EP4365093A1

EP4365093A1 - Forming method to form a group of smoking articles and respective forming device

Info

Publication number: EP4365093A1
Application number: EP23203185.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Michele Squarzoni; Roberto Polloni
Original assignee: GD SpA
Current assignee: GD SpA
Priority date: 2022-10-25
Filing date: 2023-10-12
Publication date: 2024-05-08

Abstract

A forming method to form a group (1) of smoking articles (2) comprising a plurality of rows of smoking articles (2) overlapping one another and wherein at least one row of smoking articles (2) internally has a gap (3) due to the absence of the respective smoking article (2); the forming method comprises the steps of: forming a first sub-group (5; 5I) in a first forming station (7; 7I); moving the first sub-group (5; 5I) from the first forming station (7; 7I) to a second forming station (7; 7II); forming a second sub-group (5; 5II) in the second forming station (7; 7II); wherein at least one of the first and second sub-groups (5; 5I, 5II) is provided with at least one gap (3) in the area of one of its edges; and joining, in the second forming station (7; 7II), the second sub-group (5; 5II) to the first sub-group (5; 5I) to complete the forming of the group (1) of smoking articles (2) and so that the gap (3) is placed inside the group (1) of smoking articles (2).

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority from Italian patent application no. 102022000022035 filed on October 25, 2022 , the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a forming method to form a group of smoking articles and to a respective forming device.
In particular, the present invention finds advantageous application to groups of smoking articles, in which the group of smoking articles has a particular arrangement (also known as collation) in which there is at least one layer with at least one missing article (with the consequential forming of a gap).
More specifically, the present invention finds advantageous application for groups of smoking articles provided with inner gaps (namely, smoking articles missing in the inner layers of the group).
Herein, reference will be made without distinction to the specific example of the "cigarettes" rather than to the more generic expression "smoking articles", without, however, losing any generality in relation to other types of articles (such as cigars, small cigars or cigarillos, electronic cigarettes or ecigs, auxiliary products such as filters, refills for ecigs and other tobacco-based products or alternative or substitute components for tobacco).
In other words, the expression "smoking articles" refers to articles of any type relating to said field, for example traditional cigarettes or "heat not burn" (HNB) type articles which only entail heating and not combustion of the article.
The expression "smoking articles" also refers to cartridges containing liquid or powdered substances intended for use in electronic cigarettes or other devices that allow the same to be heated so as to generate aerosols.
From document US4700825A a method is known to form incomplete groups of cigarettes in a cigarette manufacturing machine, from document EP0790186B1 a unit to form groups of cigarettes is known and from document EP3753864A1 a group of cigarettes and a respective method to produce said group of cigarettes is known.

PRIOR ART

Smoking articles are typically sold in packs. Said packs usually have a parallelepiped shape with a rectangular section and have a predefined outer dimension (that is, height, width, and depth), such as to have an adequate surface for placing any health warnings. Cigarettes are typically evenly divided into a plurality of rows to increase the filling efficiency of the cigarette pack. In particular, the cigarettes of two adjacent rows can be stacked (that is, the centre of two adjacent cigarettes arranged in two different rows are aligned with one another) or staggered (that is, the centre of two adjacent cigarettes arranged in two different rows are misaligned with one another and are staggered by an amount equal to half the diameter of the cigarette). The arrangement with staggered cigarettes is also known as "crossed arrangement".
However, for example, when, given the same outer dimensions of the cigarette pack, the number of cigarettes to be placed inside is modified (that is, is smaller) from the predefined number, it is difficult to arrange the same in the previously described way, as it would not be possible for the cigarettes to be stably and uniformly subdivided into rows.
To overcome this problem, but also for purely aesthetic reasons, groups of cigarettes with particular arrangements (configurations) have been used for some time. These arrangements have at least one inner row and/or an outer row which has at least one gap corresponding to the missing cigarette. The arrangements therefore provide to form a group with an arrangement of the cigarettes such as to guarantee the holding and the support for the surrounding cigarettes and for the upper rows. The gaps can affect the outer layers (known as outer gaps) or the inner layers (known as inner gaps).
At present, groups of smoking articles with inner gaps can only be obtained by arranging the cigarettes layer by layer and in the correct position. In other words, in this procedure a first layer of cigarettes is fed from a first hopper, the pocket is then fed to a second hopper which places a second layer of cigarettes in the desired position on the first layer and so on, until reaching the desired layers and arrangement. It is clear that this procedure requires a forming device for the arrangement that has very large dimensions and that is structurally complex, as it requires a number of hoppers equal to the number of layers to be obtained. Furthermore, when moving the pocket from one pocket to another there may be a risk that the previously arranged layers do not remain in the desired position, thus ensuring the correct position of the gaps.
This procedure also has the disadvantage that, as the number of smoking articles to be arranged with a given conformation increases (for example for arrangements with more than 35 smoking articles), this procedure turns out to be slow.
Furthermore, this procedure has the disadvantage that complex arrangements (namely, groups having a formation in which a plurality of inner gaps are provided) having a high density of gaps are not feasible since the positioning of the smoking articles in the group would be too unstable during the forming process.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a forming method to form a group of smoking articles and a respective forming device, which are free from the drawbacks described above and are, at the same time, easy and inexpensive to implement.
According to the present invention, a forming method to form a group of smoking articles and a respective forming device is provided, as claimed in the attached claims.
The claims describe preferred embodiments of the present invention forming an integral part of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting embodiments thereof, wherein:

Figures 1-4 are schematic and front views of possible embodiments of groups of smoking articles obtainable with the forming method and the forming device object of the present invention;
Figures 5-7 schematically illustrate some steps of the forming method to form the group of smoking articles of Figure 4;
Figure 8 is a front perspective view (with some parts removed for clarity) of a possible embodiment of the forming device;
Figure 9 is a rear perspective view (with some parts removed for clarity) of the forming device of Figure 8;
Figure 10 is a perspective and enlarged view of a part of the forming device of Figures 8 and 9;
Figure 11 is a perspective and enlarged view of a part of the forming device of Figures 8 and 9; and
Figure 12 is a perspective and enlarged view (with some parts removed for clarity) of a possible embodiment of the pushing member of the forming device of Figures 8 and 9.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In Figures 1-4, number 1 denotes as a whole a group of smoking articles 2 which is configured to be subsequently wrapped in an inner wrap (not illustrated) and to be housed inside a cigarette pack (not illustrated). In particular, the cigarette pack can be of the "single bundle" type, namely, single wrapped group 1, or of the "double bundle" type, namely, two groups 1 each wrapped in its own inner wrap and both housed in a single cup-shaped body of the pack. The groups 1 illustrated in the attached figures serve as an example only and are not intended as limitations.
In the following disclosure, the expression "smoking articles" refers to rod-shaped articles of the tobacco field. In particular, without losing generality, this comprises (non-exhaustive list): cigarettes, cigars, small cigars or cigarillos, electronic cigarettes or ecigs, auxiliary products such as filters, refills for ecigs and other tobacco-based products or alternative or substitute components for tobacco.
In other words, the expression "smoking articles" refers to articles of any type relating to said field, for example traditional cigarettes or "heat not burn" (HNB) type articles which only entail heating and not combustion of the article. The expression "smoking articles" also refers to cartridges containing liquid or powdered substances intended for use in electronic cigarettes or other devices that allow the same to be heated in order to generate aerosols.
As illustrated, the group 1 comprises a plurality of rows of smoking articles 2 overlapping one another and in which at least one row of smoking articles 2 internally has at least one gap 3 due to the absence of the respective smoking article 2.
The gap 3 is caused by the absence of a respective smoking article 2 in the area of an inner row (that is, layer) of the group 1. In particular, the term "inner" means that the row is not arranged in the area of an edge of the group 1. In other words, the inner gap 3 shows that the inner row does not comprise the first and last rows of the group which are outer rows as indicated in the following.
As illustrated in Figures 1-4, the group 1 of smoking articles 2 could also have a gap 4 in the area of an outer row. In other words, the group 1 can have both at least one inner gap 3 and at least one outer gap 4 (that is, at least one absent smoking article 2 in the area of an inner row and at least one absent smoking article 2 in the area of an outer row). The term "outer gap" refers to both gaps located in the area of a lateral edge of the group 1 (for example due to the absence of a first or last article 2 of a given row, as illustrated in Figures 1-4), or gaps located at a top or bottom outer layer (for example, due to the absence of an article 2 from an outer row, as illustrated in Figure 1, where in the third article 2 from the left of the first row is absent).
The smoking articles 2 of the group 1 can be arranged in a staggered manner (Figures 1-4), in a stacked manner (not illustrated) or in a combination between the same (wherein the same group 1 has a portion in which the smoking articles 2 are staggered from one another and another portion in which the smoking articles 2 are stacked one over the other). Therefore, as illustrated in Figures 1-4, the smoking articles 2 of the group 1 can be arranged in at least two rows of smoking articles 2, which overlap one another and are staggered so that a smoking article 2 of one row is in contact with two corresponding smoking articles 2 of the other row and is misaligned relative to the corresponding smoking articles 2 of the other row. Additionally, or alternatively (not illustrated), the smoking articles 2 of the group 1 can be arranged in at least two rows of smoking articles 2 which overlap one another and are aligned so that a smoking article 2 of one row is in contact with only one corresponding smoking article 2 of the other row and is aligned with the corresponding smoking article 2 of the other row.
As illustrated in Figures 1-4, the group 1 is ideally divided into at least two sub-groups, 5 corresponding to the gap 3 located internally. The joining of all sub-groups 5 defines the group 1. In Figures 1-4, the group 1 has been divided into two sub-groups 5 and the division plane has been illustrated schematically by means of the imaginary line L (that is, not present in the reality). If there were multiple inner gaps 3 provided in different rows of smoking articles 2, then it would be necessary to divide the group 1 into more than two sub-groups 5.
In general, it can be stated that the number n of sub-groups is equal to m+1, where m is the number of rows of smoking articles 2, in which at least one inner gap 3 is provided.
In this way the group 1, which has a complex overall arrangement (configuration) of the smoking articles 2, is divided into a plurality of sub-groups 5 which can be easily formed individually.
In Figures 1-4, the group 1 has been illustrated comprising a plurality (in particular two) of sub-groups 5 overlapping one another (that is, with a division plane arranged substantially horizontally). In particular, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 4, the sub-group 51 is provided with at least one inner gap 3; whereas the sub-group 5II is devoid of (that is, does not have) inner gaps 3. Alternatively, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, the sub-group 51 is devoid of (that is, does not have) inner gaps 3; whereas the sub-group 5II is provided with at least one gap 3 in the area of one of its edges (in particular, the edge of the sub-group). According to a further alternative (not illustrated), all sub-groups 5I and 5II have at least one gap 3 at one of their edges (in particular, the edge of the sub-groups) .
According to a further and alternative, non-limiting and not illustrated embodiment, the group 1 can comprise a plurality of sub-groups 5, some of which are overlapping one another and others are placed side by side, close to one another.
In Figures 8 and 9, a possible embodiment of a forming device 6 to form the group 1 of smoking articles 2 is illustrated. The forming device 6 comprises at least two forming stations 7 (indicated in Figures 8 and 9 with the reference numbers 7I and 7II) and a conveyor 8. In particular, the number of forming stations 7 corresponds to the number of the sub-groups 5 which define the group 1. The at least two forming stations 7 are arranged side by side. In other words, the at least two forming stations 7 are arranged in succession, one behind the other along the advancement path P of the conveyor 8. According to the illustrated embodiment, the station 7I is arranged upstream of the station 7II in the direction of the advancement path P.
Advantageously, the forming station 7 where at least one of the sub-groups 5 is formed, provided with the gap 3 at its edge (in particular, the edge of the sub-group) is arranged upstream or downstream of the forming station 7 of the other sub-group 5.
The forming station 7I is configured to form the sub-group 5I; whereas, the forming station 7II is configured to form the sub-group 5II and to join the at least two sub-groups 5 (that is, the sub-group 5I and the sub-group 5II) to complete the forming of the group 1 of smoking articles 2, so that the gap 3 is arranged internally within the group 1 of smoking articles 2. At least one of the two sub-groups 5I and 5II is provided with at least one gap 3 in the area of one of its edges (in particular, the edge of the sub-group).
Advantageously, in the illustrated embodiments, to maintain the gap 3 internally within the group 1, in the station 7II the sub-group 5II is arranged on the sub-group 5I. According to a possible alternative embodiment not illustrated, to maintain the gap 3 internally within the group 1, in the station 7II the sub-group 5II is arranged below the sub-group 5I.
The conveyor 8 is configured to move the sub-group 5I between the forming stations 7. The conveyor 8 is provided with a plurality of pockets 9, each configured to house within the same a group 1 or a sub-group 5 of smoking articles 2 having a predefined arrangement.
By way of (non-limiting) example, the forming conveyor 8 is a conveyor belt or a conveyor drum.
The conveyor 8 is configured to move in a step-like manner, so as to cyclically move the pockets 9 along an advancement path P. The advancement path P (partially illustrated) extends between the forming station 7I, where the sub-group 5I (which will subsequently form the group 1 of smoking articles 2 together with at least another sub-group 5) enters the pocket 9 and a transfer station (not illustrated), where each group 1 is extracted from the corresponding pocket 9 to continue with the packaging process.
As illustrated in Figures 8 and 9, each forming station 7 comprises a hopper 10 and a forming path 11. The hopper 10 is provided with a plurality of ducts 12 (also known as "veins") within which the smoking articles 2 are fed. The ducts 12 are delimited one from the other by dividing walls 13. The smoking articles 2 are fed crosswise and in succession inside the respective duct 12. In particular, the smoking articles 2 are fed by gravity inside the single duct 12 of the hopper 10. They are then moved longitudinally (namely, parallel to their longitudinal axis) along the forming path 11 defined between an output station SU of the hopper 10 and the conveyor 8 (in particular, the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8).
Advantageously, but not limited to, the forming device 6 is provided with a pushing member 14 comprising at least one (in particular a plurality of) prong 15 which is configured to cyclically move (by pushing) each sub-group 5 of smoking articles 2 along the respective forming path 11 from the output station SU of the hopper 10 of the respective forming station 7 into the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8 facing said station SU. In particular, the prongs 15 are connected in a cantilevered manner to a support 16. The support 16 is connected to a specific actuator device (not illustrated) which is configured to cyclically move the respective pushing member 14 in the feeding direction D (from the rear side of the forming device 6 to the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8).
Advantageously, but not limited to, the pushing member 14 of one of the stations 7 can be operated autonomously and independently relative to the pushing member 14 of the other stations 7. Alternatively, the operation of a pushing member 14 of one of the forming stations 7 can be at least partially dependent on the operation of another pushing member 14 of the other stations 7.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the forming device 6 comprises an accompanying element 17 (illustrated in grey in Figures 8-10). The accompanying element 17 is configured to lock the arrangement of the sub-group 5I while moving the sub-group 5I from the forming station 7I to the forming station 7II. In this regard, as illustrated, the pockets 9 have a dimension parallel to the axis of the smoking articles 2 which is larger than the smoking articles 2. In this way the smoking articles 2 protrude at least partially from the pocket 9 and the accompanying element 17 can be easily arranged on the same.
The accompanying element 17 is configured to be cyclically moved from a locking position (illustrated schematically for example in Figures 5 and 6), in which the accompanying element 17 is arranged in contact with the sub-group 5I so as to maintain the arrangement of the smoking articles 2, to a release position (not illustrated), in which the accompanying element 17 is away from (that is, not arranged in contact with the sub-group 5I) from the sub-group 5I to allow the sub-group 5II to be joined to the sub-group 5I, and vice versa.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the accompanying element 17 is moved cyclically from the locking position to the release position by a moving unit 19 of the forming device 6. The moving unit 19 is configured to move the accompanying element 17 in an axial direction (parallel to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 2) and/or in a crosswise direction (transversal or orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 2). In other words, the accompanying element 17 to move from the locking position to the release position can perform a translation in order to move parallel to the axis of the smoking articles 2 (essentially parallel to the direction D) or crosswise or orthogonally to the axis of the smoking articles 2, thus rising.
According to an alternative embodiment, the accompanying element 17 carries out a roto-translation to move to the release position (in particular, it carries out the movement in a plane orthogonal to the axis of the smoking articles 2). Said roto-translational movement can be obtained by means of the moving unit 19 formed for example according to the non-limiting embodiment partially illustrated in Figures 8-10. In this embodiment, the moving unit 19 comprises a transmission element 20 which is connected with one end to an output shaft of an actuator device (not illustrated) and with the other end to elements connected to the accompanying element 17. The transmission element 20 is configured to convert the rotation of the output shaft of the actuator device into a roto-translation of the accompanying element 17. In said regard, the accompanying element 17 arranged at the forming station 7II and still arranged in the locking position is raised, moved towards the previous forming station 7 and then lowered back into the locking position.
In the non-limiting embodiment illustrated in Figures 8-10, the accompanying element 17 is misaligned (that is, moved towards the pocket 9) relative to the transmission element 20. In other words, the accompanying element 17 and the transmission element 20 lie at least partially on two different planes that are substantially parallel to one another.
According to an alternative and non-limiting embodiment not illustrated, to make the moving unit 19 more compact it is possible to directly connect the accompanying element 17 to the transmission element 20. In other words, according to this embodiment, the accompanying element 17 and the transmission element 20 are at least partially coplanar.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the accompanying element 17 is bar-shaped. That is, the accompanying element 17 has a transverse dimension measured crosswise, in particular orthogonally, to the longitudinal extension of the smoking articles 2 which is much larger than the longitudinal dimension measured parallel to the longitudinal extension of the smoking articles 2. Furthermore, the accompanying element 17 has a transversal dimension at least equal to the distance of at least two output station SU of the hoppers 10 of the forming stations 7.
Advantageously, but not limited to, as illustrated schematically in Figure 3, if the sub-group 5I to be locked is provided with an inner gap 3, then the accompanying element 17 is provided with at least one protrusion 18 configured to be arranged in the gap 3 of the sub-group 5. The protrusion 18 allows the accompanying element 17 to further guarantee the maintenance of the arrangement of the smoking articles 2 (in particular, of the position of the gap 3) during the movement from the forming station 7I to the forming station 7II.
Advantageously, but not limited to, at least one (preferably all) sub-group 5 is formed by arranging the smoking articles 2 in layers by means of a forming device 6, by arranging the smoking articles directly with a stacked and/or staggered arrangement (depending on the pre-established arrangement). The layered arrangement provides for forming the sub-group 5 by arranging the smoking articles 2 one layer on top of the other.
Alternatively, at least one (preferably all) sub-group 5 is formed by arranging the smoking articles 2 in blocks by means of the forming device 6 illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. In this case, to obtain the staggered arrangement (that is, the smoking article 2 of one row is misaligned relative to the corresponding smoking articles 2 of the other row), the smoking articles 2 are arranged stacked on top of one another in the output station SU of the hopper 10, after which, following the suitably shaped forming path 11 (as illustrated schematically in Figure 11), at least one row of smoking articles 2 is arranged staggered relative to at least another row of adjacent smoking articles 2. Said staggering can be obtained by creating the forming path 11 laterally delimited by side walls 21, each provided with at least one rib 22 that projects towards the forming path 11.
Advantageously, but not limited to, as illustrated in Figure 11 (in which some parts have been removed for clarity), each side wall 21 of the forming path 11 and each rib 22 are made converging towards the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8. Therefore, according to this (non-limiting) embodiment, the forming path 11 has a decreasing cross-section along a feeding direction D of the smoking articles 2. The forming path 11 of Figures 8 and 9 has a dimension (measured parallel to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 2) such as to allow the transversal movement of at least one row of smoking articles 2 relative to the other adjacent rows of smoking articles 2.
Advantageously, but not limited to, in the forming path 11 at least one longitudinal rib 23 (namely, a rib that extends longitudinally in the forming path 11) can also be provided. The longitudinal rib 23 has been illustrated schematically in Figure 11; whereas in Figure 8 it has not been illustrated (although it could be provided, if requested, precisely to allow to form the subgroup with the gap 3 in the station 7I or 711). The longitudinal rib 23 projects from a bottom wall 24 of the forming path 11. The longitudinal rib 23 is placed between the two side walls 21 of the forming path 11. The longitudinal rib 23 is configured to be arranged between the smoking articles 2 so as to form or maintain (that is, stabilize) the gap 3 in the area of the outer edge of the sub-group 5 being formed.
Advantageously, the longitudinal rib 23 has a height (that is, a dimension measured orthogonally to the longitudinal extension of the smoking articles 2 which is approximately equal to or lower than a height (measured in the same way, namely, the diameter) of the smoking article 2.
Advantageously, the longitudinal rib 23 extends substantially along the entire forming path 11. In said case, the longitudinal rib 23 is configured to prevent a smoking article 2, arranged in the area of the output station SU of the hopper 11 and facing the respective longitudinal rib 23, from being moved towards the conveyor 8.
Alternatively, the longitudinal rib 23 extends only for a portion of the forming path 11. In particular, the rib can be arranged at the beginning of the forming path 11, that is, near the output station SU of the hopper 10 or it can be arranged in the final section of the forming path 11, that is, near the input of the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8 that the same faces.
Advantageously, the longitudinal rib 23 is connected to the bottom wall 24 of the forming path 11 in a removable manner (namely, in a non-permanent manner). According to a possible alternative embodiment, the connection between each longitudinal rib 23 and the bottom wall 24 of the forming path 11 is of a permanent type.
Advantageously, the longitudinal rib 23 has a rectangular, square, or shaped transverse section.
Advantageously, the number of longitudinal ribs 23 is equal to the number of gaps 3 to be formed at the edge of the sub-group 5.
Next, the description of the use of the device 6, referring (without losing generality) to the example illustrated in Figures 4-7 will follow. In use, the group 1 is ideally divided into sub-groups 5 (in Figure 4 two sub-groups 5 are provided and have been indicated with 5I and 5II) in the area of the gaps 3 arranged internally. The smoking articles 2 are fed by means of the hopper 10 of the station 7I to form the sub-group 5I. At this point, the smoking articles 2 are moved along the forming path 11 and into the pocket 9 of the conveyor 8 by means of the pushing member 14 of the station 7I. Preferably, during the movement along the advancement path P on the sub-group 5I the accompanying element 17 is arranged, which locks the relative positioning of the individual smoking articles 2 of the sub-group 5I and which remains in the locking position until reaching the forming station 7II (Figure 3).
Subsequently, or (at least partially) simultaneously with the forming of the sub-group 5I in the station 7I, the sub-group 5II is formed at the forming station 7II. Once the sub-group 5I arrives close to or at the forming station 7II, the accompanying element 17 is placed in the release position (Figure 4) and by means of the pushing member 14 of the station 7II the sub-group 5II is joined to the sub-group 5I, thus forming the group 1 (Figure 5).
Once the sub-groups 5 have been inserted into the pocket 9, the group 1 of articles 2 continues its traditional packaging process.
Advantageously, but not limited to, if the pack of smoking articles 2 is of the "double bundle" type, then two forming devices 6 as described above will be provided, each to produce the respective group 1 that will subsequently be wrapped.
According to an additional aspect of the present invention, a manufacturing machine (not illustrated) is provided for the production of packs of smoking articles 2 comprising one or more forming devices 10 described so far.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided to form the group 1 of smoking articles 2 comprising a plurality of rows of smoking articles 2 overlapping one another and in which at least one row of smoking articles 2 internally has the gap 3 due to the absence of the respective smoking article 2. In particular, the forming method described below is implemented by the forming device 6 previously described.
The method substantially (but not exclusively) comprises the following main steps of:

forming a sub-group 5I in the forming station 7I;
moving the sub-group 5I from the forming station 7I to the forming station 7II;
forming the sub-group 5II in the forming station 7II; wherein at least one of the two sub-groups 5 is provided with at least one gap 3 in the area of one of its edges (in particular, the edge of the sub-group); and
joining, in the forming station 7II, the sub-group 5II to the sub-group 5I to complete the forming of the group 1 of smoking articles 2 and so that the gap 3 is arranged inside the group 1 of smoking articles 2.

Advantageously, but not limited to, the step of forming at least one of the two sub-groups 5 provided with the gap 3 in the area of one of its edges (in particular, the edge of the sub-group) takes place at least partially upstream or downstream of the step of forming the other sub-group 5.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the steps of forming the sub-groups 5 of the group 1 take place in succession.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the steps of forming the sub-groups 5 of the group 1 take place at least partially simultaneously (that is, at the same time).
Advantageously, the sub-groups 5 are formed individually and independently of one another.
Advantageously (in particular, but not exclusively, in the case in which the step of forming the at least one sub-group 5I provided with the gap 3 takes place upstream of the step of forming the other sub-group 5), the method comprises a further step of arranging on the sub-group 5I the accompanying element 17, which is configured to lock the arrangement of the sub-group 5I during the movement of the sub-group 5I from the forming station 7I to the forming station 7II.
Advantageously, but not limited to, the method comprises a further step of removing the accompanying element 17 from the sub-group 5I, in particular before joining the sub-group 5II to the sub-group 5I. In other words, before placing the sub-group 5II on the sub-group 5I, the accompanying element 17 is arranged from the locking position to the release position. Therefore, the step of removing the accompanying element 17 and the step of joining the sub-group 5II to the sub-group 5I takes place in succession.
Alternatively, the step of removing the accompanying element 17 and the step of joining the sub-group 5II to the sub-group 5I take place at least partially simultaneously. Therefore, while at least one portion of the sub-group 5II is arranged on the sub-group 5I, the accompanying element 17 is arranged from the locking position to the release position.
Advantageously, the step of forming the sub-groups 5 provides for arranging the smoking articles 2 in at least two rows of smoking articles 2, which overlap one another and are staggered (so that a smoking article 2 of one row is in contact with two corresponding smoking articles 2 of the other row and is misaligned relative to the corresponding smoking articles 2 of the other row) or in at least two rows of smoking articles 2, which overlap one another and are aligned (such that a smocking article 2 of one row is in contact with only one corresponding smoking article 2 of the other row and is aligned with the corresponding smoking article 2 of the other row).
The step of grouping the two sub-groups 5, which is subsequent to the step of forming the sub-groups 5, provides for stacking the two sub-groups 5I and 5II on top of one another, so as to obtain the group 1 of smoking articles 2.
According to a possible alternative embodiment, wherein the sub-groups 5 are more than two, the step of grouping the sub-groups 5 provides for stacking at least two sub-groups 5 on top of one another and placing at least two other sub-groups 5 side by side. In other words, for complex groups 1 which have multiple inner gaps 3, it is possible to join the individual sub-groups 5 either by placing some of them side by side or by stacking others.
The forming method to form a group 1 of smoking articles 2 and the respective forming device 6 described above have a plurality of advantages.
First of all, the present invention has the advantage of forming in a simple and fast manner a group 1 of smoking articles 2 which has any arrangement of smoking articles 2, which can also be complex (namely, having a high number of inner gaps 3 and outer gaps 4).
Secondly, the present invention has the advantage that thanks to the independent forming of the individual sub-groups 5, the risk of collapse of the sub-group 5 is drastically reduced (in particular annulled). In fact, as previously described, all the sub-groups 5 only have gaps 3 arranged externally along their edge (in particular, the edge of the sub-group). Therefore, each sub-group 5 does not have inner gaps 3 before being joined to the other sub-groups 5. It follows, therefore, that each sub-group 5 cannot collapse and the smoking articles 2 that form the same are stably supported by the surrounding smoking articles 2 of the same sub-group 5.
The present invention allows, furthermore, the management of even groups 1 comprising a large number of smoking articles 2 to be simplified.
The forming device 6 of the present invention also has the advantage of being flexible. In fact, upon format change, in which for example the position of the inner gap 3 of the new group 1 varies relative to the position of the inner gap 3 of the previous group 1, the changes to be made to the device 6 are minimal and in particular mainly concern the number of forming stations 7.
The forming device 6 provided with the accompanying element 17 allows to guarantee to maintain the arrangement of the smoking articles 2 (in particular, the position of the gap 3) during the movement from the forming station 7I to the subsequent forming stations 7. This advantage is further strengthened in the case in which the accompanying element 17 has the protrusion 18 which is configured to be arranged in the gap 3 of the respective sub-group 5.
Finally, the present invention has the advantage that it can be easily implemented even in existing manufacturing machines, thus requiring reduced adaptation times and costs.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS OF THE FIGURES

1: group
2: smoking articles
3: inner gap
4: outer gap
5: sub-group
6: forming device
7: forming station
8: conveyor
9: pocket
10: hopper
11: forming path
12: duct
13: dividing wall
14: pushing member
15: prong
16: support
17: accompanying element
18: protrusion
19: moving unit
20: transmission element
21: side wall
22: rib
23: longitudinal rib
24: bottom wall
D: feeding direction
L: imaginary line
P: advancement path
SU: output station

Claims

A forming method to form a group (1) of smoking articles (2) comprising a plurality of rows of smoking articles (2) overlapping one another and wherein at least one row of smoking articles (2) internally has a gap (3) due to the absence of the respective smoking article (2); the forming method comprises the steps of:
forming a first sub-group (5; 5I) in a first forming station (7; 7I);

moving the first sub-group (5; 5I) from the first forming station (7; 7I) to a second forming station (7; 7II);

forming a second sub-group (5; 5II) in the second forming station (7; 711);

wherein at least one of the first and second sub-groups (5; 5I, 511) is provided with at least one gap (3) in the area of one of its edges; and

joining, in the second forming station (7; 7II), the second sub-group (5; 5II) to the first sub-group (5; 5I) to complete the forming of the group (1) of smoking articles (2) and so that the gap (3) is located inside the group (1) of smoking articles (2) .
The forming method according to claim 1, wherein the step of forming at least one of the sub-groups (5; 5I, 5II) provided with the gap (3) in the area of one of its own edges takes place at least partially:
upstream of the step of forming the other sub-group (5; 5I, 511); or

downstream of the step of forming the other sub-group (5; 5I, 5II) .
The forming method according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a further step of arranging on the first sub-group (5; 5I) an accompanying element (17), which is configured to block the arrangement of the first sub-group (5; 5I) during the movement of the first sub-group (5; 5I) from the first forming station (7; 7I) to the second forming station (7; 7II).
The forming method according to claim 3 and comprising a further step of removing the accompanying element (17) from the first sub-group (5; 5I); wherein
the step of removing the accompanying element (17) and the step of joining the second sub-group (5; 5II) to the first sub-group (5; 5I) take place in succession or at least partially simultaneously.
The forming method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one step of forming a sub-group (5; 5I, 5II) provides for arranging the smoking articles (2) in at least two rows of smoking articles (2) which are superimposed and:
staggered so that a smoking article (2) of one row is in contact with two corresponding smoking articles (2) of the other row and is misaligned with the corresponding smoking articles (2) of the other row; or

aligned so that a smoking article (2) of one row is in contact with only one corresponding smoking article (2) of the other row and is aligned with the corresponding smoking article (2) of the other row.
The forming method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the step of joining the second sub-group (5; 5II) to the first sub-group (5; 5I) provides for stacking the two sub-groups on top of one another.
A forming device (6) to form a group (1) of smoking articles (2) comprising a plurality of rows of smoking articles (2) overlapping one another and wherein at least one row of smoking articles (2) internally has a gap (3) due to the absence of the respective smoking article (2); the forming device (6) comprises:
a first forming station (7, 7I) configured to form a first sub-group (5; 51);

a second forming station (7, 7II) configured to form a second sub-group (5; 5II); in which at least one of the first and second sub-groups (5; 5I, 5II) is provided with at least one gap (3) in the area of one of its edges; and

a conveyor (8) configured to move the first sub-group (5; 5I) from the first forming station (7; 7I) to the second forming station (7; 7II);

wherein the second forming station (7; 7II) is configured to join the second sub-group (5; 5II) to the first sub-group (5; 5I) to complete the forming of the group (1) of smoking articles (2) and so that the gap (3) is located inside the group (1) of smoking articles (2).
The forming device (6) according to claim 7, wherein the forming station (7) in which at least one of the sub-groups (5; 5I, 5II) is formed, provided with the gap (3) at one of its edges is arranged:
upstream of the forming station (7) of the other sub-group (5; 5I, 5II); or

downstream of the forming station (7) of the other sub-group (5; 5I, 511).
The forming device (6) according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the conveyor (8) is provided with a plurality of pockets (9), each configured to house a sub-group (5) or a group (1) of smoking articles (2) having a predefined arrangement.
The forming device (6) according to any one of the claims from 7 to 9, wherein each forming station (7, 7I, 7II) comprises:
- a hopper (10) provided with a plurality of ducts (12) inside which the smoke articles (2) are fed; and

- a forming path (11) defined between an output station (SU) of the hopper (10) and the conveyor (8).
The forming device (6) according to any of the claims from 7 to 10, comprising an accompanying element (17) configured to lock the arrangement of the first sub-group (5, 5I) during the displacement of the first sub-group (5, 5I) from first forming station (7, 7I) to the second forming station (7, 7II).
The forming device (6) according to claim 11, wherein the accompanying element (17) is provided with at least one protrusion (18) configured to be arranged in the gap (3) of the first sub-group (5; 5I).
The forming device (6) according to claim 11 or 12, comprising a moving unit (19) of the accompanying element (17) configured to move the accompanying element (17) cyclically from:
a locking position, in which the accompanying element (17) is arranged in contact with the first sub-group (5; 5I) to maintain the arrangement of the smoking articles (2); to

a release position, in which the accompanying element (17) is far from the first sub-group (5; 5I) to allow the second sub-group (5; 5II) to be joined to the first sub-group (5; 5I); and vice versa.
The forming device (6) according to claim 13, wherein the moving unit (19) is configured to move the accompanying member (17) in an axial direction which is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the smoking articles (2), and / or in a transverse direction which is transverse or orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles (2).
The forming device (6) according to any one of the claims from 7 to 14, wherein each forming station (7; 7I, 7II) comprises a pushing member (14) provided with at least one prong (15) which is configured to move the respective sub-group (5; 5I, 5II) of smoking articles (2) from the output station (SU) of the respective hopper (10) into the pocket (9) of the conveyor (8).
The forming device (6) according to any one of claims 10 to 15, wherein the forming path (11) is laterally delimited by two side walls (21), each provided with at least one first rib (22), which projects towards the respective forming path (11).
The forming device (6) according to claim 16, wherein the forming path (11) has, in the area of one of its bottom wall (24), a longitudinal rib (23) configured to be arranged between the smoking articles (2), so as to form or maintain the gap (3).
A packaging machine for the production of packs of smoking articles (2) comprising one or more forming devices (6) according to one of the claims from 7 to 17.