Patent ID: 7654945

Claim:
An apparatus for providing rods for use in the manufacture of smoking articles, each rod having spherical objects individually spaced at predetermined intervals along the length thereof, the apparatus comprising: a hopper for receiving a supply of a plurality of objects; a rotatable insertion wheel having a central orifice and a peripheral face with a plurality of equally spaced passages in communication with passage openings in the peripheral face and the central orifice, each passage having a seat for supporting an individual spherical object within the passage proximate to the peripheral face, the seat comprising a hollow tube having a cylindrical-shaped side wall with a plurality of protrusions extending inwardly from the side wall that define gaps therebetween to permit flow of air through the passage and past a spherical object supported on the seat, said plurality of protrusions defining a support surface to position said individual spherical object centrally within the hollow tube, the insertion wheel further comprising a bearing housing received within the central orifice of the wheel, the bearing housing having a vacuum port and an air supply port each in communication with a path of travel of the passage openings in the central orifice about the bearing housing; wherein at a first position of rotation around the perimeter of the insertion wheel, a passage opening in the peripheral face of the wheel is positioned proximate to the hopper and in communication with the vacuum port, and at a second position of rotation around the perimeter of the insertion wheel a passage opening in the peripheral face is positioned proximate to the rod to be formed and in communication with the air supply port.