Device and method for filling containers for bags of smokeless tobacco

A device for filling containers for bags of smokeless tobacco, specifically tobacco of the snus type, each container comprising a body and an inner frame comprising radial separators defining a plurality of radial compartments, the device comprising:

• an infeed station configured for feeding at least one succession of inner frames, wherein each inner frame has a central portion which extends around a respective central axis and a plurality of radial separators extending away from the central portion and defining a plurality of radial compartments which are angularly disposed around the central axis;
• a filling station configured to feed a succession of individual bags of smokeless tobacco to a respective inner frame;
• a release station configured for releasing at least one succession of inner frames which are full of bags;
• a conveyor defining a feed line which passes through the infeed station, the filling station and the release station and which has at least one housing configured to hold and move a respective inner frame from the infeed station to the release station by way of the filling station;
• suction means disposed in the filling station and configured to apply pneumatic suction in the housing of the conveyor disposed in the filling station;
• rotation means disposed in the filling station and confronting the housing of the conveyor disposed in the filling station, the rotation means being configured to set the inner frame disposed in the housing in rotation about the respective central axis so that successive radial compartments of the inner frame each confront a respective bag to be inserted in sequence.