Method and device for forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes

A method of forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes at a high speed with a simple device. The device for forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes comprises a supply drum having support recesses formed on an outer circumferential portion thereof at equal intervals of a predetermined pitch for receiving two rows of the cigarettes, an inverting drum for receiving the cigarettes from the supply drum and having rotating slots arranged at a pitch equal to that of the support recesses, a roll drum for receiving the cigarettes from the supply drum and having relatively shallow support recesses formed at a patch half the pitch of the support recesses of the supply drum, the roll drum being arranged in parallel relation with the inverting drum, rotation guide members mounted to the inverting drum, a cigarette rolling member provided in opposed relation with the roll drum, and a take-up drum for receiving the cigarettes from the inverting drum and the roll drum, the take-up drum having axially continuous support recesses formed on an outer circumferential portion at a pitch half the pitch of the support recesses of the supply drum.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a method and a device for forming a row of 
filter-tip cigarettes, and more particularly to a method and a device for 
forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes in a filter-tip cigarette producing 
machine, wherein one row of the filter-tip cigarettes is inverted to 
arrange a mount position of filters on the same side relative to the other 
row of the filter-tip cigarettes. 
Generally, a filter-tip cigarette is produced by inserting between two 
cigarettes a filter member having a length for two cigarettes, winding a 
piece of paper with paste around a connecting portion of the filter member 
and the cigarettes to bond the same to the cigarettes, and cutting the 
filter member at its center to obtain two filter-tip cigarettes. 
According to this method, two parallel rows of the filter-tip cigarettes 
with the filter attached on opposite sides are obtained, and therefore the 
two rows of the cigarettes are commonly arranged in a single row to meet 
the requirement for a subsequent work in a packaging or storing apparatus 
for example by inverting one row of the cigarettes and joining the same 
with the other row. 
In the prior art, a supply drum having support recesses formed on an outer 
circumferential portion thereof at equal pitch for receiving two rows of 
the cigarettes is provided, and a row arrangement drum having an odd 
number of support recesses arranged at a pitch half the pitch of the 
support recesses of the supply drum is arranged with respect to the supply 
drum. In the row arrangement drum, one row of the cigarettes as fed from 
the supply drum is formed as a remaining row and the other is formed as an 
inversion row. Then, the cigarettes in the inversion row are outwardly 
rotated about an end portion of the cigarettes in the remaining row as a 
fulcrum to a position at a right angle to an axis of the row arrangement 
drum, and are subsequently inverted by an angle of 180.degree. to be 
joined with the remaining row, thus obtaining a single row of the 
cigarettes with the filters arranged on the same side. 
However, in the prior art device as mentioned above, a center of gravity of 
the cigarettes is outwardly moved during inversion to increase a 
centrifugal force, and as a result, the cigarettes tend to escape out of 
the drum and to be hindered in smooth inverting motion. Recently, such a 
tendency as above has been remarkably increased with increase in 
operational speed of the cigarette producing machine. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object, of the present invention to provide a method of securely 
forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes at a high speed. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for 
securely forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes at a high speed. 
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
method of forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes comprising the steps of 
axially inverting the cigarettes in one row about a center of gravity of 
the cigarettes of two rows of the cigarettes having filters attached 
thereto in opposed direction and arranged in axial alignment to each 
other, moving the cigarettes in the other row forwardly with respect to a 
flow direction of the cigarettes to form two zigzag rows of the cigarettes 
where the filters are attached to the cigarettes in the same direction and 
the two rows of the cigarettes are arranged out of axial alignment to each 
other, and moving the cigarettes in the two zigzag rows in an axial 
direction to form one row of the cigarettes. 
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a 
device for forming a row of filter-tip cigarettes comprising a supply drum 
having support recesses formed on an outer circumferential portion thereof 
at equal intervals of a predetermined pitch for receiving two rows of the 
cigarettes, an inverting drum for receiving the cigarettes from the supply 
drum and having rotating slots arranged at a pitch equal to that of the 
support recesses, a roll drum for receiving the cigarettes from the supply 
drum and having relatively shallow support recesses formed at a pitch half 
the pitch of the support recesses of the supply drum, the roll drum being 
arranged in parallel relation with the inverting drum, a rotation guide 
member mounted to the inverting drum, a cigarette rolling member provided 
in opposed relation with the roll drum, and a take-up drum for receiving 
the cigarettes from the inverting drum and the roll drum, the take-up drum 
having axially continues support recesses formed on an outer 
circumferential portion at a pitch half the pitch of the support recesses 
of the supply drum. 
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be 
apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims when 
taken with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
In a cigarette producing machine, first a rod-like cigarette of double 
length with a filter member inserted at a central portion thereof is 
produced, and then it is cut at a center thereof to form two cigarettes 
with each direction opposed. These cigarettes are conveyed in two rows to 
a subsequent working section in a direction perpendicular to a 
longitudinal direction of each cigarette. On the way of conveyance, one 
row of the cigarettes is inverted to be arranged in the same direction as 
of the other row. Then, the two rows of the cigarettes are joined with 
each other to be arranged in a row. 
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown, in association with the cigarettes, a 
device required for inverting one row of the cigarettes in the 
above-mentioned step. The cigarettes 1 are placed in support recesses 3 
formed on a circumference of a supply drum 2 at equal intervals of a pitch 
2P, and are fed to an inverting drum 4. The support recesses 3 are moved 
synchronously with slots 7 of the inverting drum 4, and the cigarettes 1 
are transferred at a receiving position from the supply drum 2 to the 
inverting drum 4. 
The slots 7 of the inverting drum 4 are arranged in parallel relation with 
each other in a direction of a rotary axis of the drum 4 at equal 
intervals of a pitch 2P. The slots 7 have a width slightly larger than a 
diameter of the cigarettes 1 and a sufficient depth such that the 
cigarettes 1 may be rotated with the same held by center support members 6 
which will be hereinafter described. 
Each of the center support members 6 is mounted at an outer end portion of 
each of the slots 7 in such a manner as to be opposed with a spacing 
defined therebetween. Such opposed surfaces of the center support members 
6 are formed to be spherical surfaces 8 so that the cigarettes 1 may 
smoothly get in and out of the center support members 6 and may be 
suitably rotated about the center support members 6 as a fulcrum. The 
spacing between the opposed spherical surfaces 8 is slightly smaller than 
a diameter of the cigarettes 1 so as for the cigarettes 1 to be held 
therein. In addition, the center support members 6 as mounted at the slots 
7 are arranged on a circumference of the drum 4. 
There are provided at a cigarette receiving portion inlet guide members 12 
and 13 which are arranged in opposed relation with each other with a 
cigarette guide spacing defined therebetween, extending in a substantially 
circumferential direction of the inverting drum 4. The inlet guide members 
12 and 13 serve to disengage the cigarettes 1 from the support recesses 3 
and guide the cigarettes into the slots 7. At the final ends of the 
members 12 and 13, the cigarettes 1 are held such that a diametrical 
portion of the cigarettes 1 coincides with the narrowest portion between 
the opposed spherical surfaces 8 of the support members 6. The spherical 
surfaces 8 are provided with suction holes at foremost ends thereof. 
There are provided near a periphery of the inverting drum 4 rotation guide 
members 14, 15 and 16 in a rotating range of the cigarettes 1. The 
rotation guide member 14 as shown in FIG. 1 acts to push down an end of 
the cigarettes 1, while the rotation guide member 15 acts to push up the 
other end. Accordingly, owing to cooperation of both the guide members 14 
and 15, the cigarettes 1 are set upright. Subsequently, the cigarettes 1 
are pushed down in the rotational direction by the guide member 15, and 
are sequentially urged downwardly to a horizontal position by the rotation 
guide member16. The cigarettes 1 as inverted in this way are taken out of 
the inverting dum 4 at outlet portion. The outlet portion is provided with 
an outlet guide members 17 and 18 for guiding to disengage the cigarettes 
1 as held by the support members 6 from the support portion and fit the 
same in every other one of support recesses 20 formed on an outer 
circumference of a take-up drum 19 at equal intervals of a pitch P. 
Referring next to FIG. 2, there is shown, in association with the 
cigarettes, a device required for forwardly rolling the cigarettes in the 
other row as employed in the step of the invention. 
The cigarettes 21 are placed in the support recesses 3 formed on a 
circumference of the supply drum 3 at equal intervals of the pitch 2P, and 
are subsequently fed to a roll drum 22. The roll drum 22 is fixedly 
provided with a ring 23 on an outer circumference thereof, and is rotated 
integrally with the ring 23. The ring 23 is formed with relatively shallow 
support recesses 24 on a circumference thereof at equal intervals of the 
pitch P. The cigarettes 21 are transferred at a receiving position from 
the drum 2 to the support recesses 24 every other recess. 
The ring 23 is further formed with suction holes 25 communicating with 
channels 26 in the drum 22. Communication holes 27 are communicated with 
every other channel 26. In this connection, suction air is applied from a 
sleeve 34 to the suction hole 25 to hold the cigarettes 21 in the support 
recesses 24 and convey the same to a rolling plate 28. Then, the 
cigarettes 21 are forwardly rolled out of the support recesses 24, and are 
sequentially rolled forwardly as being interposed between a surface 29 of 
the ring 23 and a surface 30 of the rolling plate 28, then entering the 
subsequent support recess 24, which is communicated with a communication 
hole 31. Owing to action of the suction air, the cigarettes 21 are held in 
the support recesses 24 to be conveyed to the take-up drum 19, where the 
cigarettes 21 are received in every other one of the support recesses 20 
formed on the outer circumference of the take-up drum 19 at equal 
intervals of the pitch P. 
The cigarettes 1 as inverted by the inverting drum 4 and the cigarettes 21 
as forwardly rolled by the roll drum 22 are alternately received in the 
support recesses 20 formed on the outer surface of the take-up drum 19 at 
equal intervals of the pitch P, and are zigzag arranged in two rows. Then, 
the cigarettes 1 and/or 21 are moved in a longitudinal direction thereof 
on the take-up drum 19 by a known method such as air pressure, so as to 
form a single row of the cigarettes at equal intervals of the pitch P to 
convey the row of the cigarettes to the subsequent step. 
Referring to FIG. 3 which shows a cross section taken along the line 
III--III in FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be appreciated that the inverting drum 
4 is arranged coaxially with the roll drum 22, and is fixed thereto by a 
disc 33 so as to rotate integrally therewith about a shaft 32. The roll 
drum 22 is loosely fitted on a sleeve 34 so that suction air may be 
supplied through the inside of the sleeve 34 to the support recesses 24 
for holding the cigarettes 21. 
Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described, it will 
be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, 
variation and change without departing from its proper scope as 
exemplified by the following claims.