Feed mechanism
AssigneeTobacco Research and Development Institute (Proprietary) Limited
InventorGerhard LE ROUX
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A feed mechanism to feed objects for insertion into tobacco industry products including a rotary member for receiving objects, the rotary member having a plurality of channels, each channel being adapted so that in use objects assemble in a row in the channel which rotates with the rotary member, each channel having an outlet for dispensing an object from the channel, and a pneumatic mechanism configured to hold an object in a row prior to the object being dispensed.
Claims20
A feed mechanism configured to feed objects for insertion into tobacco industry products, comprising:
- a first rotary member for receiving objects, the first rotary member including a plurality of channels that rotate with the first rotary member, wherein the channels are configured such that in use objects are urged centrifugally through said channels;
- and
- a second rotary member comprising object-receiving pockets for receiving objects dispensed from said channels,
- wherein one or more of said channels deviates from a radial path.
A method of feeding objects for insertion into tobacco industry products, the method comprising:
- rotating a first rotary member so as to urge objects centrifugally through a plurality of channels which rotate with the first rotary member;
- guiding the objects through the channels so that the angular separation between objects changes as objects pass through neighboring channels;
- and
- receiving objects dispensed from said channels in object-receiving pockets of a second rotary member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.