US3297138A

US3297138A - Apparatus for feeding cigarettes from cigarette-making machines to packing machines

Info

Publication number: US3297138A
Application number: US547702A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alan K Mccombie
Original assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Priority date: 1962-11-01
Filing date: 1966-04-11
Publication date: 1967-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-10
Also published as: GB995663A; BE639376A; DE1781375A1; US3261450A; DE1292069B; CH406042A; DE6605289U; US3605988A

Description

Jan. 10, 1967 A. K. MCCOMBIE 3,297,138

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES FROM CIGARETTE-MAKING MACHINES TO PACKING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 29, 1963 3 Sheets-$heet 1 five/mail fl/Mmmw 4 4%, way

W-MWWS Jan. 10, 1967 A. K. M COMBIE APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES FROM CIGARETTE-MAKING MACHINES TO PACKING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 29, 1963 5 Shee ts-Sheet 2 Jan. 10, 1967 A. K. M COMBIE 3,297,133

APPARATUS FUR FEEDING CIGARETTES FROM CIGARETTE-"MAKING MACHINES TO PACKING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 29, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 5 W2 my IUWEIUHK fi K/WML mmag [$4,440 4/12 United States Patent Ofilice 3,297,138 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 3 297 138 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTES FROM CIGARETTE-MAKING MACHINES T PACKING MACHINES Alan K. McCombie, Deptford, London, England, assignor to The Molins Organisation Limited, London, England, a British company Continuation of application Ser. No. 319,846, Oct. 29,

1963. This application Apr. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 547,702

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Nov. 1, 1962,

41,395/ 62 16 Claims. (Cl. 198-84) This invention concerns apparatus for feeding cigarettes from cigarette making machines to packing machines, and is a continuation of my application Serial No. 319,846, filed October 29, 1963, now'abandoned.

In most cigarette factories the practice is to collect cigarettes in trays from which they are fed to the packing machine but this practice requires large numbers of trays and is also expensive in the way of labour and trucking and takes up a great deal of floor space. It is only really justifiable in cases where the manufacturer wishes to subject cigarettes to lengthy conditioning operations and numerous proposals have been made for feeding cigarettes more or less directly from the cigarette making machines to packing machines. Such proposals are satisfactory where conditioning is not required.

It has been proposed to provide a reservoir in which cigarettes are accumulated and from which they are dispensed, according to variations in the supply and demand, and an object of the present invention is to provide a better construction of reservoir in which the cigarettes move from an inlet to an outlet in the form of a mass, without substantial relative displacement of the cigarettes, so that they are transported without undue rolling, or avoidable shock and injury.

To this end the invention provides apparatus for feeding cigarettes from a cigarette making machine to a packing machine, comprising a reservoir having upper and lower compartments, an inlet at one end of the upper compartment and an outlet at the corresponding end of the lower compartment, and an extensible endless band conveyor having an upper run forming the base of the upper compartment, and a lower run forming the top of the lower compartment and a roller about which the band turns at the end of the upper run, a concave movable back plate forming the end of the reservoir remote from the inlet and outlet and spaced from said roller to provide a curved passage between the compartments, and means for moving the back plate and the roller to and fro along the reservoir to increase or decrease the capacity of the reservoir, as p the supply and demand for cigarettes fluctuates.

Apparatus according to the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional side elevation, shown broken,

FIGURE 2 is a plan of part of FIGURE 1, drawn to a larger scale,

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 33, FIGURE 2, but the view is rotated through 90,

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, showing an improved construction, and

FIGURES 5 and 6 are block diagrams of driving motor and detector arrangements.

Referring to FIGURES 1 to 3 of the drawings, catcher bands 1 and 2 are shown as delivering the produce of their respective cigarette making machines to an endless conveyor 4. The conveyor 4 runs in the direction of the arrow A, FIGURE 1, beneath the catcher bands. In this way cigarettes are fed through an inlet 12 into a reservoir, bearing the general reference R.

A flexible guide 13 is pivoted at 40 and has cross pieces 41 which act as light weights and turn any cigarettes which may have become askew during the movement on conveyor 4, so that their axes are normal to the direction of movement of the cigarettes. This guide also functions as a detector, as will be explained presently.

The reservoir R is divided into upper and lower compartments 42 and 43, FIGURE 1, by an endless band conveyor 44, which normally moves at a uniform rate, and with the cigarettes as they pass by gravity from the upper compartment to the lower, the base of the reservoir being formed by a conveyor 6. The band 44 is supported within the reservoir by a roller 45 having a spindle which is fixed to a slide 46, for movement therewith. Thus the band conveyor 44 is extensible the reservoir has an outlet at 7, and a back plate 47 to provide an end to the reservoir. This plate is fixed to the slide 46, which may be formed as a trolley with wheels 48, see also FIGURE '2. A flexible cord 49 is attached to the slide and passes over a pulley 50 and has a weight 51, or other suitable take-up means, attached to its other end. For instance, the cord may be pulled by a stalling electric motor, which runs to wind up cord, or permits it to unwind, when the slide is free to move in accordance with detector signals, as explained later. The endless band conveyor 44 also wraps around pulleys 52 and 53, which are driving pulleys, and a take-up pulley system 54 is also provided.

The reservoir therefore comprises an upper conveyor, the belt 44, with its top run moving to the left in FIGURE 1, as indicated by the arrow, and a lower conveyor, the conveyor 6, moving to the right in FIGURE 1, with cigarettes flowing continuously from one to the other between plate 47 and roller 45. The belt 44 is paid out by pulley 52 at a rate proportional to the cigarette supply while the lower conveyor 6, and the cooperating lower part of belt 44 which forms the top of the lower compartment 43, are always driven at a speed proportional to the cigarette demand.

The outlet 7 has a conveyor 16 and between the conveyors 6 and 16 there is a small upward sloping conveyor 55 which runs at a higher speed than conveyor 6 and urges cigarettes onto the conveyor 16.

Conveyor 16 leads to a chute 56 at whose base is a further conveyor 57 which carries cigarettes from the chute to the hopper 8 of a packing machine, a flexible guide 58 of the same kind as guide 13 being provided to deal with any skewed cigarettes. Other chutes 59 and 60 may lead to other hoppers (not shown). A further flexible guide 61 is provided over the chutes to straighten any skewed cigarettes and to function also as a detector to determine whether there is an excess or deficiency in the output from the reservoir outlet.

The operation of the apparatus so far described is as follows:

Cigarettes from the conveyor 4 enter the inlet 12 and are passed down and into the upper compartment by the conveyor 4, being guided and controlled by the guide 13 and a plate 70 constituting the front wall of the compartment 42.

In normal running the output from the several cigarette machines is entirely consumed by the packing machine,

or machines, and the parts may then be in the position shown in FIGURE 1.

If, during running, a packing machine stops for any reason it is necessary to accumulate cigarettes in the reservoir and, as the quantity therein increases, it is necessary to move the back plate 47 farther from the outlet. The pulley 53 is, therefore, stopped (if only one packing machine is being used) so that more of the length of the band is paid out by the pulley 52, and the slide 46 can then be drawn to the left in FIGURE 1 by the weight 51. The lower conveyor 6 is driven by the means which sew e drives the pulley 53, and at the same rate as the pulley 53 drives its part of band 44, and stops with the said p'ath of the band. The driving devices for the pulley 53 can be controlled for this purpose by the operation of the guide 61, functioning as a detector and raised by the local accumulation of cigarettes when the packing machine ceases to take them, or' the control could be by any suitable device such as a switch on the packing machine, which is inactive while the machine is running, and op= erates when the machine stops. Where there is only one packing machine in the apparatus, there can be -a direct link between it and the pulley 53 so that 53 stops when the packing machine stops. The necessary material for increasing the length of the band within the reservoir is withdrawn from the take-up pulley system 54, the lower rollers of the system being free to move up and down and keep the band tight by their weight.

If a cigarette machine stops, the operations are reversed. Pulley 52 is driven slower (or stops if there is only one cigarette machine in the apparatus) and the length of the band 44 within the reservoir is reduced and the back plate 47 moved to the right. In this case the flexible member 13 functions as the detector, falling as the cigarette supply reduces. The flexible member 61 still functions as a detector, as it is still necessary to determine whether there is an excess or shortage of cigarettes for the packing machine. Detectors of the kind outlined are well known and the precise arrangements do not concern the invention but suitable arrangements are described later with reference to FIGURES and 6. From the foregoing it will be seen that if conditions arise during the operation such that there is a difference between supply and demand the discrepancy is automatically taken up by movement of the roller 45 and plate 47 which results in a contraction or expansion in the capacity of the reservoir.

It will be observed that the extensible band conveyor 44 has to support the weight of a large mass of cigarettes so side supports 62, best seen in FIGURES 3, are pro vided. They are fixed to spring plates 63 which are fiat when the supports are in the band-supporting position. As the slide 46 moves to and fro, its ends, which are shaped as shown in FIGURE 2, push the supports aside, as seen in FIGURE 3, where some of the spring plates are shown bent, to permit the slide to pass. The supports can spring in, to band-supporting position, when that end of the slide which is within the reservoir permits them to do As the capacity of the reservoir can be very large indeed if it is positioned under several catcher bands, as shown in FIGURE 1, there is enough capacity to meet all contingencies other than a very prolonged stoppage of one of the machines. Within reason, any number of cigarette machines and packing machines may be arranged in this manner, the actual numbers depending on the respecting outputs of the types of machine employed. The control of the roller 53 will be determined mainly by switching, as described later with reference to FIGURE 6, with additional fine control of speed by the detector 61, if more than one packing machine is used, as stopping the roller as described for the case of a single packer is not then suitable.

The apparatus shown permits of some conditioning of the cigarettes, if such is required, as hot air or other heating means can be provided to dry the cigarettes as they move along in the conveyor 4, or for that matter, similar arrangements can be provided at any positions between the catcher bands and the hopper of the packing machine.

The apparatus also exposes the cigarettes very well for inspection.

An improved construction of the apparatus is shown in FIGURE 4. Those parts which are identical in structure and function with like parts in FIGURE 1 will not be described, but the drawing carries the appropriate reference numerals.

This improved construction eliminates the take-up pub ley system and the weight, or stalling motor, previously used for moving the slide 46. These improvements are effected by extending the former conveyor band 44 so that it (now labelled 71) is coupled to both ends of the slide. To do this the conveyor extends upward at the outlet end of the reservoir, passing around pressure rollers 72, pressing the band agains tthe driving pulleys 52 and 53, and then over guide pulleys 73 and, after extending horizontally to a position beyond that catcher band which is remote from the reservoir outlet (the catcher band 2 in the example shown) the conveyor passes around further pulleys 74 and extends downward to the level of its up= per and lower runs in the reservoir and passing around other pulleys 75, it wraps around a pulley 76 attached to the slide 46. With this arrangement the slide moves to and fro as the detectors 13 and 61 affect the rate of rota= tion of the pulleys 52 and 53. One guide pulley 75 is pulled by a spring 90 to act as a band tension device.

Other features of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 4 are: improvements in the construction of the inlet 12, and an improved back plate arrangement, and a rigid top to the reservoir, all these items being designed to obtain a better flow of cigarettes through the reservoirs, and a flat top to the cigarette mass in the upper compartment, of especial value for filter-tip-cigarettes.

The endless conveyor 4 of FIGURE 1 is modified and shown as 77 and, instead of the forward sloping end of the conveyor 4 of FIGURE 1, there is provided a short conveyor 78 passing round a roller 79, the lower run of conveyor 78 sloping upward as shown. The conveyor 78 is driven from conveyor 71. A bridge plate 77A spans the gap between the conveyors 77 and 78. Instead of the plate 70 of FIGURE 1, there is provided a Wall consisting of a concave-curbed band 80 arranged around pulleys 81 and 82, the foot of the wall being faired-olf by a small wedge 83. This band 80 is also driven from conveyor 71. By this arrangement the cigarettes are caused to completely fill the space between part of the band 71, which forms the base of the upper compartment, and a rigid plate 84 which forms the top of this compartment, as the mass passing around the curve of band 80 is urged upwards by the upward sloping part of the conveyor 78.

In FIGURE 4 the detector shown at the inlet 12 is slightly different from the detector 13 of FIGURE 1 so the part is marked 85.

The inner end of the conveyor 71 differs slightly from the previous construction and comprises a roller 86 and a bridge plate 87 to provide an arrangement somewhat like the parts 78 and 79 and operating in much the same manner. The roller 86 is driven from the roller 45. The back plate 47 is also modified by the provision of a concave-curved band 88 on its side adjacent the reservoir, this band passing around pressure rollers 89, and a driving pulley 91 on the same spindle as the pulley 76 and driven by said pulley. The band is guided at its edges by side plates (not shown) and it assumes the fully concave shape under the pressure of the cigarette mass as soon as the reservoir is filled. Small wedges 92 lead the cigarettes into and out of the concave shape. It will be noticed that the entry to compartment 42 is of a kind of swanneck formation and the entry to compartment 43, from 42, is of generally similar shape. The flow of cigarettes into the respective compartments is such that the compartments become completely filled and the cigarette mass moves through each compartment without substantial relative displacement of the cigarettes, sothat they are transported without avoidable shock and injury.

Referring now to FIGURE 5, the pulley 52 is driven by a DC motor 100. The supply is A.C., as indicated by the sign 101, and it is rectified in a box 102, which contains an amplifier and a rectifier. The detector 13 FIGURE 1, or FIGURE 4, as the case may be, has a microsyn 103 at its pivot and this provides signals proportional to the angular position of the detector arm. A

signal is a speed demand signal and it is amplified in the box 102 and operates speed control devices, contained in the box, for the mot-or 100.

In FIGURE 6, the motor which drives pulley 53, its supply, and the amplifier and rectifier, are of the same kind as in FIGURE 5 but there are further control devices. In this case, which assumes that three packing machines are used, the packing machines each embody a switch which is operative when the corresponding machine is running so that the motor has three different basic speeds for one, two, or three packing machines. The connections from the packing machines are indicated by three arrows leading into a box 106. The detector 61 with its microsyn 103 modifies these speeds for any fluctuation in the demand for cigarettes, and the motor has a tachogenerator 104 giving a feedback to an error amplifier 105. At 107 is a summing network which combines signal feed from 103 and the error signal fed back by the generator 104 and feeds the result into the amplifier in 102 where it is amplified to work the motor speed control devices.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for feeding cigarettes from a cigarette making machine to a packing machine, comprising a reservoir having upper and lower compartments, an inlet at one end of the upper compartment and an outlet at the corresponding end of the lower compartment, an extensible endless band conveyor having an upper run forming the base of the upper compartment, and a lower run forming the top of the lower compartment and a roller about which the band turns at the end of the upper run, a movable back plate forming the end of the reservoir remote from the inlet and outlet and spaced from said roller to provide a passage between the compartments, and means for moving the back plate and the roller to and fro along the reservoir to increase or decrease the capacity of the reservoir as the supply and demand for cigarettes fluctuates.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a catcher band, and a conveyor between the catcher band and the reservoir arranged to receive cigarettes from the catcher band and carry them through the inlet into the reservoir.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a lower band conveyor to constitute the base of the lower compartment and means for moving the lower conveyor towards the outlet at the same rate as the lower run of the extensible endless band conveyor moves.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a detector at the inlet to the reservoir and a second detector between the outlet and the packing machine, the first detector operating to cause the back plate to move towards the outlet to reduce the capacity of the reservoir, if the supply of cigarettes diminishes, and the second detector operating to cause the back plate to move away from the outlet to increase the capacity of the reservoir, if the demand for cigarettes diminishes.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the detectors control the movements of the back plate by controlling means for shifting the position of the roller of the extensible endless band conveyor, which is attached to the backplate, and is caused to move by increasing or reducing the length of the endless band conveyor within the reservoir.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the extensible endless band conveyor is partly wrapped around two spaced driving pulleys, one pulley serving to pay out band and the other to take in band, and which normally rotate at equal speeds when the demand for cigarettes matches the supply but whose speeds are modified to pay out more band into the reservoir, or to reduce the amount of band in the reservoir according to the increase or decrease of capacity required in the reservoir.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 comprising a takeup-pulley system to pay out, or pull in conveyor band,

as required by the movements of the roller about which the extensible endless band conveyor wraps within the reservoir.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 comprising side supports for that portion of the extensible endless band conveyor which is within the reservoir at any time and which supports the cigarettes in the upper compartment, said supports being attached to springs and movable into and out of band supporting position by a slide whose ends are shaped to engage the supports and push them aside against the action of the springs to the non-supporting position as the slide moves to and fro, that end of the slide which is within the reservoir being shaped to permit the supports to spring in beneath the band to support it.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 comprising a separate electric motor for driving each of the spaced driving pulleys and a speed control device for the motor of the pulley which pays out band and operating in response to signals from the detector at the reservoir inlet, and a speed control device for the motor of the pulley which takes in band and operating in response to signals from the detector between the outlet and the packing machine to regulate the pulley speed according to transient fluctuations in the supply and demand for cigarettes and a further control device to stop the motor if the packing machine stops.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, and for use when at least two packing machines are being supplied with cigarettes, comprising a separate electric motor for driving each of the spaced driving pulleys, and a speed control device for the motor of the pulley which pays out band and operating in response to signals from the detector at the reservoir inlet, and a speed control device for the motor of the pulley which takes in band, comprising a switch on each packing machine, operative when the machine is running to control a speed control box to provide ditferent basic speeds for the motor according to the number of packing machines running, and a further speed control device, operating in response to signals from the detector between the outlet and the packing machine, to regulate the pulley speed according to transient fluctuations in the supply and demand for cigarettes.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the extensible endless band conveyor is partly wrapped around the spaced pulleys and is thereafter coupled to both ends of the slide by being carried upwards and along in the reverse direction to the part within the reservoir and then downwards to the level of said part and then extended to the back plate where it passes around a roller attached to the back plate, the whole endless conveyor being thus arranged as a substantially rectangular loop.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 comprising an endless band around the back plate and conforming with the shape thereof and movable with the cigarette mas-s as it passes from the upper compartment to the lower, and means for driving the band in the direction in which the cigarette mass is moving.

13. Article-feeding apparatus having a reservoir including an inlet and an outlet, means defining a first path along which articles are fed in one direction from the inlet, and a return path along which articles are fed in the reverse direction towards the outlet, said means including a back wall and an element extending into the reservoir to separate one path from the other and spaced from said back wall to allow articles to pass from one path to the other, and means to lengthen or shorten said paths by varying the position of said back wall and correspondingly varying the length of said element extending into the reservoir, said last-named means being automatically controlled in response to variations in the rate at which articles enter the reservoir relatively to the rate at which articles are removed from the reservoir.

14. Article-feeding apparatus having a variable-capacity reservoir which comprises a first compartment having an inlet and through which articles move in one direction,

and a second compartment communicating with the first compartment and having an outlet and through which articles move in the reverse direction, the apparatus further including an endless conveyor having a loop which extends into the reservoir to separate the first compartment from the second compartment, said 100p having a first run forming an article-engaging wall of said first compartment and movable in said one direction, and a second run forming an article-engaging wall of said second compartment and movable in said reverse direction, movable support means about which said loop passes while reversing its direction, a back wall spaced from said support means and movable therewith back and forth to expand and contract the reservoir, means to drive said first run at a speed appropriate to the rate of entry of articles into said first compartment, and means to drive said second run at a speed appropriate to the rate at which articles are taken from said second compratment, whereby said loop is lengthened or shortened as a result of differences between the speeds of said first run and said second run, said support means and back wall being movable backwardly to expand the reservoir during lengthening of said loop, and forwardly to contract the reservoir during shortening of said loop.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the said endless convey-or has a further loop located behind and extending towards said back wall, and comprising an element behind and connected to said back wall about which said loop passes, whereby one loop is shortened as the other is lengthened and the back wall and support means are thereby moved backwardly or forwardly.

16. Article-feeding apparatus having a reservoir through which articles are fed, and including an endless conveyor having a loop extending into the reservoir and dividing the latter into two compartments, guide means, movable to and fro within the reservoir, about which said loop passes, drive means independently driving two different parts of the conveyor and regulable to drive said different parts at different speeds thereby lengthening or shortening the loop, a movable wall constituting a back wall of the reservoir and spaced from said guide means to as to provide a passage for articles from one compartment to the other, said back wall being connected to said guide means for movement therewith, means to cause movement of the back wall with said guide means as the loop lengthens or shortens, thereby increasing or reducing the capacity of the reservoir, and regulating means controlled by the rate of flow of articles into and out of the reservoir to regulate the speed at which the said different parts of the conveyor are driven by said drive means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,745,410 5/1956 Molins 19837 X 2,997,828 8/1961 Ahlbor 53236 X 3,019,581 2/1962 Philips et al. 53-236 3,053,378 9/1962 Longenecker 198-139 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

R. J. HICKEY, Assistant Examiner.