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

{
  "publication_number": "US11219238B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Method and apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of tobacco industry",
  "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.",
  "claims": [
    "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."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The object of the invention is a method and an apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry.\n\nIn the tobacco industry machines, various kinds of rod-like articles such as non-filter cigarettes, filter cigarettes, cigarillos, filter rods made of one kind of material, multi-segment filter rods, cigars etc. are manufactured. The semi-finished products manufactured at individual production stages are also referred to as rod-like articles. The rod-like articles may be transferred in a mass flow in which the reciprocal position of the articles being transferred is random and variable, however, a part of the machines requires transferring of rod-like articles in streams of individual articles in which the position of neighbouring articles relative to one another is defined. It is possible to transfer the rod-like articles successively one after another so that the axes of the rod-like articles are parallel to the transferring direction, which means that the articles are transferred axially. It is possible to transfer the articles one after another so that the axes of the articles are situated transversely to the conveying direction, the axes of the articles being situated parallel to one another.\n\nMulti-segment filter rods are an example of a rod-like article which is composed of a plurality of rod-like articles. The multi-segment filter rods consist of segments made of various kinds of filter materials. Before manufacturing multi-segment rods, the filter rods containing a filter material of one kind are cut into a plurality of short filter segments.",
  "cpc": [
    "A24C 5/322",
    "A24C 5/00",
    "A24C 5/356",
    "A24C 5/52",
    "A24D 3/0287",
    "B65G 2201/0214",
    "B65G 23/24",
    "B65G 47/52",
    "B65G 47/74"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A24C 5/32",
    "A24D 3/02"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "International Tobacco Machinery Poland Sp zoo"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Andrzej Lisowski",
    "Marcin Mamerski"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-03-25",
  "publication_date": "2022-01-11",
  "grant_date": "2022-01-11",
  "priority_date": "2018-04-04",
  "application_number": "US-201916363306-A",
  "family_id": "62245119",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
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    "EP3158879A1",
    "US20170113879A1"
  ]
}