US3532388A

US3532388A - Conveying apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3532388A
Application number: US733404A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tom Rowlands; Robert Ernest Matheson Gemmell
Original assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Priority date: 1967-06-30
Filing date: 1968-05-31
Publication date: 1970-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 1987-10-06
Also published as: GB1237373A; DE1757868A1

Description

Oct. 6, 1970 RQWLANDS EI'AL 3,532,388

' commune armwrus Filed m 51, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 6, 1970 T. ROWLANDS ETAL 3,532,333

couvnnna Arrm'rus Filed llay 31, 1968 4 sheets-sheet z Oct. 6, 1970 I 1-. ROWLANDS EI'AL 3,532,388

CONVEYING APPARATUS I Filed m :51. 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet s Oct. 6, 1970 T, ow s EI'AL 3,532,388

CONVEYING 'AYPARATUS Filed May 31, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet *1 United States Patent US. Cl. 302-2 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An overhead conveyor to carry a stream of cigarettes from one cigarette-making machine to another whilst leaving space for an operator to pass underneath, which comprises a series of tubes mounted on an endless band and into which tubes the cigarettes are sucked at one end and from which they are blown at the other end.

This invention relates to conveying apparatus for moving streams of cigarettes and similar rod-like articles in a cigarette factory.

In some methods of manufacture, cigarettes are produced by cigarette-making machines at a rate of several thousand per minute in a continuous moving stream and are fed to a tray-filling machine which operates to feed them into trays in which they are then transported to a packing room where they are put into packets. The trayfilling machines may operate at about twice the speed of the cigarette making machine and it is therefore desirable to connect two cigarette makers to a single tray filler.

However, there are cerain limitations on the way in which machinery can be arranged in a factory. For example, regard has to be paid to the need for the number of machine operators to be reduced to a minimum as a result of which it is usual for one operator to tend more than one machine. In this case it is necessary to ensure that the operator can have free access from one machine to another. For the sake of convenience and efficiency it is also desirable to arranged the machines face-to-face in pairs, with the result that the output end of one machine is remote from the tray filler to which it is connected. Thus to enable one operator to tend both machines the cigarettes from that machine must be raised above the space between the machines on their way to the tray filler to enable him to pass underneath.

It is an object of this invention to provide improved conveying apparatus for use in transporting cigarettes and similar rod-like articles in a cigarette factory which can be employed to carry a stream of cigarettes from one of a pair of cigarette-making machines above the space between them.

According to the present invention there is provided conveying apparatus for cigarettes and similar rod-like articles which comprises an endless conveyor carrying a series of parallelly aligned tubular containers for the articles which containers are adapted to hold the articles against movement in any direction transverse to their axes, wherein the conveyor is capable of flexing about the axes of the articles, and comprising means to load the articles into the containers on the conveyor and means to off-load them therefrom. Preferably also the loading means includes suction means to draw the articles into the tubes and the off-loading means includes air pressure means to blow the articles out of the tubes. To assist in this the tubes can be funnel-shaped at one end to guide the articles in and can be partially closed 3,532,388 Patented Oct. 6, 1970 ice at the other end to facilitate the operation of the suction means and the air pressure means.

In a preferred embodiment the conveyor is supported on a frame having the form of an arch to have a forward run and a return run extending along the arch, the containers holding the articles on the conveyor during upward and downward travel. In addition the conveyor can be arranged to turn the articles about an axis transverse to the direction of movement but also about an axis extending in that direction.

The invention also extends to a pair of cigarette making machines arranged to face each other so that the output end of one of the machines is remote from that of the other and is connected thereto by conveying apparatus according to the invention arranged to carry the cigarettes from that output end above the space between the machines with clearance for an operator to pass below.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of two cigarette-making machines connected to a tray filling machine.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevation of a part of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrow A,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevation of a part of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrow B,

FIG. 4 is a still more enlarged view of a part of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 6 is a still more enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, two cigarette-making machines 1 and 2 are connected to a tray filler 3 by means of a conveying apparatus indicated generally at 4. The cigarettes flow oif the machines in continuous streams, 5 and 6 respectively, moving transversely to their length, and the conveying apparatus 4 operates to combine the two flows into a common stream 7 of greater depth which is fed into the tray filler 3. The tray filler 3 operates to pack the cigarettes into trays in which they are transported to a packing room.

As can be seen most clearly in FIG. 2, the conveying apparatus 4 has the general form of an arch extending over the space between the two cigarette makers and its purpose is to convey the cigarettes from one machine to the other whilst at the same time leaving a clear space for an operator to move to and fro between the machines. It will be noted from FIG. 1 that the machines are arranged, as it were, face to face with their outputs opposite each other so that both are more or less on a common line with the input side of the tray filler 3.

The conveying apparatus consists of three parts, which comprise a loading station 8, an endless conveyor 9 and a discharge station 10. The conveyor 9 comprises a continuous series of tubes 11, each of which is adapted to receive one cigarette and has a funnel shaped portion 12 to facilitate loading of the tube, and an aperture 13 (see FIG. 5) in its. opposite end to allow the cigarette to be driven into and out of the tube by air pressure means, and a chain 14 which runs over sprockets 15 mounted on an arch-shaped framework 16 and carries the tubes 11. The tubes 11 are mounted on the chain 14 in pairs by means of flanged brackets each of which has a base portion 28 on which a pair of tubes 11 is mounted by, for example, welding, and an upstanding flange 29 which is apertured to receive two chain rollers thereby to constitute a link of the chain (FIGS. 4 and 5). The loading station 8 is positioned so that the mouths of the tube 11 are in horizontal registration with cigarettes in the stream 5 which are carried out of the machine 1 on a conveyor 17. As the cigarettes move along the conveyor 17 into the region of the station 8 a guide 18 starts to move them endwise intothe tubes 11 on the conveyor 9 and at the same time, suction is applied from a suction chamber 19 through the apertures 13 in the ends of the tubes 11 to complete this movement. A cowling 20 extends from the suction chamber 19 over the tubes 11 to assist the action of the suction chamber 19. The tubes 11 are mounted on the conveyor chain 9 in pairs on flanges 21 each of which is secured to a link of the chain.

The off-loading station 10 comprises a fluted drum 22 mounted in axial alignment with one of the sprockets around which the conveyor 9 moves at the end point of the conveying apparatus. The flutes on the drum 22 are arranged in pairs to register with the tubes as they move around the sprocket 15 and the flanges 21 move somewhat apart. On the other side of the conveyor 9 from the drum 22 an air blower 23 (FIG. 3) is situated to blow the cigarettes out of the tubes 11 into flutes on the drum 22, a curved guide 24 guides the cigarettes from the drum 22 on to a transfer conveyor 25 from which they are run on to a conveyor carrying the stream of cigarettes 6 from the second cigarette maker 2 to make up the input stream 7 to the tray filler 3.

As the conveyor 9 moves from the loading station 8 it is gradually twisted by means of a channel-shaped guide 26 which accommodates the chain 14 and bears on the edges of the base portions 28 of the tube-supporting brackets, to turn the cigarettes in the tubes 11 through ninety degrees so that they will be in the proper position for feeding on to the tray filler 3. The return path of the conveyor 9 is also twisted by means of a guide 27 to reverse the twist introduced by the guide 26. The conveyor 6 carrying the cigarettes from the cigarette maker 2 also turns them through a right angle, see FIG. 1.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Conveying apparatus for conveying cigarettes and similar rod-like articles along a path which comprises an endless conveyor carrying a series of parallelly aligned tubular containers for the articles which containers comprise a substantially imperforate side wall and are adapted to hold the articles against movement in any direction transverse to their axes, said conveyor being capable of flexing about the axes of the articles, and pneumatic means for controlling the internal air pressure of said containers to draw the articles into the containers on the conveyor and to eject them therefrom at respective loading and off-loading stations along said path.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor is capable of limited flexing movement transverse to the axes of the articles.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the conveyor comprises a chain including a series of brackets each of which both supports at least one container and is formed with a portion constituting a part of the chain.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tubular containers are partially closed at one end thereof to cooperate with said pneumatic means.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tubular containers are funnel-shaped at one end to guide articles in at said loading station.

6. A pair of cigarette-making machines arranged to face each other in horizontally spaced relationship, so that the output of one of the machines is remote from the output of the other, wherein conveyor means is provided for conveying cigarettes away from each of said outputs in separate streams and merging said streams, said conveyor means comprising conveyor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 for carrying the stream issuing from the output of said one machine to a point where said streams merge along a path which extends upwardly from said output and downwardly to the point where said streams merge, whereby the space between said machines is unobstructed.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pneumatic means comprises suction means at the loading station adjacent one side of said endless conveyor for successively creating a vacuum in each of said containers through one end thereof to draw successive articles into each of said containers through the opposite end thereof as said containers pass through said loading station.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said pneumatic means further comprises air pressure means at the off-loading station adjacent one side of said endless conveyor for successively creating an elevated pressure in each of said containers through one end thereof to eject articles from each of said containers through the opposite end thereof as said containers pass through said off-loading station.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the vacuum means to load the articles into the containers and the pressure means to off-load them therefrom are horizontally spaced apart and wherein the conveyor has a forward reach to advance the articles from the on-loading to the off-loading station, which reach extends upwardly from the on-loading station and downwardly to the offloading station, and a return reach to return the empty containers from the off-loading station to the on-loading station, which return reach extends upwardly from the off-loading station and downwardly to the on-loading station.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the conveyor is supported on a frame having the form of an arch around which the forward and return runs extend, the containers holding the articles on the conveyor during upward and downward travel along said path.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein means are provided to twist the forward and return reaches of the conveyor substantially through right angles in opposite senses along said path.

12. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the conveyor is arranged to turn the articles about an axis extending in the direction of movement along said path.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 further comprising means for feeding articles successively to said loading station in synchronization with said conveying apparatus whereby each of said articles is positioned adjacent one end of each of said containers prior to being drawn into said container.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein said feeding means comprises guide means for initiating movement of said articles into said containers prior to said suction means completing the drawing of articles into said containers.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said suction means comprises a suction chamber and a cowling extending from the suction chamber over the containers on said conveyor to assist the action of the suction cham her in creating a vacuum in said containers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,934,378 4/1960 Gilbert 30 22 3,387,746 6/1968 Whipple 221-211 ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.