GB1289110A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1289110 Delivering cigarettes in orderly arrangement HAUNI-WERKE KORBER & CO KG 17 Dec 1969 [3 Jan 1969] 491/69 Heading A2C In apparatus in which axially moving cigarettes &c Z are delivered by an accelerator cam 4 into grooves 7 on a rotary drum 6 and subsequently deposited on to a conveyer belt 21 for delivery in a direction transverse to the cigarette axes, the drum has suction ducts for braking and positioning the cigarettes in the grooves. The drum, which is partially enclosed by a fixed cover 8 and driven by a toothed belt 31, is rotatable on a stationary core 17 which has surface grooves 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b and a recess 32 all of which are connected by a pipe 18 to a suction source 19. Cigarettes projected into the grooves 7 are retarded by suction communicated through the recess 32 to holes 11 at the mid-portion of each groove, and as the drum rotates the holes 11 are moved out of register with the recess 32 and holes 11a, 11b in alternate grooves are connected to suction through the grooves 12a, 12b so that the cigarettes in alternate grooves are moved progressively towards either end of the drum to form two rows where they are held by suction communicated to the holes 11a, 11b through the grooves 12a, 13a and 12b, 13b until they are deposited on the conveyer 21. Elongated apertures may take the place of the holes 11, 11a, 11b. The recess 32 and ducts 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b may be bounded by raised parts so that atmospheric pressure exists in those holes 11, 11a, 11b that are not at any instant connected to suction. Each end of the core 17 may have rotatably adjustable elements for varying the positions of the effective ends of the ducts 12a, 12b in relation to the ends of the drum, thereby enabling cigarettes of various lengths to be handled. In a modification, the arrangement of holes in the grooves 7 and ducts in the core 17 is such that no cigarettes are brought to their final positions by movement back towards the delivery mechanism 4, both rows being positioned by an initial retardation over recesses corresponding to the recess 32, followed by final positioning in the leftward direction.