GB2289611A - Merging conveyed flows of cigarettes - Google Patents

Description

CIGARETTE CONVEYOR SYSTEM 2289611 The present invention relates to a

cigarette conveyor system.

In particular, the present invention relates to a cigarette conveyor system which may be used to advantage for receiving filter-tipped cigarettes from two or more manufacturing machines and feeding them to one or more packing machines.

Filter-tipped cigarette manufacturing and packing systems are known to employ conveyors presenting a number of inputs, each connected to the output of a respective filter-tipped cigarette manufacturing machine, and one or more outputs, each connected to the input of a respective packing machine. As the conveyors are normally overhead types located substantially horizontally over the machines and at such a height as to enable personnel and the trucks carrying the wrapping material to move freely between the machines, each output is normally defined by an upflow conduit connected to the overhead conveyor by a T junction.

Though widely used on known filter-tipped cigarette manufacturing and packing systems, conveyors of the above type present numerous functional drawbacks when used for transporting cigarettes longer and thinner than normal and hereinafter referred to as "thin cigarettes."

The tipped end of filter-tipped cigarettes is known to be more rigid and larger in diameter than the other end, and the smaller the diameter of the cigarette, the greater the difference is in the rigidity and diameter of the two ends. Also, whenever equioriented filter-tipped cigarettes are arranged in a number of superimposed layers, the cigarettes in the upper layers are inclined in relation to those underneath on account of the difference in the rigidity and diameter of the two ends of each cigarette; and the slope of the cigarettes in the upper layers is inversely proportional to the diameter of the cigarettes, and directly proportional to the number of layers.

As such, when feeding thin cigarettes along an upflow conduit to an overhead conveyor, the cigarettes at the top of the conduit slope considerably, not only in relation to those at the bottom of the conduit, but also in relation to those in the overhead conveyor, so that two streams of differently inclined cigarettes converge at the T junction connecting the upflow conduit to the overhead conveyor. This results in two drawbacks: firstly, the more steeply inclined cigarettes tend to hinder the travel of the lesser inclined ones, thus 47 resulting in overpressure at the T junction; and, secondly, two differently inclined cigarettes, as opposed to contacting each other along a generating line, are only brought into contact at one point, thus resulting in relatively high contact pressures which, in the case of thin cigarettes, may be sufficient to deform or even break them. The same also applies when a relatively steeply inclined cigarette comes into contact with a curved surface (normally defined by the outer periphery of a pulley) connecting the upflow conduit to the overhead conveyor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette conveyor designed to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and which may be used to advantage for conveying thin cigarettes.

According to the present invention, there is provided a conveyor system for filter-tipped cigarettes, in particular thin cigarettes, comprising at least one junction presenting a first and second input and an output; a first and second feed conveyor connected to said first and second inputs; and an unloading conveyor connected to said output; the first feed conveyor and the output conveyor being substantially aligned with each other; and the second feed conveyor being an upflow conveyor towards said junction; characterized in that the second conveyor presents a curved top portion upstream from said junction, so that the junction is substantially Y-shaped.

As such, by means of said curved portion at the top end of the upflow conveyor, the stream of cigarettes traveling along the end portion of the curved portion is fed in a direction substantially parallel to that of the stream of cigarettes traveling along the first feed conveyor, so that the cigarettes supplied to the junction by the two feed conveyors all present substantially the same inclination. Consequently, the cigarettes from the upflow conveyor in no way obstruct those from the other feed conveyor at the junction, and both are brought into contact with each other substantially along their generating lines, so that the specific contact pressures exchanged between them are relatively low.

According to a preferred embodiment of the above conveyor system, the first feed conveyor is located higher than the unloading conveyor, and is connected to the unloading conveyor by a bend extending through the junction and between the output of the first feed conveyor and the input of the unloading conveyor; the output of said curved portion being substantially aligned with the input of the unloading conveyor.

Also, said bend preferably presents an intermediate portion crosswise to the first feed conveyor and to the unloading conveyor; said feed conveyors communicating with opposite ends of said intermediate portion.

As such, unlike traditional T junctions in which 1 the bottom portion of the junction is occupied by the output of the upflow conveyor, the unloading conveyor may be provided with a conveyor belt with its input end directly beneath the intermediate portion of the bend, so as to immediately free the junction of the cigarettes fed to it, and so avoid the formation of dangerous overpressures.

A non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system featuring a conveyor system in accordance with the teachings of the present invention; Figure 2 shows a larger-scale section of a detail in Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a section along line III-III in Figure 2.

Number 1 in Figure 1 indicates a system for manufacturing and packing thin cigarettes 2 (Figure 2), and comprising a conveyor system 3 connecting two cigarette manufacturing machines 4, 5 to a packing machine 6.

System 3 comprises a first feed conveyor 7 extending f rom the output 8 of machine 4 and in turn comprising an upf-low portion 9 and a substantially horizontal portion 10; and a second f eed conveyor 11 extending from the output 12 of machine 5 and in turn comprising an upflow portion 13 and a curved top portion 14. Portion 10 and curved portion 14 present respective outputs connected to respective inputs 15 and 16 of a Y junction 17 which presents an output 18 connected to the input of a substantially horizontal unloading conveyor 19; and conveyor 19 presents a downflow portion 20, the output of which is connected to the input feedbox 21 of packing machine 6.

As shown in Figure 2, input 15 connected to portion 10 of feed conveyor 7 is located slightly higher than output 18 connected to conveyor 19, and is connected to output 18 by a conduit 22 in the f orm of a bend and substantially defining junction 17. More specifically, conduit 22 comprises an elongated intermediate chamber 23 extending substantially vertically and crosswise to conveyor 19 and portion 10 of conveyor 7, and which communicates on the same side with conveyors 7 and 11 via inputs 15 and 16, the f irst located substantially over the second. on the other side, chamber 23 communicates with conveyor 19 via output 18 located at the bottom end of chamber 23 and substantially facing input 16.

As shown in Figure 2, portion 10 of conveyor 7 consists of a channel defined between walls 24 by the facing transportation branches of two conveyor belts 25 and 26 located the first over the second, and comprising respective pairs of pulleys 27 and 28, only two of which are shown and are located adjacent to input 15 and shielded by respective rigid walls 29 and 30. Wall 29 is Q j a curved, substantially S-shaped wall connecting input 15 and output 18 and forming a lateral wall of conduit 22; while wall 30 is also a curved wall connecting inputs 15 and 16, and defining both a further lateral wall of conduit 22, and a lateral wall of curved portion 14 which is defined on the opposite side to wall 30 by a further rigid wall 31.

As shown in Figure 2, the horizontal part of conveyor 19 consists of a channel defined between walls 24 by the facing transportation branches of two conveyor belts 32 and 33 located the first over the second, and comprising respective pairs of pulleys 34 and 35, only two of which are shown and are located adjacent to chamber 23 and of f set in relation to each other in the traveling direction 36 of cigarettes 2 towards packing machine 6. More specifically, pulley 34 is located adjacent to output 18, and projects inside chamber 23 through wall 29; while pulley 35 is located adjacent to input 16 and is shielded by wall 31, so that the transportation branch of conveyor 33 extends beneath the bottom end of chamber 23, and defines the bottom wall 23a of the chamber.

Finally, as shown in Figure 2, the upflow portion 13 of conveyor 11 consists of a channel defined between walls 24 by the facing transportation branches of two conveyor belts 37 and 38 arranged side by side and comprising respective pairs of pulleys 39 and 40, only two of which are shown and are located adjacent to the bottom end of curved portion 14 defined between walls 30 and 31.

As shown in Figure 3, conveyor 33 - like all the other conveyors 25, 26, 32, 37, 38 - is defined by a number of side by side endless belts 41, the transportation branches of which extend along respective longitudinal openings 42 formed through the adjacent rigid wall which, in the case of conveyor 33, consists of wall 31.

In actual use, the cigarettes 2 f ed by conveyor 7 to chamber 23 - and hereinafter indicated 2a - reach chamber 23 with a relatively small mean inclination in relation to the perpendicular to the Figure 2 plane, by virtue of the relatively small height of input 15 and hence the relatively small number of superimposed layers of cigarettes 2a traveling through it; and cigarettes 2a mix substantially smoothly inside chamber 23 with the cigarettes 2 - hereinafter indicated 2b - fed by conveyor 11 through input 16, by virtue of cigarettes 2b reaching chamber 23 with substantially the same mean inclination as cigarettes 2a. Cigarettes 2b, in f act, which sloped relatively sharply at the top end of upflow portion 13 on account of the large number of superimposed layers inside portion 13, are restored to a decidedly lesser inclined position by the number of superimposed layers of cigarettes 2b being reduced drastically by curved portion 14. More specifically, as the portion of curved portion 14 connected to input 16 is substantially horizontal, and inputs 15 and 16 present substantially the same height, the mean inclination of cigarettes 2b traveling through input 16 is, as already stated, substantially equal to that of cigarettes 2a through input 15.

In other words, inside chamber 23, cigarettes 2 are arranged contacting one another along their generating lines, thus reducing the specific contact pressures between them and so safeguarding them against damage.

It should be pointed out that cigarettes 2b contacting the curved portion of wall 31 at the bottom of chamber 23 present substantially no inclination in relation to wall 31, so that the specific contact pressures involved are again relatively reduced.

Moreover, the portion of conveyor 33 along the bottom end of chamber 23 provides for continually clearing the chamber and so preventing excessive pressures from building up inside the chamber due to the confluence of the two streams of cigarettes 2a and 2b.

Though the above description relates to a system 1 comprising only two manufacturing machines 4 and 5, the same obviously also applies to systems (not shown) comprising three or more manufacturing machines (not shown), each connected to a common header (not shown) for supplying one or more packing machines (not shown).

Claims (7)

1) A conveyor system for filter-tipped cigarettes (2), in particular thin cigarettes, comprising at least one junction (17) presenting a first and second input (15, 16) and an output (18); a f irst and second f eed conveyor (7, 11) connected to said f irst and second inputs (15, 16); and an unloading conveyor (19) connected to said output (18); the first feed conveyor (7) and the output conveyor (19) being substantially aligned with each other; and the second feed conveyor (11) being an upflow conveyor towards said junction (17); characterized in that the second conveyor (11) presents a curved top portion (14) upstream from said junction (17), so that the junction (17) is substantially Y-shaped.

2) A system as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the first feed conveyor (7) is located higher than the unloading conveyor (19), and is connected to the unloading conveyor (19) by a bend (22) extending through said junction (17) and between the output of the first conveyor (7), which output is coincident with the first input (15) of the junction (17), and the input of the unloading conveyor (19), which input is coincident with the output (18) of the junction (17); said curved portion (14) of the second conveyor (11) presenting an output coincident with the second input (16) of the junction (17) and substantially aligned with the input (18) of the unloading conveyor (19).

3) A system as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said bend (22) presents an intermediate portion (23) crosswise to the first feed conveyor (7) and to the unloading conveyor (19); said feed conveyors (7, 11) communicating with opposite ends of said intermediate portion (23), which ends are coincident with the first and second inputs (15, 16) of the junction (17).

4) A system as claimed in Claim 3, characterized in that said curved portion (14) is defined by rigid curved walls (30, 31).

5) A system as claimed in Claim 4, characterized in that said rigid walls (30, 31) so extend as to define, at least partly, said crosswise intermediate portion (23) of said bend (22).

6) A system as claimed in Claim 3, 4 or 5, in that the unloading conveyor (19) comprises a conveyor (33) extending from said second input (16) and defining the bottom end (23a) of said crosswise intermediate portion (23) of said bend (22).

7) A conveyor system (3) for filter-tipped cigarettes (2), in particular thin cigarettes, substantially as described and illustrated herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

characterized