JP2002360235A - Hopper apparatus for bar-shaped article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hopper apparatus for bar-shaped articles, with which bar-shaped articles supplied to the hopper can be piled up in a fixed position without disturbing the position of bar-shaped articles. SOLUTION: This hopper apparatus is equipped with a supply unit 18 for supplying filter rods sideways in a horizontal position and a rod hopper 14 for accumulating the supplied filter rods. The rod hopper 14 has a chute 26 extending from a receiving opening of the rod hopper to an outlet. The guide surface of the chute 26 is equipped with a plurality of projected stripes 68 at intervals in the down direction. The projected stripes 68 are protruded from the guide surface of the chute 26 and extended in the crosswise direction of the guide surface. The supplied filter rods are properly pressed against the guide surface of the chute 26 by a rod pressing member 53. In the process of lowering on the chute 26, the filter rods cross over the projected stripes 68 and are brought into contact with the projected stripes 68 so as to retain a horizontal position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hopper device for a bar-shaped article which can receive a supplied bar-shaped article and store it therein.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hopper device of this type is used, for example, in a filter cigarette maker to supply a filter rod. The filter rod is a rod-shaped article having a length of two to three filter plugs, and a filter material having a plain structure or a multilayer structure is wound in an axial direction inside a wrapping paper wrapping the outer periphery thereof. Such a filter rod is blown from a filter feeder to a filter cigarette maker through a predetermined blow pipe.
In a filter cigarette manufacturing machine, a filter rod is received by a predetermined receiver, and at this time, the filter rod is changed in the transport direction from the axial direction to the lateral direction, and is supplied to the hopper device in a horizontal posture. The hopper device has a capacity to store a large amount of filter rods, and the supplied filter rods are sequentially stored in a state of being laid horizontally, that is, in a horizontally stacked state. On the other hand, the filter rods stored in the hopper device are fed out one by one in the filter cigarette manufacturing machine, and are conveyed through a predetermined conveyance path. In this transporting process, the filter rod is cut for every two or three filter plugs, and further subjected to a process such as grading and alignment. Thereafter, the filter plug is wrapped with a piece of tip paper in a state in which one cigarette is connected to each end of the filter plug,
Thereby, a double filter cigarette is formed.

[0003]

As described above, the hopper device has a certain capacity, and there is a large step between its inlet and outlet. For this reason, when the filter rod is supplied in an empty state or when the filter rod is supplied in a state where the remaining amount thereof is small, the drop in the input is large. In such a case, the filter rod is supplied to the hopper device, and may be displaced from the initial lateral posture before reaching the lower layer inside the hopper device. For example, all the filter rods need to be stacked horizontally in the hopper device, but if they remain in the hopper while being displaced vertically at the time of loading, the filter rod blocks the outlet, and the filter rod is unreeled. Become impossible. In such a situation, the operation of the filter cigarette maker must be temporarily stopped to release the blockage of the outlet of the hopper device.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reliably maintain the initial position of a bar-shaped article when it is received in a hopper device in a horizontal position.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bar-shaped article hopper apparatus for supplying a bar-shaped article in a horizontal position in a horizontal direction, and receiving the bar-shaped article from the supply section. A hopper for storing rod-shaped articles therein, a chute extending from the vicinity of the receiving port of the hopper toward the outlet, and guiding the supplied rod-shaped articles laterally along a predetermined guide surface; And a plurality of ridges projecting from the guide surface and extending in the transverse direction, and when the supplied bar-shaped article is guided by the chute, a pressing force is applied to the bar-shaped article in the guide surface direction. And a pressing member to be applied.

According to the hopper device described above, the supplied bar-shaped article is guided by the chute from the hopper receiving port and descends in the exit direction. At this time, the bar-shaped article sequentially advances on the guide surface while climbing over the ridge. Since the ridge extends in the width direction of the guide surface, when the bar-shaped article comes into contact with the ridge, its posture is corrected horizontally. In addition, since the bar-shaped article receives a pressing force in the direction of the guide surface by the pressing member, the bar-shaped article can surely come into contact with the ridge when descending the chute. It does not bounce off the surface.

The above-mentioned ridge has an arc-shaped cross section on the near side when viewed in the guide direction of the chute. Such a cross-sectional shape of the ridge provides an appropriate resistance to the bar-shaped article when the bar-shaped article descends on the chute along the guide surface, while facilitating the climbing. The ridge has an inclined surface extending from the top to the guide surface of the chute. In this case, since the top of the ridge becomes a gentle downward slope when viewed in the direction of the chute, the rod-shaped article must climb over the top of the ridge and be suddenly hit the ridge on the guide surface. There is no.

It is preferable that the height at which the ridge projects from the guide surface is set to a dimension corresponding to the radius of the bar-shaped article. The ridge can keep the posture of the bar-shaped article horizontally at this height, and can also easily get over it. The arrangement interval of the ridges is set to a dimension smaller than the entire length of the bar-shaped article (claim 5). For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent the bar-shaped article from being displaced to the vertical position between the ridges.

The above-mentioned hopper is disposed on both sides as viewed in the direction of guiding the chute, and includes a pair of side walls facing each other with the length of the bar-shaped article, and the hopper device for a bar-shaped article according to the present invention. Further includes vibrating means for vibrating the side wall of the hopper in the width direction of the chute. According to this hopper device, the rod-shaped articles stored in the hopper are aligned in the axial direction.

[0010]

FIG. 1 schematically shows a filter cigarette making machine. The filter cigarette making machine has a main frame 2 and a drum row 4 extending from the right end toward the center. As is well known, the drum array 4 conveys the double-length cigarettes received from, for example, a cigarette hoisting machine while sequentially delivering them. In this transport process, the double-length cigarette is cut into two single cigarettes, and these two single cigarettes are separated in the axial direction to form a cigarette row. On the assembly drum 6 in the middle of the drum row 4, filter plugs are supplied between the cigarette rows, and these are closely adhered in the axial direction to become an intermediate product of the double filter cigarette. The intermediate product of the double filter cigarette is transferred from the outlet drum 8 of the drum row 4 onto the rolling plate 10, and the coke drum 1
Rolling on the rolling plate 10 with the rotation of 2. The coke drum 12 supplies chip paper pieces to the intermediate product, and the chip paper pieces are wrapped around the intermediate product in the course of rolling. Since the tip paper piece is pre-coated with glue, the intermediate product becomes a double filter cigarette in which cigarettes are respectively connected to both ends of the filter plug by winding the tip paper piece.

The hopper device of the present invention is used, for example, in a filter cigarette maker for supplying the above-mentioned filter plug. Specifically, the hopper device includes a pair of rod hoppers 14 disposed on the upper part of the filter cigarette maker, and the rod hoppers 14 are substantially symmetrical on the left and right. The hopper device is supplied with filter rods from a filter supply device (not shown) by air blowing, and the supplied filter rods are sequentially supplied to the rod hopper 1.
4. On the other hand, the stored filter rods are fed out of the rod hopper 14 and a predetermined drum row 16
Conveyed through. The drum row 16 is connected to the above-described assembly drum 6, and includes a cutting drum, a grading drum, a plug aligning drum, and the like (no reference numeral) in the middle thereof. In the cutting drum, the filter rod is cut into, for example, two filter plugs by a rotary knife adjacent thereto. The grading drum is, for example, a plurality of grooved drums having different outer peripheral lengths overlapped in the width direction. With the rotation, two filter plugs are staggered according to the difference in the number of grooves formed on the outer periphery. Make a step-shaped array. And
In the plug aligning drum, the filter plugs received in a staggered arrangement are aligned at a central position in the transport direction, are aligned in a line, and are supplied to the assembly drum 6.

At the time of conveyance by the drum rows 4 and 16 described above,
The cigarettes, filter rods, filter plugs and the like are all kept in a horizontal position, and the axes of these cigarettes and the like match the direction of the rotation axis of each drum. Therefore, in the above-mentioned rod hopper 14, all the filter rods need to be stored in advance in a horizontal posture that matches the posture during transportation.

FIGS. 2 and 3 specifically show one of the rod hoppers 14 and the like in the hopper device described above.
The hopper device has a supply unit 18 for each rod hopper 14. The supply unit 18 has a pair of belt conveyors 20, 22, and these belt conveyors 20, 22 are erected with their conveying surfaces facing each other. The endless belts of the belt conveyors 20 and 22 extend in the vertical direction, and a supply passage for the filter rod is formed between the endless belts facing each other. The filter rod is blown through a blower tube, received by a receiver (not shown), and transferred to the supply unit 18. The supply unit 18 guides the transported filter rods from the lower ends of the belt conveyors 20 and 22 into the supply passage, and moves the transport surfaces of the belt conveyors 20 and 22 upward to transport the filter rods upward.
At this time, the filter rod is in a horizontal position in the supply passage, and its axis coincides with the width direction of the endless belt. Therefore, when the filter rod is sent out from the upper ends of the belt conveyors 20 and 22, the filter rod is thrown into the rod hopper 14 in a horizontal posture in a horizontal direction.

The rod hopper 14 has a receiving port connected to the upper ends of the above-mentioned belt conveyors 20 and 22, while its outlet is connected to the drum row 16. A hopper drum 24 is arranged at the start end of the drum row 16, and a large number of grooves are formed on the outer periphery thereof at regular intervals in the circumferential direction. The filter rod stored in the rod hopper 14 is inserted into the groove of the hopper drum 24 at the outlet of the hopper, and is fed out from the rod hopper 14 with the rotation.

The rod hopper 14 has a chute 26 extending from the receiving inlet to the outlet. Shoot 26
Is the upper roller 27 of one belt conveyor 22
The chute 26 is bent from the upper end of the hopper drum 24 along the belt wrapping direction.
Diagonally downward toward. More specifically, the upper half of the chute 26 has a large inclination, is bent in the middle, and the lower half has a gentle inclination. Also shoot 26
Is bent so as to protrude from the side with respect to the outer surface of the hopper drum 24.

The rod hopper 14 has a partition wall 28 for blocking the opposite side of the chute 26. The partition wall 28 extends obliquely upward from the vicinity of the top of the hopper drum 24 so as to widen the distance from the chute 26, and is bent vertically upward in the middle thereof. The chute 26 and the partition wall 28 described above are separated from each other in the direction in which the filter rod is inserted. Therefore, the chute 26 and the partition wall 28 define the depth of the rod hopper 14. The widths of the chute 26 and the partition wall 28 define the width of the rod hopper 14. On both sides of the chute 26 and the partition wall 28, a rear panel 30 and a front door 32 to be side walls of the rod hopper 14 are arranged, respectively.

The rear panel 30 is located on the back side of the fuselage, and partitions the rear surface of the rod hopper 14 when viewed from the front of the fuselage.
The above-mentioned partition wall 28 is supported by the body of the body via brackets 34 and 36, and the rear panel 30 has one side edge supported by the bracket 34, and furthermore, the body of the body through a rod 38 in the middle thereof. It is supported by the body. In addition,
Two rods 38 are provided at an interval in the longitudinal direction of the rear panel 30, and only one of them is shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the front door 32 is located on the front side of the fuselage, and extends laterally so as to cover the front surface of the rod hopper 14. The left edge of the front door 32 is supported by the bracket 34 via a hinge 40, and the hinges 40 are provided at two locations along the left edge of the front door 32.
Therefore, the front door 32 pivots around the axis of the hinge 40 toward the body side, and can open the front surface of the rod hopper 14. The minimum distance W between the rear panel 30 and the front door 32 is set to a dimension slightly larger than the entire length of the filter rod (for example, about 2 mm in total length).

Supply unit 18 and rod hopper 14
A side frame 44 of the fuselage is erected on the side of. The side frame 44 extends up and down the sides of the rod hopper 14 and the supply unit 18 and covers these from the sides. The subframe 4 is provided on the side frame 44.
6 is connected, and the sub-frame 46 is connected to the rear panel 3
0 extends in its longitudinal direction. Subframe 4
6 covers the rear of the supply unit 18 and
Holding.

A bracket 48 is provided on the sub-frame 46.
The rod guide 50, the rod pressing member 53, and the like are fixed via the bracket 48. The bracket 48 is attached in parallel with the side frame 44 and extends vertically above the belt conveyor 20. A support plate 52 is further attached to the base end of the bracket 48, and the support plate 52 extends horizontally from the bracket 48 into the rod hopper 14.

The rod guide 50 is attached to the front end of the support plate 52 and extends downward from the support plate 52 toward the belt conveyor 20. Rod guide 50
Has a guide surface connected to the belt surface of the belt conveyor 20, and the guide surface extends upward from an upper end of the belt conveyor 20 and curves toward the inside of the rod hopper 14.

The rod pressing member 53 is, for example, a member formed by combining a large number of chain links in a mesh shape, and is formed by folding it in the longitudinal direction. The rod pressing member 53 has an overall width substantially equal to the width of the rod hopper 14, and the upper end is mounted on the support plate 52 in a state where the width direction matches the width direction of the rod hopper 14. Further, in this state, the rod pressing member 53 hangs down from the tip of the support plate 52 into the rod hopper 14 and extends downward along the guide surface of the chute 26.

The filter rod sent out from the upper ends of the belt conveyors 20 and 22 is guided by the rod guide 50 and the rod pressing member 53 and guided to the receiving port of the rod hopper 14. Thereby, each filter rod is guided into the rod hopper 14 without disturbing the supply posture. Further, when the filter rod is guided by the chute 26, the rod pressing member 53 contacts the filter rod,
The filter rod is pressed against the guide surface of the chute 26 by its own weight.

The above-mentioned front door 32 is formed so that the right edge thereof matches the outer surface of the side frame 44. A lug 54 is attached to the right edge of the front door 32, and the lug 54 projects from the right edge of the front door 32 and projects to the side of the side frame 44. An air cylinder 58 is attached to the side frame 44 via a bracket 56, and the air cylinder 58 is arranged in a horizontal posture such that its axis is along the outer surface of the side frame 44. A pneumatic pipe 60 is connected to the air cylinder 58, and the pneumatic pipe 60 is connected to a pneumatic device (not shown). The air cylinder 58 is a pneumatic piping 60
The working air pressure is supplied / discharged through this, so that the piston rod can be expanded and contracted as desired.

As shown in detail in FIG. 4 in addition to FIG. 3, the lug 54 of the front door 32 is connected to a piston rod of an air cylinder 58. Specifically, the protruding end of the piston rod is threaded, and fastening nuts 62 and 64 are combined with the protruding end. A groove is formed in the nut 64 in the circumferential direction, and the groove has a width capable of receiving the thickness of the lug 54. On the other hand, the lug 54 is formed with a U-shaped notch 66 for receiving the piston rod, and the lug 54 is fitted into the circumferential groove of the nut 64 with the piston rod received in the notch 66, and The piston rod is supported through. In this state, the air cylinder 5
When the piston rod 8 is expanded and contracted within a predetermined stroke, the front door 32 is swung in the opening and closing direction within the stroke as shown by the two-dot chain lines in FIGS.

The base end of the air cylinder 58 is connected to the bracket 56 via a hinge, and the air cylinder 58 can turn up and down along the side frame 44. A grip 65 is attached to the tip of the piston rod. When the air cylinder 58 is lifted upward by grasping the grip 65, the piston rod comes out of the notch 66 of the lug 54 upward. Thereafter, by opening the front door 32 to the front side and opening the front surface of the rod hopper 14, access to the inside of the rod hopper 14 becomes easy.

FIG. 5 shows a guide surface of the chute 26. The guide surface is formed on the upper surface of the chute 26, that is, inside the rod hopper 14, and its guide direction is defined from the receiving inlet of the rod hopper 14 to the outlet. A plurality of protrusions 68 are mounted on the guide surface of the chute 26, and these protrusions 68 are arranged at intervals in the guide direction of the chute 26. The individual ridges 68 protrude from the guide surface and extend across the entire width in the transverse direction. The ridge 68 is screwed to the chute 26 at two points in the longitudinal direction.

FIG. 6 specifically shows the sectional shape of the ridge 68. The protruding ridge 68 is formed in a downward direction of the chute 26, that is, on the near side as viewed in the guide direction thereof, in an arc shape in cross section, and has an outer edge including an arc corresponding to a quarter of the circumference. On the other hand, the protruding ridge 68 is inclined from the top toward the guide surface, so that the cross section of the protruding ridge 68 as a whole has a shape like a water drop traveling down the chute 26 in the upward direction. No.

When the filter rod FR is inserted from the receiving port of the rod hopper 14, the filter rod FR is guided by the chute 26 and descends the chute 26 while sequentially climbing over the ridges 68 on the guide surface. At this time, since the filter rod FR is kept in a horizontal posture by contacting the ridge 68, the filter rod FR is not displaced to a vertical posture with respect to the chute 26. Since the rod pressing member 53 described above flexibly presses the filter rod FR against the guide surface, the filter rod FR can reliably contact the ridge 68. Also, the filter rod FR is
When the filter rod FR is pushed over, the rod pressing member 53 receives an appropriate pressing force in the guide surface direction, so that the filter rod FR does not greatly jump on the guide surface.

As described above, since the ridge 68 has an arc surface on the near side as viewed in the guide direction of the chute 26, the filter rod FR comes into contact with the near side portion of the ridge 68 to appropriately reduce the resistance. After receiving, it is possible to ride on the ridge 68 smoothly. On the other hand, when the filter rod FR rides on the protrusion 68 and reaches the top thereof, the filter rod FR is inclined along the slope from the top of the protrusion 68 to the guide surface of the chute 26 along the slope. You can go down. Therefore, when the filter rod FR gets over the ridge 68, the filter rod FR does not drop suddenly from the ridge 68 to the guide surface.

As shown in FIG. 6, the height H at which the ridge 68 projects in the vertical direction of the guide surface is set to a dimension corresponding to, for example, the radius of the filter rod FR. Therefore, the filter rod FR can easily get over the ridge 68 and go down the chute 26 without being caught by the ridge 68. Further, the arrangement interval L between the protrusions 68 is set to a dimension smaller than the entire length of the filter rod FR. Therefore, the filter rod FR is not displaced vertically on the guide surface between the ridges 68. In this case, the distance L ′ between the leading end and the trailing end of the ridge 68 may be set to a dimension smaller than the entire length of the filter rod FR when viewed in the guide direction of the chute 26.

The filter rods FR stored in the rod hopper 14 down the chute 26 are sequentially stacked in the lateral direction from the vicinity of the hopper drum 24 (see FIG. 3). At this time, the minimum distance W between the rear panel 30 and the front door 32 is equal to the filter rod F as described above.
Since the filter rod FR is slightly larger than the entire length of R, the position of the filter rod FR in the rod hopper 14 in the axial direction may be irregular. Therefore, the present invention has a function of aligning the position of the filter rod FR within the rod hopper 14 in the axial direction by swinging the front door 32.

Specifically, the air cylinder 58 is operated by using the above-described pneumatic device, and its piston rod is expanded and contracted at a predetermined cycle. Thereby, the direction in which the front door 32 approaches and separates from the rear panel 30, that is,
The chute 26 is vibrated in the width direction. The front door 32
When approaching the rear panel 30, one end of the filter rod FR is pressed, and these filter rods FR are simultaneously pressed against the rear panel 30. Therefore, at this time, the positions of the filter rods FR in the rod hopper 14 are aligned in the axial direction with respect to the rear panel 30. The frequency of the front door 32 is, for example, 0.5 Hz.
〜2 Hz is preferable.

As described above, in a situation where the filter rod is supplied with the rod hopper 14 empty or the filter rod remaining amount is small, the posture of the supplied filter rod is not disturbed in the rod hopper 14. , Are sequentially stacked in a horizontal position. Therefore, the rod hopper 1
The outlet of the filter rod 4 is not blocked, and the stored filter rods are sequentially inserted into the grooves of the hopper drum 24, so that the feeding thereof is performed stably. Further, since the positions of the filter rods are aligned in the axial direction, when the filter rod is cut after being fed out by the hopper drum 24, the cut position is more reliably kept constant. Further, stabilization of the feeding of the filter rod enables continuous operation of the filter cigarette manufacturing machine, and greatly contributes to improvement of the production efficiency.

The present invention can be implemented with various modifications without being limited to the above-described embodiment. For example,
The ridge 68 may have a shape different from that of the embodiment. In one embodiment, the ridge 68 is separate from the chute 26, but the chute 26 and the ridge 68 may be formed integrally. Further, specific dimensions such as the width and length of the chute 26 and the arrangement interval L of the protrusions 68 can be appropriately changed according to the size of the bar-shaped article.

In the above embodiment, the chute 26 is disposed on only one of the rod hoppers 14, but, for example, a pair of chutes on both sides may be used. In this case, the supply units 18 can be arranged on both sides of the rod hopper 14. Further, the guide surface of the chute 26 may have a certain inclination when viewed in the guide direction, or the guide surface may be curved.

The supply unit 18 is not limited to the one using the belt conveyors 20, 22 and the like, but may be one for supplying a filter rod using, for example, a roller row or a drum row. In the above-described embodiment, the air cylinder 58 is cited as a means for vibrating the front door 32. However, a mode in which the front door 32 is vibrated using, for example, a link mechanism and an electric motor may be used. Further, the frequency of the front door 32 may be constant, or may be variable according to, for example, the amount of filter rods stacked.

The rod pressing member 53 is not limited to a mesh-like member, but may be, for example, a blind-shaped member. Also,
The rod pressing member 53 may be divided in the width direction of the chute 26, or may be provided in a double layer. In addition, it goes without saying that the hopper device of the present invention is not only applied to a filter cigarette manufacturing machine but also has a wide versatility as a hopper device for handling various bar-shaped articles.

[0039]

As described above, according to the hopper device of the present invention (claim 1), the rod-like articles can be stored in a stable posture without disturbing the posture of the rod-like articles in the hopper. For this reason, troubles such as blockage of the hopper outlet are prevented beforehand, and a stable operation can be performed when removing the bar-shaped article from the hopper.

In particular, if the ridge has specific characteristics such as the shape of the ridge and the arrangement on the chute (claims 2 to 5),
It is possible to preferably prevent the posture from being disturbed in accordance with the size of the bar-shaped article to be handled. Further, if the positions of the bar-shaped articles are aligned in the hopper (claim 6), the processing and handling after removing the bar-shaped articles from the hopper can be performed stably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a filter cigarette manufacturing machine.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of a filter rod hopper device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the hopper device including a cross section taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the air cylinder including a cross section taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view showing a chute of the hopper device.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 Rod hopper 18 Supply unit (supply means) 26 Chute 30 Rear panel (side wall) 32 Front door (side wall) 53 Rod holding member 58 Air cylinder (vibration means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A supply means for supplying a bar-shaped article in a horizontal position in a lateral direction, a hopper receiving the supply of the bar-shaped article from the supply means and storing the bar-shaped article therein, and a hopper outlet from near a receiving inlet of the hopper. Extending towards
A chute that guides the supplied bar-shaped article in a lateral direction along a predetermined guide surface; and a chute is disposed on the guide surface of the chute with an interval in the guide direction, protrudes from the guide surface, and extends in the transverse direction. A bar-shaped article comprising: a plurality of extending ridges; and a holding member that applies a pressing force to the bar-shaped article in the direction of the guide surface when the supplied bar-shaped article is guided by the chute. Hopper equipment. 2. The hopper device for a bar-shaped article according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is formed in an arcuate cross-section when viewed in the guide direction of the chute. 3. The hopper device for rod-shaped articles according to claim 1, wherein the ridge has an inclined surface extending from a top portion thereof toward a guide surface of the chute. 4. The rod-shaped article according to claim 1, wherein a height of the ridge projecting from the guide surface is set to a dimension corresponding to a radius of the rod-shaped article. Hopper equipment. 5. The rod-shaped article hopper device according to claim 1, wherein an interval between the protrusions is set to be smaller than a total length of the rod-shaped article. 6. The hopper is disposed on both sides as viewed in the guide direction of the chute, and includes a pair of side walls facing each other with a length of a bar-shaped article, and vibrates the side walls in a width direction of the chute. The hopper device for a bar-shaped article according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a vibrating means.