Improvements in and relating to cigarette collecting mechanism for continuous rod cigarette making machines

摘要

439,337. Cigarette-making machines. AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY CO., 511, 5th Avenue, New York, U.S.A. Feb. 11, 1935, No. 4408. Convention date, Aug. 3, 1934. [Class 130] In a cigarette-collecting mechanism in which a pusher displaces cigarettes laterally from an endwise travelling succession on to a travelling cigarette carrier having cigarette-retaining devices, the cigarettes are forwarded to the carrier by belts which grip the cigarettes substantially during the whole of their lateral displacement. Cigarettes delivered from the machine are gripped and spaced apart by forwarding-belts 34, 35, moving at a speed slightly greater than that of the cigarette rod, and are displaced laterally into axially-extending grooves 23a in a rotating drum 23 by a pusher 31. The belts have perforations 34b which register with and prevent injury to the ends of the cigarettes, and are arranged as closely as possible to the drum to grip the cigarettes during lateral displacement. The pusher 31 is given an orbital movement by means of crank-pins 26a, 28b carried on shafts 26, 28 driven from a shaft 11, which also drives the drum 23 through spiral gearing and the belts 34, 35 through sprocket wheels. To vary the space between the belts, a frame 35b, Fig. 4, supporting the belt 35 is hinged at one end on a pin 42 and carries an adjustable screw 43 resting on a fixed lug at the other end, and an adjustable stud 44 having one flat surface is provided near the pin 42. Any short cigarettes in the space between successive cigarettes are ejected by a prong 31a adjustably secured to the pusher 31. The grooves 23a are provided with ports 23b communicating with a suction chamber 37 which extends from a point adjacent the belts 34, 35 to a point at which the cigarettes are removed by delivery belts 39 running in grooves in the drum. The chamber 37 is formed in a stationary block 38 which can be adjusted to vary the points at which suction is applied by moving a set-screw 38a, Fig. 4, in a slot 38b. To secure accurate alignment of the cigarettes on the drum, a plate 40, slidably mounted on the frame 35b and reciprocated by a crank-pin 41 and connecting - rod 41a, engages the ends of the cigarettes and pushes them into contact with a flange 23c on the drum. Bosses 23d on the plate 40 and the flange 23c compress the tobacco in the ends of the cigarettes. If the prong 31a is omitted, a reciprocating tube 51 provided with prongs 51a prevents lateral displacement of the cigarettes delivered to the belts 34, 35. In a modified construction, the drum has a smooth cylindrical periphery provided with longitudinally - extending suction openings. Specification 412,502 is referred to.