GB917701A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for making mouthpiece cigarettes - Google Patents

Abstract

917,701. Making mouthpiece cigarettes. MOLINS, D. W., ROWLANDS, T., and MOLINS MACHINE CO. Ltd. June 5, 1959 [June 6, 1958; July 10, 1958; Sept. 15, 1958], Nos. 18243/58, 22171/58 and 29512/58. Class 130. Cigarette lengths C, Fig. 1, and mouthpiece stubs S which are to be united are carried lengthwise in succession on a conveyer 1 on which they are held by suction. In Fig. 1 double-length stubs are fed by a device 6 similar to that described in Specification 876,732 between pairs of cigarettes C from a continuous rod machine to form a group the components of which are subsequently butted together and moved sideways by a device 17 on to a uniting-band applying device 40, Fig. 2. The conveyer 1 is provided with a line of suction holes 3 and moves over a suction box. The leading cigarette of a group is gripped between a cam-operated finger 9 and a stationary block 15 to allow the stub to abut its end, the stub feeding finger 7 causing accurate positioning of the stub and leading cigarette. The group is carried towards a stop 24 which moves sideways with the pusher 17, a cam-operated arm 26 being simultaneously operated to abut the rearmost cigarette against the stub. As the group is moved sideways by a pusher 17, a resilient strip 35, Fig. 2, ensures accurate alignment of the components. A uniting band on a suction wheel 36 is rolled around the group in passage 40 and the united group is bisected on a drum 41. In a modification, Fig. 3, double-length cigarettes are fed from a hopper by a drum 52 on which they are bisected before being fed on to the suction conveyer 51, stubs S being fed into the spaces between the pairs of cigarettes. The retarding device 9 retards the rearmost cigarette of each pair so that it abuts the following stub and forms a group with the leading cigarette of the following pair. In Fig. 7 the retarding device comprises a pair of rotating eccentric discs 71 which are angularly adjustable relative to one another to adjust the period for which they grip a cigarette. In Fig. 8 the perforated conveyer is replaced by a pair of conveyers 81, 82, with a narrow suction slot therebetween. Specifications 871,514, 871,918 and 886,657 also are referred to.