Transfer apparatus for cigarettes and other rod-shaped articles
AssigneeR. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
InventorC. Fred deMey, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transfer apparatus for rod-shaped articles, such as cigarettes, comprising a housing rotatably mounted to a fixed main shaft with a plurality of cooperating crank arms and article holders rotatably mounted to the housing by crank arm shafts and holder shafts. The crank arms and article holders are rotated in response to rotation of the housing by means of a plurality of endless toothed belts cooperating between toothed pulleys on the main shaft and the crank arm shafts and a plurality of endless toothed belts cooperating between toothed pulleys on the main shaft and on the holder shafts.
Claims21
Apparatus for transferring cigarettes from a serial file of cigarettes to parallel rows of cigarettes comprising:
- a main shaft;
- a housing rotatably mounted on said shaft;
- means for rotating said housing about said shaft;
- a plurality of crank arms each having first and second ends, each crank arm being rotatably mounted at said first end to said housing, said crank arm being rotatable relative to said housing such that upon rotation of said housing and said crank arms the second ends of said crank arms define a path of travel;
- first belt means connected between said shaft and said crank arms for rotating said crank arms relative to said housing;
- a plurality of holder means for picking up the cigarettes in the serial file and for transferring the cigarettes to parallel rows of cigarettes, each holder means being rotatably mounted to said second end of a respective crank arm;
- and
- second belt means connected between said holder means and said shaft for rotating said holder means relative to said housing.
A rotary transfer apparatus for transferring rod-shaped articles, such as cigarettes, coming from an article maker in an end-to-end file to a file of parallel rows, comprising:
- a conveyor for conveying the rod-shaped articles from the maker;
- a knife for cutting the rod-shaped articles into desired lengths;
- a guide for conveying the rod-shaped articles in a serial end-to-end file;
- a rotary spider mechanism comprising a housing and a plurality of belt-driven rotary article holders and belt-driven crank arms cooperatively arranged and driven such that said article holders and said crank arms are independently driven by separate belts such that longitudinal axes of ends of said holders remain essentially aligned with the serial end-to-end file and the file of parallel rows;
- and
- a rotary drum for receiving cigarettes from said rotary spider mechanism whereby the serial end-to-end file is converted to a file of parallel rows of said rod-shaped articles.
A rotary transfer apparatus for transfer of rod-shaped articles such as cigarettes from an end-to-end file having an axis to a file of parallel rows, comprising:
- a main shaft;
- a housing rotatably driven about said shaft;
- a plurality of rotatable crank arms each mounted on a crank arm shaft and each rotatably mounted in said rotatable housing;
- a plurality of rotatable holders each mounted on a holder shaft, each holder shaft being rotatably mounted in said rotatable housing, each said holder being cooperatively attached at an outer end of a respective crank arm and having a pick-up device with a longitudinal axis, each said holder being rotatable independently of said crank arm;
- a crank arm drive mechanism comprising a plurality of crank arm pulleys mounted on said main shaft and on said crank arm shafts and a plurality of cooperating belts trained about said crank arm pulleys;
- and
- a holder drive mechanism comprising a plurality of holder pulleys mounted on said main shaft and on said holder shafts with a plurality of cooperating belts trained about said holder pulleys, said holders having means for holding and releasing the rod-shaped articles, said crank arms and said holders being rotated by said belts in response to rotation of said housing such that the longitudinal axes of said pick-up devices are maintained essentially parallel to the axis of the end-to-end file.
A transfer apparatus for rod-shaped articles comprising a main shaft, a housing rotatable about said shaft, a plurality of crank arms rotatably mounted to said housing by crank arm shafts, and first endless belt means cooperating between said main shaft and said crank arm shafts for rotating said crank arms relative to said housing in response to rotation of said housing about said main shaft and including a plurality of holders rotatably mounted to outer ends of said crank arms, said holders including holder shafts, and second endless belt means cooperating between said main shaft and said holder shafts for rotating said holders relative to said housing in response to rotation of said housing about said main shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.