EP1296874A1 - Product insertion in cylindrical containers - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for rolling a flexible planar item (27) to form a cylinder and inserting the cylinder into a tubular object (26) includes a conveyor (12) and a plurality of rolling and insertion stations (16), which are moved along an endless path by the conveyor. The rolling and insertion stations are arranged to roll and insert the items whilst carried by the conveyor. The apparatus permits rapid automatic rolling and insertion of prizes into tubular objects such as drinking straws to provide a prize delivery system for a promotional campaign.

Description

Product Insertion in Cylindrical Containers

The invention relates to the insertion of products into cylindrical containers and particularly, but not exclusively, to the insertion of coupons or the like into cylindrical containers corresponding in form to a drinking straw

It is known for retailers in the field of fast food to run promotional campaigns in which a coupon, voucher or paper money is inserted into a cylindrical container corresponding in form to a drinking straw The container may be intended to be used as a drinking straw or solely as the bearer of a prize and, although in most cases the container is not intended to serve as a drinking straw, in this specification they will for convenience be referred to as such Such drinking straws are subsequently enclosed by a paper or plastic wrapper, and a customer at a fast food outlet is able to receive a message or prize by removing the coupon etc from the drinking straw To date, coupons or the like have been inserted into drinking straws manually This can be both time consuming and expensive for major promotional campaigns run by retailers, particularly those which operate internationally

In this specification the terms voucher and coupon will be used interchangeably and it is to be understood that either term should be considered to include any form of voucher, coupon, paper currency, paper prize or promotional material which might be inserted into a hollow cylindrical container as part of a prize delivery system or promotional campaign

The invention provides apparatus for rolling flexible planar items to form a cylinder and inserting said cylinder into a tubular object, said apparatus comprising a plurality of rolling and insertion stations and a conveyor arranged to carry said rolling and insertion stations along an endless path, said rolling and insertion stations being arranged to roll and insert said items whilst carried by said conveyor

Preferably, the apparatus is arranged to move said rolling and insertion stations substantially continuously along said endless path Preferably, each rolling and insertion station comprises an object carrier for carrying said tubular object, an item carrier for carrying a said item, a device for rolling a said item carried by said item carrier and an insertion device for inserting a said cylinder rolled by said rolling device into a said object carried by said object carrier Preferably, at least one of said object carrier, item carrier, rolling device and insertion device is arranged for relative axial movement in a lengthways direction of said rolling and insertion station

Advantageously, said relative axial movement is generated by movement of said rolling and insertion station by said conveyor and controlled by cam tracking fixed relative to said conveyor

Preferably, said item carrier and said insertion device are mounted for said relative axial movement on a slideway

The conveyor may comprise a first conveying unit and a second conveying unit arranged in spaced apart relationship and adapted to move synchronously, said object carrier being secured to said first unit, said rolling device being secured to said second unit opposite side object carrier and said slideway is secured to at least one of said units between said object carrier and said rolling device

Preferably, the conveying units comprise cylindrical conveyors mounted for rotation about a common axis Advantageously, the conveyors are mounted on a common fixed shaft Advantageously, an at least part cylindrical element is fixed coaxially between said cylindrical conveyors which element defines said cam tracking on a cylindrical surface thereof

The invention also includes a method of rolling a flexible planar item into a cylinder and inserting said item into a tubular object, said method including the steps of rolling said item into said cylinder and causing axial relative movement between said cylinder and said object whereby the cylinder is inserted into the object, at least one of said rolling and insertion steps being performed whilst the item and object are moved by a conveyor which defines an endless conveying path Preferably, said insertion and rolling steps are performed whilst the item and object are moved along said endless path and said item and object are moved substantially continuously along said path bv said conveyor

Preferably, said object is moved axially towards said rolling position to an insertion position

Preferably, said cylinder is moved axially from said rolling position to said insertion position, whereby said cylinder is inserted into said object

Preferably, said axial movement is in a direction transverse to a lengthways direction of said endless path

The cylinder has a longitudinal axis and is preferably rotated about that axis during insertion into said object Preferably, the method includes moving a plurality of said items and respective objects on said conveyor and sequentially rolling said items into cylinders and inserting said cylinders into the respective objects

The invention also includes a method of inserting a voucher into a hollow cylindrical object, said voucher having opposite ends and opposed edges interconnecting said ends and said method comprising the steps of gripping said voucher at a position remote from said ends and applying a rotatative force to cause said voucher to adopt a generally cylindrical configuration sized for insertion into said cylindrical object

Preferably, said position is substantially midway between said ends The invention also includes apparatus for inserting a voucher into a hollow cylindrical object, said voucher having opposite ends and opposed edges interconnecting said ends and said apparatus comprising at least one voucher shaping device for shaping a generally planar voucher into a generally cylindrical configuration for insertion into said cylindrical object, said voucher shaping device including a gripper arranged to grip said voucher at a position remote from said ends and apply a rotatative force to said voucher at said position

Preferably, said gripper is arranged to grip said voucher at a position substantially midway between said ends

It will be appreciated that by gripping the voucher at a position remote from its ends, the amount of rotation required to shape it into a cylinder is reduced It will be appreciated that by gripping the voucher at a position midway between its ends, instead of at one end, the number of turns required to shape the voucher into a cylinder is halved

The invention also includes an automated process for inserting a voucher into a drinking straw, wherein said drinking straw is transported continuously along an arcuate path during insertion of said voucher into said straw

Preferably, said voucher and drinking straw are moved continuously along said path whilst said voucher is rolled into a cylinder and then inserted into said straw

In order that the invention may be well understood, an embodiment thereof, which is given by way of example only, will now be described with reference to drawings, in which Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of apparatus for inserting coupons into drinking straws.

Figure 2 is a broken away perspective view of an insertion station and parts of a rotary drum of the apparatus of Figure 1 , Figure 3 is a plan view of parts of the insertion station,

Figure 4 is a section elevation illustrating the suction feed arrangement for the insertion station,

Figure 5 is a section elevation illustrating drinking straws being stripped from a hopper of the apparatus of Figure 1 , and Figures 6 to 1 1 are schematic views illustrating different positions of parts of the insertion station during a coupon insertion cycle

The general arrangement of an apparatus 10 for inserting coupons into drinking straws is shown schematically in Figure 1 The apparatus 10 is arranged to operate continuously, and a working example has been proved capable of operating at speeds of 300 straws per minute, although, the apparatus is designed and expected to be capable of operating at speeds up to 1000 straws per minute

The apparatus 10 comprises a composite rotary drum 12 supported on a frame 14 The drum carries a plurality of insertion stations 16 In the embodiment, there are eighteen insertion stations, but it should be appreciated that the number of stations can be selected as desired

A reel stand 17, which may be of any suitable known configuration, carries a reel 18 of a continuous web 19 consisting of end-to-end coupons For convenience, the reel stand 1 7 is shown standing independent of the frame 14

However, it will be appreciated that in practice, the reel stand will most likely be mounted on the frame 14 adjacent the drum The web 19 is directed through a nip roller arrangement 20 which draws the web from the reel 18 and feeds it toward a rotary crush cut knife arrangement 22 At least one of the rollers of the nip roller arrangement is rubber coated This allows the rate at which the web is drawn from the roller to be varied by altering the distance between the centres (longitudinal axes) of the nip rollers The skilled person will have no difficulty in envisaging suitable support arrangements for the nip rollers which would permit the distance between the roller centres to be adjusted and, therefore, no description of such a support arrangement will be provided herein

Each of the insertion stations 16 is provided with a designated timing mark (not shown) A sensor 23 is mounted on the apparatus such that it will be triggered when the timing mark and the insertion station are at the top dead centre position of the drum 12 A second sensor 24 is positioned upstream of the knife arrangement 22 and is arranged to detect printed registration marks provided on the web 19 The signals from the sensors 23,24 are fed to a control device 25, typically a programmable logic controller, and the time lag between the two signals is measured to determine a nominal error in the position of the web Based on this determination, a control signal is fed from the controller 25 to an actuator 26 which causes the distance between the roller centres to be adjusted so that the web feed rate is varied to ensure that the individual cuts are made at suitable positions along the length of the web

As will be described in more detail below, the insertion stations 16 each include a coupon receiving station and the knife arrangement 22 is arranged to sever a coupon 27 from the continuous web 19 in synchronisation with the rotation of the drum 12. so that as each insertion station passes the region of the knife, it receives and carries away, one coupon

The knife arrangement 22 comprises a continuously rotating blade 28 carried by a drum 29 The blade 28 periodically cooperates with an anvil carried on a rotary drum 30 so as to cut through the web along a line perpendicular to the length of the web The drum 30 is perforated and connected with a source of suction so that the coupons cut from the web 19 are held on the drum In the arrangement shown in Figure 1 , the cut would be made at the 10 o'clock position as viewed in the drawing and the coupon deposited on the insertion station at approximately the 4 o'clock position It will be appreciated that the suction force holding the coupon on the drum 30 should be released at the 4 o'clock position. Suitable arrangements for selectively applying a suction force via the perforations will be known to those skilled in the art The principles of one suitable arrangement are described below with reference to Figure 4

The drum 12 rotates continuously and moves the insertion stations 16, each carrying a coupon 22, past a hopper 35, which is disposed downstream of the knife arrangement 22 The hopper 35 contains a supply of drinking straws 36 and as the insertion stations pass the hopper, each collects a single drinking straw

The insertion stations 16 comprise means for rolling the coupons into a generally cylindrical configuration and, as indicated in Figure 1 , the cylindrical coupons are advanced in the lengthwise direction of the insertion stations whereby they are inserted into the respective straws 36 carried by the insertion stations

A stripping arrangement (not shown) is provided for stripping the straws from the insertion stations once the coupons have been fully inserted into the straws A collection device, or bin 40, is provided for the 'filled' drinking straws

42, which will usually be enclosed in a paper, or plastics, wrapper by means of another machine (not shown)

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the drum 12 is mounted on a fixed shaft 46, which is carried by the frame 14 The drum comprises two drum portions 48,49 rotatably supported on the shaft by respective sets of bearings 51 (only the bearings for the drum portion 48 are shown) Situated between and coaxial with the drum portions is a cylinder 52, which is keyed to the shaft 46 and therefore remains fixed relative to the outer portions 48,49 The drum portions are of similar diameter and the cylinder 52 has a somewhat reduced diameter by comparison

The cylinder 52 defines two circumferentially extending cam tracks 53,54 The cam tracks are in the form of channels which extend continuously around the cylinder periphery An annular extension part is fixed to or integral with one end of the cylinder 52 and defines a further cam track 55 as described in more detail below A spur gear 56 is secured to the end of the drum portion 48 remote from the cylinder 52 The gear 56 is arranged to be driven by a suitably mounted spur gear (not shown) which transmits a rotary drive force from, for example, an electric motor, to the drum portion 48 One or more tie bars (not shown) extend between the drum portions 48,49 so that as the drum portion 48 is rotated by the spur gear 56, the drum portion 49 rotates with it

Each insertion station 16 has a guide rail 58, which extends parallel to the shaft 46 and has its ends connected with, or to, the drum outer portions 48,49 so as to be rotatable therewith

The insertion stations 16 also include a straw receiving station in the form of respective straw carrying blocks 60 The straw carrying blocks are screwed to the drum outer portion 48 in end-to-end relationship with one another As shown In Figures 2 and 3, the straw carrying blocks have a stepped top surface defined by an upper surface portion 61 , a lower surface portion 62 and an arcuate portion 63 which defines a shoulder that connects the upper and lower surface portions In use, a straw abuts the arcuate portion 63 with its centre-line disposed parallel to the insertion station axis 64 (Figure 3) Arcuate guide arms 65 are provided above the straw carrying blocks 60 over the operative portion of the drum^'s rotational path This is, the upstream ends of the arms are adjacent the outlet of the hopper 35 and the downstream ends are positioned over the collection device 40 The curve of the guide arms is such that the spacing between the arms 65 and the lower surface portion 62, at least in the region in which the straw is carried, is such that there is a light factional contact between the underside of the arms 74 and the straw This retains the straw in position with its centre-line parallel to the axis 64 as the straw is driven in the direction of rotation of the drum by virtue of the abutting contact with the arcuate surface portion 63

The insertion station 16 additionally includes a coupon receiving station comprising a coupon bearing member 66 carried on a sliding block 67 As shown in Figure 2, the sliding block is arranged to slide back and forth on the guide rail 57 An arm 68 carrying a roller bearing (not shown) protrudes from the underside of the sliding block into the cam track 53 The arrangement is such that the axis of rotation of the roller bearing is perpendicular to the lengthways direction of the cam track and opposed peripheral portions of the bearing contact the upstanding walls of the channel defining the cam track The arrangement is such that as the sliding block rotates about the shaft 46 with the drum portions 48,49, the relative motion between the block and the cylinder 52 causes the block to slide back and forth guided by the cam track 53 The coupon bearing member 66 is connected with a suction source in order that a suction may be applied to the coupon to retain it in place on the bearing member upper surface The upper surface of the bearing members is perforated by a plurality of apertures 79 (Figure 3 ) The apertures lead to a cavity defined within the bearing member The bearing member carries a tubular conduit 69

(Figure 2) which has one end fixed in a bore that communicates with the cavity and its other end received in a bore 70 (Figure 4) defined in the straw carrying block 60 The conduit 69 extends parallel to the axis 64 and passes through a seal

71 which is housed in the bore 70 The arrangement is such that the conduit is shdable along the bore 70 as the coupon bearing member slides back and forth on the sliding block 67

The bore 70 intersects with a perpendicular bore 72 in the straw carrying block, which bore is coaxial with a bore 73 in the outer drum portion 48 The bore 73 intersects a transverse bore 74 which is coaxial with a bore 75 defined by the spur gear 56 A further bore 76 in the spur gear extends obliquely from the bore 75 to the central aperture of the gear in which the shaft 46 is received

The shaft 46 has an axially extending blind bore 77 which communicates via a transverse bore 78 with a slot 79 defined in the surface of the shaft The blind bore 77 is also connected with the suction source In use, as the spur gear 56 rotates about the shaft 46, the oblique bore 76 is periodically brought into communication with the slot 79 so that suction is applied to the underside of the coupon carried by the bearing member 66 Suction is applied to the coupon for a period determined by the speed of rotation of the spur gear and the length of the slot It will be appreciated that each insertion station has bores 70,72 communicating with respective sets of bores 73,74,75,76 provided in the outer drum portion 48 and spur gear 56 so that the perforations 79 of each coupon bearing member can periodically be communicated with the suction source

The coupon bearing member 66 has an elongate recess 80 defined in its upper surface The recess has an arcuate cross-section At one end, the coupon bearing member has a block 82 which has a throughbore defined by two oppositely facing conical recesses 84,86 (Figure 6) The recesses are disposed in end-to-end relationship and their respective axes are aligned and extend parallel to the axis of the elongate recess 80 The arrangement of the recesses is such that there is an annular step 88 (Figure 7) defined where their ends meet At the opposite end of the recess 80, there is a protrusion 90 which defines a cylindrical throughbore 92 (Figure 2) which has its axis aligned with the axes of the conical recesses 84,86 Arcuate guide arms similar to the guide arms 65 are provided over at least the area of movement of the coupon bearing member 66 in which the coupon is rolled into a cylinder and inserted into the tube These guide arms have been omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity but are indicated by lines 93 in Figures 7 and 8 However it will be understood that each is curved and spaced from the coupon bearing member such that the distance between the underside of the arms and the opposed arcuate recess 80 approximates to the desired diameter of the cylinder into which the coupons are to be rolled

The insertion station 16 further includes a mounting block 100 which carries a cylindrical pusher rod 102 The block 100 is arranged to slide back and forth along the rail 58 An arm 103 carrying a roller bearing (not shown) extends from the mounting block into the cam track 54, whereby the back and forth movement of the mounting block is generated bv rotation of the drum portions

48,49 about the shaft 46 The pusher rod 102 is hollow and has its axis aligned with the axes of the conical recesses 82,84 and the throughbore 92

A clutch housing 104 is fixed to the drum portion 49 behind the mounting block 100 In Figures 2 and 3, the clutch housing 104 and the drum portion 49 on which it is mounted are shown as being narrow compared with the width of the drum portion 48 This is purely for the purpose of economy of space in the drawing end in practice it is envisaged that the parts 48 and 49 will be of similar width The clutch housing 104 houses a wrap spring clutch which on one side has a clutch member connected to a spur gear 106 and on the other side has a clutch member connected with a gripping member 108 (Figure 6), which is coaxial with and housed within the pusher rod 102 The spur gear 106 meshes with a ring gear 104 which is keyed to the shaft 46 so that as the gear 106 rotates with the drum portion 49 rotates, the gear 106 rotates about the ring gear and the meshing of the two gears causes rotation of the clutch member Thus, when the clutch members are engaged, the gripping member 108 is caused to rotate The clutch members are actuated by a cam follower 1 1 0 which acts against a return spring 1 1 1 , shown schematically in Figure 3 As shown in Figure 2, the cam follower 1 10 runs along the cam track 55 and is carried on an arm 1 12 which protrudes from the clutch housing The cam track includes a raised portion 1 13 which causes the cam follower 1 10 to lift against the return spring to cause the clutch members to engage The period of engagement of the clutch members is determined bv the speed of rotation of the drum portion 49 and the length of the raised portion 1 13 and is arranged such that in addition to being rotated to roll the coupon into a cylinder, a process described in more detail below, the gripping member 108 continues to be rotated while the coupon is being inserted into the straw

As shown in Figure 5, the gripping member has a bifurcated end which defines an axially extending slot 1 14 The slot 1 14 has a length corresponding substantially to the width of the coupon bearing member 66, I e as measured in the lengthwise direction of the elongate recess 80 The open end of the slot 1 14 is chamfered to provide a tapered lead-in 1 1 5 (Figure 7)

As indicated in Figure 1 , the hopper 35 is positioned over the rotational path of the straw carrying blocks 60 The hopper has an elongate outlet at its lower end The outlet has a length slightly greater than that of a drinking straw Two members, or fingers 130 (Figure 5), preferably made of a plastics material, protrude from the lower end of the hopper adjacent the downstream side of hopper outlet opening A micrometer 13 1 is provided to allow the position of the plastics fingers 130 to be precision adjusted and is used to set the fingers such that the spacing between the free ends of the fingers and the lower surface portion 62 of the straw carrying block 60 is slightly less than the diameter (height) of a straw so that as a straw carry block sweeps past the hopper outlet opening, it is only able to push a single straw past the fingers By this means, successive straw carrying blocks 60 strip a single straw from the hopper outlet as they move along their rotational path carried by the drum 12 Precise adjustment of the position of the fingers is highly desirable as if the gap is slightly too narrow the straws will be damaged by the fingers and if it is too great it may be possible for two straws to be forced through the gap The upper surface portion 61 of the straw carrying block 60 is provided with respective grooves 1 16 (Figure 5) to accommodate the fingers so that there is no interference between the straw carrying blocks and the fingers

On the upstream side of the hopper outlet, there are fingers 132 The upstream fingers 132 may be made of any suitable material or may be integral with the hopper The fingers 132 are somewhat longer than the plastics fingers 130 and arranged opposite to them to as to be likewise accommodated in the grooves 1 16 as the straw carrying blocks 60 sweep past the hopper outlet The purpose of the fingers 132 is to prevent the unwanted escape of the straws 36 from the hopper

The sequence of operation of the insertion station 16 in inserting a coupon into a drinking straw will now be described with reference to Figures 6 to 1 1

Figure 6 shows the start position for an insertion sequence corresponding to the position of the insertion station 16( 1 ) indicated in Figure 1 In this position, the coupon bearing member 66 is positioned immediately adjacent the straw carrying block 60. the position of the lefthand edge of the straw carrying block, as viewed in Figure 3 being indicated by the line 120 which is carried through Figures 6 to

1 1 A coupon 27 is severed from the web 19 by the knife 22 as the coupon bearing member 66 sweeps past the knife arrangement 22 and is held on the bearing member by suction applied via the perforations 79

As the drum rotates to the position indicated in Figure 7, the coupon bearing member 66 and the mounting block 100 both slide back along the guide rail 58 towards the ring gear 109 The backward movement of the mounting block 100 uncovers the gripping member 108 so that as the coupon bearing member and the block mounting progressively move back, the gripping member progressively protrudes further through the throughbore 92 and into the recess 86 and the coupon 27 is slid into the slot 1 14 The gripping member 108 is arranged such that the opposed flat surfaces which define the slot 1 14 are disposed generally parallel to the plane of the coupon 27 so that the coupon readily slides into the slot It will be appreciated that the tapered lead-in to the slot facilitates the entry of the coupon into the slot The gripping member grips the coupon substantially mid way between the ends of the coupon along a line extending parallel to those ends

Figure 8 shows the insertion station 16 at the point at which it has collected a straw 36 During the progress of the insertion station through these stages the wrap spring clutch is actuated to cause rotation of the gripping member

The coupon held by the gripping member has a rotatative force applied to it and is rolled between the gripping member, the arcuate surface of the recess 80 and the guide arms indicated by the lines 13 in Figures 7 and 8, which are disposed over the coupon bearing member This causes the coupon to adopt a cylindrical configuration sized for insertion into the drinking straw The straw as shown in Figure 8 has been pushed axially toward the coupon bearing member 76 by a cam (not shown) carried by the frame 14 which cam acts on the end of the straw disposed remote from the coupon bearing member It will be appreciated that a feature of the wrap spring clutch is that at the end of each rotation cycle, the slot 1 14 is stopped such that it is correctly oriented to receive the next coupon That is, it is stopped with the opposed flat surfaces which define the slot disposed generally parallel to the plane of the coupon on the coupon bearing member In Figure 9, the coupon bearing member 66 has been advanced back towards the straw under control of the profile of the cam track 53 to a position at which the proximal end 122 (Figure 8) of the straw is received in the conical recess 84 At this stage the position of the end 122, which is determined bv the camming action of the cam carried by the frame, is known permitting the depth of insertion to be controlled In Figure 10, the mounting block 100 has been advanced towards the straw carrying block 60 under control of the cam track 54 This movement causes the pusher rod 102 to slide over the gripper member and push the cylindrical coupon into the straw

It will be appreciated that the opposed conical recesses 84,86 serve to assist in the alignment of the cylindrical coupon and end of the straw into which it is to be inserted and that correct alignment is important where the inside diameter of the straw and the outside diameter of the coupon are similar

In Figure 1 1 , the coupon bearing member 66 and the mounting block 100 have been caused to move back towards the ring gear 109 leaving the straw, with the coupon 27 inserted therein, to be stripped from the straw carrying block 60 for collection in the collection device 40

It will be appreciated that the above-described process occurs continuously as the straw carrying blocks 60 are rotated by the drum 12 so that the respective straws carried by the straw carrying blocks are simultaneously at different stages of the insertion process The insertion process takes place during approximately

180 degrees of the drum's rotation It will be understood that it is not essential the coupons or vouchers are supplied on a continuous web Instead, for example, it would be possible to supply the coupons from a stack of coupons by any suitable known blank feeding arrangement This would be the case if the coupons were in the form of paper currency Blank feeding arrangement will be well known to those skilled in the art and will not therefore be described in any details herein

It will be appreciated that many forms of web feed control could be used in place of the previously described arrangement For example, the nip rollers could be driven by a stepper motor via a differential gearbox In this case, the control device 32 would use the data derived from the sensors 30,31 to ensure that a suitable number of pulses are supplied to the stepper motor for it to drive the web forward via the nip rollers such that the cuts made by the knife 28 are at desired positions along the web

It will be understood that whilst Figure 1 shows the straws 42 collected in a bin 40, the straws may alternatively be collected on a conveyor and fed to, for example, the reservoir of a wrapping machine

Claims

Claims

1 Apparatus for rolling flexible planar items to form a cylinder and inserting said cylinder into a tubular object, said apparatus comprising a plurality of rolling and insertion stations and a conveyor arranged to carry said rolling and insertion stations along an endless path, said rolling and insertion stations being arranged to roll and insert said items whilst carried by said conveyor

2 Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said conveyor is arranged to move said rolling and insertion stations substantially continuously along said endless path

3 Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein each rolling insertion station comprises an object carrier for carrying said tubular object, an item carrier for carrying a said item, a device for rolling a said item carried by said item carrier and an insertion device for inserting a said cylinder rolled by said rolling device into a said object carried by said object carrier

4 Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising a reservoir for a plurality of said objects and arranged such that said object carrier can collect a said object each time it is moved past said reservoir by said conveyor 5 Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein said object carrier defines an abutment surface and an outlet end of said reservoir is positioned adjacent said conveyor such that a said object can be swept from said outlet end by said abutment surface as said surface is moved past said outlet end

6 Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 or 5, further comprising at least one resilient member located adjacent and downstream of said outlet end and arranged such that said object carrier can move only a singular tubular object past the or each said member each time it is moved past the reservoir by the conveyor

7 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein each rolling and insertion station includes a guide for guiding said cylinder into a said tubular object carried by the object carrier, said guide including a first tapered passage for receiving a leading end of said cylinder to be inserted into said object and a second tapered passage for receiving a first end of said object into which the cylinder is to be inserted, said passages being coaxial, disposed in opposed relationship

8 Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a cam arrangement arranged to cause an axial force to be applied to a second end of said object carried by the object carrier, whereby said first end of said object is pushed into said second orifice against an abutment surface, which abutment surface is defined between adjacent ends of said tapered passages

9 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein said item carrier includes a carrying surface adapted to permit the application of suction to said item for retaining said item on said carrying surface

10 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 8, further comprising a cutting device for periodically cutting a continuous web to define a series of said items and arranged such that as said item carrier is moved past the cutting arrangement by said conveyor, a said item is deposited on the item carrier

1 1 Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or 10 when dependent on claim 7 or 8, wherein said guide is carried on said item carrier

12 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 1 1 , wherein said rolling device includes a rotatable gripper for gripping and rotating said item

13 Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said item carrier includes an arcuate forming surface extending parallel to an axis of rotation of said gripper 14 Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 or 13 further comprising a drive mechanism for said gripper, said drive mechanism being controlled such that said gripper is rotated during insertion of said cylinder into said object

15 Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said drive mechanism comprises a gear connected with said gripper and gearing fixed relative to said conveyor, wherebv movement of said conveyor relative to said gearing causes rotation of

16 Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or 15, wherein said drive mechanism includes a wrap spring clutch arranged to selectively connect the drive mechanism with said gripper

17 Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, 15 or 16, further comprising a cam arrangement for controlling said drive, said cam arrangement comprising a cam fixed relative to said conveyor and a cam follower connected with said rolling device

18 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 1 to 17, wherein said insertion device includes a pusher moveable relative to said gripper to push said cylinder from a position in which it is gripped by said gripper to a position in which it is received in said object

19 Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said gripper has a bifurcated free end defining an elongate slot in which said item is gripped and said pusher is shdable over said free end to push said cylinder from said free end into said object

20 Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 19, wherein at least one of said object carrier, item carrier, rolling device and insertion device is arranged for relative axial movement in a lengthways direction of said rolling and insertion station

21 Apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said relative axial movement is generated by movement of said rolling and insertion station by said conveyor and controlled by cam tracking fixed relative to said conveyor

22 Apparatus as claimed in claim 20 or 21 , wherein said item carrier and said insertion device are mounted on a slideway for said relative axial movement

23 Apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein said conveyor comprises a first conveying unit and a second conveying unit arranged in spaced apart relationship and adapted to move synchronously, said object carrier being secured to said first unit, said rolling device being secured to said second unit opposite said object carrier and said slideway is secured to at least one of said units between said object carrier and said rolling device

24 Apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein said conveying units comprise cylindrical conveyors mounted for rotation about a common axis

25 Apparatus as claimed in claim 24 when dependent on claim 21 , further comprising at least part cylindrical element fixed coaxially between said cylindrical conveyors which element defines said cam tracking on a cylindrical surface thereof

26 A method of rolling a flexible planar item into a cylinder and inserting said item into a tubular object, said method including the steps of rolling said item into said cylinder and causing axial relative movement between said cylinder and said object whereby the cylinder is inserted into the object, at least one of said rolling and insertion steps being performed whilst the item and object are moved by a conveyor which defines an endless conveying path 27 A method as claimed in claim 26 wherein said insertion and rolling steps are performed whilst the item and object are moved along said endless path and said item and object are moved substantially continuously along said path by said conveyor

28 A method as claimed in 26 or 27, wherein said item is moved axially away from said object to a rolling position whereat it is rolled to form said cylinder

29 A method as claimed in claim 28, wherein said object is moved axially towards said rolling position to an insertion position

30 A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein said cylinder is moved axially from said rolling position to said insertion position, whereby said cylinder is inserted into said object

31 A method as claimed in claim 28, 29, or 30, wherein said axial movement is in a direction transverse to a lengthways direction of said endless path

32 A method as claimed in any one of claims 26 to 32, wherein said cylinder has a longitudinal axis and is rotated about said axis during insertion into said object 33 A method as claimed in any one of claims 26 to 32, wherein said object is a drinking straw and said item is a prize

34 A method as claimed in any one of claims 26 to 33, comprising performing at least 100 rolling and insertion steps per minute

35 A method as claimed in claim 34, comprising performing between 300 and 1000 insertion steps per minute

36 An automated process for inserting a voucher into a drinking straw, wherein said drinking straw is transported continuously along an arcuate path during insertion of said voucher into said straw

37 A process as claimed in claim 36, wherein successive said straws are removed one-by-one from a reservoir

38 A process as claimed in claim 36 or 37, wherein said voucher is rolled into a generally cylindrical configuration against a rolling surface by gripping the voucher at a position remote from its end and applying a rotatative force at said gripped position about an axis extending transverse to respective voucher edges which interconnect said ends 39 A process as claimed in claim 38, wherein said axis extends parallel to said ends

40 A process as claimed in claim 38 or 39, wherein said position at which the voucher is gripped is disposed substantially mid-way between said ends

41 A process as claimed in claim 39, wherein said voucher and drinking straw are moved continuously along said path whilst said voucher is rolled into a cylinder and then inserted into said straw

42 A single rolling and insertion station as claimed in any one of claims 1 to

25

43 A station as claimed in claim 43 fixed to a mounting for bench use