US3067644A - Mouthpiece feed - Google Patents

Description

Dec. l1, 1962 G. DEARSLEY MOUTHPIECE FEED Shee Filed April 22, 1958 INVENTOR GEORGE DEARSLEY BY 'mw ATTORNEY Dec. 1l, 1962 G. DEARsLr-:Y 3,057,644

MOUTHPIECE FEED 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1958 Z6 F IG. 5

kT'iu/l/Ill/llllll Z6' v M0 INVENToR 14g f; GEORGE DEARsLEY `\E mi* Z BY v i 6 fw .fw

../40 ya M 140 ATTORNEY Dec. 11, 1962 G. DEARSLEY MOUTHPIECE FEED 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 :Filed April 22, 1958 A@ @fnv 7 www Q uw no ou .Aa W (C INVENTOR GEORGE DEARSLEY BY 7^ 5w ATTO RN EY Dec. 11, 1962 G. DEARSLEY 3,067,644

MOUTHPIECE FEED Filed April 22, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 9

' INVENTOR GEORGE DEARSLEY BY tlm- ATTORNEY Unite Star 3,967,644 Patented Bec. 11, 1962 3,067,644 MoUTHriEca anun vGeorge Dearsiey, Raleigh, N.C., assigner to American This invention relates to feeding and cutting mechanism for dividing multiple length rod shaped material into subdivisions of smaller lengths and more particularly to feeding, cutting an-d handling mouthpiece material used in making mouthpiece cigarettes.

Heretofore mouth piece subdividing mechanisms have employed numerous uted feeding rollers for conveying and cutting mouth pieces, and other iiuted rollers co-acting therewith have been employed for separating and aligning the subdivided lengths into a single column. These prior mechanisms have not been completely satisfactory in that they have been cumbersome, diflicult to clean and clear should they become clogged, they have required relatively elaborate driving and timing mechanism and have been relatively expensive to build.

Another objection to plug feeding mechanisms which have been heretofore employed is that when a manufacturer desired to handle a certain length multiple mouth piece and to subdivide it into subdivisions of another length at one time and to change over to other length multiple mouth pieces and subdivisions at another time it would require a rebuilding of the machine components to handle the new size. Another objection found in the mechanisms for feeding and cutting plugs heretofore employed was the fact that multiple knives were employed to make a multiple subdivision of plugs. Such knives,

Itogether with their drives and sharpening devices etc. are

expensive to build and maintain.

It is therefore an object of this invention t-o provide a mouthpiece feeding mechanism which will be economical to construct, easy to maintain, of simple construction and which will have a small number of components.

A further object of this invention is to provide a mouthpiece feeding mechanism thai can easily and readily be changed from handling multiple mouthpieces of a certain length at one time, to multiple lengths and subdivisions of a different length at another time.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mouthpiece subdividing mechanism which will employ a single knife for subdividing multiple length mouthpieces.

Another object is to provide a mouthpiece feeding mechanism which will employ a single drum for both cutting multiple length m-outhpieces and for aligning and feeding the subdivisions `from the cutting drum in a single column.

Another object is to provide a multiple length mouthpiece cutting mechanism which will occupy a very small amount of space for Ireceiving cutting, separating, aligning, and discharging the subdivisions in a single column.

A further object of this invention is to provide a 'basic design for a multiple length suhdividing mechanism for mouthpieces, which will be suitabie for handling different multiples of length of mouthpiece material such as quadruple, sextuple, octuple, or any other multiple length sizes and yet require only one subdividing knife.

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 a part of this specilication, like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

FlG. l is an end elevation of a` mouthpiece feeding, cutting, separating and delivery mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of a modified form of a mechanism for feeding, cutting, separating and aligning subdivided multiple lengths of mouthpiece material.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the same.

FIG. 5 is a sectional detailed side elevation of the plug separating and aligning mechanism employed in the modified form, taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FiG. 6 is an end elevation of another form of a mouthpiece feeding, cutting, separating and aligning mechanism.

FG. 7 is a side elevation of the same, taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged detailed end elevation of the mouthpiece feed control mechanism employed in the modified form illustrated in FIG. 6.

FiG. 9 is a side elevation of the plug separating and aligning drum illustrated in FiGS. l and 2, shown here with the guide cover plates removed.

FIG. l0 is a rear view o-f the mechanism shown in FIG. 1, illustrating a suitable synchronized drive for the same.

As previously mentioned, the broad principles of my invention are capable of ybeing applied to mechanism for cutting and subdividing multiple lengths of mouthpiece material of any desired length and any desired combination of ultimate subdivisions. This could be multiple lengths of even or odd number and could range from two, six, eight, or more multiple lengths as the case might be. For purposes of illustration only, and without any intent to limit the scope of this invention, I have shown how my apparatus may be employed for subdividing seXtuple lengths of mouthpiece material into subdivisions of three double lengths of mouthpiece materials.

ln the embodiment of the structure I have employed to illustrate the invention, multiple lengths of mouthpiece material may be fed to my cutting drum by any suitable type of feed that one may desire to employ. For eX- ample, multiple lengths of mouthpiece materials are placed in a hopper having inclined sidewalls 1) and 12 which have finger extensions 14 and i6 (FIGS. l and 2).

The delivery portion of the hopper is formed by two iiuted rollers 1S and 2h, which rotate in opposite directions in a manner shown by the arrow. Two or more grooves 22 and 24 are formed in each of the iiuted rollers i3 and Zh for receiving the fingers 14 and 116. It will be noted that the teeth of one liuted roller are rotated so that they are opposite the flutes of the .adjoining fluted roller Z@ to provide an oscillating space between the surfaces of the two fluted rollers so as to agitate the multiple length mouthpieces at this point. As mentioned previously any other suitable agitating structure could be employed for this purpose even though the structure I have employed is a very simple construction.

The multiple length mouthpieces fed through the exit of the hopper are delivered between the two vertical channel walls 26 and 2S. The upper end of the vertical channel walls 26 and 2.8 have two or more ngers 30 and 32 which ride in the grooves 22 and 24 and act as a funnel for the descending mouthpieces.

The iower end of the vertical wall 28 has `a foot 34 for supporting the vertical column of multiple length mouthpieces and is slightly spaced above the feed roller 36 so that it does not rub thereon. The feed roller 36 carries a plurality of feed lugs 38 arranged in a predetermined plurality of rows as shown in FIGS. l and 2. The feed lugs 33 pass through suitable castellated openings formed at the iower end of the vertical wall 23. In passing through said openings, when the roller 3-6 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow each row of feed lugs remove the lower-most multiple length of mouthpiece and conveys same in a manner shown in FIG. 1. A curved guide tti is spaced from and surrounds the path of travel of the selector roller 3d and assists in confining the multiple length of mouthpiece material between the periphery of the roller 36 and the inside concave surface 42. If desired, a suitable spring tension finger (not shown) could be employed to yieldably hold the mouthpiece material against the roller 36, when it 1s being advanced thereby, to prevent the mouthpiece material from falling downwardly.

The selector roller 36 is driven in such timed relationship with the aligning and conveying drum d4, that the feed lugs 3S will deliver one multiple length of mouthpiece material into every third flute or device for slidably supporting a mouthpiece. rIhis arrangement (one in every third flute) is of course only applicable to the case where the multiple length is subdivided into three parts. For quadruple cutting it will be understood it would have to be delivered into every fourth device or flute and so ou. The drum provided with these devices or flutes (-14 is so constructed and driven that it discharges a single line of subdivided mouthpieces from each flute or device 46 of the drum ed at the discharge station located at the bottom of the path of travel of drum 44.

It will therefore be evident that the remaining subdivisions in each flute or device are recirculated around the cutting drum until they reach their turn for discharge. In this process when all of the subdivisions in one flute or device have been discharged, the open flute or device will be empty to receive and convey a new multiple length of mouthpiece material. The cycle is then repeated of discharging one subdivision at a time of the multiple length mouthpiece material in a flute or device in the cyclical manner just generally mentioned while recirculating the remainder until finally the flute becomes empty again.

I will now specifically describe the construction and arrangement of the recycling feature of my multiple length plug drum as it would be applied to the feeding of three equal parts of sextuple lengths of mouthpiece material used to illustrate my invention. If quadruple, octuple or any other multiple lengths of material were to be fed the principal of feeding would remain the same, but the number and length of flutes or devices would be changed accordingly. ln such cases, deliveries into every nth flute or device would be made where n equals the number of subdivisions into which the multiple length of mouthpiece material is to be cut.

It will be noted that as previously described the feed roller 36 is driven in such timed relation with the tluted drum as to cause the delivery of one unit of the sextuple length mouthpiece material into every third flute or device of the drum 44. The fluted drum Litt may have any number of flutes or devices providing that the number of flutes or devices chosen, plus or minus one, may be divisible by three to result in a whole number. In this way, any particular flute or device in drum #t4 will arrive in time with a row of feed lugs, 38 of feed roller 36 to receive a complete unit of the multiple length mouthpiece material therefrom at every third revolution of drum 44.

During the intervening two revolutions of drum 4d, the flute or device will pass its filter plug receiving station at the bottom of feed roller 36 with the feed lugs 3S out of phase with feed lugs 3d and so that said flute or device will pass without receiving any new multiple length plug. In order to achieve this result, the distances between the rows of feed lugs on the feed roller 36 should be substantially three times the distance between each flute or device in drum 44, and obviously, the distances between the flutes or devices in drum 44 should be substantially equal to the distances between the troughs of the moving receiving conveyor into which the subdivided plug is deposited for further processing.

From the foregoing description it will be noted that every third flute or device receives and carries a full multiple length of mouthpiece material, and when it has reached the lower discharge station one subdivision 1s removed from said multiple length while two remaining subdivisions are recirculated. Because of the predetermined spaced feeding arrangement previously described, when the mouthpiece remainder approaches the receiving station the new multiple length of mouthpiece material will be deposited in a flute or device adjacent to the flute carrying the remainder. This adjacent flute may be either in front of or in the rear of the remainder flute, depending on the number of flutes chosen in accordance with the formula described, namely where N=the number of flutes in drum 44 for handling sextuple lengths of mouthpiece material.

In the illustration used to describe how my invention could be used to feed three equal parts of seXtuple lengths of mouthpiece material the flutes in the drum 44 could be made with a 3A inch circular pitch while the lugs 38 on feed roller 36 are 3 x 3A, or 2% inch circular pitch. lf four lugs had been used for example, the pitch of the lugs on drum 36 would still be 21A inch circular pitch which means that the circumferential distance between one blade and the next on the feed roller 36 will be 2% inch because the distance between every third flute and the drum 34 is also 2% inches. In other words, the peripheral speeds of the roller 36 and drum 44 are substantially the same. The diagram in FIG. 1 shows three rows of lugs on roller 36 and twenty three flutes in roller dfi which satisfies the requirement of 1 equalling a whole number.

After one subdivision has been delivered during the first revolution from flute 46 of the multiple length of mouthpiece material or multiple mouthpiece stalk, the apparatus cyclically repeats its operation and when the duplex remainder arrives at the discharge station a second time it will then discharge one of its subdivisions and the third remaining subdivision then commences traveling around with the drum 4d again. As the drum continues its rotation and the remaining mouthpiece subdivision again reaches the discharge station, the remaining mouth- -piece is then discharged and the empty flute then continues its travel -to the receiving station where a new sextuple length of mouthpiece material is deposited by means of lugs 38 and the cycle described is then repeated.

FIG. 9 clearly illustrates the sequencial arrangement of' the mouthpieces that has just been described in connec-Y tion with the recycling of mouthpieces to achieve a con-F tinuous receipt of mouthpiece material in multiple lengths into every third flute and a continuous discharge of single subdivided lengths of mouthpiece material from every flute.

It can readily be seen from the above that the general formula xnic equals the number of flutes or devices in the conveyor where n is the number of subdivided lengths of a mouthpiece stalk, x is a whole number larger than one and c is a whole number between zero and n and at least one of n or cis an odd number.

The above description of recycling is applicable both to the embodiment of the invention shown in the FIGURES 1, 2 and 9 and also to that shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5.

l will now describe specifically how the multiple length of mouthpiece material is subdivided in the embodiment shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 9.

In order to subdivide the multiple lengths of mouth-. piece material into the subdivisions of the desired, length,y a suitable stop is positioned adjacent -to the cutting sta. tion so that the multiple lengths of mouthpiece material are axially advanced up against thestop which controls and determines the length of the mouthpiece material between said stop and the cutting knife. lf desired this stop could be made adjustable so as to make it possible to readily vary the length of the subdivision to be cut .so as to cut the length of subdivisions desired.

Suitable means are employed for moving the mouth- -piece material up against lthe stop. l have shown how one or more air jets, shown in FIGS. 2 and 9, may be conveniently employed for this purpose, and l have shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 a suction arrangement which could be similar used. The important factor is that the mouthpiece material be moved up against the stop irnmediately prior to cutting which could be also done yby a mechanical device such as a frictional surface pushing the mouthpiece material in this direction.

While a lfixed stop will readily provide the desired result, by making the stop adjustable it will be possible to cut olf subdivisions of multiple length mouthpiece to take care of different size subdivisions that may be desired.

It will be appreciated that while every effort is made to make multiple length mouthpieces of exactly the same length there do-es exist in the usual multiple length mouthpieces a slight variation in length from multiple length to multiple length. To accommodate this variation means may be pro-vided in my apparatus for moving the adjustable stop face outwardly a slight additional distance from the cutting knife every time the last multiple length of mouthpiece material passes by the cutting knife as shown in FlG. 9. This will enable these variations in length to be pro-vided for in my apparatus by avoiding the possibility of the cutting knife severing oif end slivers from the last subdivision as it passes by the cutting knife, or from rubbing against the end of .the last subdivision as it passes by the cutting knife.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURES l and 2 I have shown how an automatically moving stop could be advantageously employed to permit passage of the third plug past the knife without damaging the plug and avoiding the undesirable sliver therefrom. The stop consists of an adjusting screw 4S threaded in a fixed bracket 5t) having a locking screw 52 and an adjusting knob 54 (FIG. 2). On the opposite end of the screw 43 are mounted the inner races of ball bearings. The outer races support a hub 62. The face 64 of the hub o2 acts as a stop against which mouthpiece material is moved in the manner described, for example by means of the air jet 72. Suitable means are employed for rotating the hub 62 at the same peripheral speed as the uted periphery of tinted drum 44. In this embodiment l have shown this as being done by pin 66 coacting with slots du formed in the rotating stop 62 as shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 9.

At every third interval, a portion 70 of the stop face 64 has been cut away, so that this cut away portion will arrive opposite each third ilute carrying the last remaining one third subdivision of the sextuple length plugs used .to illustrate the invention. As previously mentioned, when the last remaining subdivision is blown against the cutaway portion itt by the blower 72 it will be in such an axial position that it will pass the knife without touching it, regardless of whether the over-all length of the sextuple length of mouthpiece material was of exactly the correct size or of a size slightly greater than the exact size.

The periphery of the cutting drum 44 is surrounded by an arcuate guide 74 which holds the mouthpiece material in the respective flutes 46. A slot 76 is formed in the arcuate guide 74 .to permit the knife 7S to pass therethrough. A similar slot 80 is formed around the periphery of fluted cutting drum 44 and the knife travels therethrough to subdivide the lengths of multiple mouthpiece material as they pass the cutting knife 73. The cutting drum 44 is mounted on a shaft 82.

At the discharge station of guide 74 the subdivision of mouthpiece material is discharged onto a receiving roller chain conveyor or drum upon which lengths of cigarette rods are also deposited and upon which the assembly is united together by a uniting hand.

The operation of the apparatus shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 9 -may be brietly described as followszfIt will be evident that in the embodiment sho-wn, multiple lengths of mouthpiece material are deposited in every third flute of a cutting drum. The multiple lengths of mouthpiece ymaterial pass an air nozzle 72 before reaching the cutting knife and a jet of air emerging from said nozzle pushes the mouthpiece material along the tintes-46 up against the stop As the cutting drum continues its rotation, one end of the mouthpiece material is severed and when lthis end of the mouthipece material so severed reaches the bottom of the cutting drum it is deposited in thespace between two adjacent rollers 84 of the drum or roller chain S6. The peripheral speed of the chainor drum 86 is the same as the peripheral speed of the drum 44 so that the flutes 46 are always opposite the spaces between the rollers 84 at the discharge point.

A suitably shaped cutout S8 provided at the'bottorn portion of the arcuate guide 74 permits the subdivisions of mouthpiece material to drop from flute 46 of drum 44 into the spaces between rollers 84, this cutout 88 being so dimensioned that although it permits the free movement of the severed end piece of mouthpiece material through it, it will retain any remainder within the flute d6 and so compel that remainder to be recirculated until axially moved over into the discharge lane by means of the air jet or other device. The upward traveling periphery of tluted drum 44 is surrounded by the guide which forms a continuation of the guide 74 and holds the remaining portion of the sextuple lengths in their respective utes. When the-remaining portion of the plug `material arrives at the nozzle station, it is pushed against the stop 64 by the air blast from the nozzle 72 after which it is moved past the cutting knife 78 in the manner shown in FIG. 9. Continued lmovement of drum 44 again brings the flute in question to discharge cutout 88 where one subdivision is again deposited on to roller 84, the remaining and last subdivision being again carried past the discharge cutout to complete another revolution of drum 44 during which movement -it again passes nozzle 72 from which an air blast issues, causing the remaining subdivision to move over to the stop plate.

This time, the cut away portion 70 of the stop plate 64 will be opposite the flute in question so that the subdivisions of mouthpiece material will be axiall-ylocated relative to the knife, a distance greater than previously employed by an amount depending upon the depth of the cut away portion 70. In this way, the subdivision will pass clear of the knife, to be delivered through the discharge cutout 88 in due course.

This leaves this flute empty to receive a new multiple length of mouthpiece material from lugs 38 carried on feed drum 36 when it passes that point, after which the sequence of events described above is repeated.

It will be understood that due to the proper `timing arrangement existing between the flutes in the drum `44 and the rows of feed lugs 38 on roller 36, during the two revolutions when the flute 46-of drum 44 passes the receiving station whilst containing any mouthpiece material, the flute 46 will be out of phase with the feed lugs 3S and so will receive no mouthpiece material therefrom, but during the third revolution of drum r44 the now empty flute 46 will arrive at the receiving station in phase with the lugs 38 and so will receive a new multiple length of mouthpiece material therefrom. FIGURE 9 clearly shows the sequence of operations, and in the manner described We have a recycling of the remaining plugs and a successive delivery of aligned and subdivided mouthpieces onto the assembly conveyor chain or drum. Because the cutaway portion 7&3 of stop plate 64 is relatively shallow no special provision has to be made for the relatively minor dis-alignment resulting from this. However, if it should be so desired, a suitable plow guide could be provided to push this slight disalignment of the last subdivision back into exact alignment.

As mentioned heretofore the fluted drum 44 is mounted on the horizontal shaft 82 which may be driven from the main drive of a filter tip machine or any other suitable source of power (not shown). To shaft 82 is secured a gear 90 which meshes with and drives gear 92 (FIGS. 2 and l0) mounted on a shaft 94 which in turn carries and drives the feed roller 36 also mentioned heretofore. To shaft 82 is secured another gear 96 which meshes with and drives a gear 98 mounted on a shaft 100. Integral with gear 98 is a sprocket 102 which through a suitable chain 104 is connected with and drives a sprocket 106 mounted on a shaft 108 which in turn carries and drives a pair of sprockets 110 which support and drive the plug receiving roller chains 86 illustrated in FIG. 1.

While the above paragraph describes the properly timed and synchronized driving mechanism for the mouthpiece feeding, cutting, separating and delivery mechanism illustrated in FIGS. l, 2, 9 and l0, the sychronization between the plug feed roller 36 and the fluted drum 44 to accomplish the feeding of a multiple length mouthpiece into every third ute 46 of drum 44 may be achieved by employing suitable mechanically or electronically operated hunting or detecting devices or a combination of such. The rotating knife blade 78 (FIGS. 1 and 2) employed for severing individual lengths from the multiple length mouthpiece is mounted on a shaft 112 which may be driven by a suitable source of power such as an individual motor (not shown).

In the modified form of my invention shown in FIG- URES 3, 4 and 5, multiple length mouthpiece may be fed from a similar hopper as the one shown in FIG. 1, provided with a funnel or feed channel 114 (FIG. 3) suitably shaped to cause the multiple length mouthpiece to drop into the utes 116 formed in the lluted drum 118 which travels in the direction of the arrow indicated in FIG. 3. As the sextuple lengths of mouthpiece material move past a pair of spaced knives 120 rotating in a direction indicated by the arrow, the sextuple length is subdivided into three subdivisions. The subdivided lengths of mouthpiece material are confined in their repective flutes by the arcuate shield 122. Suitable slots are formed in the shield 122 and the iluted cutting drum 118, to receive the cutting knives 120. It will be understood that the knives 120 do not have to be on the same center but could be staggered.

One or more stripping fingers 124 project in from an arcuate guide plate 126 are provided for removing each subdivision of mouthpiece material from the drum 118 and guiding the same into the flute 12S of the recirculating drum 130. Suitable annular grooves 119 are formed in the cutting drum 118 for receiving the lingers 124.

The number and pitch of flutes in the cutting drum 11S and in the recirculating drum 130 is determined in the manner previously described where a formula was set up for determining the relation of the feed roller 36 for the drum 44, illustrated in FIG. 1.

When the subdivisions of mouthpiece material held in the flutes 128 (FIG. 3) travel downwardly they move past a stationary suction chamber 132 placed adjacent one end of drum 130 causing the nearest subdivided mouthpiece length to be pulled up against a stop rod 134 secured to said box 132 and positioned parallel to drum 130 as shown in FIGURES 3 and 5. As the drum 130 continues its rotation every subdivision pulled against the stop rod 134 reaches the discharge cutout 136 provided in the lowermost portion of guide plate 136 which permits said subdivisions to drop into the pockets or spaces formed by suitable rollers 138 of a conventional assembly drum or roller chain, 140 similar to the one shown in FIG. l. It will be noted that only one subdivision of mouthpiece material is delivered from each flute 12S of drum 130 (FIG. 4).

The drive for the drum and the assembly rollers 13S on chains 140 are advanced and synchronized in such a manner as to assure that each flute 128 of drum 130 when passing the cutout 136 in guide plate 126 of discharge station will be directly above the space between a pair `of assembly rollers 13S. As the cutting drum 118 and the recirculating drum 130 continue their respective rotations, two adjacent flutes of 12S in the latter will be out of phase with the ilutes 116 of drum 113 at the receiving station, while every third and empty flute 12S of drum 130 will line up and be in phase with a ute 116 of drum 11S at which time a new multiple length of mouthpiece material is transferred from drum 118 to drum 130. In this way we have a recirculation of plug material so that one subdivision at a time is delivered from each flute 128 onto the assembly rollers 138 in substantially the same manner as the recycling operation described in connection with the drum 44 illustrated in FIG. 1.

When the subdivisions reach the end of the flutes from which they are discharged one at a time from each adjacent ute, they come in contact with a suitably shaped ejector finger 142 which positively ejects the subdivided mouthpiece into the space between the assembly rollers 138.

Finger 142 is suitably secured to the outer wall of the arcuate guide plate 126 and projects into a suitable annular groove 144 provided in drum 130. The stationary suction box 132 receives suction through a suitable tube 145 from a conventional source of suction (not shown).

In FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 I have shown another embodiment of my invention wherein a column of pieces of multiple length mouthpiece material is fed from a hopper which may be similar to the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1. The multiple length mouthpiece material is so fed between channel walls 146. Adjacent the lower end of channel 146 holding the column of mouthpiece material is provided a suitable gate 143 which prevents the discharge of said mouthpiece material into the flutes 150 of drum 152 until said gate 148 opens. The gate 14S stays open for one complete revolution of cutting drum 152 to ll every flute therein with complete multiple lengths of mouthpiece material. and thus arrests any further delivery of mouthpiece material into utes 150 until the drum 152 has completed two additional revolutions. The gate 148 is actuated in timed relationship with the drive of the shaft 154 driving iiuted drum 152 in any suitable manner to accomplish this.

The gate 14S is secured to a horizontal bar 155 provided at one end with a guide shoe 156 (FIGS. 7 and 8) slidably supported in a forked end portion 158 of an arm 160 loosely mounted on the drum shaft 154. Integral with the hub of arm 160 is a cam lever 162 the free end of which is formed into a suitable cam follower 164 which due to the action of a tension spring 166 (FIG. 6) engages with a suitably shaped cam 16S mounted on a shaft 170 rotated by a gear 172 mounted thereon and meshing with a gear 174 secured to the continuously rotating drum shaft 154. It will be noted that the timed oscillating motion imparted to arm 160 and thus to gate 148 by cam lever 162 and cam 16S causes an opening and closing of said gate 148 with respect to the bottom of the feed channel 146 and thus control the ilow or delivery of the multiple lengths of mouthpiece material from said channel 146 into the flutes 150 of the drum 152.

Since it is undesirable to have any drag of the gate or the bottom of the column of mouthpiece material in chanknel 146 upon the drum 152 or the mouthpiece carried therein after the gate is closed, the gate 148 as well as the column of mouthpiece material in channel 146 is slightly raised during the closing action of said gate. (FIG. 8.) This raising and lowering motion of gate 148 is accomplished through a cam roller 176 loosely mounted on a stud 178 held by a lug 180 which is integral with the horizontal gate carrying bar 155. Cam roller 176 en- The gate 14S is then closed gages with .a suitably shaped cam lug 182 secured to the outer side of one of the channel walls 146. A compression spring 184 (FIGS. 7 and 8) conned `between the top of guide shoe 156 and the bottom side of a top plate 186 on the forked end portion 15S of arm 160 is employed to keep roller 176 in permanent contact with the cam lug 182. As illustrated in dotted lines in FIG. 8 the different positions of the cam roller 176 on cam lug 132 effected by the oscillating lmotion of arm 160` during opening and closing operation results in a desirable trouble free gate action and feed control.

When the multiple lengths of mouthpiece material pass by the rotating cutting knife 188 which extends into a suitable groove 19t) formed in the fluted drum 152, one end of the multiple length mouthpiece material is severed therefrom. The mouthpiece material to be severed is aligned against an adjustable lstop flange 192 by the action of an air jet 194 or other means in a manner similar to that previously described. The stop flange 192 is spaced from the cutting knife 138 a distance corresponding to the length of the subdivisions desired.

The periphery of the iluted drum 152 is surrounded by a circular retainer shield 196 suitably secured to the lower edges of channel 146. A suitable slot formed in the retainer shield 196 permits the rotary knife 188 to protrude into the slot 190 of drum 152. The lower end of the shield 196 is provided with a suitably shaped cutout 198 shown in FlGURES 7 and 8 to permit the severed ends of the subdivided mouthpieces to drop from the utes 150 of drum 152 into the spaces between assembly rollers 21N) carried and supported `by a pair of endless chains 202 driven in proper timed relation with drum 152 in the direction indicated by arrows in FIG. 6.

Endless chains 202 are continuously driven by a pair of sprockets 204 (FIG. 6) mounted on a shaft 206 which carries and is driven by a sprocket 208 (FIG. 7). Sprocket 208 through a chain 210v is driven by a sprocket 212 mounted on a shaft 214 to which is also secured a gear 216 which meshes .with and is driven by a gear 218 mounted on the drum. shaft 15.4. After all the multiple lengths of mouthpiece material had their leading end severed and delivered in the manner described, the remaining subdivisions will again come into the range of action of the jet nozzle 194 during the second revolution of the drum 152.

As soon as this occurs said remaining subdivision is blown sequentially against the stop 192 and each following remaining subdivision will be acted upon in a similar manner, so that, as the drum 152 continues its rotation the second subdivision will be severed by the cutting knife 18S as the subdivisions pass said knife. When all of the remaining subdivisions have then been severed in this manner, and one has been delivered from each flute the remaining subdivisions will again reach the range of action of the air jet 194, during the third revolution of the drum 152. At this time the stop 192 is moved a slightly greater distance from the cutting knife 188 so that each remaining subdivided mouthpiece moves past the rotating cutting knife 188 without touching the sam-e. In this Way all the plugs are ultimately discharged through the cutout 198 of shield 196. When the rst empty ute 150 of drum 152 reaches the feed channel 1416, the gate 143 opens and permits a new supply of multiple length mouthpieces to be delivered into the respective ilutes. The cycle of operation described will then be repeated.

To accomplish the retraction of the stop ange 192 during the third revolution of drum 152 in each cycle of the machine, said stop flange is provided with a threaded stud 220 (FIG. 7) held by the free end of an arm 222 mounted on a shaft 224 supported by suitable bearing brackets (not shown). To shaft 224 is also secured a cam lever 226 which at its free end carries a cam roller 228 engaging with a cam 230 mounted on the rotating cam shaft 170 described heretofore. It is self evident that when roller 228 is in contact with the high portion 252 of cam 230 the stop flange 192 is a greater distance away from the cutting knife 188 than when roller 228 contacts the low portion 234 of said cam. A suitable tension spring (not shown) assures a permanent engagement of cam roller 228 with cam 230. To prevent any interference with the proper operation of the gate 148 the upper portion of the shield 196 adjacent -to the feed channel 146 is provided with a suitable cut out 236 (FIGS. 7 and 8).

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 lis but one of many possible embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restrict-ed to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

l. A mechanism for subdividing multiple mouthpiece stalks into a predetermined number n of predetermined lengths, an endless conveyor having a plurality of devices for slidably supporting multiple mouthpiece stalks for lengthwise sliding movements, said devices being equally spaced along said conveyor and being in number equal to xnic Where x is a Whole number larger than one and c a whole number between Zero and n and at least one of n or c is an odd number, means to feed said multiple length mouthpiece stalks to said devices in a sequential skip feed cycle, said sequential cycle having a skip value equal to said predetermined number, cutting means positioned along said conveyor after said feed means to sever stalks in said devices, stop means on said conveyor to align one end of said multiple length mouthpiece stalks, and located a predetermined length from said cutting means, slider means to slide said multiple length mouthpiece stalks against said stop means, said slider means being located along said conveyor between said feed -rneans and said cutter means and being timed in operation with said endless conveyor and means subsequent to said cuttingfmeans to discharge a severed length from said devices, whereby said stalks rnay be moved against said stop for sequential severing of mouthpiece lengths, said devices being reloaded by said loading means when any given stalk vhas been completely discharged.

2. A mechanism for subdividing multiple mouthpiece stalks into a predetermined number n of predetermined lengths, an endless conveyor having a plurality of devices for slidably supporting multiple mouthpiece stalks for lengthwise sliding movements, said devices being equally spaced along said conveyor and being in number equal to xnic where x is a whole number larger than one and c a whole number between zero and n and at least one of n or c is an odd number, means to feed said multiple length mouthpiece stalks to said devices in a sequential skip feed cycle, said sequential cycle having a skip value equal to said predetermined number, cutting means positioned along said conveyor after said feed means, to sever stalks in said devices, stop means on said conveyor to align one end of said multiple length mouthpiece stalks, and located a predetermined length from said cutting means, means for adjustably moving said stop means towards and away from said endless conveyor to regulate and adjust the distance a predetermined stalk length of mouthpiece material to be severed extends between the cutting means and the stop means, slider means to slide said multiplelength mouthpiece stalks against said stop means, said slider means being located along said conveyor between said feed means and said cutter means and being timed in operation with said endless conveyor and means subsequent to said cutting means to discharge a severed length from said devices, whereby said stalks may be moved against said stop for sequential severing of mouthpiece lengths, said devices being reloaded by said loading means when any given stalk has been completely discharged.

3. A mechanism for subdividing multiple mouthpiece stalks into a predetermined number n of predetermined lengths, an endless conveyor having a plurality of devices Tt l for slidably supporting multiple mouthpiece stalks for lengthwise sliding movements, said devices being equally spaced along said conveyor and being in number equal to xnic where x is a whole number larger than one and c a Whole number between Zero and n and at least one of n or c is an odd number, means to feed said multiple length mouthpiece stalks to said devices in a sequential skip feed cycle, said sequential cycle having a skip value equal to said predetermined number, cutting means positioned along said conveyor after said feed means to sever stalks in said devices, stop means on said conveyor to align one end of said multiple length mouthpiece stalks, and located a predetermined length from said cutting means, slider means to slide said multiple length mouthpiece stalks against said stop means, said slider means being located along said conveyor between said feed y means and said cutter means and being timed in operation with said endless conveyor and means subsequent to said cutting means to discharge a severed length from said devices, whereby said stalks may be moved against said stop for sequential severing of mouthpiece lengths, said devices being reloaded by said loading means when any given stalk has been completely discharged and a receiving conveyor for receiving yone severed length at a time from said devices.

4. A mechanism for subdividing multiple mouthpiece stalks into a predetermined number n of predetermined lengths, an endless conveyor having a plurality of devices for slidably supporting multiple mouthpiece stalks for lengthwise sliding movements, said devices being equally spaced along said conveyor and being in number equal to xnic where x is a whole number larger than one and c a whole number between zero and n and at least one of n or c is an odd number, means for forming a column of horizontally arranged multiple mouthpiece stalks, means to feed said multiple length mouthpiece stalks to said devices in a sequential skip feed cycle, said sequential cycle having a skip value equal to said predetermined number, cutting means positioned along said conveyor after said feed means to sever stalks in said devices, stop means on said conveyor to align one end of said multiple length mouthpiece stalks, and located a predetermined length from said cutting means, slider means to slide said multiple length mouthpiece stalks against said stop means, said slider means being located along said conveyor between said feed means and said cutter means and being timed il?, in operation with said endless conveyor means subsequent to said cutting means to discharge a severed length from said devices, whereby said stalks may be moved against said stop for sequential severing of mouthpiece lengths,- said devices being reloaded by said loading means when any given stalk has been completely discharged.

5. A mechanism for subdividing multiple mouthpiece stalks into a .predetermined number n of predetermined lengths, an endless conveyor having a plurality of devices for slidably supporting multiple mouthpiece stalks for lengthwise sliding movements, said devices being equally spaced along said conveyor and being in number equal to xnic, Where x is a whole number larger than one and c a whole number between zero and n and `at least one of n or c is an odd number, means to feed said multiple length mouthpiece stalks to said devices in a sequential skip feed cycle, said sequential cycle having a skip value equal to said predetermined number, cutting means positioned along said conveyor after said feed means to sever stalks in said devices, stop means on said conveyor to align one end of said multiple length mouthpiece stalks, and located a predetermined length from said cutting means, said stop means including a plate having a recessed portion which is opposite to one of said devices each time only a single mouthpiece length remains in References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 450,147 Gill Apr. 14, 1891 839,121 Dean Dec. 25, 1906 1,641,222 Foisy Sept. 6, 1927 1,934,660 Fairchild Nov. 7, 1933 2,123,580 Wheless July 12, 1938 2,236,150 Maltby Mar. 25, 1941 2,328,712 Domke Sept. 7, 1943

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