GB2246945A

GB2246945A - Apparatus for forming a tobacco rod

Info

Publication number: GB2246945A
Application number: GB9117606A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Uwe Heitmann
Original assignee: Koerber AG
Current assignee: Koerber AG
Priority date: 1990-08-17
Filing date: 1991-08-15
Publication date: 1992-02-19
Anticipated expiration: 2011-08-15
Also published as: GB9117606D0; IT1250662B; GB2246945B; ITMI911897A1; ITMI911897A0; DE4026084A1

Abstract

A concavely curved moving bed guide surface (21) of a cigarette machine distributor, this moving bed guide surface (21) supplying a tobacco stream (22) in the direction of conveying (14) and being adjoined downstream by a transversely running conveyor bell (37) of a suction line conveyor forming a tobacco rod, is provided with deflection webs (36) which have a concave curvature approximating to the conveyor belt (37) of the suction line conveyor and deflecting the tobacco stream. <IMAGE>

Description

1 1 Apparatus for forming a tobacco rod The invention relates to an

apparatus for forming a tobacco rod on a moving, air-permeable rod conveyor which is acted upon by suction air and which closes off a channel which is delimited by opposite side walls and into which a concavely curved moving bed guide surface supplying a tobacco stream opens, transversely to the direction of conveying of the line conveyor.

In the formation of rods in tobacco-processing machines by means of a rod conveyor of the type specified above, as the speeds of modern highperformance machines in the tobacco industry increase, and with the correspondingly high rod speeds, certain disruptive influences which are disadvantageous for the formation and the quality of the rod result. These consist in the fact that the air permeability of the rod conveyor is greatly reduced by the first tobacco fibres meeting the air-permeable line conveyor at high speed, so that as a result of the reduced suction action a deficient compression of the subsequently supplied tobacco fibres, or zones of different compression in the rod cross-section, are observed. Moreover, the high impact energy of the first fibres on the rod conveyor results in increased formation of short tobacco by disrupting the fibres.

The object of the invention is to find measures which, even with the high supply speeds of the tobacco fibres on the moving bed guide surface matched to the high rod speeds conventional today, ensure a gentle placing of the tobacco fibres on the line conveyor.

This object is achieved, in accordance with the invention, in that there are arranged on the moving bed guide surface deflection webs whereof the course approximates, at least in the opening region, to the path of motion of the rod conveyor.

In accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the deflection webs run parallel to one another, the tobacco stream preferably being deflected most effectively due to the fact that the deflection webs merge from a straight deflection web section into a deflection web section which is concavely curved in the direction of movement of the rod conveyor.

It is furthermore advantageous if the deflection webs are arranged distributed at regular intervals over the width of the moving bed guide 2 surface, it proving advantageous structurally and functionally if the deflection webs extend at right angles to the moving bed guide surface.

The advantage achieved by the invention consists in the fact that the supplied tobacco stream is deflected in its entire width reliably by mechanical restricted guidance into the direction of movement of the rod conveyor, and is transferred gently to the conveyor. The relatively loose layering achieved thereby guarantees an unreduced suction cross-section of the conveyor and gentle treatment of the tobacco fibres, as a result of which even compression of the tobacco line over the entire rod crosssection and an improved quality of the rod are produced as a result of the fibre structure not being destroyed.

The invention is explained below in more detail with reference to the example embodiment illustrated in the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a distributor, applying the invention, of a cigarette rod machine in diagrammatical longitudinal section, Figure 2 shows a view of the moving bed guide surface of the distributor in the direction of the arrow II in accordance with Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows a section through the moving bed guide surface along the line III-III in accordance with Figure 2.

Figure 1 shows a section through the part of a distributor of a cigarette rod machine which is required to understand the invention. The upstream tobacco supply to a reservoir and the removal of the tobacco from the reservoir, for example by means of a steep conveyor, are generally known and do not require description here. In this regard, the reader is for example referred to DE-PS 27 29 730.

Figure 1 shows a shaft 1 having a tobacco reservoir la and a removal apparatus 2 which comprises a removal roller 3 and a beater roller 4. The shower 6 of tobacco fibres removed by the removal apparatus 2 from the shaft 1 reaches a supply chute narrowing in the shape of a funnel and in the form of a channel 7, while an accelerator means 8 in the form of blower nozzles 11 arranged in a pressure chamber 9 blows a sifting air stream transversely with respect to the conveying direction of the tobacco shower 6. The sifting air stream separates the light tobacco fibres 12 from the heavier tobacco fibres 13 (tobacco ribs) and conveys them away transversely in the direction of the arrow 14.

Some light tobacco fibres 12a sink downwards with the heavier tobacco ribs 13. They pass through a cellular wheel sluice 16 into a sifting shaft r L 3 17 in which the heavier tobacco ribs 13 sink further down and are carried out, while the lighter tobacco fibres 12a, as a result of the injector action of a blown air jet from a nozzle 18, rise upwards and are returned to the stream of light fibres 12. With the support of further blower air nozzles 19 of a pressure chamber 19a, the tobacco fibres in the example illustrated are transferred to a guide path in the form of a moving bed guide surface 21, on which they are formed into a tobacco stream 22 of loosened and spread-out tobacco fibres, the blown air and tobacco particles forming a wall flow moved along close to the moving bed guide surface 21. To support further conveying of the spread-out and loosened tobacco stream 22 along the moving bed guide surface 21, blower air nozzles 23 of a pressure chamber 23a are provided.

The loosened and spread-out tobacco stream 22 reaches a suction rod conveyor 26 in a rod formation zone 24, a suction force for forming and maintaining a tobacco line being applied to the conveyor 26 from the rear by the suction action of a low-pressure chamber 27. Excess blown air escapes through a grating 28 into a pressure relief space 29.

The conveyor 26 circulates in a tobacco channel 31 which is laterally delimited by two channel cheeks 32 and 32a. The end section 21a of the moving bed guide surface 21 is directed towards one of the channel cheeks 32, so that a gap-free smooth transition of the moving bed guide surface to the tobacco channel 31 is guaranteed. The end section 21a of the moving bed guide surface 21 is constructed as a deflection body 34 pivotal about a pivot axis 33, in order to guarantee better accessibility to the apparatus in the event of faults.

In accordance with the invention, and according to Figures 2 and 3, there are arranged on the moving bed guide surface 28, downstream of the blower nozzles 23, deflection webs 36 which, running parallel at regular intervals, merge in the direction of conveying of the tobacco stream 22 from a straight deflection web section into a deflection- web section concavely curved in the direction of movement (arrow 37) of the suction line conveyor 26, and thus approximate to the direction of conveying 37 of the suction line conveyor 26, running transversely to the original direction of conveying 14 of the moving bed guide surface 21. The deflection webs 36 enclose a right angle with the moving bed guide surface 21. As a result of these deflection webs 36, the incoming tobacco stream 22 in the form of numerous part streams is deflected with mechanical restriction into the conveying belt of 4 the suction line conveyor 26, with the part streams eing placed gently on the suction line conveyor and at the same time progrdssively building up the tobacco rod.

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Claims

1. Apparatus for forming a tobacco rod on a moving, air-permeable rod conveyor which is acted upon by suction air and which closes off a channel which is delimited by opposite side walls and into which a concavely curved moving bed guide surface supplying a tobacco stream opens transversely to the conveying direction of the rod conveyor, characterized in that there are arranged on the moving bed guide surface tobacco deflection webs adapted to direct the tobacco stream entering the rod conveyor in a direction having a component of movement in the direction of travel of the rod conveyor.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, characterized in that the deflection webs run parallel to one another.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the deflection webs merge from a straight deflection web section into a deflection web section concavely curved in the direction of movement of the rod conveyor.

4. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the deflection webs are arranged distributed at regular intervals over the width of the moving bed guide surface.

5. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the deflection webs extend at right angles to the moving bed guide surface.

6. Rod forming apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the the accompanying drawings.

Published 1992 at The Patent Office- Concept House. Cardiff Road- Newpori. Giveni NP9 1 _RH Funher copies inav bt obtained from Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point. Cumlelinfach. Cross Keys. Newport- NPI 7HZ. Printed bY Multiplex techniques lid SI ilan- Crij Kern