GB938227A - Cigarette making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

938,227. Cigarette machines. AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY CO. Jan. 1, 1960, No. 127/60. Class 130. [Also in Group XL (b)] Cigarettes 23, Fig. 1, travelling axially, are picked up by grippers 24 on a rotating wheel 25, carried through an arcuate path whilst their initial orientation in space is maintained, and discharged at a position 42 where they are travelling at right angles to their axes. The grippers 24 comprise suction devices fed by a suction channel 27 and rotated by planet gears carried by the wheel 25 which engage gears 41 attached to the grippers 24 and roll around a stationary sun gear 36, the rotation of the gears 41 being such that the cigarettes remain horizontal throughout their motion. The wheel 25 is driven by gears 33, 31, at such a speed that the velocity of the grippers 24 is the same as, or slightly greater than, the axial velocity of the cigarettes at the pick-up point. At the discharge station 42 channel 27 terminates to cut off the suction from the grippers 24 and fingers 42a discharge the cigarettes down a guide on to a collector belt 44. During the transfer of the cigarettes, photo-electric devices 60 ... 63, Fig. 6, scan the ends of the cigarettes and operate a rejection device such as a finger 66, Fig. 11, to disengage defective cigarettes from the grippers 24. In a modification the cigarettes are picked up at the top of the wheel and discharged after being carried through 90 degrees. The wheel 25 may alternatively be arranged horizontally and in Fig. 5 the cigarettes are discharged into the grooves 52 of a rotating drum 50.