Feeding apparatus for feeding a tobacco industry segment

A feeding apparatus for feeding a tobacco industry segment (C) comprising

• a hopper (12) for rods (10C) with a length being a multiple length of the segment (C),
• a cutting and conveying unit (13), situated underneath the hopper (12) for the rods (10C), for cutting the rods (10C) into individual segments (C), whereas from the rod (10C), after cutting the rod (10C), a group (G) of the segments (C) is formed,
• a transferring unit (15), situated underneath the cutting and conveying unit (13), adapted to receive the groups (G) of the segments (C) and to form of them a stream (SF) of the segments (C), whereas gaps (U) between the groups (G) of the segments (C) in the stream (SF) are retained, and the transferring unit (15) is adapted to reduce the gaps (U) between the groups (G) so that at an outlet (23) of the transferring unit (15) the segments (C) are conveyed without gaps,
• characterized in that
• the feeding apparatus is provided with a sensor (26) situated in the area of the outlet (23) of the transferring unit (15), whereas the sensor (26) is adapted to check at least one of segment (C) parameters of a group of parameters comprising:
• presence of an object (11) in the segment (C), quality of the object (11) situated in the segment (C), position of the object (11) in the segment (C), and quality of the segment (C),
• further characterized in that the transferring unit (15) is provided with a transferring drum (20), adapted to reduce the gaps (U) between the groups (G), provided with a spiral element (21) on its lateral surface (22), whereas the distance (S) between adjacent coils of the spiral element (21) in the direction parallel to an axis (t) of the transferring drum (20) decreases in the direction towards the outlet (23) of the transferring unit (15).