Manufacturing machine for producing tobacco industry articles

A manufacturing machine for producing tobacco industry articles, and comprising:

• at least one station including a number of drums cooperating with one another to convey and process portions of smoking material, the portions of smoking material including filter portions;
• and
• a supporting structure fitted to a frame;
• wherein the station includes a vertical front panel supporting at least some of the drums at the station and fixed removably to the supporting structure for replacement, together with the respective drums, when making a brand change;
• wherein the station is a feed station of a group-forming unit forming groups of the filter portions, each including at least two different filter portions aligned axially and contacting at the ends;
• the feed station including:
• a top hopper housing a mass of respective filter portions;
• a group of drums which withdraw the filter portions successively from the bottom of the hopper, and are fitted to the front panel;
• and
• an insertion drum, in which the filter portions received from the group of drums are inserted inside respective groups of filter portions;
• and
• wherein the supporting structure is fitted to the frame to slide in a horizontal slide direction, parallel to the axes of rotation of the drums at the feed station, to adjust the position of the drums as a function of the size of the filter portions for processing.

A manufacturing machine for producing tobacco industry articles, and comprising:

• at least one station including a number of drums cooperating with one another to convey and process portions of smoking material, the portions of smoking material including filter portions;
• and
• a supporting structure fitted to a frame and supporting the drums at the station;
• wherein the station is a feed station of a group-forming unit for forming groups of filter portions, each including at least two different filter portions aligned axially and contacting at the ends;
• the feed station including:
• a top hopper housing a mass of respective filter portions;
• a group of drums which withdraw the filter portions successively from the bottom of the hopper;
• and
• an insertion drum, in which the filter portions received from the group of drums are inserted inside respective groups of filter portions;
• and
• wherein the supporting structure is fitted to the frame to slide in a horizontal slide direction, parallel to the axes of rotation of the drums at the feed station, to adjust the position of the drums as a function of the size of the filter portions for processing.

A method of making a brand change in a manufacturing machine for producing tobacco industry articles;

• the manufacturing machine comprising:
• at least one station including a number of drums cooperating with one another to
• convey and process portions of smoking material, the portions of smoking material including filter portions;
• and
• a supporting structure fitted to a frame;
• and
• wherein the station includes a vertical front panel which directly supports at least some of the drums at the station and is fixed removably to the supporting structure to be replaceable together with the respective drums and without removing the respective drums from the front panel;
• and
• when making a brand change, the method comprising the steps of:
• removing together the front panel and the respective drums that remains always fixed to the front panel from the supporting structure;
• and
• attaching together a new front panel and new respective drums that are already provided with the new front panel to the supporting structure.