System for transferring a group of components of electronic cigarettes from a first operating station to a second operating station

A system for transferring a group of components of electronic cigarettes from a first operating station to a second operating station, the system comprising:

• a conveyor, extending from a feeding zone to a disengagement zone and having a plurality of conveyor seats arranged in a row and each shaped to receive one of the components;
• a feeding device including at least one feeding seat and configured to receive the components from the first operating station one by one and feed the components into the conveyor seats in the feeding zone;
• the components in the conveyor seats being positioned at a first mutual distance from each other;
• the conveyor being operable to convey the group of components from the feeding zone to the disengagement zone, along a conveying direction;
• a disengaging and transferring device including a disengagement surface, configured to operate in the disengagement zone to simultaneously disengage all the components of the group from their conveyor seats and to move the group of components along a disengagement direction perpendicular to the conveying direction;
• and to transfer the group of components to a collecting zone, while keeping the group of components positioned at the first mutual distance from each other;
• a compacting device including at least one compacting surface, configured to operate in the collecting zone to engage and move the components of the group of components closer together and position the components of the group of components at a second mutual distance from each other that is smaller than the first mutual distance;
• a tray facing the collecting zone for receiving from the collecting zone the group of components which have been placed closer together;
• a pushing device including a pushing surface, configured to operate in the collecting zone to engage and push the group of components from the collecting zone into the tray;
• a movement device for transferring the tray containing the group of components to the second operating station.