Apparatus for filling containers with cigarettes or the like

Abstract

A tray filling apparatus wherein a suction head accumulates rows of cigarettes and a pusher transfers the rows into a tray which is supported by an endless chain conveyor. The suction head and the pusher receive motion from a drive which includes a variable-speed DC-motor, a step-down gearing which is driven by the output shaft of the motor, and a mechanical transmission having a first component which moves the suction head between a lower position in which the latter accumulates a row of cigarettes and one of two raised positions, and a second component which moves the pusher forwardly not later than when the suction head reaches a raised position. The forward movement of the pusher is slower than its return movement to retracted position and the characteristic RPM curve of the motor is determined by a control circuit which includes three signal generators one of which starts the motor, another of which decelerates the motor after the suction head returns to lower position and the pusher reassumes its retracted position, and the third of which arrests the motor while the suction head and the pusher respectively dwell in their lower and retracted positions. A second electric motor drives the conveyor for an empty or partly filled tray through the medium of a second transmission in stepwise fashion upon completion of each forward stroke of the pusher.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.