GB529683A - Improvements in or relating to machines for making and packing cigarettes - Google Patents

Abstract

529,683. Packing cigarettes. MOLINS, D. W., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. June 6, 1939, No. 16588. [Class 94 (i)] A combined cigarette-making and packing machine is provided with a reservoir to receive cigarettes from the making-mechanism during a temporary stoppage of the packing-mechanism, and means are provided for speeding-up the packing-mechanism after the stoppage to dispose of the cigarettes accumulated in the reservoir. The cigarettes may be made by a continuous-rod machine C.M., Fig. 1, and carried by endless belt conveyers B to a packing-mechanism P.M. The making-mechanism and the packing- mechanism are driven in timed relation with one another by separate motors 1, 2, respectively, and the conveyers B, although normally driven by the making-mechanism, are connected to both mechanisms through free-wheel clutches such as 80, Fig. 2, so that they can be driven by either mechanism as required. Each conveyer delivers the cigarettes to a shoot 31, and above the entrance to the shoot a reservoir 34 is arranged into which the cigarettes move from the conveyer when the shoot is full, The front wall of the reservoir is formed by a plate 37 which is attached to a spindle 38 and has its lower edge spaced above the conveyer to leave a passage 35 for the cigarettes. The plate 37 is oscillated by a cam 39, or by a rotating crank, to facilitate the movement of the cigarettes from the conveyer into the reservoir. A fluted roller 44, or a fixed ramp, is provided to assist the movement of the cigarettes into the reservoir, and a shield 82, formed in hinged section and oscillated by the plate 37, may be provided to align the cigarettes as they pass out of the reservoir back in on to the conveyer. The roller 44 is driven by a free-wheel clutch so arranged that the roller' is driven at a lower speed when the packing- mechanism is stopped. Flexible bands passing around a roller similar to the roller 44 may be used to prevent the cigarette from bridging across and blocking the mouth of the shoot. When the packing-mechanism is started again after a stoppage, a variable-speed gear 56, attached to the motor 2, is adjusted by a handwheel 57 to cause the packing mechanism and the conveyers B to operate at a higher speed until the cigarettes accumulated in the reservoir have been exhausted, when the speed is again reduced to normal. Specification 514,425 is referred to in the Provisional Specification.