GB1075583A - Improvements in machines for packing rod like articles e.g. cigars - Google Patents

Abstract

1,075,583. Packaging machines. IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. (OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND) Ltd. Feb. 22, 1966 [March 18, 1965], No. 11456/65. Heading B8C. A suction head 14 lifts a predetermined number of cigars &c. from a supply station and deposits them in a box 22 at a packing station 23. A vacuum-sensitive switch prevents delivery of the cigars if the suction head 14 fails to pick up the required number. In the embodiment shown, cigars are lifted five at a time from a continuous conveyer by the suction head 14, having first been stopped on the conveyer by a stop 21 carrying a microswitch 72. The bottom plate of the suction head 14 is slotted, Fig. 2 (not shown), with one slot for each cigar, the vacuum-sensitive switch closing when a cigar occupies each slot. The rear slot is wider than the others so that the vacuum switch is most sensitive to the presence of the final cigar. Boxes 22, Fig. 1A, are fed to the packing station 23 along a guide path comprising a rear guide rail (52), Fig. 1B (not shown), and a resiliently mounted front rail (50), by means of a pusher (41) which directs them from the bottom of a magazine (40). As shown the boxes have hinged lids which are opened fully by an air blower (44) after being raised slightly by flexible sucker pads 33, 34, Fig. 1A, on the end of shaft 13 carrying the suction head 14. A further unit on the shaft 13 (not shown) may transfer linings from a pile into the open box. Guide rails (45, 46) hold the lid open at the packing station 23, and the lid operates a microswitch 71 on a stop 70 to complete, with the vacuum switch and the switch 72, the control circuit to rotate shaft 11 to lift the suction head 14, carrying the five cigars, to a position over the packing station. The vacuum is then released and the cigars drop into the box. A reciprocating pusher 60 pushes the filled box from the packing station on to a conveyer 61, the rail 45 closing the lid. The rail 46 is mounted resiliently to enable the lid to be closed. If a lining has been introduced into the box, ploughs are provided to fold the liner down prior to closing the lid.