Patent ID: 8511459

Claim:
A feeder installed in a wrapping machine for wrapping a cigarette bundle made up of a plurality of filter cigarettes in an inner wrapper, for feeding the cigarette bundle towards a feeding position of the wrapping machine, the feeder comprising: a hopper storing a large number of filter cigarettes in a horizontal posture therein, the filter cigarettes having cigarette ends faced to one direction; a bottom plate disposed under said hopper; a discharge duct forming a lower part of the hopper and delivering the filter cigarettes from said hopper towards said bottom plate to produce a cigarette bundle on said bottom plate, said discharge duct including a plurality of discharge passages divided by a plurality of partition walls and arranged adjacent to each other in a width direction of said hopper to make the filter cigarettes flow downwards separately, the discharge passages opening in one direction; a front plate disposed at one side of and adjacent to the discharge duct and extending in the width direction to cover the discharge passages of said discharge duct; and a plurality of suction holes formed in said front plate, said suction holes having open ends opened towards said discharge duct, wherein the partition walls have end faces opposite to the one direction, said front plate includes regions exclusively facing to the end faces of the partition walls, respectively, said suction holes are located in the regions of said front plate, and said suction holes suck, through the open ends thereof, tobacco shreds that spill from the cigarette ends of the filter cigarettes and drop into a gap between said front plate and said discharge duct towards said bottom plate.