Machine for producing substantially cylindrical articles
AssigneeG.D Societa' Per Azioni
InventorsRoberto Claudio Franco Ghiotti, Luca Federici
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Machine and method for producing a substantially cylindrical article, which comprises a tubular body, a container element, arranged in the area of one end of the tubular element, a heat generating element, partially housed inside the container element, and loose material for generating flavour; in use, the loose material is inserted into the container element, vertically oriented, and the heat generating element is partially inserted into the container element by being moved downwards, so as to obtain a combined element; subsequently, the combined element is at least partially inserted into the tubular body.
Claims13
A machine for producing substantially cylindrical articles (2) of the tobacco processing industry;
- each article (2) comprises a tubular body (3);
- a container element (4), which is arranged in the area of a first end (5) of the tubular body (3) and has an end opening (6) facing outwards, at least one side wall (7) and a bottom wall (8) opposite to said end opening (6);
- a substantially rigid element (9), partially housed inside the container element (4) and having an end portion (10), which protrudes through said end opening (6) to the outside of the container element (4);
- and loose material (14), which is arranged inside the container element (4) between the substantially rigid element (9) and the bottom wall (8);
- the machine (1) comprising a conveyor (20) which is adapted to move at least one container element (4) containing the loose material (14) along a given path (P1) through an insertion station (IS) and comprises at least one seat (21) designed to house the container element (4) and provided with at least one inner lateral surface adapted to be in contact with said side wall (7);
- an insertion assembly (49), which is designed to insert the respective substantially rigid element (9) into the container element (4), is arranged in the area of the insertion station (IS) and comprises a pushing unit (50) to push the substantially rigid element (9) downwards through said end opening (6), so as to partially insert it into the container element (4);
- and contrast means (51) to exert a resistance on the bottom wall (8) which is opposite to the push exerted by the pushing unit (50), and
- a feeding assembly (54), which is adapted to feed the substantially rigid element (9) to the insertion station (IS) and comprises a transfer device (55) to move the substantially rigid element (9) in a transverse direction relative to the direction in which the pushing unit (50) pushes the substantially rigid element (9) through said end opening (6),
- wherein the transfer device (55) comprises a first and a second half-shell (56, 57), which are adapted to be coupled to one another so as to house the substantially rigid element (9) between them, and actuating means to move the first and the second half-shell (56, 57).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.