Patent GB-607002-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for testing the ends of cigarettes and sorting the cigarettes accordingly
IPC: A24C5/343
Filed: 1946-01-23
Abstract: 607,002. Cigarette-making machines. BEST, C., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. Jan. 23, 1946, No. 2229. [Class 130] [Also in Group II] In a selecting machine for separating soft ended cigarettes, a pair of feelers press against the opposite end of a cigarette in succession, and selector means divert unsatisfactory cigarettes. As shown, pairs of radial rigid arms 1 are fixed to a rotatable carrier 2, which also carries resilient arms 3, 4, having feelers 5, 6, which embrace the ends of each cigarette. Each arm 1 also carries a stop comprising a flat washer 8, which is self-aligning, and has an aperture through which a feeler passes, but which is too small to allow a cigarette to enter. The washers are preferably made of fibre or plastic. Stationary cams 14, 15, 16 and 18, 19, 20, which engage the arms 3, 4, are shown in development in Fig. 8. Two stationary permanent magnets 26, 27 are fixed to the machine frame so that their poles, 28, 29 are spaced sufficiently to allow armatures 30, 31, which form extensions of the arms 3, 4, to pass between and guides 58, 59 are provided. Cigarettes 34 from a continuous rod machine are individually moved laterally by plates 36 on a rotating deflector 32, and carried on supports 60 until arms 12 rotating on the carrier 2 carry the cigarettes to the point where the feelers close in and engage their ends. This is effected by steps formed between the cams 18, 19 and 14, 15 respectively, which allow the resilient arms 3, 4 moving along the outside of the cams to jump .inwards. The steps are arranged to prevent the feelers from striking the ends of the cigarettes too forcibly. As rotation continues, a resilient arm 4 passes the end of the cam 19 and is free to move inwardly, while the other arm 3 follows the cam 15 and moves outwardly withdrawing the feeler, until the end of the cigarette bears against the stop 8, carried by the arm 3, which is arrested by the rigid arm 1. At the first test, the arm 4 moves inwardly according to the condition of the end of the cigarette, against which the feeler 6 presses and passes between the guides 58 and the poles 28 of the magnet 26. If the end of the cigarette is too soft the armature 31 is attracted to the left-hand pole and the arm 4 passes to the inside of the selector cam 20. If the cigarette is satisfactory, the armature is not attracted and the arm 4 passes on the outside of the selector cam, the feeler 6 being gradually withdrawn until its cigarette engages the stop 8. The arm 3 is now free to move inwardly and its feeler presses against the other end of the cigarette for the second test. The armature carried by the arm 3 passes between the guides 59 and the poles 29 of the magnet 27, and the arm is directed to the inside or outside of the selector cam 16, as described above. If both cigarette ends are satisfactory, both resilient arms will pass along the outside of the selector cams which widen out and release the cigarette, which is carried by lugs 40 on a suction drum 37, and engaged by a stripper 41 lying in grooves on the drum, to fall to a catcher band 35. If at the first test the end is too soft and the arm 4 passes to the inside of the cam 20 and, even if the result of the second test is satisfactory, the two resilient arms 3, 4 continue to grip the cigarette until they are both moved outwardly by engaging the front edges of cams 14, 18, and the cigarette rolls down a shoot 43 into a waste box 44. A stripper 61 ensures that the cigarette leaves the feelers. To prevent cigarettes from falling when one feeler is withdrawn, the members 12 have flanges, and a series of spring fingers 62 engage the cigarettes on the opposite side. Accurate adjustment of the magnets is effected by hand nuts 53, having adjustably-attached graduated discs. A threaded sleeve 56 on the shaft 24 allows the discs between the feelers to be adjusted to accommodate cigarettes having different lengths.