Patent GB-943347-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in the manufacture of packaged cigarettes
IPC: A24C5/352
Filed: 1960-10-25
Abstract: 943,347. Cigarette packaging machines. D. W. MOLINS, and MOLINS MACHINE CO. Ltd. Oct. 25, 1961 [Oct. 25, 1960], No. 36594/60. Heading B8C. A step in a method of manufacturing packaged cigarettes in which cigarettes are collected from a cigarette-making machine comprises moving the cigarettes endwise for collection and grouping into batch formation ready for packing and holding them in formation within a rigid container which is then conveyed to a packing machine, whereafter the batches are moved endwise out of said container as the first stage of the packing operation. Cigarette-making machines 1, 4, Fig. 1, deliver cigarettes to hoppers 7, 8 provided with vanes 19, Fig. 4, and the cigarettes are moved, e.g. in batches of twenty by reciprocating pushers 21, Fig. 6, entering the hoppers between the vanes, through tapering guides 23 and spring mouthpieces 24 into cells of chargers such as 10A, Fig. 2, and 10B, Fig. 3 (not shown). At the same time other plates 22A also move into the hopper to support the cigarettes above the pushers 21. The middle prong of each pusher may be cut away so as to move only six cigarettes in the middle row, and the outlet side of the slot in the hopper between the central vanes of the middle row is provided with a stop to allow only six cigarettes to be discharged from that row. As soon as a charger 10A has all its cells filled it is moved down with its carrier tray 13 by a conveyer 26, Fig. 6, so as to present the next upper charger for filling. When all the chargers in a tray are full, the trays are conveyed from the filling position 11 to the left as shown in Fig. 1 and the chargers released one at a time through an inspection feeler device 100 to a packing machine 12 where the cigarettes are ejected by a pusher on to the machine bed for packing. Thereafter the chargers move into empty trays at 13A, and the trays are fed back to the filling position 11. In order to move the chargers intermittently, they are notched at 17, Fig. 2, for engagement by pawls, and slots 18 positioned between cigarettes may be provided for pushers carried on a conveyer to pass through the chargers and remove the batches. In Fig. 8, filled chargers released from latches 27 pass out of the tray 13 by gravity and are pushed intermittently by pawls 30 towards a batch remover 41. Platforms 29 reciprocated by cams 35 support the chargers, the left-hand platform moving up when the lowest charger is just about to pass completely out from beneath the tray, both platforms then moving immediately downwards to bring the next charger on to the surface 28. At the left-hand side of Fig. 8 another tray 13 receives and latches the empty chargers which are moved upwardly by a platform 43. In another embodiment, Fig. 9 (not shown), the filled chargers are moved upwards from a tray and the empty chargers move downwards, the batches of cigarettes being pushed out of the charger cells into a rotatable turret. In a further embodiment, Fig. 10, two high-speed cigarette-making machines, the charger filling apparatus and the packing machine are separately driven in synchronism and in conjunction with belt conveyers carrying the chargers to and from the packing machine. If the packing machine stops, a charger at the filling position will receive its quota of cigarettes and then move downwards into an automatically operated magazine or reservoir R1. If, however, the packing machine stoppage is prolonged, filled chargers are continually fed downwards and sideways into the magazine, Figs. 11, 12 (not shown). If the cigarette supply fails then photo-cells on the hoppers detect this and stop the cigarette feeding pushers from working by magnetically operating the pusher drive mechanism of Fig. 13 (not shown), filled chargers from the magazine then being automatically supplied to the packing machine. Empty chargers may also be contained in a magazine R2, and may, if the packing machine is stationary, move up to the filling position and then down into the magazine R1. In another embodiment of completely automatic plant, Fig. 15 (not shown), the chargers move downwards in five high piles on chain conveyers, they are then filled and move along on another conveyer to turrets in a packing machine and then to a magazine which returns them via a further conveyer to the making machine. If either the making or packing machine stops the chargers continue to arrive until re-starting can be effected. In the machine of Fig. 19, hoppers 150, 151 having vanes 159 beneath are supplied with cigarettes by belts 149A and 149B respectively. Bands 160, 161 and conveyers 163, 164 take surplus cigarettes to magazines 154, 155, e.g. when the packing machine stops, the bands and conveyers reversing and feeding cigarettes back to the machine when the supply diminishes. The magazines, Figs. 20, 21 (not shown), comprise tray bottoms which are moved vertically up or down by chain drives, and the chains, bands and conveyers are controlled by a switch which closes when the packing machine stops and a switch which closes when a making machine stops. A light cell which scans the tops of the magazines controls the upward and downward movements of the magazine trays. In Figs. 22, 23 and 25 (not shown), pushers such as 184, Fig. 24, comprise thin plates which move between the hopper vanes 159, and support faces such as 186 which hold up the rest of the cigarettes in the hoppers. The pusher after filling the charger is moved horizontally and lowered by means of a cam and shaft mechanism, so that the cigarettes remaining in its hopper may feed down to filling level. In an alternative form of pusher, Fig. 23 (not shown), the pusher during a part of its operation ejects the cigarettes from the hopper to an intermediate position, and in the next part of its operation moves the cigarettes from the intermediate position into a charger. The empty chargers returning from the packing machine, Fig. 26, move down a support 211 on to ledges 212 which are pivoted at 213 and slope downwardly. An already filled charger rests on a platform 214 which can be raised or lowered by roller guided brackets 215 which may be moved vertically by links 226, 227 operated by a driven cam and roller, Fig. 24. In operation, a filled charger is moved up a slope 153 by the rising platform 214, is gripped by spring latches 243 and is then moved away. The platform then rises further and raises the empty charger resting on the ledges 212 to a horizontal position so that the now unloaded ledges may be hinged open by levers 233, 234 and the empty charger gripped by hooks 218 and lowered on the platform to the filling position. Specification 822,822 is referred to.