Patent ID: 8918201

Claim:
A method for arranging rod-like elements, wherein said rod-like elements are composed each of at least one part selected from a group including cigarette parts being filter parts and tobacco parts; wherein an unordered portion of the rod-like elements is delivered to a conveyor for transporting the elements on said conveyor, said elements being arranged in a plurality of compartments on the conveyor; the elements are arranged longitudinally in each compartment and transversely to the direction of movement of the conveyor; wherein the compartments include a length adapted to receive at least one filter part and at least one tobacco part of a cigarette; determining a type, number of parts each element is composed of, and location of each part of the elements received in each successive compartment by at least a single scanning of each successive compartment of the conveyor; the scanned results are transmitted to a control unit that assigns each compartment information according to its contents; and subsequently sorting the elements based on the information received from the control unit by the type, the number of parts each element is composed of, and the location of the parts in each compartment by transferring the elements contained in successive compartments to a predetermined receiving means.