TRANSFERRING ROD-LIKE ARTICLES

Abstract: A system for delivering rows of cigarettes, each for forming one layer of a bundle of cigarettes to be packed in a packing machine, includes a number of fluted planetary wheels (42) carried by an annular carrier (44) along a path on which cigarettes are picked up directly from the lower ends of channels (40) formed between vanes (38) in the hopper of the machine. The wheels (42) transfer the cigarettes in rows to flute sets (48) on a coaxial drum (46) from which the rows are further transferred to a delivery drum (22). Generally the packing machine includes three such systems, one for each layer of the bundle of cigarettes to be packed. In an alternative system cigarettes forming one row are picked up substantially simultaneously by row carriers (220) mounted on planetary wheels (226) so as to follow an hypocycloidal path.

Description: l Transferring Rod-like Articles 2 3 This invention relates to transferring rod-like articles, particularly « transferring rows of cigarettes for subsequent packing in a cigarette s packing machine. β In order to achieve higher speeds in cigarette packing machines it 7 is desirable that as many parts of the machine as possible should s operate continuously rather than intermittently. In particular it is 9 desirable that the conveyor in which the groups of cigarettes are ιo assembled into bundles for subsequent wrapping should run a continuously. The present invention is particularly but not exclusively i2 concerned with transfer apparatus suitable for feeding cigarettes to such i3 a conveyor, particularly from a hopper or other region in which the i4 cigarettes are substantially stationary. is According to one aspect of the invention apparatus for is transferring rod-like articles includes means for supplying articles to a i7 plurality of adjacent delivery positions arranged in a row, conveyor is means including means for receiving articles from said positions, means i9 for translating said conveyor means along a path extending adjacent 2o said row so that said receiving means receives articles from said 2i positions, and means for delivering a row of articles from said conveyor 22 means. Said conveyor means may comprise rotary conveyor means. 23 Preferably said receiving means includes means, e.g. flutes, defining 24 individual cigarette positions. Said conveyor means may receive articles 25 sequentially, e.g. in flutes, or it may receive several or all articles in a row 26 substantially simultaneously. The row of adjacent delivery positions may 27 be straight, or may be curved, e.g. so as to cooperate with said conveyor 28 means. 29 The delivering means may deliver the row to a further conveyor, 30 which may be a rotary drum or an endless band conveyor and may i include flutes for receiving individual cigarettes or pockets or other 32 means adapted to receive a row of cigarettes. 3 In a preferred arrangement the conveyor means comprises a 4 plurality of planetary wheels and the translating means comprises an 5 annular carrier for said wheels. Each wheel may have the same number 6 of flutes as there are delivery positions in said row. Preferably the 7 planetary wheels deliver successive rows of articles to a further conveyor 38 in such manner that there are spaces between successive rows. The 1 further conveyor may comprise a fluted drum rotated about the same 2 axis as the annular carrier and having a lesser radius than the path of the 3 planetary wheels. In a preferred arrangement the planetary wheels are capable of receiving an article from said row in one flute substantially 5 while transferring an article from another flute to said rotary drum. 6 Preferably the planetary wheels, annular carrier and rotary drum move 7 continuously. 8 In another preferred arrangement the receiving means is 9 constrained to move on a path which describes an hypocycloid. The ιo receiving means may comprise means carried by a planetary wheel and a arranged to receive a row of cigarettes at a node of the hypocycloid path i2 and to deliver said cigarettes at a position between nodes on said path, i3 preferably at a speed matched to that of a receiving conveyor, e.g. i containing pockets. is According to another aspect of the invention apparatus for i6 transferring rod-like articles includes means for supplying articles to a i plurality of adjacent delivery positions arranged in a row, first conveyor is means for receiving articles from said positions and second conveyor i9 means for receiving articles from said first conveyor means, said first and 20 second conveyor means being rotatable about a common axis. In a 2i preferred arrangement said first conveyor means comprises at least one 22 planetary conveyor. Thus the first conveyor means may comprise a 23 plurality of fluted planetary members carried by an annular member, and 24 said second conveyor means may comprise a fluted drum arranged 5 inside the annular member. 6 The invention will be further described, by way of example only, 7 with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: 8 Figure 1 is an isometric view of part of a cigarette 9 packing machine, 0 Figure 2 is a side view of part of the machine in Figure 1 , including i a hopper outlet and transfer conveyor arrangement, 2 Figure 3 is a view, similar to that of Figure 2, of a slightly modified 3 transfer conveyor arrangement, 4 Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line IV - IV in Figure 3, 5 Figure 5 is an enlarged view showing a portion of Figure 4 in more 6 detail, 7 Figures 6 and 7 are schematic views of the transfer conveyor 8 arrangement in different operative positions, 1 Figure 8 is a schematic view of the transfer conveyor arrangement 2 showing suction valve timing, 3 Figure 9 is a view similar to that of Figure 5 showing a further slightly modified arrangement, and 5 Figure 1 0 is a side vi ew of a further transfer conveyor e arrangement for a cigarette packing machine. 7 Figure 1 shows part of a machine 10 for packing cigarettes in β hinged lid packs. The machine includes a cigarette hopper 12 having 9 three outlets 14, 16 and 18, each of which has associated with it a 10 transfer conveyor arrangement 20 operable to deliver rows of cigarettes ιι to a delivery drum 22. i2 An endless belt conveyor 24 carrying pockets 26 passes i3 underneath the delivery drums 22 so that each pocket receives a row of i cigarettes from one of the drums and subsequently contains three is superimposed rows of cigarettes. Downstream of the drums 22 the is conveyor 24 runs parallel to a further pocketed belt conveyor 28. An i7 overhead transfer conveyor 30 carrying pushers 32 is operative to is transfer groups of cigarettes from the pockets 26 to the pockets 34 of the i9 conveyor 28. Subsequently the groups of cigarettes are successively 20 plunged axially from the pockets 34 along a vertical run of the conveyor 2i 28. During this axial plunge the groups are partially wrapped in a section 22 of foil delivered along a path indicated at 36 and are received by a 23 folding conveyor indicated at 37. The completion of the wrapping of the 24 foil around the groups of cigarettes and the insertion of these wrapped 25 groups in hinged lid packs does not form part of the present invention. 26 As shown in Figure 2 each of the hopper outlets 14, 16, 18 7 contains a series of vanes 38 dividing the outlet into seven channels 40 8 each of which contains a column of cigarettes. The transfer conveyor 9 arrangement 20 includes five planetary suction wheels 42 supported on 0 a rotatable annular carrier 44. Each of the wheels 42 has seven flutes i and is arranged so that each time the wheel is carried past the outlet 14 2 a cigarette from each of the channels 40 is picked up in one of the flutes. 3 A suction drum 46 is rotatable about the same axis as the carrier 4 44 and carries two opposed sets 48 of seven flutes. The drum 46 rotates 5 at a higher angular speed than the carrier 44, the arrangement being 6 such that each planetary wheel 42 transfers a row of seven cigarettes to 7 one of the sets 48 during its passage away from the outlet 14, the row 8 being subsequently conveyed by the drum 46 to a position at which it is transferred to the delivery drum 22. It should be noted that the drum 22 2 has opposed sets 50 of flutes similar to those of the drum 46. The drum 3 22 could be larger and have three or more sets of flutes. 4 In addition to the wheels 42 the carrier 44 has five support and guide segments 52 positioned between the respective wheels 42 and e operative to hold cigarettes in a channel 40 other than when a wheel 46 7 is passing. The peripheral support surfaces of the segments 42 are β inclined so that the lowermost cigarette in a channel 40 is progressively 9 lowered as the next wheel 42 approaches: this assists loading of the ιo cigarettes into the flutes on the wheels. ιι It will be understood that the wheels 42, and drums 46 and 22 are i2 each provided with appropriate valving to allow suction to be turned on i3 and off at the correct rotational position, so that pick up, conveyance and i4 transfer of cigarettes occurs as described. is Figures 3-5 illustrate a slightly modified arrangement: for i6 convenience, similar reference numbers have been used for parts i7 corresponding to those shown in Figures 1 and 2. As seen particularly is in Figure 3, each of the planetary wheels 42 has nine flutes so that the i9 flute sets 48 and 50 on the drums 46 and 22 also contain nine flutes (not 20 all shown in Figure 3). 2i Referring particularly to Figures 4 and 5, the transfer conveyor 22 arrangement 20 and the drum 22 are driven from a drive pulley 60 23 (Figure 4) connected by a timing belt 62 to a main drive of the machine 24 10. The pulley 60 is fixed to a sleeve 61 rotatable with a hollow drive 25 shaft 64 which at one end is integral with a part forming one side of the 6 drum 46. The other side of the drum 46 is integral with a coaxial shaft 7 66. The shaft 64 is rotatable around an internal stationary tube 68 8 containing an internal bore 70 through which suction is transmitted to the 9 drum 46. 0 The drum 22 is similarly connected to a hollow shaft 72 which is i parallel to the shaft 64 and which is driven from it by means of gears 74, 2 76 keyed to the respective shafts. The shaft 72 rotates around a 3 stationary internal tube 78 having an internal bore 80 through which 4 suction is supplied to the drum 22. 5 The gear 74 keyed to shaft 64 also engages with a gear 82 6 connected to one end of a stub shaft 84 carrying at its other end a 7 further gear 86 which in turn is engaged with a sun gear 88 rotatable 8 about an axis which is coaxial with the shaft 64. 1 Each planet wheel 42 comprises first and second coaxial laterally 2 spaced parts 42A, 42B which respectively engage opposite ends of a 3 cigarette conveyed in the flutes of the wheel. The planet wheel part 42B is connected to a short shaft which carries a coaxial planet gear 90 which 5 is engaged with both the sun gear 88 and a stationary internal ring gear e 92. The planet wheel part 42A, which evidently must move at the same 7 rate as the planet wheel part 42B, is driven by way of a gear 94 s connected to the end of a shaft 66 through gears 82A, 86A, sun gear 9 88A, gear 90A and ring gear 92A, which cooperate in the same way as ιo the corresponding gears for the part 42B. The planet wheel parts 42A π and 42B are respectively carried by laterally-spaced parts 44A, 44B of i2 the carrier 44. i3 The guide and support segments 52 mounted on the carrier 44 i4 each comprise laterally spaced parts each of which is capable of guiding is and supporting a cigarette 100 at the bottom of a channel 40. Each i6 segment 52 is pivotally attached at 102 to a gt erally cylindrical member i7 104 and is constrained by a compression spring 105 to lie normally is against one side of a segmental slot 106 in the member. The member i9 104 is itself pivotally connected to the carrier 44 about the axis 102 and 20 carries a cam roller 108 which is urged by a further compression spring 2i 1 10 into engagement with a stationary generally annular cam surface 22 112 surrounding the shaft 64 or 66. 23 In Figure 5 the segments 52 occupy positions which in use they 2 would not normally occupy. The cam surface 112 is so shaped that the 25 segments 52 occupy their laterally open position, i.e. as shown in dotted 26 lines, in the region where cigarettes are transferred between the drum 46 27 and the drum 22 (see Figure 3). The segments 52 occupy their laterally 28 closed position (as shown in full lines) when in the region of the hopper 29 outlet, thereby providing support and guidance for the cigarettes in the 30 chutes 40 as previously described. The segments 52 are movable from 3i their closed to their open positions against the action of spring 105, i.e. 32 by pivotal movement of the segment about the axis 102 within the 33 segmental slot 106, in the event that the segment encounters any 4 obstruction, e.g. a jammed cigarette in the vicinity of the drum 46. 5 Figures 6 and 7 show two stages in the transfer of cigarettes from 36 a hopper outlet 14 to the delivery drum 22. Cigarettes in the nine 37 channels of the outlet 14 have been numbered 1-9 in the order in which 38 the cigarettes will be transferred to a planet wheel 42. The flutes on the 1 wheels 42, and on the drums 46 and 22, have been correspondingly 2 numbered to show which cigarettes they convey. For convenience of 3 reference to individual planetary wheels 42 these have been referenced 4 C,D,E,F, and G in Figures 6 and 7. 5 In Figure 6 the wheel 42C has received its first cigarettes, the β wheel 42D has received a full row of nine cigarettes and has delivered 7 the first seven to the flute set 48A on the drum 46. The previous row of a nine cigarettes (received by the wheel 42E) has already been transferred 9 from the flute set 48B to the flute set 22B on the delivery drum 22. The ιo first eight cigarettes of the row in the flute set 22A have already been ιι transferred to a pocket 26 (Figure 1 ). i2 In Figure 7 the wheel 42C has received eight of its cigarettes and i3 has already transferred four of these to the flute set 48B. The flute set i4 48A is transferring the row received from the wheel 42D to the flute set is 22A. Note that the wheel 42E does not interfere with this transfer. Two i6 of the row of cigarettes conveyed by the flute set 22B have been i7 transferred to the next pocket 26 (Figure 1). is As particularly shown in Figures 5 and 8, each planet wheel 42 i9 includes suction passages 120 associated with each flute and 20 terminating in apertures 122 which communicate with one of a pair of 2i arcuate manifolds 124, 126 on a face of the carrier 44 against which the 22 adjacent face of the wheel 42 rotates. The respective adjacent faces 23 comprise carbon discs. The carrier 44 includes passages 128 24 connecting the manifold 124 with a fixed suction manifold 130 arranged 25 internally of the carrier. The arrangement is such that, on rotation of the 26 carrier 44, when a wheel 42 reaches the region of a hopper outlet 14 (or 27 16 or 18) the passages 128 connect with the manifold 130 so that 28 suction is available via the suction manifold 124 at the flute required to 9 receive the first cigarette. As can be seen in Figure 8, suction remains 0 connected to those flutes required to pick up and convey cigarettes i while the wheel 42 passes the hopper outlet 14. On rotation of the wheel 2 42, when a flute passes a position corresponding to the end of the 3 manifold 124, so that its associated aperture 122 is connected to the 4 exhaust manifold 126, suction is relieved so that the cigarette is no 5 longer retained. This position corresponds to the position at which it is 6 required to transfer cigarettes to the drum 46. Suction is delivered to the 7 manifold 130 by way of passages 132 (Figure 5) passing through fixed 8 structure of the machine. 1 In the arrangement shown in Figure 9 the suction passages 120 2 associated with each flute of the planet wheels 42 include axially spaced 3 radial bores 120A, 120B etc. which communicate with either a suction manifold 124 or an exhaust manifold 126. The bores 120A, 120B etc. are 5 formed in the shafts connecting the respective planet wheels 42 and e planet gears 90. The manifolds 124, 126 are formed in fixed members 7 adjacent the ring gears 92. By providing axially-spaced bores 120A, β 120B etc. it is possible to control suction to each flute precisely as 9 required according to the rotational position of the wheels 42. By ιo contrast, in the arrangement of Figure 5, where several apertures 122 ιι communicate with the arcuate manifold 124, some flutes receive suction i2 at times when no cigarettes are present, leading to waste of suction. i3 Although the previous embodiments have been described with i4 principal reference to use of three transfer conveyor arrangements 20 is each for transferring a row of cigarettes to a delivery drum 22 and thence i6 to a pocket 26, the packing machine could include only one such i7 arrangement. Thus an arrangement in principle similar to that shown in is Figure 2 could be used to transfer a substantially continuous row of i9 cigarettes onto a drum equivalent to the drum 22. More generally, the 2o number of cigarettes transferred from the hopper outlet need not bear a 2i direct relationship to the number of cigarettes eventually required to form 22 a row of a group to be packaged. A continuous or other row of 23 cigarettes carried on a fluted suction drum may be sub-divided into rows 24 of predetermined length by selective transfer to a downstream conveyor, 25 e.g. a further suction fluted drum, by appropriate control of suction at the 26 transfer position. Such transfer techniques, e.g. using drums with 27 appropriate internal suction valving, are well known in the tobacco 28 industry. 29 The transfer conveyor arrangement shown in Figure 10 includes 0 hopper outlets 214, 216 and 218. The hopper outlet 216 is associated i with a suction carrier 220 arranged to pick up a row of cigarettes from 2 the outlet and transfer it to a pocket 222 of a rotary pocket drum 224. 3 The carrier 220 is connected to a planetary gear 226 constrained to 4 move on a circular path while maintained in engagement with a 5 stationary annular ring gear 228. The resultant path of movement of the 6 carrier 220 is an hypocycloid 230. Similar transfer arrangements are 7 associated with the hopper outlets 214 and 218. 8 As the rotary pocket drum 224 rotates, each pocket 222 receives 1 a first row of cigarettes from the carrier 220 associated with the hopper 2 outlet 214 and then receives the second and third rows respectively from 3 the carriers 220 associated with the hopper outlets 216 and 218. The 4 groups containing three rows of cigarettes are transferred from the drum 5 224 in the region 232. e The carrier 220 need not be rigidly fixed to the planetary gear 226: 7 it could for example be arranged so as to be pivotable about an axis a parallel to the axis of the gear, with cams provided to control its angular 9 position. In this way alignment of the carrier with the hopper outlet 214 ιo 216, 218 during pick up of a row of cigarettes and with the pocket 222 ιι during transfer may be readily achieved. In addition, if necessary, the i2 angular position of the carrier may be controlled during other stages of i3 its movement on the hypocycloid path 230 so as to ensure that no i4 interference occurs with other parts of the apparatus, e.g. parts of the is pocket 222 during approach to the transfer position. It will be i6 appreciated that the transverse speed of the carrier 220 is substantially i7 zero at the position of cigarette pick-up and is substantially matched to is the speed of the pocket 222 during transfer of the row to the packet. i9 The pockets 222 need not be arranged on a drum but could be 20 carried by a belt, e.g. movable on a straight path as indicated at 240. In 2i this case the hopper outlets would normally be appropriately arranged 2 2 along the path of the belt, e.g. in a straight line, so as to transfer the rows 23 in sequence to form a group of cigarettes in each pocket. The 24 downstream arrangement of the pocketed conveyor could therefore be 25 substantially the same as indicated in Figure 1. 26 In the arrangement shown in Figure 10 all of the cigarettes in a 27 row may be transferred substantially simultaneously from the hopper 28 outlet 214, 216 or 218 to the respective carrier 220. Although the bottom 29 ends of the hopper outlets 214, 216 and 218 and the conveying surfaces 30 of the carriers 220 have been depicted as substantially straight, this need i not be the case: for example, the bottom row of cigarettes in a hopper 2 outlet could have a convex or concave curve with the carrier 220 being 3 similarly shaped to receive the row. In practice the degree to which the row may be curved may be limited by the requirement to transfer a 5 relatively flat row to one of the pockets 222. Particularly where there is 6 some degree of pivoting allowed by the carrier 220 a slight rolling action 7 may be used to assist pick up of a row of cigarettes from a hopper outlet. 8 Thus, although the cigarettes are not sequentially picked up in the way in which they are by the wheel 42 in the Figure 2 arrangement, they may not be ail picked up exactly simultaneously. The actual timing of the picking up of individual cigarettes of each row will substantially depend on the geometry of the hopper outlet and of the carrier and its movement.

Claims: l Claims: 2 3 1. Apparatus for transferring rod-like articles including means 4 for supplying articles to a plurality of adjacent delivery positions arranged s in a row, conveyor means including means for receiving articles from e said positions, means for translating said conveyor means along a path 7 extending adjacent said row so that said receiving means receives β articles from said positions, and means for delivering a row of articles 9 from said conveyor means. 10 li 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said conveyor i2 means comprises rotary conveyor means. i4 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said is receiving means includes means defining individual cigarette positions. 16 i7 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said conveyor is means and translating means are arranged so that said articles in a row i9 are received sequentially by said conveyor means as it is translated 20 along said path. 21 22 5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, including a 23 further conveyor including means adapted to receive a row of cigarettes 24 from said delivering means. 25 26 6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the 7 conveyor means comprises a plurality of planetary wheels and the 8 translating means comprises an annular carrier for said wheels. 9 0 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein each wheel has i flutes defining individual cigarette positions for at least the number of 2 delivery positions arranged in said row. 3 4 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the 5 wheels are arranged to deliver successive rows of articles to a further 6 conveyor in such manner that there are spaces between successive 7 rows. 8 1 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the further 2 conveyor comprises a fluted drum rotatable about the same axis as the 3 annular carrier and having a lesser radius than that of the path of the 4 wheels. 5 6 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the wheels are 7 capable of receiving an article from one of said delivery positions in one β flute substantially while transferring an article from another flute to said 9 rotary drum. 10 li 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the i2 conveyor means includes means for receiving a row of articles from said i3 delivery positions substantially simultaneously. 14 i 12. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 ,2 and 11 , wherein i6 the receiving means is constrained to move on a path which describes i7 an hypocyoloid. 18 i9 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the receiving 2o means comprises means carried by a planetary wheel and arranged to 2i receive a row of cigarettes at a node of the hypocycloid path and to 22 deliver said cigarettes at a position between nodes on said path. 23 24 14. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further 25 including a group conveyor having a series of spaced carrier means, 26 said carrier means being arranged to receive groups of cigarettes, 27 wherein each of said groups comprises at least two superimposed rows 28 of cigarettes, said rows being received at positions spaced along the 29 path of said group conveyor, and at least one of said rows being 30 received from said delivering means. 31 32 15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said delivering 33 means includes first and second fluted drums which convey successive 34 rows in spaced series from said conveyor means towards said group 35 conveyor. 36 37 16. Apparatus for transferring rod-like articles, including means 38 for supplying articles to a plurality of adjacent delivery positions arranged 1 in a row, first conveyor means for receiving articles from said positions 2 and second conveyor means for receiving articles from said first 3 conveyor means, said first and second conveyor means being rotatable 4 about a common axis. 5 6 17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 6, wherein said first 7 conveyor means comprises at least one planetary conveyor. 8 9 18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the first ιo conveyor means comprises a plurality of fluted planetary members a carried by an annular member. 12 i3 19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said second i conveyor means comprises a fluted drum arranged radially inner of the is path of said annular member. 16 17 18 19 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Inventors: BAILEY THOMAS WILLIAM, GOODWIN JAMES, MARTIN SIMON CHARLES, VERNON GEOFFREY WILLIAM, BAILEY, THOMAS, WILLIAM, GOODWIN, JAMES, MARTIN, SIMON, CHARLES, VERNON, GEOFFREY, WILLIAM
Applicants: BAILEY THOMAS WILLIAM, GOODWIN JAMES, MARTIN SIMON CHARLES, MOLINS PLC, VERNON GEOFFREY WILLIAM, BAILEY, THOMAS, WILLIAM, GOODWIN, JAMES, MARTIN, SIMON, CHARLES, VERNON, GEOFFREY, WILLIAM
Application year: 1995
Main classification: B65B19
IPC codes: B65B19, B65G47