Apparatus for filling a cavity, filling station and method of filling a cavity
AssigneeInternational Tobacco Machinery Poland Sp. z o.o.
InventorsRadoslaw Owczarek, Adam Gielniewski
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for filling under gravity from a hopper (9), a storage device (2) for articles that has the form of a columnar cavity between opposed side walls with a mass flow of mutually parallel rod-shaped articles descending from the hopper, a cavity-filling device (12) that alternates in use between a closed configuration that blocks a downward flow of the said articles through the device and an open configuration that allows flow of the articles through the device, the device being movable in translation, in alternate upward and downward strokes within the cavity, being in the closed configuration on the downward stroke and in the open configuration on the upward stroke.
Claims16
Apparatus for filling under gravity from a hopper, a storage device for articles that has the form of a columnar cavity between opposed side walls, with a mass flow of mutually parallel rod-shaped articles descending from the hopper,
- and characterized in that:
- a cavity-filling device (12) for filing the cavity (2, 14, 15, 16) that alternates in use between a closed configuration that blocks a downward flow of the said articles through the device (12) and an open configuration that allows flow of the articles through the device (12), the device (12) being movable in translation, in alternate upward and downward strokes within the cavity (2, 14, 15, 16), being in the closed configuration on the downward stroke and in the open configuration on the upward stroke.
A method for filling a succession of storage devices (2, 14, 15, 16) under gravity from a hopper (9), with a mass flow of mutually parallel rod-shaped articles, each storage device (2, 14, 15, 16) having the form of a columnar cavity between opposed side walls, the method characterised in that it comprises the steps of:
- arranging a cavity-filling device (12) under the hopper (9), the device (12) is in a closed configuration that blocks a downward flow of the said articles through the device (12);
- placing an empty storage device (2, 16) under the cavity-filling device (12);
- moving the cavity-filling device (12) downward as far as a base wall of the storage device (2, 16);
- shifting the device (12) from the closed configuration to an open configuration that allows flow of the articles through the device (12);
- moving the device (12) upwards close to a top of the storage device (2, 16);
- shifting the device (12) from the open configuration to the closed configuration;
- and
- replacing the filled storage device (2, 16) with another empty storage device (2, 16).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.