Patent ID: 7066183

Claim:
A machine for filling cigarette tubes, the machine comprising a body ( 100 ), a spoon ( 120 ) receiving a load of tobacco and shaping it into a cylinder, an endpiece ( 210 ) on which a cigarette tube is placed, a clamping device ( 330 ) suitable for clamping such a tube onto the endpiece, and a slide ( 200 ) which carries said endpiece and which is movable in translation along the spoon ( 120 ), the machine further comprising an end abutment arrangement ( 130 ) for the tobacco, the arrangement being directed in such a manner as to hold the tobacco in the direction of the tube to be filled, said abutment arrangement ( 130 ) comprising a contact piece ( 131 ) making contact with the tobacco, which contact piece is movable between at least two positions, one position in which said contact piece ( 131 ) occupies a portion of the tobacco-receiving zone in the spoon ( 120 ), and another position in which it leaves said portion empty, such that the extent of the fill of tobacco introduced into a tube differs depending on the position of said piece ( 131 ), wherein the abutment arrangement ( 130 ) includes two pieces ( 131 , 135 ), one of which pieces ( 135 ) is mounted stationary relative to the spoon ( 120 ) and body ( 100 ), and the other of which pieces ( 131 ), forming said contact piece, is movably mounted on said stationary piece ( 135 ).