Conveying and uniting rod-like articles of the tobacco industry

Apparatus for uniting axially-aligned rod-like articles of the toabcco industry, comprising means for feeding a wrapper, means for wrapping said wrapper received from said feeding means around adjacent end portions of articles delivered to said wrapping means, a suction conveyor for conveying said articles successively in an axial direction along a path towards said wrapping means, means for transversely displacing slightly an article on said path to allow leakage of suction past said article thereby reducing the grip of said conveyor on said article, and means for causing axial movement of said article relative to said conveyor while said article is tranversely displaced to bring an end of said article adjacent an end of another article on said conveyor.

A method of uniting axially-aligned articles of the tobacco industry, in which a wrapper is applied about at least the adjacent end portions of said articles, wherein the wrapper and resilient means in contact with the outer surface of said wrapper are pressed onto and progressively wrapped around said articles

• while said resilient means and wrapper are
• conveyed with said articles, the pressure applied to said wrapper to wrap it around said end portions being maintained by continuous contact of said resilient means on the outer surface of said wrapper during substantially the entire uniting operation and being greater than any pressure applied to other portions of said articles.

A method of uniting axially-aligned articles of the tobacco industry, in which a wrapper is applied over at least the adjacent end portions of said articles, wherein said articles are conveyed in an axial direction and said wrapper is pressed onto and around said articles while being conveyed along with them, the pressure, applied to said wrapper, by means conveyed with said wrapper and said articles, to wrap said wrapper around said end portions, being substantially greater than any pressure applied to other portions of said articles.

A method of uniting a plurality of successive axially-aligned articles of the tobacco industry, in which wrappers are applied over at least the adjacent end portions of at least some of said articles such that the applied wrappers are spaced from each other, wherein each of said wrappers and an individual resilient means in contact with the outer surface of said wrapper are pressed onto and progressively wrapped around said articles while said individual resilient means and wrapper are conveyed with said articles, a plurality of said individual resilient means being spaced from each other in correspondence with the spacing of said wrappers from each other on said articles, the pressure applied to each of said wrappers to wrap it around said adjacent end portions being maintained by continous contact of one of said individual resilient means on the outer surface of each of said wrappers during substantially the entirety of each uniting operation and being greater than any pressure applied to other portions of said articles.

Apparatus for uniting axially-aligned rod-like articles of the tobacco industry, comprising means for transporting said articles in an axial direction, means for feeding a wrapper towards said articles, and means for wrapping said wrapper around at least the adjacent end portions of said articles to unit them, said wrapping means comprising a laterally flexible band, guide means for causing said band to wrap said wrapper around said articles and resilient means on said band to resiliently press said wrapper onto and around said articles.

Apparatus for uniting axially-aligned rod-like articles of the tobacco industry, comprising means for transporting said articles successively in an axial direction, means for feeding a succession of wrappers towards said articles, and means for wrapping said wrappers around at least the adjacent end portions of as least some of said articles to unit them, said wrapping means comprising conveyor means including spaced sections adapted to resiliently press said successive wrappers onto and around said articles.

Apparatus for uniting axially-aligned rod-like articles of the tobacco industry, comprising means for transporting said articles successively in an axial direction, means for feeding a succession of wrappers towards said articles, and means for wrapping said wrappers around at least the adjacent portions of at least some of said articles to unit them, said wrapping means comprising a lateral-flexible conveyor carrying spaced laterally-flexible resilient pads each arranged to be interposed between said conveyor and one of said wrappers, and guide means for wrapping said conveyor, pads and wrappers at least partially around said articles such that said pads resiliently press said wrappers onto and around said articles.