Feed apparatus and method for automatically feeding casings for smoking articles

Feed method for automatically feeding casings for forming smoking articles to at least one transport member having one or more first seatings aligned along a substantially horizontal transport axis and configured to each receive one of said casings, wherein said casings are hollow and stackable so as to be partly inserted one into the other forming stacks, said method comprising;

• feeding said stacks of casings from feed means, disposed in a position above said at least one transport member, to conveyor means interposed between said feed means and said at least one transport member, and selectively conveying by said conveyor means said casings one by one toward said one or more first seatings of said at least one transport member,
• wherein each of said stacks comprises a first casing located at a lower end of the respective stack and in which at least a second casing is partly inserted from above,
• where in said conveying step, first stop means of said conveyor means, disposed between said feed means and said at least one transport member, are moved between a position of interference, in which said first stop means cooperate, for each of said stacks, with said first casing, temporarily stopping the fall of the first casing, and a position of non-interference, in which said first stop means free said first casing, so that the first freed casing is released into one of said one or more first seatings, wherein second stop means of said conveyor means, disposed between said feed means and said first stop means, are moved between an engagement position, in which said second stop means cooperate, for each of said stacks, with the second casing closest to the first casing, temporarily stopping the fall, for each of said stacks, of the casings above said first casing, at least when said first stop means are in the position of non-interference, and a disengagement position, in which said second stop means free the second casing closest to the first casing and let it fall on said first stop means, only while said first stop means are in the position of interference, the second casing left to fall by said second stop means becoming the new first casing when it arrives at said first stop means,
• wherein in said feeding step a rotating member of said feed means, mounted rotatably about a substantially vertical axis of rotation and provided with a plurality of second seatings, receives in one or more of said second seatings one or more of said casings organized so as to form said stacks and performs incremental rotations, each of a determinate angle, to selectively bring a row of said plurality of second seatings disposed along a radial segment of said rotating member into vertical alignment with said conveyor means, and
• selectively occluding by a closing disc of said feed means said plurality of second seatings and freeing by said closing disc only the second seatings which are located along the row disposed along said radial segment in vertical alignment with said conveyor means, so as to allow the descent only of the stacks of casings which are located in the second seatings which are not occluded by said closing disc.

Feed apparatus for automatically feeding casings for forming smoking articles toward at least one transport member having one or more first seatings aligned along a substantially horizontal transport axis and configured to each receive one of said casings, in which said casings are hollow and stackable so as to be partly inserted into one another forming stacks, said apparatus comprising:

• feed means disposed in a position above said at least one transport member and configured to temporarily support the stacks of said casings and conveyor means interposed between said feed means and said at least one transport member and configured to selectively convey said casings from said feed means one by one toward said one or more first seatings of said at least one transport member,
• wherein said feed means comprise a rotating member mounted rotatably about a substantially vertical axis of rotation and having a plurality of second seatings parallel to said axis of rotation and configured to each receive one of said stacks of said casings, wherein said rotating member is configured to perform incremental rotations, each of a determinate angle, to selectively take a row of said plurality of second seatings disposed along a radial segment of said rotating member, in vertical alignment with said conveyor means,
• wherein said feed means comprise a closing disc configured to selectively occlude said plurality of second seatings and free only the second seatings which are located along the row disposed along said radial segment in vertical alignment with said conveyor means, so as to allow the descent only of the stacks of casings which are located in the second seatings which are not occluded by said closing disc.