Method of and apparatus for accumulating and manipulating arrays of cigarettes and the like

Apparatus for supplying groups of commodities to a processing machine, comprising:

• group building means having a plurality of assemblies each including a plurality of group forming units each arranged to gather a succession of groups;
• and
• means for transporting groups from said units to the processing machine;
• wherein said group building means has two assemblies and each of said assemblies includes two group forming units, the units of each assembly being spaced apart from each other by a first distance and said assemblies being spaced apart from each other by a second distance twice said first distance.

A method of providing a processing machine with groups of commodities, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a plurality of group building stations with at least two group forming units per station;
• repeatedly gathering groups of commodities in the group forming units of the group building stations;
• converting the groups assembled by the group forming units into a series of groups in a path leading to the processing machine;
• stepwise transporting the groups of the series along the path to the processing machine;
• the processing machine being a multiple-track packing machine for rod-shaped commodities of the tobacco processing industry;
• and
• the tracks of the packing machine being spaced apart from each other by a first distance and said transporting step including advancing the groups of the series through second distances m times a first distance wherein m is the number of tracks in the packing machine.

A method of providing a processing machine with groups of commodities, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a plurality of group building stations with at least two group forming units per station;
• repeatedly gathering groups of commodities in the group forming units of the group building stations;
• converting the groups assembled by the group forming units into a series of groups in a path leading to the processing machine;
• and
• stepwise transporting the groups of the series along the path to the processing machine wherein the number of stations equals two and each station comprises three group forming units.

A method of providing a processing machine with groups of commodities, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a plurality of group building stations with at least two group forming units per station;
• repeatedly gathering groups of commodities in the group forming units of the group building stations;
• converting the groups assembled by the group forming units into a series of groups in a path leading to the processing machine;
• and
• stepwise transporting the groups of the series along the path to the processing machine wherein the number of stations equals three and each station comprises two group forming units.

A method of providing a processing machine with groups of commodities, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a plurality group building stations with at least two group forming units per station;
• repeatedly gathering groups of commodities in the group forming units of the group building stations;
• converting the groups assembled by the group forming units into a series of groups in a path leading to the processing machine;
• and
• stepwise transporting the groups of the series along the path of processing machine wherein said converting step includes expelling groups of commodities through stationary mouthpieces of the group forming units into discrete mobile storage facilities and thereupon transporting the storage facilities from the respective mouthpieces to the path.