GB784836A - Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of mouthpiece cigarettes - Google Patents

Abstract

784,836. Cigarette - making machines. MOLINS, D. W., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. Oct. 18, 1954 [Oct. 29, 1953], No. 29945/53. Class 130. Stubs are inserted into the spaces between successive tobacco lengths by a device 9 which causes each stub first to press endwise on the ,preceding tobacco length to enlarge its appropriate space and thereafter to move slightly towards the succeeding tobacco length. Successive tobacco lengths delivered through a guide tube 3 on to a paper web 4 at the speed of the web 4 are severed by a knife 6 from a tobacco filler carried through a trough 1a by a tape 1, the speed of which is varied as described in Specification 784,835 so that immediately after a tobacco length has been severed, the speed of the tape 1 is reduced below that of the web 4 to form a space equal to or slightly less than the length of a stub between the severed length and the end of the uncut filler, the tape 1 being thereafter speeded up to deliver the next tobacco length at the same speed as the web 4. Each severed tobacco length is pressed against the web 4 by a wheel 7 to ensure that it moves with the web 4 and stubs from a grooved drum 11 are deposited in the spaces between the tobacco lengths by a stub wheel 9 having three pairs of stub-engaging fingers 10, 17 actuated by a stationary cam 15. Each finger 10 projects from the wheel 9 to remove a stub from the drum 11 and carry it around for insertion into a space, the wheel 9 at the moment of insertion moving faster than the tobacco lengths so that each stub causes slight compression of the preceding tobacco length. Immediately after insertion, the finger 10 is retracted and the finger 17 is projected from the wheel to engage the forward end of the stub, the speed of the wheel being simultaneously reduced below that of the tobacco lengths so that the stub is retarded slightly to take up any space between its rear end and the succeeding tobacco length, the finger 17 being subsequently retracted. The speed of the wheel 9 may be varied by a worm drive as described in Specification 703,991. The composite rod passes beneath a shoe 22 slotted at 23 to accommodate the finger 17, and under a tongue 24 to a wrapping mechanism. In a modification, Fig. 2, each stub is delivered by a wheel 31 on to a wheel 32 between fingers 44, 45 adjustably mounted on projections 42 on a finger carrier 40 comprising a sleeve 41 rotatably mounted on the hub 39 of the wheel 32 and carried around with the wheel by springs 46 which urge the projections 42 against stops 47 on the wheel 32. The wheel 32, and hence the fingers 44, 45, is driven by a gear-wheel 50 at such a speed that the stubs are moving faster than the tobacco lengths when inserted into the spaces therebetween. Immediately after each insertion, a pin 51 on the wheel 50 engages a cam 48 on the carrier wheel 40 to rotate the projections 42 slightly backwards relative to the wheel 32 whereby the fingers 44, 45 move the inserted stub backwards relative to the tobacco sections. The fingers 44, 45 finally clear the stub and immediately thereafter the pin 51 moves off the cam 48, allowing the carrier 40 to be moved by the springs 46 to its normal position against the stops 47. Specifications 709,197 and 709,260 also are referred to.