GB2268919A

GB2268919A - Arrangement for sorting out thin and/or short rib pieces of tobacco.

Info

Publication number: GB2268919A
Application number: GB9314725A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dietmar Zielke
Original assignee: Hauni Maschinenbau GmbH
Current assignee: Koerber Technologies GmbH
Priority date: 1992-07-25
Filing date: 1993-07-16
Publication date: 1994-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 2013-07-16
Also published as: ITMI931578A1; DE4224688B4; ITMI931578A0; GB9314725D0; IT1264944B1; GB2268919B; DE4224688A1

Abstract

An arrangement by means of which the thin and/or short rib pieces of tobacco are to be sorted out from a quantity stream of rib pieces is described. The arrangement has a vibrating conveyor 1 for conveying the quantity stream, this vibrating conveyor being provided with through openings 21a, 21b, 21c for the rib pieces to be sorted out to fall through. The through openings are constructed as slots which extend transversely with respect to the conveying direction of the vibrating conveyor. The sizes of the through openings 21a, 21b, 21c are varied by changing the relative positions of the plates 16a, 16b, 16c. <IMAGE>

Description

22680 10 ARRANGEMENT FOR SORTING OUT THIN AND/OR SHORT RIB PIECES OF

TOBACCO The invention relates to an arrangement for sorting out thin andlor short rib pieces of tobacco from a quantity stream of rib pieces, having a vibrating conveyor for conveying the quantity stream, this vibrating conveyor being provided with at least one through opening for the rib pieces to be sorted out to fall through.

Leaves of tobacco comprise pure leaf tobacco and tobacco ribs which are separated from the leaf tobacco and processed separately to give cut tobacco. Prior to the known preparation steps for tobacco ribs, in particular, moistening, rolling and cutting, thin rib parts of tobacco, e. g. rib pieces under 2 - 3 mm thick, should be sorted out from a quantity stream of mainly thicker rib pieces during conveying. Short rib pieces of tobacco should also be sorted out from the quantity stream of mainly longer rib pieces during conveying.

The object of the invention consists in improving the sorting out of rib pieces of the above-mentioned types.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the through opening is constructed as a slot which extends transversely with respect to the conveying direction of the vibrating conveyor.

In a preferred manner of sorting out thin ribs, i.e. e.g. rib pieces under 2 - 3 mm thick, according to a particularly advantageous further development of the invention the vibrating conveyor has upstream of the slot a ramp-type rising face in its conveying surface. The quality of sorting out can be further improved according to the invention in that the vibrating conveyor has a plurality of ramp-type rising faces and slots arranged one behind the other. The conveying path of the vibrating conveyor can advantageously ascend as a whole, which increases the separation quality. The same applies to a further development of the invention in which at least two conveying surfaces of the vibrating conveyor are constructed in ascending manner with associated slots, in that thereafter the conveying surface has a step running steeply downwards, and in that after the step at least the next two conveying surfaces are again constructed in ascending manner with associated slots. Thereafter, there can be located a further step which is followed again by two ascending conveying surfaces, etc.

2 In order to adapt the arrangement according to the invention to different types of rib, treatments and thicknesses, the size of the ramp-type rising face andlor the width of the slot can be adjustable.

In a preferred manner of sorting out short rib pieces, i.e. e.g. rib pieces under 5 - 10 mm long, according to a further development of the invention the vibrating conveyor has upstream of the slot channel-type descending faces running in the conveying direction; here, downstream of the slot the vibrating conveyor can first be constructed to be flat and can thereafter be provided with channel-type descending faces again. Separation can further be improved if the conveying surface of the vibrating conveyor has downstream of the slot a lower conveying level as a result of a descending face. Moreover, being able to adapt the slot width and the descending face to the thickness of the ribs and the desired length of the segregated ribs is advantageous. The sorting-out quality can be greatly improved if according to the invention the vibrating conveyor has a plurality of slots and descending faces arranged one behind the other.

If the conveying path of the vibrating conveyor is downwardly inclined, then it is possible to convey the ribs in advantageous manner without them losing contact with the substrate.

In a relatively large quantity stream of rib pieces, the rib pieces to be sorted out are located between and on top of numerous rib pieces to be conveyed further on, so that it is difficult to separate the rib pieces to be sorted out from the rest of the rib pieces. According to an advantageous further development of the invention, this is facilitated if, by using larger slot widths, the long rib pieces are first separated from the medium-length and short rib pieces and are conveyed away separately. Then, by using narrower slots, a further segregation of a mixture of short and somewhat longer rib pieces can be formed out of the stream of these rib pieces which have already been sifted out. This mixture forms a relatively small quantity stream from which the short rib pieces can be sorted out easily. Instead of sorting out in three stages as described, sorting out can also comprise two or four and more stages, the last stage sorting out the shortest ribs.

The invention has the advantage that the separation of rib pieces can be achieved in a mechanically simple manner by conveying them past the transverse slots a number of times, possibly many times.

3 The invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments, in which:

Figure 1 shows a plan view of a vibrating conveyor for sorting out thin rib pieces, Figure 2 shows a side view of the vibrating conveyor according to Figure 15 with one side wall (13) omitted, Figure 3 shows a variant of a vibrating conveyor according to Figures 1 and 2 for sorting out thin rib pieces, in side view. with one side wall omitted, Figure 4 shows a plan view of a vibrating conveyor for sorting out short rib pieces, Figure 5 shows a side view of the vibrating conveyor according to Figure 4, with one side wall (13) omitted, and Figure 6 shows, in side view, with one side wall omitted, a vibrating conveyor arrangement comprising a plurality of vibrating conveyors arranged one on top of the other, for sorting out short rib pieces.

The arrangement for sorting out thin uncut rib pieces (raw ribs) according to Figures 1 and 2 has a vibrating conveyor 1 which contains a vibrating conveyor channel 2 which rests on a vibrating plate 5 by means of supports 3 and 4. The vibrating plate 5 for its part is supported on a baseplate 7 by way of springs 6. For driving, i.e. for generating a vibrating movement, there serves a vibrating drive 8 which is known per se and which has a preferably adjustable frequency. The vibrating conveyor channel has side walls 11, 12 and 13 (omitted in Fig. 2) and a bottom surface 14. Located above the bottom surface 14 are thin conveying surfaces 16a... 16c, e.g. of sheet metal, which are bent upwards slightly at bending lines 17a... 17c, so that ramp-type rising faces 18a... 18c are produced. The degree of bending up h with respect to the straight extension can be e.g. 1 - 2 mm at the end. The total length of one of the conveying surfaces 16a... 16c can be e.g. 50 mm in the conveying direction, i.e. in the direction of the arrow 19. The bending lines 17a... 17c, as illustrated, can be arranged in the centre of the conveying surfaces 16a... 16c. Located between the ramp-type rising faces 18a and 18b and 18b and 18c and in the rising face 18c are slots 21a... 21c which are arranged transversely (perpendicular in the example) with respect to the conveying direction 19 and whereof the width b- depends on the thickness of the rib pieces to be sorted out and can be for example between 0 and 2 mm. The angle of ascent of the vibrating conveyor channel 2 can lie 4 between 40 and 100, with respect to the horizontal, and can be e.g. 7'. The metal sheets 16a...'16c bear against support surfaces 22, 23 adjacent the side walls 12 and 13. By means of elongate holes 24, 25 and screws 26. 27, the spacings b of the metal sheets from one another and thus the width b of the slots 21a... 21c, can be adjusted and can here be adapted in optimum manner to the thickness of the thin ribs to be sorted out. For space reasons, only three conveying surfaces 16a... 16c and three slots 21a... 21c are illustrated. For a good segregation quality of the thin rib pieces, a plurality of such conveying surfaces having slots arranged in between are advantageous. A conveyor belt which is only indicated in Figure 2 and whereof the end is designated 28 serves to supply the quantity stream comprising thin and thick rib pieces. A conveyor belt 29 serves to convey away the thin rib pieces which have been sorted out, and a conveyor belt 31 serves to convey away the thicker rib pieces. Only the start of the above-mentioned conveying-away belts is indicated. In Figure 1, the conveyor belts 28... 31 are omitted for the sake of clarity.

The mode of functioning of the arrangement according to Figures 1 and 2:

A quantity stream supplied by conveyor belt 28 in the direction of the arrow 19 and containing a mixture of thin and thicker rib pieces passes onto the conveying surface 16a of the vibrating conveyor channel 2 and, as a result of the vibrating movement effected by the vibrating drive 8, is conveyed in the direction of the arrow 19. Here, the thin rib pieces tend to orient themselves with their longitudinal extent transverse to the conveying direction, in other words approximately in the direction of the extent of the slots 21a... 2lc, so that they can fall through the slots onto the bottom surface 14. If the thinner rib pieces are given the opportunity a number of times or many times to fall through slots 21, then the separation result is improved. The thin rib pieces which have been sorted out are transferred from the bottom surface 14 onto the conveyor belt 29 and conveyed away, and the thicker rib pieces which have not passed through the slots 21 are transferred from the conveying surface 16c onto the conveyor belt 31 and conveyed away.

The bent-up parts of the conveying surfaces 16a... 16c to form ramp-type rising faces 18a...' 18c and the generally upwardly inclined conveying path of the vibrating conveyor channel 2 are not absolutely necessary, but have proved to be advantageous.

The variant according to Figure 3, of which only the vibrating conveyor channel 2 is illustrated, has two respective conveying surface pairs 16a, 16b; 16c, 16d; 16e, 16f which are followed by a respective slat 21a... 21f. The conveying surfaces of each pair ascend together, each conveying surface 16a... 16f additionally having a ramp-type rising face 18a... 18f. Following two respective conveying surfaces are steps 34 running steeply downwards, after which the following pair of conveying surfaces ascends again. The steps 34 have the purpose and advantage that the rib pieces lying originally at the top in the supplied quantity stream can move to the bottom, so that the chances of the thin ribs passing into the region of the slots 21 are increased. Advantageously, in the variant of Figure 3, too, a plurality of conveying surfaces (relative to the drawing) is advantageous for successful separation.

The arrangement for sorting out short uncut rib pieces (raw ribs) according to Figures 4 and 5 has a vibrating conveyor 1 which contains a vibrating conveyor channel 2 which rests on a vibrating plate 5 by means of supports 3 and 4. The vibrating plate 5 in turn is supported on a baseplate 7 by way of springs 6. For driving, i.e. for generating a vibrating movement, there serves a vibrating drive 8 known per se having an adjustable frequency. The vibrating conveyor channel has side walls 11, 12 and 13 (omitted in Fig. 5) and a bottom surface 14. Located above the bottom surface 14 are thin conveying surfaces 16a... 16d, e.g. of sheet metal, which have channel-type descending faces 36a.1... 36a.5, 36b.1... 36b.5, 36c.1... 36c.5, 36d.1... 36d.5 running in the conveying direction. The channel-type descending faces can be triangular (as seen in crosssection). There can be provided more descending faces than the four illustrated in the drawing. The conveying surfaces 16a... 16c, terminate at slots 21a... 21c running transversely, e.g. perpendicular with respect to the conveying direction 19. The width b of the slots depends on the length of the rib pieces to be sorted out and can be for example 4 mm to 30 mm. The downwardly inclined angle of the vibrating conveyor channel 2 can lie between 20 and 100, with respect to the horizontal, and can be e. g. 70. It is advantageously selected such that the rib pieces do not become detached from the conveying surfaces during conveying,"so that they do not make any jumping movements. The metal sheets 16a... 16d bear against the side walls 12 and 13 of adjacent supporting metal sheets. By means of elongate holes 24, 25 and screws 26, 6 27, the spacings of the metal sheets from one another and thus the width of the slots 21a... 21c can be adjusted. Located downstream of a slot 21a. .. 21c, advantageously at the start of the following conveying surface, with its preferably triangular channels is a flat surface 37a... 37c which has at the start thereof a small bent-up part 38a... 38c which can be between 0.3 mm and 0.9 mm. The conveying surfaces following a slot 21a. .. 21c, i.e. the flat surfaces 37a... 37c, descend downwards slightly, e. g. by 0.3 mm to 5 mm. Located in the course of the first conveying surface 16a are aligning elements in the form of triangular riders 39 which effect a rotation of the ribs such that their longitudinal directions lie in the conveying direction and thus in the longitudinal direction of the channel-type descending faces 36.

For space reasons, only four conveying surfaces 16a.. 16d and three slots 21a... 21c are illustrated. For good segregation of the short rib pieces, a plurality of such conveying surfaces with slots arranged therebetween are advantageous. A conveyor belt which is only illustrated in Figure 5 and whereof the end is designated 28 serves to supply the mixture comprising short and longer rib pieces. A conveyor belt serves to convey away the short rib pieces which have been sorted out, and a further conveyor belt serves to convey away the thicker rib pieces. The starts of these conveyor belts are designated items 29 and 31 respectively.

The mode of functioning of the arrangement according to Figures 4 and 5:

The quantity stream supplied by conveyor belt 28 in the direction of the arrow 19 and containing a mixture of shorter and longer rib pieces passes onto the conveying surface 16a of the vibrating conveyor channel 2 and as a result of the vibrating movements is conveyed in the direction of the arrow 19. The triangular riders 39 turn the rib pieces or at least most of the rib pieces round such that their longitudinal extents run in the conveying direction and they accumulate in the lower part of the triangular channels 36a.1... 36a.5. As a result of the inclination of the entire vibrating conveyor channel 2, relatively small vibration amplitudes are sufficient for adequate conveying, so that the rib pieces do not need to become detached from the conveying surface 16a. The longer rib pieces pass over the slot 21a and the bent-up portion 38a onto the flat conveying surface 37a, on from there to the conveying surface 16b provided with channels 36b.1... 36b.5, from there over the slot 21b and the bent-up part 38b onto the conveying 7 surfaces 37b and 16c etc., until they are deposited by the conveying surface 16d onto the conviyingaway belt 31.

The short rib pieces to be sorted out can pass through one of the slots 21a... 21c onto the bottom surface 14, from which they are supplied to the conveying-away belt 29. The bent-up parts 38 and the flat conveying surfaces 37 promote the separation effect.

Figure 6 shows, schematicany, a variant of the separation arrangement according to Figures 4 and 5 which gives very successful separation. Three rows of conveying metal sheets 16a.1... 16g.1, 16a.2... 16g.2 and 16a.3... 16g.3 arranged one on top of the other and above a bottom surface 14 are illustrated schematically in the vibrating conveyor channel 2. Not visible channel-type descending faces (36 in Figures 4 and 5), bent-up parts (38 in Figures 4 and 5), flat conveying surfaces (37 in Figures 4 and 5) and riders (39 in Figures 4 and 5) are associated with the conveying metal sheets. The slots 21a.1... 21f.1 between the conveying surfaces 16a.1... 16g.1 are arranged offset with respect to the slots 21a.2... 21f.2 arranged under them between the conveying surfaces 16a.2... 16g.2. The last-mentioned slots are again offset with respect to the slots 21a.3... 21f.3 arranged under them, the last-mentioned slots being arranged between the conveying surfaces 16a.3... 16g.3. The openings 21a.1... 21f.1 are the widest (e.g 20 mm), the openings 21a.2... 21f.2 are narrower (e.g. 10 mm) and the openings 21a.3... 21f.3 are the narrowest (e.g. 5 mm). The vibrating conveyor channel 2 having the conveying surfaces 16 is advantageously downwardly inclined in the conveying direction, as can be seen for example in Figure 5.

The quantity stream supplied by a conveyor belt 28 and comprising short and long rib pieces first passes onto the uppermost row of conveying surfaces 16a.1... 16g.l. The longest rib pieces pass as far as the last conveying surface 16g.1 and are deposited from there as a first part quantity stream onto the conveying-away belt 31. Some of the shorter and the short rib pieces to be sorted out fall through the slots 21a.1... 21f. 1 and pass as a second part quantity stream onto the conveying surfaces 16a.2... 16g.2 arranged under them. Still relatively long rib pieces pass by way of these conveying surfaces to the conveying-away belt 31. The short rib pieces to be sorted out and some still somewhat longer rib pieces fall through the slots 21a.2... 21f.2 arranged therebetween onto the conveying surfaces 16a.3... 16g.3 arranged thereunder and form a third part quantity stream there. The ribs which are not to be sorted out pass on the conveying surfaces to 8 the conveying-away belt 31. The rib pieces to be sorted out pass to the bottom surface 14 through the slots 21a.3... 21f.3 lying between the conveying surfaces and are conveyed on this bottom surface 14 through the outlet 40 to a conveying-away belt 29.

As a result of the arrangement in Figure 6, the arriving quantity stream is divided into three part quantity streams, the last one containing the short rib pieces to be sorted out and only a small fraction of the originally present longer rib pieces, which greatly improves the separation result. Moreover, short rib pieces to be sorted out can be sorted out better from only slightly longer rib pieces than from relatively long rib pieces.

9

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Arrangement for sorting out thin and/or short rib pieces of tobacco from a quantity stream of rib pieces, having a vibrating conveyor for conveying the quantity stream, this vibrating conveyor being provided with at least one through opening for the rib pieces to be sorted out to fall through, characterized in that the through opening is constructed as a slot (21) which extends transversely with respect to the conveying direction (19) of the vibrating conveyor (2).

2. Arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor (2) has upstream of the slot (21) a ramp-type rising face (18) in its conveying surface (16).

3. Arrangement according to Claim 1 andlor 2, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor has a plurality of ramptype rising faces and slots arranged one behind the other.

4. Arrangement according to Claim 3, characterized in that the conveying path of the vibrating conveyor ascends in the conveying direction (19).

5. Arrangement according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least two conveying surfaces of the vibrating conveyor are constructed in ascending manner with associated slots, in that thereafter the conveying surface has a step (34) running steeply downwards, and in that after the step at least the next two conveying surfaces are again constructed in ascending manner with associated slots.

6. Arrangement according to Claim 2 or one or more of the subsequent claims, characterized in that the size of the ramp-type rising face andlor the width of the slot are adjustable (24... 27).

7. Arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor (2) has upstream of the slot (21) channel-type descending faces (36) running in the conveying direction (19), and in that downstream of the slot the vibrating conveyor is first constructed to be flat (37) and is thereafter provided with channel-type descending faces again.

8. Arrangement according to Claim 7, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor downstream of the slot has a lower conveying level as a result of a descending face.

9.. Arrangement according to Claim 7 and/or 8, characterized in that the width of the slot and/or the descending face of the vibrating conveyor (24... 27) is adjustable.

10. Arrangement according to one or more of Claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor has a plurality of slots and descending faces arranged one behind the other.

11. Arrangement according to one or more of Claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the vibrating conveyor is downwardly inclined in the conveying direction (19).

12. Arrangement according to one or more of Claims 7 to 11, characterized in that a plurality of conveying surfaces (16a.1... 16g.1, 16a.2... 16g.2, 16a.3... 16g.3) arranged one on top of the other are provided with intermediate slots (21a.1... 21f.1, 21a.2... 21f.2, 21a.3... 21f.3) of different lengths.

13. Arrangement according to one or more of Claims 7 to 12, characterized in that there are provided at the start of the conveying path aligning elements (39) which align the ribs such that their longitudinal extent matches up with the course of the channel-type descending faces (36.1... 36.5).

14. Arrangement according to one or more of Claims 7 to 13, characterized in that the flat conveying surfaces (37a... 37c) have bent-up parts (38a.. . 38c) on their edges adjacent their one slot (21a... 21c).

15. Apparatus for sorting tobacco substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.