Patent GB-1240478-A (GB)
Title: Method of and apparatus for forming groups or assemblages of rod-like articles
IPC: B65B19/04
Filed: 1968-07-17
Abstract: 1,240,478. Endless conveyers for cigarettes. HAUNI-WERKE KORBER & CO. K.G. 17 July, 1968 [20 July, 1967], No. 34065/68. Heading B8A. Apparatus for forming assemblages or blocks of rod-like articles such as cigarettes, comprises means 51 (Fig. 13) for supplying the cigarettes, row-forming means having individual holders 58 (Fig. 11) for collecting long rows of a given number of the cigarettes, and a delivery means 52 (Figs. 9, 11, 13) for delivering the collected cigarettes to receiving elements 53 (Figs. 5 and 6) which are movable away from one another to form a number of short rows from the long row. Cigarettes 60 are delivered by spaced endless conveyer belts 51 (Fig. 13), the leading one being arrested by either a fixed stop (82), (Fig. 14, not shown) or a retractable stop (83). A suction head 52 is slidably mounted on spaced rod 64 so as to traverse (under the action of a lever 125 (Fig. 7) and crank drive 129) from a position above the belts 51, to a position (shown in Fig. 13) in which it is above a series of twelve cigarette receiving members 53 (Figs. 5, 6 and 13). The rods 64 are supported by links 105, 109 (Fig. 5) from shafts 106, 111, rotatably mounted in the machine frame. Thus by operation of a drag link 119 under the action of a cam 143 and follower 146, the head 52 can be raised and lowered. The twelve receiving members 53 are each formed with six cigarette-receiving recesses and are mounted on a respective rod 73. The latter are each pivot ally secured to the frame at 245 and are connected by respective rods 247 to a common double-armed crank 248. When the latter is rotated by the action of a cam track of a cam 151 engaging a follower 257 (Fig. 7) the members 53 are aligned with compartments 74 of a magazine 55. Each member 53 has a member 71 pivotally mounted on it against the action of a torsion spring 237. Thus when the members 53 are spaced apart sufficiently, each member 71 provides a seventh cigarette receiving position for each member 53. This additional movement of the members 53 is produced cyclically by the action of a follower (261) (Fig. 8, not shown) co-operating with a further cam groove 153 of the cam 151. Operation.- The head 52 is alternately arranged to pick up either 72 cigarettes or 84 cigarettes from the belts 51, the stop (84) (Fig. 14, not shown) being respectively in raised or lowered position by the action of a solenoid 88 energized from switch contacts (92) (Fig. 16, not shown), actuated by a cam 155 on the shaft of the cam 151. In the longer-row pick-up the whole length of the head 52 is operative (as shown in Figs. 9 and 11, these figures together, representing the whole head 52 minus its control section). For the alternate shorter row pick-up, the vacuum to six recesses at each end is cut off by the action of slides 61, 62 connected to a solenoid 185 (Fig. 13). This is energized by further contacts on the switch actuated by the cam 155. When the head 52 has picked up a row of cigarettes (long or short) from the belts 51, it is traversed on the rods 64 to a position above the twelve receiving members 53. The latter are filled with cigarettes dropped from the head 52 on its previous cycle and they have been spaced apart by the action of their rods 247 so that they are in line with the compartments 74 of the magazine 55. As the head 52 moves across, a member 54 pivotally mounted on it, engages the cigarettes in the members 53 and feeds them axially into the compartments 74. The magazine is lowered step-by-step as described in Specification 1,147,949 so that rows each of twelve groups of cigarettes, are fed successively on top of one another. In alternate rows, the groups are composed respectively of six or seven cigarettes. In a simpler construction (Figs. 1 and 2, not shown) the head 52 is replaced by an endless suction conveyer belt (2). The row-forming means forms the subject of the divided Specification 1,240,479.