GB662450A - Improvements in or relating to devices for assembling batches of cigarettes for packing - Google Patents

Abstract

662,450. Packaging cigarettes. KEMP, W. J., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. Jan. 17, 1950 [Jan. 26, 1949], No. 2136/49. Class 94(i) A device for assembling a batch of three rows of cigarettes, the middle row whereof has one cigarette less than the other rows, in nested formation, comprises means for feeding cigarettes on to a surface 14 as a - loose batch comprising a group of three rows with an equal number of cigarettes in each row and two further cigarettes one resting on the other at one side of the group. Means 19 are provided for supporting said further cigarettes so that the top surface of the upper one is substantially at the same height above the surface 14, as the top surface of the finished nested batch, a pusher for conveying all the cigarettes fed to the surface 14 through guides 20, 21 wherein, at B, they are gathered in laterally, a recess 22 in one guide, 21, into which the lower of said further cigarettes can move as the middle row of the group is shifted laterally by a rib 25 on the other guide, 20, the supporting means 19 for said further cigarettes terminating substantially at the end of said recess 22 which leads to a further recess 23 which slopes downwards and leads the said lower cigarette down to said surface 14. Further lateral movement of the middle row of the group due to the shape of the rib 25 causes the cigarette of that row which is nearest to the recess 23 to move beneath the upper of said further cigarettes and support it. A rib 24 formed on the guide 21 and extending above the recess 23 assists in supporting the upper of said two further cigarettes. The cigarettes are fed from a hopper to the surface 14 through slots formed by partitions 9 at the base of the hopper, the two outer partitions extending down to approximately the height of the batch of cigarettes and the inner partitions extending down to about two-thirds of a cigarette diameter from the bed 14. Detector fingers 26 may be provided operative by the absence of a cigarette. Cover plates 29, 30, are provided over the channel between the guides 20, 21.