Patent ID: 6065585
Filing Date: 2000-05-23
Classification: A24C,B65B,B65G

Abstract:
A reservoir system for rod-like articles, comprising a delivery device, a receiving device, and conveyor means for conveying a multi-layer stream of articles from the delivery device towards the receiving device, wherein the conveying means comprises a variable-capacity first-in first-out reservoir including a conveyor extending in a generally helical path around laterally-spaced sets of guide means, each set of guide means comprising vertically-spaced guide elements, at least one of said guide means being movable towards and away from another of said guide means in another of said sets so as to vary the capacity of the reservoir, said conveyor having an operative run extending between a reservoir input at a first level and a reservoir output at a second level, said helical path extending undirectionally from said input to said output between said first and second levels.