GB912503A - Improvements in cigarette mouthpiece feed - Google Patents

Abstract

912,503. Making cigarette mouthpieces. AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY CO. Feb. 27, 1959 [April 22, 1958], No. 6967/59. Class 130. Multiple length, e.g. sextuple length, mouthpiece rods are fed on to a fluted drum 44, Figs. 1 and 2, on which they are carried first past a device 72, e.g. an air nozzle, which moves them laterally against a stop 64, and then past a knife 78 which subdivides them, the subdivided portions being delivered on successive rotations of the drum on to a chain conveyer 84, the empty flutes being then recharged. In Figs. 1 and 2 the rods are delivered down a shoot 28 from which they are picked up in succession by three rows of teeth 38 on a wheel 94. The number of flutes 46 on the drum 44 is one more or less than a multiple of three (twenty-three as shown) and the sextuple length rods are delivered by the wheel 94 into every third flute on the drum 44 so that after three revolutions of drum 44 all flutes contain mouthpiece material and as flutes become empty they are refilled by a sextuple length rod. The knife 78 cuts a double length stub off the end of each rod, which stubs are delivered on to conveyer 84, and on the next revolution of the drum the remaining quadruple length portions of the rods are moved by the nozzle 72 against stop 64 so that they are positioned for bisection by knife 78. The lefthand bisected portions are then delivered on to conveyer 84 and in the next revolution the remaining portions are moved to the left by nozzle 72 so that they are finally discharged on to conveyer 84. The stop 64 comprises a member 62 rotated by pins 66 on drum 94 and provided with stop faces synchronized with the flutes 46, two of the faces having recesses 70 which permit the final subdivided section in each flute to be blown such a distance to the left that it is completely clear of the knife 78. In a modification. Fig. 3, the sextuple length rods are fed to a fluted wheel 118 on which they are subdivided into three double-length stubs by a pair of knifes 120, the subdivided rods being transferred into every third flute of drum 144 on which they are drawn sideways by a suction box 132, Fig. 5, against a stop 134 and delivered singly on to conveyer 140. In Fig. 6 the multiple length rods are fed through a shoot 146 into successive flutes of drum 152 under the control of a cam-actuated gate 148 which closes after all the flutes are filled and remains closed for the next two revolutions. The rods are blown by an air nozzle against a stop 222 and cut by a single knife 188 as in Fig. 1. The stop 222 is moved backwards slightly by a cam 232 to permit the last stub length of each rod to clear knife 188. When the empty flutes reach shoot 146 on the third revolution the gate 148 is reopened by a cam 168, acting through lever 164, to permit re-filling of the flutes.