Apparatus for making cigarettes with dense ends

Apparatus for making a continuous stream from fibrous material of the tobacco processing industry, comprising an endless conveyor defining an elongated path;

• means for feeding fibrous material into a first portion of said path so as to build a continuous stream which contains a surplus of fibrous material and advances along said path;
• means for removing the surplus from the stream in a second portion of said path downstream of said first portion;
• means for pneumatically densifying spaced-apart portions of the stream in the region of said surplus removing means;
• and a channel for said conveyor, said channel having sidewalls flanking said second portion of said path and said densifying means comprsing a suction chamber provided in at least one of said sidewalls and mobile valve means provided in said one sidewall and arranged to intermittently connect said suction chamber with the second portion of said path so as to effect a densification of the stream in said second portion of the path by air which flows into said suction chamber.

Apparatus for making a continuous stream from fibrous material of the tobacco processing industry, comprising an endless air-permeable conveyor defining an elongated path;

• means for feeding fibrous material into a first portion of said path so as to build a continuous stream which contains a surplus of fibrous material and advances along said path;
• means for removing the surplus from the stream in a second portion of said path downstream of said first portion;
• means for pneumatically densifying spaced-apart portions of the stream in the region of said surplus removing means;
• means for converting the stream into a rod-like filler having a predetermined outline in a third portion of said path, said conveyor including a median section having an outline which is substantially complementary to a portion of said predetermined outline and two lateral sections flanking said median section;
• and means for attracting fibrous material to said conveyor in the first portion of said path including means for attracting fibrous material to said median section in a first region of said first portion and means for attracting fibrous material to said median section and to said lateral sections in a second region of said first portion downstream of said first region.

Apparatus for making a continuous stream from fibrous material of the tobacco processing industry, comprising an endless conveyor defining an elongated path;

• means for feeding fibrous material into a first portion of said path so as to build a continuous stream which contains a surplus of fibrous material and advances along said path;
• means for removing the surplus from the stream in a second portion of said path downstream of said first portion;
• means for pneumatically densifying spaced-apart portions of the stream in the region of said surplus removing means;
• and means for converting the stream into a rod-like filler having a predetermined outline in a third portion of said path, said surplus removing means including means for imparting to a portion of the stream an outline at least approximating a portion of said predetermined outline.

Apparatus for making a continuous stream from fibrous material of the tobacco processing industry, comprising an endless conveyor defining an elongated path;

• means for feeding fibrous material into a first portion of said path so as to build a continuous stream which contains a surplus of fibrous material and advances along said path;
• means for removing the surplus from the stream in a second portion of said path downstream of said first portion;
• means for pneumatically densifying spaced-apart portions of the stream in the region of said surplus removing means;
• and a channel for said conveyor, said channel having a substantially U-shaped cross-sectional outline along a portion at least of said path.

Apparatus for making a continuous stream of fibrous material of the tobacco processing industry, comprising an endless conveyor defining an elongated path;

• means for feeding fibrous material into a first portion of said path so as to build a continuous stream which contains a surplus of fibrous material and advances along said path;
• means for removing the surplus from the stream in a second portion of said path downstream of said first portion;
• means for pneumatically densifying spaced-apart portions of the stream in the region of said surplus removing means, comprising at least one rotary element;
• and means for rotating said element at different speeds during predetermined stages of each revolution of said element.