Device for transferring bar shaped articles

A device for transferring bar shaped articles while moving perpendicular to their longitudinal axes between two conveyors each provided with equally spaced suction housings for retaining the articles with the spacing in each conveyor being different from the other, comprising:

• a link-up conveyor positioned between said two conveyors, said link-up conveyor comprising:
• a first rotating element supported by a fixed sleeve and carrying a plurality of two arm pivoted cranks, one arm of each crank being provided with a suction housing for picking up an article from one of said two conveyors and delivering it to the other;
• a second rotating element mounted on a driven shaft which passes through said sleeve and rotates on an axis spaced from and parallel to the rotational axis of said first rotating element;
• a gearwheel in meshing engagement with both of said elements, said gearwheel being supported by said sleeve and rotatable on an axis spaced from and parallel to said axes of said elements;
• and
• the other arm of each of said cranks being linked peripherally to said second rotating element so that said cranks oscillate with respect to said first rotating element during the movement of a said crank housing from a pick-up position to a delivery position and back to a pick-up position so as to match the crank housing positions and speeds, at pick-up and delivery positions, with the corresponding positions and speeds of said housings of said two conveyors.