Method and apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of tobacco industry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11219238-B2
Application number	US-201916363306-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2019
Priority date	Apr 4, 2018
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

An apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry to feed articles to a receiving area of a transferring unit. The transferring unit has lugs moving on a circular path and conveys the articles to the receiving apparatus. The receiving apparatus conveys the articles axially and the lug reduces the speed at least in a part of the path of movement before the area and/or in the area for receiving the articles from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus and increases the speed at least in a part of the path of movement between the area for receiving the articles from the feeding apparatus and the area for transferring the articles to the receiving apparatus. And a method of conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry from a receiving area to a transferring area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Apparatus ( 1 , 1 ′, 1 ″) for conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry comprising
a feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′) adapted to feed rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) to a receiving area ( 6 ) of a transferring unit ( 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″),
the transferring unit ( 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″) having lugs ( 15 , 15 ′) moving on a circular path, adapted to convey a rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) from the feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′) to the receiving apparatus ( 4 ), the lug ( 15 , 15 ′) being attached rotatably relative to a rotatable disc ( 11 , 11 ′) and actuated by means of a drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′), the path of movement ( 21 ) of the lug ( 15 , 15 ′) passing through the area ( 6 ) for receiving the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) from the feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′) and an area ( 7 ) for transferring the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) to the receiving apparatus ( 4 ),
and the receiving apparatus ( 4 ) adapted to convey the rod-like articles ( 5 , 5 ′) axially one after another,
characterised in that
the drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′) is adapted so that the lug ( 15 , 15 ′) reduces the speed at least in a part ( 21 B) of the path of movement ( 21 ) before the area ( 6 ) and/or in the area ( 6 ) for receiving the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) from the feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′) to the transferring apparatus ( 3 , 3 ′) and increases the speed at least in a part ( 21 A) of the path of movement ( 21 ) between the area ( 6 ) for receiving the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) from the feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′) and the area ( 7 ) for transferring the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) to the receiving apparatus ( 4 ).

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′) is additionally adapted so that the lug ( 15 , 15 ′) increases the speed at least in a part ( 21 B) of the path of movement ( 21 ) between the area ( 7 ) for transferring the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) to the receiving apparatus ( 4 ) and the area ( 6 ) for receiving the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) from the feeding apparatus ( 2 , 2 ′).

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′) is provided with a cam ( 19 , 19 ′) and a double-arm lever ( 13 ) attached rotatably relative to the rotatable disc ( 11 , 11 ′), in addition,
the lug ( 15 , 15 ′) is attached to the double-arm lever ( 13 ), to its longer arm ( 14 ), and the shorter arm ( 16 ) of the double-arm lever ( 13 ) is provided with a roller ( 17 ) which rolls on the cam ( 19 , 19 ′) of the drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′), whereas the longer arm ( 14 ) of the double-arm lever ( 13 ) has a considerably greater length than the shorter arm ( 16 ) of the double-arm lever ( 13 ).

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 characterised in that the proportion of the length of the longer arm ( 14 ) of the double-arm lever ( 13 ) to the shorter arm ( 16 ) of the double-arm lever ( 13 ) is greater than 2:1, preferably greater than 3:1.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism is provided with an electric drive with a linear electromagnetic motor whose track ( 27 ) has an oval shape, and drive carriages ( 26 ) which move along the track ( 27 ), in addition,
the lug ( 15 ′) is attached to the drive carriage ( 26 ), whereas the electric drive is adapted to actuate the drive carriage ( 26 ) with a variable speed.

6. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism ( 20 , 20 ′) is provided with a gear wheel ( 28 ) and a mating planet gear ( 30 ) attached to the rotatable arm ( 29 ), the lug ( 15 ″) being attached to the gear wheel ( 30 ), the arm ( 29 ) and the gear wheel ( 28 ) having independent drives.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism is provided with a flexible bracket ( 31 ) and an arm ( 32 ) provided with support elements ( 33 ) comprising the flexible bracket ( 31 ), whereas the lug ( 15 ″) is attached to the flexible bracket ( 31 ), and the flexible bracket ( 31 ) and the arm ( 32 ) have independent drives.

8. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the feeding apparatus ( 2 ) is adapted to feed the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) transversely to the axis (X) of the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′).

9. Apparatus as in claim 8 characterised in that the feeding apparatus ( 2 ) is provided with a separating cam ( 10 ) designed to feed the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′).

10. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the feeding apparatus ( 2 ′) is adapted to feed the rod-like article ( 5 , 5 ′) tangentially to the circular path of movement ( 21 ) of the lug ( 15 ′) on the transferring apparatus ( 3 ″).

11. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus is a belt conveyor.

12. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus is a conveying disc ( 24 ) with lugs ( 25 ).

13. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus ( 4 ) is adapted to convey the rod-like articles at equal distances.

14. Method of conveying rod-like article of the tobacco industry from a rod-like article feeding apparatus through an apparatus transferring a rod-like article to a receiving apparatus in which
the rod-like article is fed from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus,
the rod-like article is transferred on a circular path of movement by means of the transferring apparatus provided with lugs, the lug being attached rotatably relative to a rotatable disc,
the rod-like article is transferred from the transferring apparatus to the receiving apparatus adapted to convey the rod-like articles axially one after another,
characterised in that
while conveying the rod-like article in the transferring apparatus the speed of the rod-like article is reduced before the area and/or in the area for receiving the rod-like article from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus, and
while conveying the rod-like article in the transferring apparatus the speed of the rod-like article is increased between an area for receiving a rod-like article from the feeding apparatus and the area for transferring the rod-like article to the receiving apparatus and in that
increase or reduction of the speed of the rod-like article is made by the lug actuated by a drive mechanism.

15. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc transversely to the axis of the rod-like article.

16. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc tangentially to the axis of the rod-like article.

17. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like articles are conveyed at equal distances in the receiving apparatus.

Assignees

• Int Tobacco Machinery Poland Sp Zoo

Inventors

• Lisowski Andrzej
• Mamerski Marcin

Classifications

• A24D3/0287 Primary

  for composite filters · CPC title

• B65G47/74

  Feeding, transfer, or discharging devices of particular kinds or types · CPC title

• B65G47/52

  Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors i.e. discharging or feeding devices (loading or unloading by means not incorporated in, or not operatively associated with, conveyors B65G65/00; transfer of workpieces during metal rolling B21B41/00) · CPC title

• A24C5/322 Primary

  Transporting cigarettes during manufacturing · CPC title

• A24C5/52 Primary

  Incorporating filters or mouthpieces into a cigarette rod or a tobacco rod · CPC title