GB691988A - Improvements in or relating to continuous rod cigarette making machines - Google Patents

Abstract

691,988. Cigarette-making machines. IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. (OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND), Ltd. Dec. 13, 1951 [Dec. 14, 1950], No. 30489/50. Class 130. A short-cigarette rejecting-device, for a continuous-rod machine of the kind in which, in normal operation, the cigarette rod 1 leaving the garniture 2 unsupportedly jumps a breakout gap G to enter a funnel 3 directing it to a cut-off 4, 6, the cigarettes thus formed proceeding to a conveyer 7 forwarding them axially to a catcher 15, 16 removing them transversely into row formation, consists of a rejector 10 positioned after the cut-off 4, 6 and actuated with delayed action from a feeler 31 which normally bears on the rod 1 as shown to prevent the rejector 10 from operating but moves to actuate the rejector when there is no co-acting rod. Rejection of the finally-cut cigarettes, which may be short, is thus effected when the funnel 3 is cleared by hand after machine stoppage, due to a break-out 22 or otherwise; and, upon starting, the delayed action allows rejection of the first one or more cigarettes cut, which may also be short, before the rejector 10 ceases to operate. The feeler 31, which is a pivoted arm bearing on the rod 1 through a roller 33, carries one member of a switch 29 which when closed energizes a solenoid 27 for delayed operation of a mercury switch 26 energizing a solenoid 24 to lower a platform 10, Fig. 2, so that cigarettes 34 fall sideways from the conveyer 7 to rejection. When raised, the platform 10 supports cigarettes in co-action with the conveyer 7 comprising two endless coil springs in parallel and which slope gradually towards the platform until a point opposite a detent 36 is reached at which drive of the cigarettes by the conveyer commences, the detent 36 serving by frictional retardation to ensure continuous abutment of the cut cigarettes prior to this point. A conveyer 11 moving faster than the rod 1 spaces the cut cigarettes for co-action with the catches 15, 16. Owing to the distance between the drive point of the conveyer 7 and the cut-off, which comprises a rotary knife 4 and a reciprocating ledger plate 6, the final cigarette cut upon rodbreak-out, which may be due to faulty pasting in the garniture 2 or mis-operation of a heater 42, is never forwarded by the conveyer 7. Specification 609,015 is referred to in the Provisional Specification, according to which the feeler 31 may support the roller 33 through ball bearings.