GB216326A - Improvements in and relating to apparatus for feeding cigarettes and other articles of similar shape - Google Patents

Abstract

216,326. Molins, W. E. May 15, 1923. Packeting cigarettes &c. in receptacles.-Relates to apparatus, for feeding cigarettes and other articles of similar shape, of the kind in which the articles are contained in a hopper with a bottom sloping to an outlet divided into slots by blades, the required number being thrust out by a plunger or the equivalent. According to the invention, baffle plates are pivotally mounted at their upper ends centrally of the hopper, leaving a gap through which the cigarettes &c. pass to the blades, and are laterally oscillated. The blades, or some of them, are continuously vibrated and the number of the cigarettes in succeeding rows may be varied. The cigarettes may be conveyed along the bed of the machine by apparatus such as is described in Specification 13956/15. As shown in Fig. 1, the bottom of the hopper comprises two sloping plates 4 mounted on links 10 operated from a cam 8 by links 9. The lower ends are supported on brackets which may be rigid or hinged, and carrying a frame 13 supporting the blades 18 forming the' partitions.. Baffle plates 5 are rocked about a pivot 14 by an eccentric 15 on the main shaft 7 working in guide blocks 16. The blades 18 are clamped in position by screwed rods 17, 17<a>, 17<b>, distance collars 19 being fitted between them to form a series of slots. The forward and rear ends of the slots are closed by vertical bars. The cigarettes at the tops of the blades are kept in movement by guide pieces 25 and pegs 26 attached to a plate 21, on links 22, oscillated by a cam 24. The cigarettes are compressed at the bottoms of the blades by members 27 with end pieces 27<a>, or by passing between inclined guides, and are removed by pushers 37 on a belt conveyer. The pushers may have shallow vertical slots to accommodate the vanes. In order to prevent the upper layers of cigarettes from falling after a pusher has passed, a blade 40, Fig. 2, is caused to follow closely the movement of the pusher and to ride up sloping portions of the pieces 27<a> and to support the cigarettes. Alternatively, the cigarettes may be supported by a plate on a rising and falling frame having a central slot to allow the passage of the pusher. When it is required to pack cigarettes in superposed rows containing one more or one less in certain rows, arrangements such as are shown in Figs. 8 and 10 are used. In order to obtain rows containing seven, six and seven cigarettes respectively, the cigarettes are fed in rows of seven, as shown in Fig. 8, and a compartment 59 retains one cigarette. The compressors 27<a>, 27<c> move inwards and form the bunch shown in Fig. 9. On the withdrawal of the compressor 27<c>, the arrested cigarette falls and becomes incorporated in the bottom row of the next bunch. In order to form rows containing six, six, seven and six cigarettes respectively, one slot 61, Fig. 10, is arranged to feed cigarettes on to a block 60, from which it is removed by a compressor 27<d>, and incorporated in the third row of the bunch. Alternatively, a plate may be introduced between the cigarettes in one row and actuated to lift the cigarettes in that row a distance corresponding to the diameter of one cigarette and the segregated bunch is passed through guides which centre the row containing few cigarettes. Specification 209,487 also is referred to.