earns 33, the cams 33 being so phased that each operating lever 28 is positively located for either direction of movement.

The earns 33 are arranged individually to reciprocate the relatively

movable parts

1, 2 and 3 of the guiding device in such a manner that the guiding device as a whole reciprocates between two end portions, of which one is illustrated in FIG. 1 and the other in FIGS. 2 and 3.

I When in the end position of FIG. 1, the cell 6 of the guiding device is at position A1 and is relatively wide and the slit at the bottom of the cell 6 is closed, whereas the other cell 7 is in position B and is narrower and its slit 13 is open. When in the other end position of FIGS. 2 and 3, the cell 7, which now is in position A2, is relatively wide and the slit at the bottom of the cell 7 is closed, whereas the cell 6 is at position B and is narrower and its slit 14 is open. For either end position, the narrow cell is at position B and is in register with a discharge path (not shown) into which cigarettes are to be discharged from the cell, whereas the wide cell in each case is in position A1 or A2 respectively and is in register with a supply path from which cigarette blocks are fed to the respective cell. A single discharge path serves the cell 7 when in the position B of FIG. 1 and also serves the cell 6 when in the position B of FIGS. 2 and 3. Contrary thereto, two supply paths are provided, one serving the cell 6 when in the position A1 of FIG. 1 and the other serving the cell 7 when in the position A2 of FIGS. 2 and 3. The supply paths are defined by narrowing guides 34 one of which is illustrated in FIG. 3. Cigarette blocks (not shown) are pushed through the narrowing guides 34 and thus subjected to a precompression into a wide cell. A final compression takes place as a result of the narrowing of the cell on movement from the position of registration with a supply path into a position of registration with the discharge path.

It will be appreciated that in either end position of the guide device a wide cell is disposed in front of a supply path whereas a narrow cell is disposed in front of the discharge path. Thus, when two suitably spaced supply paths are used, the guiding device brings the cigarette blocks therefrom into the common discharge path, having compressed the cigarette block during the lateral transit. At the same time the

slit

13 or 14 at the bottom of the relevant cell is opened so as to allow removal of the cigarette block by means of a pushing member (not shown) having a support web which extends through the open slit. The relatively

movable parts

1, 2, 3 are so dimensioned and the earns 33 are so arranged that the slit at the bottom of the cell when in the discharge position is opened only shortly before the discharge position is reached. Thereby it is ensured that the cigarettes are not damaged by possibly encountering an open slit during pressing of the cigarettes together.

Modifications of the embodiment described are possible. For example, the device may comprise more than two cells. FIG. 4 illustrates such a device having four

cells

106, 107, 156 and 157.

Cigarette blocks

158 and 159 are ready for discharge from

cells

107 and 157 respectively. The

guide rods

121, 122 and 123 carry respectively two parts 101, two parts 102 and two parts 103. In other respects is the device of FIG. 4 similar to that of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, similar parts being indicated in FIG. 4 with reference numerals analogous to those of FIGS. 1,

3 2 and 3 but preceded by the digit 1. It is believed that FIG. 4 does not require any further detailed description.

The device of FIG. 4 is suitable for use in certain twin packing machines for cigarettes in which two series of cigarette blocks are packed simultaneously.

I claim:

1. For a cigarette handling machine, a device for guiding blocks of cigarettes from a first station to a second station and compacting the cigarettes, the device comprising:

a first, outer, member including first and second portions of a first wall, said first and second portions forming a gap between them,

a second wall opposite said first wall,

a second, inner, member including a third wall, and a fourth wall, said third and fourth walls extending between said first and second walls,

a third member including a third portion of said first wall and a partition wall extending between said first and second walls, said third portion being carried by said partition wall and located within said gap to form two cells separated from each other by said partition wall, said third portion being narrower than said gap to form a slit between said third portion and said first portion when said third portion is contiguous wit-h said second portion and to form another slit between said third portion and said second portion when said third portion is contiguous with said first portion, and

means for moving said third member through a greater distance than said first member and moving said second member through a greater distance than said third member to vary the width of each of said two cells between a wide and a narrow condition and to provide a slit only in a cell when in its narrow condition.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said moving means comprise first, second and third slida-ble guide rods, and first, second and third mounting block-s carried respectively by said first, second and third members and mounted respectively on said first, second and third guide rods for moving therewith.

3. A device as defined in claim 2, and comprising levers and cam means, said guide rods being engaged by said levers which are movable by said cam means.

4. A device as defined in claim 3, and comprising a plurality of pairs of cam follower levers, and a plurality of rollers mounted at the ends of said follower levers, said movable levers each carrying a pair of said roller-ended cam follower levers which engage a pair of said cams which are of opposite throw, whereby said first, second and third are positively located in both directions of movement.

5. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said .first station for one cell is different from said first station for the other cell, a common second station being allocated to said two cells, each cell being reciprocatable between its first station and said common second station.

6. A device as defined in claim 5, wherein the device is reciprocatable by controlled reciprocations of said first, second and third members, the paths of reciprocation for the said movable members being such that each cell is brought from its wide condition into its narrow condition on movement from its first station to said second station.

7. A device as defined in claim ll, wherein said first, second and third members respectively comprise a generally box-shaped part having a bottom opening, a generally inverted U-shaped part having limbs and being laterally movable within said box shaped part, said limbs defining the outer margins of said cells, and an inverted T-shaped part having a stem and a web carried by said stern, said stem defining the inner margins of said cells and said web being disposed in said bottom opening of said box shaped part, the ends of said web cooperating with edges of said bottom opening to alternately form a slit at said cooperating ends.

8. A guiding device for a cigarette handling machine, comprising a first generally box-shaped member having an opening in one side thereof, a second generally U-shaped member having a base and two limbs and being movably arranged within said first member, said limbs being directed towards said one side of said first member, a third generally T-shaped member having a stem and a web carried by said stem, said web being arranged substantially within said opening in said one side of said first member and being smaller than said opening in the direction from one of said limbs to the other one of said limbs to allow relative movement in said direction between said third member and said first member, said stern being housed within said first and second members and directed towards said base, said first, second and third members defining a first cell between one of said limbs and said stem and a second cell between the other one of said limbs and said stem, and means for reciprocating said first, second and third members in said direction, reciprocations of said third member being of a greater stroke than those of said first member and reciprocations of said second member being of a greater stroke than those of said third member to vary the width of each of said two cells in the said direction between a wide and a narrow condition and to provide a slit only in a cell when in its narrow condition.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,163,320 12/1915 Chartrand 53-124 1,539,745 5/1925 Kerlin 53124 1,608,163 11/1926 Bronander 53124 2,209,110 7/1940 Chambers 53124 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. FOR A CIGARETTE HANDLING MACHINE, A DEVICE FOR GUIDING BLOCKS OF CIGARETTES FROM A FIRST STATION TO A SECOND STATION AND COMPACTING THE CIGARETTES, THE DEVICE COMPRISING: A FIRST, OUTER, MEMBER INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS OF A FIRST WALL, SAID FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS FORMING A GAP BETWEEN THEM, A SECOND WALL OPPOSITE SAID FIRST WALL, A SECOND, INNER, MEMBER INCLUDING A THIRD WALL, AND A FOURTH WALL, SAID THIRD AND FOURTH WALLS EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND WALLS, A THIRD MEMBER INCLUDING A THIRD PORTION OF SAID FIRST WALL AND A PARTITION WALL EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND WALLS, SAID THIRD PORTION BEING CARRIED BY SAID PARTITION WALL AND LOCATED WITHIN SAID GAP TO FORM TWO CELLS SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BY SAID PARTITION WALL, SAID THIRD PORTION BEING NARROWER THAN SAID TAP TO FORM A SLIT BETWEEN SAID THIRD PORTION AND SAID FIRST PORTION WHEN SAID THIRD PORTION IS CONTIGUOUS WITH SAID SECOND PORTION AND TO FORM ANOTHER SLIT BETWEEN SAID THIRD PORTION AND SAID SECOND PORTION WHEN SAID THIRD PORTION IS CONTIGUOUS WITH SAID FIRST PORTION, AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID THIRD MEMBER THROUGH A GREATER DISTANCE THAN SAID FIRST MEMBER AND MOVING SAID SECOND MEMBER THROUGH A GREATER DISTANCE THAN SAID THIRD MEMBER TO VARY THE WIDTH OF EACH OF SAID TWO CELLS BETWEEN A WIDE AND A NARROW CONDITION AND TO PROVIDE A SLIT ONLY IN A CELL WHEN IN ITS NARROW CONDITION.