Apparatus for forming and transporting away tobacco portions

An apparatus for forming portions of fibrous material, especially cut tobacco, and for transporting them away;

• said apparatus comprising:
• a conveyor having upright open receptacles, each for one portion, said conveyor consisting of a bucket chain bearing buckets forming said receptacles,
• a distributor device located above the conveyor,
• and means for dropping portions sequentially into said distributor device (26),
• the improvement wherein the distributor device (26) comprises a distributor wall (30), means for mounting said distributor wall for rotation about a central transverse axis of rotation (31) perpendicular to the path of movement of said bucket chain (28), means for rotating said distributor wall synchronously with the bucket chain (28), said distributor wall being positioned so as to receive one portion of fibrous material (10) at a time and for transferring this to a bucket (27) after a partial rotation of the distributor wall (30), and wherein the distributor wall (30) is located underneath two feed devices and in line therewith, said feed devices comprising receptacles (43, 44) of tobacco balances (21, 22) for feeding portions (10) alternately onto said distributor wall (30), and wherein said means for rotating said distributor wall (30) comprises means to drive said distributor wall in one direction.