GB975017A - Improvements in or relating to article handling means - Google Patents

Abstract

975,017. Endless conveyers. AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY CO. Feb. 6, 1961 [Feb. 17, 1960], No. 5666/60. Headings B8A and B8C. Cigarettes c pass from a conveyer 10 to a conveyer 14 from the lower horizontal run of which they are deposited row by row in successive containers 48. Suction is applied to zones 20, 22 and 36, so as to hold the cigarettes c to the belt 14. Suction is applied continuously to the zones 20 and 22 which may be isolated from the zone 36 by the action of a solenoid-operated valve 46 and partitions 40, on each of two idler rollers 34, 52 of the belt 14. When the leading cigarette on the lower horizontal run of the belt 14 reaches a detector device 42, the valve 46 is caused to close. Due to the consequent decrease in suction, the cigarettes on the horizontal run of the belt are deposited as a row in the container 48. Rods 62 maintain the cigarettes in parallel arrangement as they fall. The row of cigarettes in dropping activate a detector 66 which causes the movement of conveyer chains 68, 70, supporting the container 48 to move the latter downwards a distance corresponding to one row of cigarettes. Cam members 88 are carried by the conveyer chains 68 at respective positions corresponding to supports 86 on the chains 68 for the containers 48. Thus when a container 48 is filled with its predetermined number of rows of cigarettes, the corresponding cam member 88 engages a switch 92 to result in a rapid downward movement of the container. This makes room for a further container 48 fed by a ratchet mechanism 100 (Fig. 2). The filled container 48 is displaced laterally by a similar cam mechanism 98. Faulty cigarettes are detected at 30 and rejected by a device 32 (Fig .1). In a modification (Fig. 5, not shown) a shoot is provided between the conveyer 10 and the conveyer 14. This shoot is adapted to be deflected when the cigarette-making machine has stopped so that cigarettes will be deflected away from being picked up by the belt 14. The belt 14 is formed by two laterally spaced portions (Fig. 3) and members 72, 74, are screw adjustable so as to control the space through which suction is applied to the cigarette c. A modified construction of belt (Fig. 4) consists of triangular-shaped elements 108 having suction openings 110. An alternative construction is described (Fig. 6, not shown) which enables the space between the floor and the horizontal run of the conveyer 14 to be reduced. Instead of the containers 48 being movable step by step for each new row of cigarettes, the conveyer 14 may be movable and the associated container 48 fixed. The number of cigarettes deposited in each row may be adjusted by altering the speed of the conveyer 14 in relation to the output of the cigarettemaking machine.