GB549875A - Improvements in or relating to collecting mechanism for cigarettes, filter wads and other rod shaped articles - Google Patents

Abstract

549,875. Filling containers with cigarettes &c. MOLINS, D. W., RUAU, F. F., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. May 8, 1941, No. 5996. [Class 78 (i)] Relates to machines for transferring rod-shaped articles, e.g. cigarettes, to suitable receptacles and arranging them in an orderly manner therein. Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention wherein cigarettes 1 are delivered from a making machine by an endless-belt conveyer 2 the upper traverse of which is located between walls 3 moving in and out to align the cigarettes transversely to the conveyer belt. The cigarettes descend the slope between the conveyer rollers 4 and 5, and are pressed-upon during this descent by a flexible apron 11 fitted with a stiffener 16 on which bears a pivoted presser 14. Beyond the roller 5 the cigarettes pass over a platform 7 to reach a wheel 9 having paddles 10 which push the cigarettes forward to accumulate under an extension of the apron 11. On this extension bear a flexible strip 17 weighted at 19, a pivoted control plate 37, and a pivoted levelling element 42 fitted with an adjustable biasing weight and engaging an adjustable stop 45. The paddle wheel 9 is driven from the cigarette machine through a slipping clutch, and when the stream of cigarettes under the apron 11 gets too shallow, the wheel 9 is stopped by a pawl which is allowed to fall into engaging position with a ratchet fixed to the wheel 9, by the falling of the presser 14. The receptacles R<SP>1</SP>, R<SP>2</SP>, R<SP>3</SP> into which the cigarettes are piled slide on an upwardly inclined platform 51 having front extensions 132, 134, and are moved forward intermittently by a pair of parallel endless chains 21 furnished with pivoted catches 122, 123 which engage front and rear bottom ends of the receptacles. The chains 21 are driven through a friction ball ratchet on the shaft 54 of sprocket wheels 50, the rocking of the ball casing being effected by a slotted rod engaged by a lever oscillated by a crank-pin. The stroke of the slotted rod can be varied by the location of a knife edge 98 on a serrated incline 97 attached to the rod, the knife edge in turn being adjusted, with a lost initial motion, by a wire 41 connecting it with the plate 37. The cigarettes ride down a starting box 129 on to a guide 20 having a telescopic lower extension 106 terminating in a flexible flap 121. When one receptacle is filled the extension 106 is withdrawn to enable the guide 20 to pass by way of a slot into the next advancing receptacle, this being automatically effected by a cable 107 pulled by a lever 112 tripped by one of a series of blocks 116 on the chains 21. The receptacles may be advanced by a handwheel on the shaft 54. A lamp &c. is lit when a receptacle is full. Specifications 549,877, 549,878, [Group XXIV], and 549,879 are referred to.