METHOD OF FEEDING A PACKER FOR ROD-LIKE ARTICLES OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY AND FEEDING APPARATUS FOR FEEDING A GROUP OF ROD-LIKE ARTICLES TO A PACKER FOR ROD-LIKE ARTICLES

摘要

The object of the invention is a method of feeding a packer (1) for rod-like articles of the tobacco industry comprising steps wherein: double-length rod-like articles (3D) are supplied in the form of two mass flows (MF) for two feeding paths 2P, 2P') of a feeding apparatus, whereas in the feeding paths: the mass flow of the double-length rod-like articles is converted into a single-layer mass flow (F3D) of the double-length rod-like articles so that the rod-like articles in the single-layer stream form single-layer groups (KD) of the double-length rod-like articles, the double-length rod-like articles are cut into two individual rod-like articles (3) and the single-layer stream of the double-length rod-like articles is converted into a single-layer stream of the rod-like articles comprising single-layer groups (K) of individual rod-like articles; the stream of individual rod-like articles is conveyed in a forming and transporting apparatus (5, 5'), a two-layer group (G) of rod-like articles is formed of the rod-like articles of the single-layer group of rod-like articles, then in the forming unit (25) of the forming and transporting apparatus the two-layer group of the rod-like articles is transferred from the forming and transporting apparatus to a conveyor (6) of the two-layer groups of rod-like articles, whereas the groups of rod-like articles are transferred from two feeding paths, the group of rod-like articles is transferred from the conveyor of the two-layer groups of rod-like articles to a packer, wherein in the step of conveying the groups of rod-like articles to the conveyor the groups of rod-like articles are buffered in a buffer (5A, 5A', 5B, 5B') of the forming and transporting apparatus so that the distance among the adjacent groups of rod-like articles is varied. The object of the invention is also a feeding apparatus for feeding the groups of rod-like articles to the packer of the rod-like articles.