Pipe junction for pneumatic transfer of rod-shaped smokers' products

Apparatus for pneumatically transferring successive articles of a series of articles from an outlet of a single article sending unit to an inlet of a single article receiving unit, said outlet of said sending unit being arranged to discharge a series of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry, the apparatus comprising:

• at least two conduits having article receiving ends separable connectable with said outlet and article discharging ends separably connectable with said inlet;
• and
• means for selectively connecting one of said at least two conduits with said units and for simultaneously disconnecting the other of said at least two conduits from said units,
• wherein said connecting and disconnecting means comprises a first switching device operable to connect said outlet with the receiving end of one of said at least two conduits, a second switching device operable to connect said inlet with the discharging end of one of said at least two conduits, and means for synchronously operating said devices so that
• in a first position of said devices connections are established between said outlet and one of the at least two conduits and between said inlet and the one conduit, while connections are interrupted between the outlet and the other of the at least two conduits and between the inlet and the other conduit, and
• in a second position of said devices connections are established between said outlet and the other conduit and between said inlet and the other conduit, while connections are interrupted between the outlet and the one conduit and between the inlet and the one conduit.