US3019574A

US3019574A - Automatic cigarette catcher

Info

Publication number: US3019574A
Application number: US805343A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr James V Johnson; Ocee K Groppe; Hibbitts Kermit; Jr Malcolm E Phillips
Original assignee: AMF Inc
Current assignee: AMF Inc
Priority date: 1959-04-09
Filing date: 1959-04-09
Publication date: 1962-02-06
Anticipated expiration: 1979-02-06
Also published as: GB946923A

Description

ETAL 3,019,574

4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS LM E. PHILLIPS, JR.

MACO

OCEE K. GROPPE KERMIT HIBBITTS BY JAMES V. JOHNSON, JR.

ATTORNEY J. V. JOHNSON, JR,,

AUTOMATIC CIGARETTE CATCHER E5. E i

Feb. 6, 1962 Original Filed June 20, 1958 Feb. 6, 1962 J. v. JOHNSON, JR.. ET AL AUTOMATIC CIGARETTE CATCHER Original Filed June 20. 1958 Willi 3 3% mm!!! U Q (W l H- 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5; INVENTORS W MALCOLM EI.PH\LLIP$,JR P OCEE K. GROPPE KERMIT HIBBITTS BY JAMES V. JOHNSON, JR.

TToRNE? Feb. 6, 1962 J. v. JOHNSON, JR.. ETAL 3,019,574

AUTOMATIC CIGARETTE CATCHER Original Filed June 20, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 l llllllllllfllllw ii -3 j INVENTORS MALCOLM E. PHILL\PS,JR

lllllllllllll OCEE K. GROPPE KERMIT HIBBITTS BY JAMES V. JOHNSON, JR.

ATTORALE'Y Feb. 6, 1962 J. v. JOHNSON, JR., ETAL 3,

AUTOMATIC CIGARETTE CATCHER Original Filed June 20, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 m. Y mmw z OLPWO N. T BM Nm H R P mO mm W JM W V M LE ma KOKM W A J YT B 3,019,574 AUTGMATE CIGARETTE CATCHER James V. Johnson, Jr., Ocee K. Groppe, Kermit Hibeitts, and Malcolm E. Phillips, .lr., Raleigh, N.C., assignors to American Machine 8: Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Continuation of application Ser. No. 743,298, June Zti, 1958. This application Apr. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 805,343 28 Claims. (Cl. 53-35) This invention relates to an apparatus and method for automatically collecting finished cigarettes or other rodshaped articles in trays or other comparatively deep containers, and is an improvement and continuation of copending application of H. P. Curley and M. E. Phillips,

Serial Number 743,298, filed lune 20, 1958.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a pocketed transporting belt for conveying the articles to be placed in containers, thereby insuring that said articles remain substantially transverse to their path of travel at all times.

Another object of this invention is to provide for delivering rod-shaped articles into a container from a sideways moving distributor in such a manner that the articles have no sideways motion at the moment of deposition.

Another object of this invention is to provide an im proved method of filling those parts of containers adjacent to their side walls.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for suspending the movement of the apparatus when articles to be placed in containers cease to be available.

Another object of this invention is to provide improved means for axially aligning the articles in the container.

Another object of this invention is to provide means whereby the filled trays are tipped backwardly during their forward movement in order to avoid spilling the contents.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progresses. In the accompanying drawings which form part of the specification, like characters or reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of this invention.

FIGURE '2 is a side elevation of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view in direction of arrow 3, FIGURE 1 of a portion of the filling mechanism shown in FIGURE 2 in the position it occupies at the commencement of filling an empty tray.

FIGURE 4 shows the same portion of mechanism as shown in FIGURE 3 in the position it occupies adjacent to the end of the container after completing a delivery traverse.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional side elevation taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 2 showing the apparatus at the commencement of filling an empty tray.

FIGURE 6 is the same sectional view as FIGURE 5, but showing the apparatus at the completion of filling the tray with the trays commencing to index forwardly.

FIGURE 7 is a partial view in the direction of arrow 7, FIGURE "1, showing the article axial aligning device.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged view in the direction of arrow 8, FIGURE 7, showing the filling mechanism before starting to fill an. empty tray, with details of the article aligning device.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged view in the direction of arrow 8, FIGURE 7, showing the filling mechanism at the position where the tray is almost filled, with details of the article aligning device.

nited rates atent ice One embodiment of this invention will now be described in relation to these drawings, but it will be understood that many alternatives exist and the description of this embodiment is for purposes of illustration only, and is not intended to limit the scope of this invention.

This apparatus may be attached to any suitable cigarette maker such as that described in co-pending patent appli.-, cation of George Dearsley, file S.N. 509,293, filed May 18, 1955. It may also be used in conjunction with the cigarette catcher of the types shown in US. Patent #2,.- l24,397, wherein severed cigarettes are discharged sidewise from a rod conveyor belt.

Referring to FIGURE 1, item 10 represents a cigarette machine of the type described. Here, the belt 12 runs at a speed faster than that of the cigarette rod being produced by the machine, so that when the rod is cut into discreet pieces to form cigarettes, these cigarettes 14 will be spaced on the belt 12 as shown. Continued movement of the belt 12 carries the cigarettes forwardly to the position in line with the moving pusher piece 16. This pusher removes two cigarettes simultaneously from the belt 12,

pushing them forwardly beneath the sponge rubber rollers 18 and 20, which rollers absorb the axial energy stored in the cigarettes, permitting them to move sideways normal to their axis without further disturbance.

Cooperating with these sponge rollers 18 and 20 are, two pairs of belts, similar to 22 and 24, one pair for each row of cigarettes. These belts are furnished on their outer surfaces with a series of grooves of suitable size to receive the cigarettes delivered by the pusher 16, and are driven in timed relationship therewith so that for each movement of the pusher 16 a cigarette is placed on consecutive grooves on said belts. Although the illustration, FIG- URE 1, shows two rows of cigarettes being delivered simultaneously, it will be understood that some machines are built to deliver only one row and others may be built to deliver any number of rows, but for purposes of illustration, this description has been confined to a machine delivering two rows.

As described, each row of cigarettes is carried forwardly on two

narrow belts

22 and 24. The spacing of these belts is correctly proportioned according to the length of the cigarettes, so that any short cigarettes which may be, produced in the starting of the cigarette machine 10 will not bridge the space between the

belts

22 and 24 and so will fall between said belts to be caught ina suitable receptacle. This is done to ensure that undesirable short pieces do not enter the mechanism further .on.

Another function of the

belts

22 and 24 is to permit an alteration in the spacing of the rows of cigarettes to be obtained between the point of delivery at the pusher 16 and between the point of transfer of such cigarettes onto the main fluted belt 32. This is necessary, for under normal conditions, the spacing between the cigarettes 14 on the belt 12 is limited by the velocity desired in the delivery of the cigarettes, Whereas the spacing between the two belts 32 is determined by the trays or receptacles into which such cigarettes are to be placed, thus as shown in FIGURE 1, the belts may be arranged to deliver the cigarettes in diverging paths so that the spacing of the belts 32 is wider than that of the delivery of the cigarettes at the pusher 16.

The

belts

22 and 24 run over

pulleys

26 and 28 mounted on shaft 30 which shaft also carries a sprocket around which the end of the run of the main fluted belt 32. passes. At this point the cigarettes are transferred from the flutes in

belts

22 and 24 into the flutes in belt 32 for which purpose the belts must be driven in timed relationship with each other so that these flutes are in alignment as they pass around their support members on shaft 30. To make this possible, the main fluted belt 32 utilizes the cigarette carrying flutes as driving teeth, the belt being driven by sprocket 44 mounted on shaft 42.

This shaft '42 also carries a sprocket which drives chain 41 which in turn drives a sprocket mounted on shaft 39. This sprocket on shaft 39 meshes with the flutes on the outside of

belts

22 and 24 to drive them, thus keeping said belts in time with the main fluted belt 32.

' The chain 37, in conjunction with suitable sprockets, transmits motion from the shaft 39 to the shaft on which the sponge rubber rollers 18 and 20 are mounted, so imparting a suitable movement to them.

The whole of the mechanism described in this specification is driven by the cigarette making machine by means of the shaft 34, said shaft being driven in timed relationship with the main shaft of the cigarette making machine 10. Mounted on the end of shaft 34 is the pair of bevel gears 36, which transmit motion to shaft 38 Where, by means of bevel gears 40, the shaft 42 is driven. This shaft 42 carries sprocket 44 which in turn drives the belt 32 in timed relationship with the cigarette making machine 10. The

belts

22 and 24 are driven from shaft 42 as described above keeping the whole of the apparatus concerned in timed relationship with the delivery of cigarettes from the cigarette maker 10.

Shaft 38 also carries a gear 46 which in turn drives a gear 48' which is connected to the transmission inside of the gear box 50. This permits the driving of those portions of the mechanism driven from the outlet drive of the box 50 to be disconnected from the continuous drive of the belt 32 in a manner to be described below.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, it will be seen that the belt 32 which is driven by the sprocket 44 in the manner described, passes over

sprockets

52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 441, and over the sprocket mounted on shaft 30.

The sprockets 60, 64, and 68 are mounted on a horizontal carriage 61 which is free to move vertically. The belt 32 is tensioned by means of the chain 72 fastened to this carriage 61 which chain passes over

sprockets

74, 76, '78, and 80, the end of said chain being fastened to the weight 82 which by reason of the chain 72 maintains a constant tension on the belt 32, permitting said belt to assume varying positions, the weight 82 causing the carriage 61 supporting the rollers 60, 64, and 68 to follow the movement of this belt.

' The

sprockets

52 and 56 are rotatably mounted in a horizontally reciprocating carriage 84. A second carriage 86 is supported on carriage 84 and is vertically reciprocable thereon. The second vertically reciprocating carriage 86 carries

rollers

90, 92, and 54, the roller 54 carrying the belt 32 whilst an endless belt 88 is carried on the

rollers

90 and 92. The belt 88 is so spaced in a horizontal direction from the vertical run of the belt 32 that the cigarettes carried in the pockets on belt 32 are retained therein by the belt 88 during their movement vertically downwards, the distance between these belts being proportioned to gently hold the cigarettes in their pockets without permitting them to fall out under the influence of graviy.

The lower end of the vertically reciprocating carriage 86 carriesa gear box 94 which is shown broken away in FIGURE 2 in order to disclose other mechanism. This gear box supports the sprocket 54 which is driven by the teeth on the belt 32. It also supports roller 92, and

sprockets

96 and 98. These members are mounted on shafts with extensions carried into the gear box 94 on which extensions suitable gearing is mounted so that the motion transmitted to the sprocket 54- by belt 32 is transmitted to the roller 92 and

sprockets

96 and 98. On

sprockets

96 and 98 an endless band 100 is mounted which is driven by these sprockets by means of teeth or by friction. The outside of band 100 is provided with a series of fingers 102 which are quite thin, and as this belt is made of a rubber-like substance, these fingers are quite flexible so that as they push cigarettes they may yield, and by so yielding avoid damaging the cigarettes.

From this it will be understood that the carriage 84 is horizontally reciprocable carrying with it the vertically reciprocating slide 86, so that the whole of the mechanism may be moved sidewise in an orderly fashion and may have superimposed on the sideways motion a vertical motion which lowers the roller 92, sprocket 54, together with the flexibly-toothed belt into the desired position in the vertical plane.

These motions, that is, the horizontal and vertical motions, of the feeding mechanism causes a lengthening and shortening of belt 32. It is a function of the rollers 60, 6d, and 63 together with the chain 72 and weight 82 to accommodate this motion by permitting the excess length of the belt 32 to be stored in the vertical runs of the belt reaching to the rollers 60, 64, and 68, this accommodation being quite flexible following the movement of the belt 32 at all times.

FEGURES 3 and 4 show an enlarged view of this belt 100 looking from the back of the tray 108 shown in FIG- URE 2, that is, in the direction of the arrow 3, FIGURE 1. The reason for so illustrating the mechanism at this point is because the gear box 94 which supports this belt and its drive is in front of the mechanism as seen in FIG- URE 2 and must be viewed from the back in order that the parts may be clearly shown as in FIGURES 3 and 4.

Upon the commencement of filling the trays, the trays are brought into position and the vertical slide 86 is caused to travel to its lowermost position as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. It is traversed horizontally to reach the position shown in FIGURE 3, where the mechanism causes it to pause for the commencement of the feeding cycle. Here cigarettes 14 are carried downwardly in the pockets on the belt 32, being held in position by means of the belt 88 until they reach a position between the sprocket 54 and the roller 92, where they are released and are free to fall. At this point they contact the guide 106 while still in the pockets of the belt 32 and are carried through the space formed by this guide around the sprocket 54. They finally are pushed over the end of guide 106 being controlled by guide 104, to enter between the fingers 102 on belt 100. Initially in an empty tray these cigarettes fall the short distance from the ends of the fingers 102 to the lower portion of the tray 1%.

As cigarettes continue to be pushed into this position by the fingers 102, the heap of cigarettes so formed on the lower portion of the tray 108 will build up to contact the resilient fingers 102 on the moving belt 100, which moves them in the direction of the movement of that belt. This process continues, the cigarettes being pushed forwardly by the resilient fingers 102 on belt 100, until the vertical side wall of the tray is reached; in other words, till the whole of the space below the belt 100 up to the corner of the tray 108 is filled.

At this point, the mechanism commences to move in a horizontal direction, sliding on the carriage 84. The velocity of horizontal movement of the carriage 84 and all the mechanism supported thereon is substantially equal to the horizontal movement of the belt 100 so that one movement nullifies the other, causing the lower run of the belt 100 to remain relatively stationary in space. In this way, the belt 100 crawls over the cigarettes already deposited in the tray and has virtually no relative motion thereto.

This movement is continued with the mechanism depositing cigarettes in the tray until the apparatus reaches the lefthand end of the tray as shown in FIGURE 4. Here it is caused to hesitate for a sufi'icient period of time to completely fill that portion of the tray adjacent to the vertical side wall when the vertical carriage 86 is caused to move upwardly by a sufiicient distance to permit the horizontal motion backwardly of the whole assembly to the position where it may start laying another row of cigarettes on top of those already delivercd,.wh en the mechanism reaches the righthand end again as shown in FIGURE 3. Here again, the backward motion of the apparatus is arranged to be at such a velocity that it is equal to or slightly faster than the forward motion of the belt 32, so that in effect there is no relative motion between the belt 32 and the horizontal carriage 84, thus preventing the delivery of cigarettes during this return motion.

This sequence of events is repeated, with a horizontal motion of the mechanism depositing a layer of cigarettes into the tray, a short vertical movement to lift it clear of the cigarettes in the tray, a return motion during which no cigarettes are delivered, as the return motion is made at substantially the same velocity as that of the belt 32, another delivery motion, etc., until the tray is filled. When this occurs, the Whole of the mechanism is retracted clear of the tray and whilst the horizontal motion is returning the mechanism via the idle stroke to the feeding position again, the trays are indexed forwardly, it being appreciated as explained above that during this return stroke no cigarettes will be delivered.

Upon the new set of trays being delivered below the apparatus, the vertical slide 86 is caused to descend into the tray at a rate which is again substantially equal to or slightly faster than the velocity of the belt 32 so that again no cigarettes are delivered during this vertical mo tion. This brings the apparatus into the position shown at FIGURE 3, again, where the whole cycle is commenced.

It is important to notice that as shown in FIGURE 3, although the cigarettes are delivered vertically below the roller 98 which supports belt 169, as soon as they reach the desired depth below that roller, the flexible fingers 1132. on belt ltltl push the surplus cigarettes horizontally ways, thus filling the space further and further away from the delivery position below roller '98 until the corner of the tray 168 is completely filled.

These horizontal and vertical motions are controlled by means of the mechanism in the gear box 50 which in turn is controlled by a series of limit switches, etc., said switches being operated by positional changes in the various organs being controlled in a manner well known in the art. As will be seen, the shaft 114 is coupled directly to the horizontal screw 110 which causes the horizontal to and fro motion of the carriage 84. From a part of the same drive in the gear box 55, shaft 116 is driven. This shaft carries sprocket 118 on its extremity which drives chain 129. This in turn drives sprocket 122, which is carried on shaft 112. The portion of the shaft 112 which passes through the horizontal carriage 84 is machined in the form of a spline which drives a gear mounted thereon, in turn driving a vertical screw 113 which causes the vertical reciprocation of the carriage 86. In this way, both the horizontal motion of the carriage 84 and the vertical motion of the carriage 86 are controlled from a single drive in the gear box 50. This single drive is transmitted through a clutch 124, in the case of this particular embodiment said clutch being a magnetic clutch.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, a source of illumination 12-6 is provided on one side of the belt 32, laterally displaced so that the light is interrupted by the portion of the cigarettes 14 which pass in front of said light, it being understood that the cigarettes 14 are longer than the belt 32 is wide, to permit the cigarettes to overhang the ends and thereby permit the light to shine upon said cigarettes. On the other side of the belt 32 is mounted a photoelectric cell 128 to receive the light passing from 126. This is coupled in a known manner to suitable electrical apparatus to indicate the pulses of light received by cell 128 so that if the light is consistently interrupted by a continuous flow of cigarettes, the output from the cell has no effect. Should more than a desired number of cigarettes be absent from the pockets in be t 32, a corresponding number of pulses of light will not be received by the cell 128 which difierence may be detected electrically 3 and may be employed to operate the clutch 124 in gear box 50. The horizontal and vertical motions of the apparatus described can only take place if sufiicient cigarettes are arriving to interrupt the light beam from the light source 126.

If the apparatus is stopped due to the non arrival of cigarettes the re-arrival of cigarettes in front of the light source 126 will restart the mechanism via the clutch 124 in box 51), so that no matter how interrupted the arrival of cigarettes may be, the apparatus will continue to deposit cigarettes in the tray in the correct position and will stop its traversing motion whenever cigarettes are not available, to be restarted immediately when they resume feeding. This control is necessary, for it will be appreciated that if the apparatus is permitted to traverse the tray and index vertically without cigarettes being fed, the delivery mechanism will reach a position abnormally far from the cigarettes already deposited in the tray, so that they will fall when feeding is resumed, instead of being laid on the cigarettes already delivered.

In order not to confuse this description, the horizontal and vertical movements of various portions of the apparatus are above described as taking place separately, and the machine will function satisfactorily in this way. However, in actual practice it is expedient to time the mechanism so that some overlapping occurs. For instance, the vertical indexing of the feed mechanism may take place simultaneously with the idle horizontal return stroke of that mechanism. At one part of the cycle, this overlapping of the movements produces a beneficial result, which will now be described.

The feed mechanism is completely withdrawn from the trays when they are filled. Empty trays are moved forwardly to replace the full ones and simultaneously the feed apparatus makes its idle horizontal return stroke during which no cigarettes are delivered because its velocity is substantially equal to that of the belt 32.

When the empty trays are in position, the feed mechanism must also be caused to descend into the trays so as to commence the feeding of cigarettes at a suitable distance from the bottom of the tray. The descending velocity must also be substantially equal to the velocity of belt 32 so that no cigarettes are delivered.

If the idle horizontal return stroke of the mechanism were completed before the descent were commenced, it could be dilficult to prevent one or two cigarettes from being fed at the point of transition for belt 32 is running continuously and it is only possible to avoid cigarette feeding by moving the feed mechanism either horizontally or vertically at a sufficient rate to contain the belt as it is fed.

It would be difficult to finish the horizontal movement before changing to the vertical movement without permitting the belt 32 to feed at least one cigarette, which would be very undesirable, for such a cigarette would fall the whole depth of the tray and would so become displaced.

This difiiculty is overcome by causing the descending motion to start before the horizontal motion is completed thus providing a continuous belt absorbing motion which positively avoids dropped cigarettes.

As already described, the trays are filled by depositing horizontal layers in sequence, the depositing mechanism traversing to and fro in the tray, being lifted periodically to accommodate the layers of cigarettes already deposited. The mechanism as constructed is provided with a vertical slide on which the carriage 86 is mounted to accommodate this vertical movement. It will be apparent that with such a mechanism, the tray being filled must also be vertical, for the first layer of cigarettes placed in the bottom of the tray is vertically below the final layer which completes the filling of the tray. Also, by reason of the method of construction of the apparatus, trays being filled would normally be open-sided in the front in order to permit the feeding apparatus to enter. This means that the mass of cigarettes deposited in the tray is resting on the bottom and against the back of the tray,but is unsupported towards the front face. This is a somewhat unstable condition, for a mass of cigarettes piled one on the other would be liable to tumble over to the front. The mechanism is accordingly provided with supporting faces which are moved upwardly as the trays are filled so that said faces are kept in the vicinity of the top layers of cigarettes, to provide maxi mum support.

This mechanism is described in detail below. Because of this propensity of the stacked cigarettes to fall forwardly when the feed mechanism and support faces are withdrawn to permit empty trays to replace the full ones, the trays are tipped backwardly as early as possible during the tray indexing movement, thus causing gravity to hold the mass of cigarettes against the back of the tray to effectively prevent them from tumbling forward. This is accomplished by supporting the trays on a suitable rail which is shaped to cause them to tip backwardly as soon as the indexing forwardly is commenced.

This is made clear in FIGURES and 6, FIGURE 5 showing the apparatus with the belts 32 and auxiliary feeding mechanism extended to the bottom of the tray 1% at the commencement of the filling cycle. FIGURE 6 shows the belt 32 and auxiliary feeding mechanism completely 'Withdrawn from the tray with the indexing of the trays forwardly just commenced. To accomplish this tipping back, the trays res are clamped onto a moving platen see. A series of such platens are fastened around an endless chain 132 by means of pins 138 in the forward edge of sai platen, the chain 132 being mounted on sprockets 1.34 and 136. The platen is supported by a trailing roller Mil running in a cam track 142. From this it will be appreciated that if the cam track 142 holds the roller 140 in the correct relative position to the chain pin 138, the tray 163 will be held vertically, but as soon as the cam track 142 causes the roller 140 to dip below the path of the pin 133, the platen will be tipped backwardly, thereby carrying the tray with it. Thus, during the filling of the tray, the mechanism supporting it is held in the position as shown in FIG- URE 5, but immediately the tray commences to index, the roller 146 is guided by the cam track 142 to tip the tray backwardly as shown in FIGURE 6 and continues to hold it in that position up to the delivery point of the tray conveyor.

It will 'be appreciated that with the drawing shown, which illustrates a machine collecting two separate rows of cigarettes, the indexing mechanism will have to feed two trays forward for each cycle. To accommodate this, the tray platen 130 is supported between a pair of chains on two pins 138, but the cam track 142 engages the roller 14% which is on one side only of the platen 13%, whilst the second tray has a similar arrangement, but with its roller 140 on the opposite side from that of the previous tray. Thus, the cam tracks may be staggered relative one to another to cause the simultaneous tilting of one pair of trays immediately after they commence indexing forwardly.

To achieve this effect, the chain 132 must be driven intermittently in timed relationship with the withdrawal .of the feeding belt 32 from the trays. This is accomplished by arranging a suitable limit switch which is depressed when the mechanism is withdrawn to its highest position. This switch closes the circuit which operates the motor 144, which by means of

gears

146 and 148 transmits motion to a single revolution clutch 150, which in turn turns the conveyor 132. via bevel gears 152. In this way, the movement of the trays are dependent upon the retraction of the belt 32 from the tray, so that no matter how many interruptions have been experienced during the tray filling cycle, the tray will not index forwardly until it is completely filled and the belt 32 withdrawn therefrom.

As indicated above, it is necessary to take steps to support the cigarettes in the tray whilst that tray is in the vertical position. This is desirable for a variety of reasons, but it is most necessary when the apparatus is used for catching tipped cigarettes with the tips against the back of the tray. It is well known in the industry that tipped cigarettes are usually slightly larger over the tip than the nominal diameter of the cigarette. This causes accumulative effect which results in the stack of cigarettes at the tipped end being somewhat higher than the same stack of cigarettes at the opposite end, thereby causing an increasing slope on the cigarettes as more are deposited in the tray. If the tips are towards the back of the tray this slope is directed towards sliding the cigarettes out of the tray. Because of this tendency, it is necessary to provide a support to cover the front of the cigarettes as they are deposited in the tray, and it is preferablc that this support travel upwardly with the depositing mechanism so that it is always in its most effective position; that is, nearest to the top of the cigarettes deposited.

it is also desirable to provide means for lining up axially the cigarettes as they are deposited. It will be appreciated that as the cigarettes must be moved downwardly into the tray, which in the case ofan empty tray is for some considerable distance, it will be undesirable to permit the ends of the cigarettes to rub on the back of the tray on their way down before they are deposited. Because of this, it is preferable to deposit the cigarettes some distance away from the back face of the tray, which also has the advantage that because there is no frictional contact on the end of the cigarette, there is less likelihood of their being displaced sideways as they are deposited. This accomplishes the physical depositing of the cigarettes in the tray in a satisfactory manner, but for factory purposes it is preferable that the cigarettes be nicely lined up axially in order to facilitate inspection, for it is well known that if some cigarettes are projecting beyond the general mass of cigarettes, it is not easy to focus the eye onto the ends of cigarettes for examination purposes if they are in different planes. Therefore, a mechanism is devised to push the cigarettes gently against the back of the tray to line them up in one plane.

To accomplish this, the gear box 94, which is situated at the lower extremity of the belt 32 and carries the depositing belt 100, is caused to engage a horizontal frame 156 which is slidably mounted on two vertical rods 154. The horizontal frame 156 is slidably coupled to the gear box 94 by means of the loose slot 158, so that the gear box 94 and the depositing mechanism which is associated therewith may make its horizontal and vertical movements without hindrance. However, its vertical movement will carry the horizontal frame 156 with it and maintain that frame at the height of the box 94 whilst said box makes its horizontal traverse.

Attached to this horizontal frame is a hinge 160 which in turn carries a swingingly mounted plate 162. The plate 162 is the full width of the tray filled with cigarettes. Thus, the plate 162 will be in the region of the height of the row of cigarettes being deposited no matter at what height the mechanism happens to be. The position of the swinging plate 162 is controlled by the cam roller 164 which is fastened thereto by an arm, said cam roller being urged against the fixed cam 168 by means of spring 170. Thus, when the cigarettes are being deposited the plate 162; is in the position shown in FIGURE 9. That is, it permits space between the ends of the cigarettes to allow their free entry, the plate being held partially open by reason of the cam 168.

As the apparatus indexes upwardly in preparation for the depositing of the next row of cigarettes, the cam roller 164 rides over the cam 168, causing the plate 162 to make one forward and one return stroke. In its forward stroke, it carries the cigarettes snugly against the back of the tray, being urged thereon by means of the spring 17 so that the pressure exerted is limited to that which will not damage the cigarettes. Thus, it will be seen that there is ample space for the depositing of the cigarettes in the tray by reason of the open position of the plate 162, and at each indexing position the plate 162 moves forwardly to push the cigarettes axially into position against the back of the tray before again retracting in preparation for the receipt of another row of cigarettes.

This process is repeated as each layer of cigarettes is deposited as the apparatus indexes upwardly out of the tray. On the return stroke when the apparatus is moved downwardly into the tray in preparation for filling new trays, it would be undesirable to permit the cam roller 164 to run over the fixed cam 168 at the high speed which must be employed for re-entering the apparatus into the tray. In order to accommodate this, the cam 168 terminates in a sloping face 174 at the top of the stroke (see FIGURE 9).

As the gear box 94 etc., is withdrawn from the tray the cam roller 164 comes into contact with the sloping face of the cam 174 and causes the roller 164 to move up such slope, moving the spring 170 across the center of hinge 160, so that the plate 162 is moved from the position shown in FIGURE 9 to that shown in FIGURE 8, with the spring 170 on the. other side of the center of the hinge pin 160. This has two advantages. Firstly, it will be seen that the plate 162 is snugly stowed away underneath the cross member 156 to permit extra clearance for the indexing beneath the trays. Secondly, when the apparatus is moved downwardly. into the trays in order to commence the filling at the bottom of empty trays, the plate 162 is held away from the cam 168 during this down ward stroke, thus avoiding the rapid movement of the plate 162, which would otherwise occur if the roller 164 were permitted to run over the contour of the cam 168.

When the apparatus is near to the bottom, the roller 164 comes into contact with the cam 172 which moves the roller back to its initial position, causing the spring 170 to move onto the other side of the center of hinge 16 so as to restore the plate 162 to the position shown in FIGURE 9, thus readying the apparatus for another complete cycle.

It will be appreciated from what is described here. that the plate 162 has two functions. One is the major function of moving the cigarettes backwardly in line with the back of the tray so that the front face of the deposited mass is in one plane. The second is to steady the column of cigarettes already deposited in the tray to prevent any possibility of the whole mass toppling forward, because it will be appreciated that although the plate 162 is somewhat clear of the cigarettes whilst they are being eposited, should the mass of cigarettes tend to topple forward, this plate will always be ready to receive them and limit the movement that occurs, so that in fact the column is completely steadied at all times.

The above description relates mostly to the deposition of only one line of cigarettes into one tray, but it will be seen in conjunction with the drawings that such a description applies to two or more trays as required.

The invention hereinabove described may therefore be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many posible embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for automatically collecting rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising a conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of articles from the source, said conveyor being provided with projections and undulations on one surface to form pockets into which one or more of the articles are delivered from the source, the conveyor having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the pocketed conveyor and spaced therefrom a dis tance suflicient to retain the rod shaped articles in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the belt and conveyor simultaneously, means for introducing the vertical runs of conveyor and belt into a receiving tray, and means for causing said vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit said rod shaped articles within said tray whilst the conveyor and belt are driven.

2. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising a conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of the cigarettes from the source, said conveyor being provided with projections or undulations on one surface to form pockets into which one or more cigarettes are delivered from the source, the conveyor having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the pocketed conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance sufiicient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the belt and conveyor simultaneously, means for introducing the vertical run of the conveyor and belt into a receiving tray, means for causing said vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit said cigarettes within said tray whilst the conveyor and belt are driven and means to elevate the vertical run of the conveyor and belt a predetermined distance after each horizontal delivery traverse of said vertical runs.

3. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes and other rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising a pocketed conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of cigarettes from the source, and having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run and spaced therefrom. a distance sulficient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the conveyor and belt simultaneously, means for introducing the vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit cigarettes while moving in one direction but not in the othe direction and a drive for elevating the vertical runs a distance at least equal to the diameter of a cigarette after each depositing operation.

4. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes and other rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray comprising, a pocketed conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of the cigarettes from the source having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance sulficient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the conveyor and endless belt in timed relationship with each other, the delivery end of the conveyor and belt combination being their vertical run, means for introducing the delivery end of said combination into a receiving tray and. means for causing said delivery ends to traverse said tray horizontally within said tray to deposit cigarettes therein, the pocketed conveyor being extendable and contractable to permit said horizontal traverse to occur.

5. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes and other rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray comprising a pocketed endless conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of cigarettes from the source having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance sufiicient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means fo driving the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the conveyor and endless belt in timed relationship with each other, a vertically movable carriage supporting the delivery end of the conveyor and belt combination, means for moving said carriage to lower the delivery end of said combination into a receiving tray, a'horizonta'lly movable carriage sup porting said vertically movable carriage to cause the de livery end of said combination to traverse the tray horizontally whilst said combination is driven, the velocity of this horizontal traverse being equal to a slightly greater velocity than the velocity of the horizontal run of the pocketed conveyor so that when travelling in the same direction as said conveyor there is substantially no rela tive movement between the conveyor and the horizontal carriage in order to create conditions such that no cigarettes are delivered into the trays during that traverse of the mechanism which is in the same direction as the movement of the pocketed conveyor.

6. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes or other rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray comprising a pocketed endless conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of cigarettes from the source having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance sufiicient to retain the cigarettes in the pocket of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the con veyor and endless belt in timed relationship with each other, a vertically movable carriage supporting the delivery end of the conveyor and belt combination, means for moving said carriage to lower the delivery end of said combination into a receiving tray, a horizontally movable carriage supporting said vertically movable carriage to cause the delivery end of said combination to traverse the tray horizontally whilst said combination is driven, and means causing cigarettes to be delivered into the receiving tray only during travel in one direction of the horizontal traverse.

7. Apparatus attached to the vertically adjustable frame of a reciprocating and vertically adjustable cigarette transporting pocketed conveyor and belt combination to receive the cigarettes transported thereby and deliver them to any point in a tray within the range of the apparatus comprising arcuate guides through which the cigarettes pass, a horizontally disposed endless distributor belt which is provided with flexible pusher ribs on its outside surface to engage the cigarettes, means for driving the pocketed conveyor, the endless and the ribbed distributor belt simui taneously and in timed relationship, the horizontal distributor belt assuring the deposition of the cigarettes in an aligned altitude and maintaining this alignment in passing over the cigarettes until all energy of the cigarettes has been dissipated.

8. Apparatus attached to the vertically adjustable frame of a reciprocating and vertically adjustable cigarette transporting pocketed conveyor and belt combination to receive the cigarettes transported thereby and deliver them to any point in a tray within the range of the apparatus comprising arcuate guides through which the cigarettes pass, a horizontally disposed endless distributor belt which is provided with flexible pusher ribs on its outside surface to engage the cigarettes, means for driving the pocketed conveyor, the endless belt and the ribbed distributor belt simultaneously and in timed relationship, the velocity of the lower run of the horizontal distributor belt relative to the vertically adjustable frame being substantially equal to and in the opposite direction from the velocity of the horizontal traverse movement of the whole mechanism during its feeding stroke so that during this stroke substantially no relative motion exists between the flexible pusher rib on the lower run of the distributor belt and the horizontal bottom of the tray and the cigarettes already delivered therein.

9. The method of collecting cigarettes in a tray comprising the steps of conveying transversely arranged cigarettes along a horizontal path of travel in a single column, lowering said cigarettes while in a single column downwardly into a tray, then continuously conveying said cigarettes in the tray in a horizontal direction to the discharge position moving the discharge position in a first direction along the length of the tray, until a layer of cigarettes is deposited in the tray, and then moving the discharge position in a second direction opposite said first direction at a velocity equal to the velocity of the con- 1E tinuous conveying of the cigarettes in the tray in a horizontal direction to nullify the continuous conveying of the cigarettes.

10. The method of collecting cigarettes in containers comprising the steps of conveying transversely arranged cigarettes along a horizontal path of travel in a single column, lowering said cigarettes downwardly while in a single column and releasing them into the container where they accumulate to the required depth, providing relative cyclic oscillation between the downwardly moving column and the container to cause the deposition of cigarette-s to the required depth to progress horizontally across the container in one direction, additional cigarettes arriving after the required depth is in place being moved horizontally sideways to provide a deposit of the required depth at a progressively increasing horizontal distance from the original point of deposition and moving the discharge stream of cigarettes over the length of the deposited cigarettes.

11. Apparatus attached to the vertically adjustable frame of a reciprocating and vertically adjustable cigarette transporting pocketed conveyor and belt combination to receive the cigarettes transported thereby and deliver them to any point in a tray within the range of the apparatus comprising, arcuate guides through which the cigarettes pass, a horizontally disposed endless distributor beit which is provided with flexible pusher ribs on its outside surface to engage the cigarettes, means for driving the pocketed conveyor, the endless belt and the ribbed distributor belt simultaneously and in timed relationship, the velocity of the lower run of the horizontal distributor belt relative to the vertically adjustable frame being substantially equal to and in the opposite direction from the velocity of the horizontal traverse movement of the whole mechanism during its feeding stroke so that during this stroke substantially no relative motion exists between the flexible pusher ribs on the lower run of the distributor belt and the horizontal bottom of the tray and the cigarettes already delivered therein, means to arrest the horizontal raverse movement of the Whole mechanism at the commencement of its feeding stroke so that cigarettes are deposited to the desired depth under the arcuate guide, where additional cigarettes arriving after the required depth is in place are moved horizontally sideways by the flexible pusher ribs on the lower run of the horizontal distributor belt so that cigarettes are deposited at the desired depth at a progressively increasing horizontal distance from the arcuate guide until the deposit of the required depth reaches the side Wall of the container at which point the horizontal feeding traverse is commenced to deposit cigarettes to the desired depth in an even layer across the width of the container and arresting the traverse move ment at the end of its feeding stroke to permit cigarettes to be deposited to the desired depth under the arcuate guide against the other side wall of the container.

12. Apparatus for automatically collecting rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising, a conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of articles from the source, said conveyor being provided with projections or undulations on one surface to form pockets into which one or more of the articles are delivered from the source, the conveyor having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the pocketed conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance suiiicient to retain the rod shaped articles in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the belt and conveyor simultaneously, means for introducing the vertical runs of the conveyor and belt into a receiving tray, means for causing said vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit said rod shaped articles within said tray whilst the conveyor and belt are driven and supplied with articles, means to elevate the vertical runs of the con- .veyor and belt a suitable distance after each horizontal delivery traverse of said vertical runs, a separate drive to actuate both the means for causing said vertical runs to traverse the tray horizontally and the means toelevate the vertical runs a suitable distance after each horizontal delivery traverse, said separate drive incorporating a clutch to permit the drive to be disconnected and reconnected, means for detecting empty pockets on the pocketed conveyor, said detector controlling said clutch to simultaneously arrest the horizontal movement of traverse of the vertical runs together with their intermittent elevation when the pockets are empty and to simultaneously restart these movements when filled pockets again pass the detector.

13. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising a conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of the cigarettes from the source, said conveyor being provided with projections or undulations on one surface to form pockets into which one or more cigarettes are delivered from the source, the conveyor having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the vertical run of the pocketed conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance sulficient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical r-un, means for driving the belt and conveyor simultaneously, means for the introduction of the vertical runs of conveyor and belt into a receiving tray, means for causing said vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit said cigarettes within said tray whilst the conveyor and belt are driven, means to elevate the vertical runs of the conveyor and belt a suitable distance after each horizontal delivery traverse of said vertical runs and means for pushing each layer of cigarettes into the desired axial position after it is deposited.

14. Apparatus of the kind described for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into a tray, including means for depositing layers of cigarettes in the tray, mechanism adapted to be misplaced relative to articles already deposited in the tray, a device for aligning the delivered cigarettes axially which incorporates vertical guide members upon which a horizontal frame is slidably mounted, means for keeping the horizontal frame in a constant relationship with the top surface of the layer of cigarettes delivered, a pusher memer mounted on the horizontal frame to axially push the cigarettes into the desired alignment with those already delivered and means to operate the pusher after each layer of cigarettes is deposited in the tray.

15. Apparatus of the kind described for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into a tray, including means for aligning the delivered cigarettes axially which comprises vertical guide memhers, a horizontal frame slideably mounted thereon, said horizontal frame being slideably connected to the cigarette depositing mechanism, said depositing mechanism carrying the horizontal frame vertically with it to keep said frame in a constant position relative to the top surface of the cigarettes already deposited in the tray, a hinged pusher mounted on the horizontal frame which when moved, will contact the ends of the cigarettes already in the tray to move them axially in line with those previously aligned, an arm carrying a roller attached to the hinged pusher, a fixed cam bar over which the roller rides and a spring to urge the roller against the cam bar so that each time the depositing mechanism moves upwardly after completing one delivery traverse, the roller moves over the cam bar swinging first inwardly and then outwardly, carrying with it the pusher to which is imparted the same motion which causes it to align the cigarettes.

16. Cigarette handling apparatus for depositing cigarettes in trays having an open top and one side open comprising an endless pocketed cigarette conveyor having a conveying surface which first travels along a horizontal path, then along a vertical path, a conveyor traveling from one end of the respective tray to the other and receiving cigarettes from the pocketed conveyor and depositing them in rows one above the other in the respective tray, a horizontal tray conveyor positioned beneath said vertical path of travel, means to cause said tray conveyor to transport the trays in a vertical attitude up to the position in which the vertical path of the pocketed conveyor introduces cigarettes therein and then to tilt them and transport them in a tilted position to the tray discharge point.

17. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into trays having one side open and having an open top including a horizontal conveyor section receiving cigarettes from the source and a vertical conveyor section receiving cigarettes from the horizontal conveyor section, a conveyor receiving cigarettes from the vertical conveyor section and traveling from one end of the respective tray to the other to deposit cigarettes in rows one above the other in the tray, a horizontal tray conveyor, the cigarette trays being supported by said conveyor in a vertical attitude, a retractable feeding mechanism to feed cigarettes into said trays, a timing mechanism to index the second tray laden conveyor as said feeding mechanism is retracted out of said full trays, the indexing movement of the second tray conveyor simultaneously transporting empty vertical trays to the filling position and tilting the full trays backwardly, conveying the so tilted full trays to the tray discharge point.

13. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into trays having an open side and an open top having an open end comprising a horizontal cigarette delivery section receiving cigarettes from the source, a vertical cigarette delivery section receiving cigarettes from the horizontal cigarette delivery section, a conveyor receiving cigarettes from the vertical cigarette delivery section and traveling from one end of the respective tray to the other to deposit cigarettes in rows one above the other in the tray, a cigarette tray conveyor, an intermittent drive for said conveyor to ad Vance the required number of trays forwardly at each cycle, means for maintaining the trays in a vertical attitude during the filling cycle and means for tilting them as soon as they are filled and maintaining the tilted attitude during subsequent movement.

19. Apparatus for receiving cigarettes from a source of supply and delivering them into trays comprising a pocketed conveyor to receive the cigarettes from said source having a horizontal run and a vertical run, means for introducing the vertical run into the tray, means to traverse the vertical run to and fro across the Width of the tray, means to ensure that the vertical run delivers cigarettes into the tray during movement in one direction only, no cigarettes being delivered during the return movement, means to raise the vertical run by a suitable amount after each row of cigarettes has been deposited, means to raise the vertical run clear of the trays, when the last row of cigarettes is deposited, means to index the filled trays forwardly and simultaneously to substitute empty trays in their place, the tray indexing operation being performed during the horizontal return motion of the vertical conveyor so that no cigarettes are delivered during this period, means to introduce the vertical run of the conveyor into the empty tray and means to ensure that no cigarettes are delivered during the vertical introduction of the conveyor.

20. Apparatus for transporting cigarettes from a continuous source of supply to trays, comprising an extensible pocketed conveyor to transport the cigarettes, means to traverse the delivery end of the conveyor to and fro across the trays to deposit rows of cigarettes therein, means to index the conveyor vertically as each row of cigarettes is deposited and after the trays are filled, means to replace the filled trays with empty trays, means to introduce the delivery end of the conveyor into the empty trays to commence the new filling operation, all characterized by an extension of the transporting conveyor during those portions of the cycle of operation when it is desired to arrest the delivery of cigarettes, in such a manner that the conveyor extensions provide a reservoir in which to store the continuously recived cigarettes until the next cigarette delivery portion of the cycle.

21.. Apparatus as defined in claim 19 in which the horizontal and vertical motion of the cigarette delivery apparatus are overlapping so that for at least some portion of the cycle both motions are occurring simultaneously.

22. Apparatus as defined in claim 19 in which the hori-. zontal return motion of the vertical conveyor is caused to occur during the substitution of empty for full trays and the descent of the feeding apparatus into the bottom of the tray is commenced before the end of the horizontal return motion, to prevent the delivery of cigarettes at the point of transition from horizontal to vertical motion.

23. An apparatus for automatically collecting cigarettes from a source and delivering them into a tray, said apparatus comprising a conveyor driven in timed relationship with the arrival of the cigarettes from the source, said conveyor being provided with projections or undulations on one surface to form pockets into which one or more cigarettes are delivered from the source, the conveyor having a horizontal run and a vertical run, an endless belt having a run parallel to the Vertical run of the pocketed conveyor and spaced therefrom a distance suiiicient to retain the cigarettes in the pockets of the conveyor during the vertical run, means for driving the belt and conveyor simultaneously, means for the introduction of the vertical runs of conveyor and belt into a receiving tray, means for causing said vertical runs to traverse said tray horizontally to deposit said cigarettes within said tray whilst the conveyor and belt are driven, means to elevate the vertical runs of the conveyor and belt a suitable distance after each horizontal delivery traverse of said vertical runs and a horizontal bar with means for keeping the bar in a constant relationship with the top surface of the cigarettes delivered for retaining the top layer of cigarettes thereby preventing successive lower layers from sliding forward thereby making the tilling of a vertical tray possible.

24. The method of collecting cigarettes in containers with particular reference to feeding the correct quantity of cigarettes adjacent to the vertical side walls of said containers comprising the steps of conveying transversely arranged cigarettes along a horizontal path of travel in a single column, lowering downwardly said cigarettes while in a column to release them into the container where they accumulate to the required depth, additional cigarettes arriving after the required depth is in place being moved horizontally sideways to provide a deposit of the required depth at a progressively increasing horizontal distance from the original point of deposition, and moving the discharge stream of cigarettes over the length of the deposited cigarettes.

25. A method of transporting cigarettes in single file from a continuous source of supply to a collecting region along a travel path having a delivery end comprising the steps of moving the delivery end in a first direction until a layer of cigarettes is deposited in the collecting region, and then moving the delivery end in a second direction opposite said first direction at a velocity equal to the velocity of the continuous conveying of the cigarettes in a horizontal direction to nullify the continuous conveying of the cigarettes.

26. Apparatus of the kind described for automatically collecting rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, including a horizontal conveyor, means for feeding articles to the horizontal conveyor, a

vertical conveyor receiving the rod shaped articles from the horizontal conveyor, another horizontal conveyor receiving rod shaped articles from the vertical conveyor for delivering rod shaped articles, mechanism adapted to be displaced relative to articles already deposited in the tray, a control device which incorporates means for detecting the presence or absence of articles passing through the apparatus, a separate drive for the collecting and delivery mechanism, a separate drive for that portion of the mechanism which would become misplaced relative to the articles already delivered into the tray if their movement continued without the delivery of articles into the tray, a clutch in said separate drive to permit the mechanism to be stopped in unison with the absence and presence of articles, said clutch being controlled by the detector means.

27. Apparatus of the kind described for automatically collecting rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, including a first horizontal conveyor, a vertical conveyor receiving rod shaped articles from the first horizontal conveyor, a second horizontal conveyor receiving rod shaped articles from the vertical conveyor for delivering rod shaped articles, means for feeding the articles into the tray mechanism misplaceable relative to the articles for detecting the presence or absence of articles passing through the apparatus, a separate drive for that portion of the mechanism which would become misplaced relative to the articles already delivered into the tray, control means for detecting the presence or absence of articles passing through the apparatus, and clutch means in said drive, responsive to said control means for stopping and starting the mechanism in unison with the absence and presence of articles.

28. Apparatus of the kind described for automatically collecting rod shaped articles from a source and delivering them into a tray, including a first horizontal conveyor, a vertical conveyor receiving rod shaped articles from the first horizontal conveyor, a second horizontal conveyor receiving rod shaped articles from the vertical conveyor, means for delivering the articles to a tray, mechanism adapted to be misplaced relative to articles already deposited in the tray, a control device which incorporates a light source and a light sensitive cell located above the second horizontal conveyor and situated one on each side of the single column of articles passing through the apparatus, the articles interrupting the light falling on the light sensitive cell to produce an electrical signal dependent upon the frequcncy of light interruption resulting from the passing articles, a separate drive for those parts of the mechanism which would become misplaced relative to the articles already delivered into the tray if their movement continued without the delivery of articles into the tray, a clutch in said separate drive to permit the aforesaid mechanism to be stopped and started in unison with the absence and presence of articles, said clutch being controlled by the signal produced by the light sensitive cell.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,439,702 Haseltine Dec. 26, 1922 1,964,084 Rundell a- June 26, 1934 2,019,080 Johnson Oct. 29, 1935 2,592,642 Bardet Apr. 15, 1952 1 2,673,672 Jorgenson Mar. 30, 1954 2,889,676 Griffith June 9, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 398,017 Great Britain Sept. 7, 1933 1,288 Great Britain of 1857