US2591202A - Cigarette collecting mechanism with upstanding members on a conveyer for releasably supporting flexible end portions of receptacles - Google Patents

Description

April 1, 1952 F. F. RUAU CIGARETTE COLLECTING MECHANISM WITH UPSTANDING MEMBERS ON A CONVEYER FOR RELEASABLY SUPPORTING FLEXIBLE END PORTIONS OF RECEZFTACLES Filed Nov. 1, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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Aprll 1, 1952 I F. F. RUAU 2,591,202

CIGARETTE COLLECTING MECHANISM WITH UPSTANDING MEMBERS ON A CONVEYER FOR RELEASABLY SUPPORTING FLEXIBLE END PORTIONS 0F RECEPTACLES I Filed Nov. 1, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 2 III ll llll Aprll 1, 1952 F U 2,591,202

CIGARETTE COLLECTING MECHANISM WITH UPSTANDING MEMBERS ON A CONVEYER FOR RELEASABLY SUPPORTING FLEXIBLE END PORTIONS OF RECEPTACLES Filed Nov. 1, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 In water #4265); 1. Raw.

8 u 6782, 6404112 1 LUQZSOL Qifmmeys Patentecl Apr. 1, 1952 CIGARETTE. COLLECTING MECHANISM WITH UPSTANDING MEMBERS ON A CONVEYER FOR RELEASABLY SUP- PORTING- FLEXIBLE END PORTIONS OF RECEPTACLES Felix Frederic Ruau, London, England, assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, Deptford, London, England, a British'company Application November 1, 1948:, Serial N 0. 57,771 In Great Britain November 11, 1947 1 Claim. 1.

This. invention concerns. improvements in or relating to. collecting mechanism in which rodshaped articles e..g. cigarettes are,. during movementin a direction transverse to their longitudinal. axes, delivered into a receptacle which latter is,.during such delivery, automatically movable in one. directionin a manner such that. articles. are delivered first to one end of the receptacle and thereafter to positions along the length of the receptacle, the articles being directed to the receptacle by a downwardly inclined guide. Such collecting mechanism will for convenience be referred to herein as collecting mechanism as specified.

Some examples of collecting mechanism as specified are disclosed in United States patent specifications Nos. 2,351,693, 2,418,365 and 2,354,- 040. In those examples the receptacles have slotted end portions and the downwardly extending guide is arranged to extend down into a receptacle, the slots in the end portions being wide enough to clear the guide as a receptacle moves along lengthwise.

According to the present invention there is provided collecting mechanism as specified, wherein a receptacle comprises upstanding end portions, and wherein the downwardly extending guide extends below the level of the tops of the end portions and is forked to permit the end portions to pass between the forks of the guide, and wherein the distance between the forks of the guide is less than the length of an article being delivered to the receptacle so that such articles may be supported by the forked guide.

An end portion of a receptacle may consist of a strip, for example, a fiat strip of metal or like material.

The mechanism may comprise upstanding members carried by a conveyor and spaced apart thereon, and receptacles adapted to be detachably fastened to said members, each of the said receptacles comprisin a rigid bottom portion and two flexible end portions whose ends are adapted to be attached to the upper parts of two of the said upstanding members. In such a case the upstanding members as well as the flexible end portions are narrow enough to pass between the forks of the downwardly extending guide.

Collecting mechanism according to the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of mechanism for collecting cigarettes as they issue from a continuous rod cigarette making machine;

Figure 2. is a perspective view of areceptacle andgnide shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation showing a modified form of receptacle, on a conveyor of collectingmechanism similar to that shown in Figure 1";

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a receptacle as. shown in Figure 3 and guide as shown in Figures. .1 and 2.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 the mechanism shown in Figure 1 is generally. similar to that disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,354,040. As shown in Figure. 1, cigarettes C, issuing from a cigarette-making machine, are deliveredont'o an endless band B, commonly known as a catcher band. The cigarettes are moved by the band B in the direction. of the arrow and transverse to their lengths. At its delivery end the catcher band B dips downwardly as shown, and the, cigarettes move down the incline, and are delivered onto a fixed. guide plate G which is forked to accommodate a rotatable paddle wheel W whose paddles. assist in feeding the cigarettes into a receptacle l (see Figures 1 and 2.) The receptacle I, instead of having slotted end walls as in Patent No. 2,354,040 has upstanding end .portions 2 which are solid and which form end walls which support cigarettes contained in the receptacles. These solid end walls are narrower than the length of a cigarette, but as will be seen from Figure 2, are wide enough to engage cigarettes over a good part of their mid-lengths so as to support them. The bottom 3 of the receptacle, see Figure 2, is of a width equal to the length of the cigarettes, although the receptacle may if desired, as an alternative, be of the same width throughout, that is to say, narrower than the length of a cigarette. The receptacles I are supported on rails R and are arranged in end-to-end relationship and moved slowly in the same general direction as that of the catcher band by pushers P attached to a chain conveyor CC, a pusher P being arranged to engage the rear end wall 2 of each receptacle.

The downwardly extending guide 4 is arranged to extend down nearly to the level of the bottom of the receptacle, and is forked as shown in Figure 2, to allow the end walls 2 to pass through the guide. The two forks of the guide are however close enough together to be able to engage and support a cigarette which is arranged With its longitudinal axis across the width of the forked guide as indicated in chain lines in Figure 2. Thus it will be seen that cigarettes engaged by the guide are supported thereby at the region of their ends, while cigarettes engaged by an .end wall of the receptacle are supof near their ends as in the earlier case where the end walls are slotted. Thus the present arrange ment reduces the risk of damage to the ends of the cigarettes by the pressure of the mass of cigarettes against the end walls of the receptacle.

It will also be clear that the receptacles for mechanism according to the present invention can be constructed more cheaply and simply than those of the earlier arrangement, and since a considerable number of receptacles would generally be required to serve a single cigarette making machine, this saving in cost greatly outweighs any increase in the cost of manufacture of the forked guide.

In an alternative arrangement shOwn in Figures 3 and 4, the receptacle I has flexible end walls 5 consisting of strips of leather which are adapted to be fastened to upstanding members 6 carried on a conveyor 1. As shown, the upper ends of the walls 5 comprise bars 9 which drop into recesses II) at the top of the members 6. As the members 6 are necessarily of considerable height (e. g. 8 to 12 inches) the conveyor in this casemay move around in a horizontal path to avoid the difliculties encountered when moving a conveyor having such large projections through a path lying parallel to a vertical plane. The bottom 8 of such a receptacle is rigid and may either be suspended by the leather strips or be supported by the conveyor so as to be held steady. Alternatively the members 6 have sloping sides as shown in the drawing which'prevent the receptacle from end sway. The leather strips are adapted to be detached from the upstanding members when desired, for example, when a receptacle is full of cigarettes and it is desired to carry the receptacle bodily away from the collecting mechanism. As shown in Figure 4, the manner in which the members 6, with flexible walls 5, pass through the guide 4 is similar to that described with reference to the construction shown in Figures 1 and 2.

In either of the constructions described above, a receptacle may, if desired, have side walls, or alternatively these may be dispensed with, but if side walls are provided the guide 4 must be narrow enough to pass between them.

What I claim as my inventionr-vand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

Collecting mechanism for rod-shaped articles such as cigarettes, comprising feeding means to feed the articles in a direction. transverse to their longitudinal axes toward a delivery zone, a conveyor, upstanding members supported in spaced relation lengthwise of said conveyor, receptacles secured to said upstanding members, each of said receptacles comprising a rigid bottom portion and flexible end portions, means releasably securing said end portions to adjacent upstanding members, and an article supporting guide extending downwardly into the path of the receptacles, and below the level of the tops of the said end portions, the said guide being forked to permit the end portions and upstanding members to pass between the forks of the guide, the distance between the forks of the guide being less than the length of an article being delivered to a receptacle so that the articles may be supported by the forked guide.

FELIX FREDERIC RUAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,886,378 Dearsley Nov. 8, 1932 2,354,040 Molins July 18, 1944 2,429,071 Pirie Oct. 14, 1947'

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