409,766. Packeting cigarettes. MOLINS, W. E., 2, Evelyn Street, Deptford, London. Nov. 10, 1932, No. 31764. [Class 94 (i).] Block-shaped articles or batches of cigarettes are enclosed in containers of the slide and shell type, the shell of which may be open at both ends, or block ended. According to the invention, an article is deposited on an unfolded or partly folded slide which is moved into engagement with wrapping material which is completed as a shell about the article by folding or by securing preformed folds. The slide blanks A, Fig. 4, are delivered at position 14, Fig. 3, and are fed forward by members 15 on a continuously moving endless conveyer 16. The members are so shaped that the upper portion 15<a> overlies the side flap a. The cigarettes are fed, in batches, over a plate 12<a> by a transverse conveying device and arrive between the blades of a guide member 16<a>. Dur - ing this movement the gap m in the machine bed through which the members 15 pass is temporarily bridged by a plate 117, which is moved into the position shown in Fig. 3<a>, and then moved with the cigarettes to the left, and is then completely retracted so that the slide blank can pass beneath the cigarettes. The guide 16<a> rises and the charged slide blank is fed beneath a brush 19<a>, which, together with the upper portion 15<a> of the member 15, maintains the batch on the centre panel c of the blank. Spiral folders 19 co-operate with knife edges 21 to fold up the ends b of the blank, and a further pair of folders 20 turn down the cover flaps d on to the upper surface of the batch. An upper conveyer 22 carries the batch against a stop 26 on the table 1 of a conveyer 28, Fig. 1, arranged at right-angles to the conveyer 16. The conveyer 22 moves at the same linear speed as that of the conveyer 16, but, owing to moving round the radius of a sprocket 25<a>, the members 23 are momentarily accelerated and move the charged slide out of engagement with the members 15 before the latter move beneath the bed 13. A catch 23<a> co-operates with each member 23 to maintain the batch in position, and guides 24<a> keep the flaps d folded down. A pusher piece 27, Fig. 1, on the conveyer 28 carries the slide past folders 27<a> which turn up the side flaps a and the completely folded slide passes through a mouthpiece 29 formed of thin spring steel. The shells S are made in the form of a block-ended pouch on a plunger which moves the blank through folding dies and delivers them into a channel 2. The lowermost shell is thrust between rotating discs 3 which swing it through 90‹ on to the bed 1 with the block end abutting against a spring stop 11. The mouth-piece 29 now moves into the shell at the same time as the slide enters the mouth-piece, and the pusher 27 causes the complete insertion of the slide, whereupon the spring stop 11 is released and the packet moved to the left. The side flaps of the shell are opened by folders 38 and gummed by wheels 39. Folders 41 turn back the flaps, which are held in position by discs 47. A stripper 48 removes each packet into a heated stacker 42. In a modification, an open ended shell is formed round the slide. When the slides, with the flaps b, d folded up, reach positions 58, Fig. 9, the pusher pieces 59 are tripped and an upper conveyer 60 carries the slide on to the blank of a shell. The blanks 64 are fed by a pusher 66, which carries the assembly past folders 67 whereby the side flaps of the slide and the sides f and panel g of the shell are folded up. A single folder 68 turns down the flap h and a wheel 69 applies adhesive. The packet is now as shown in Fig. 11. A folder 70 turns down the panel f upon the flap h. A portion 71 of the folder 70 may be prolonged to ensure adhesion, and the completed packet is fed into a vertical stacker 72. In a further modification, the loaded shell is carried against a vertically disposed shell blank which is folded into a U -shape, whereupon a transversely moving conveyer carries the assembly to folding mechanism for completing an open-ended shell. In another form, the slide is carried against a vertically disposed blank for forming a blockended shell.