A drum assembly for processing a moving web of material is disclosed. The drum assembly has an outer drum with an axis of rotation and a plurality of support members on which cut patches of the moving web of material are supported as the drum rotates together with said support members about said axis. A cam is disposed within the outer drum and the support members and the cam cooperate with each other as the outer drum rotates relative to the cam to move the support members in an axial direction to alter the spacing between cut web patches on said support members.

A tipping paper feed assembly (1) for use in smoking article manufacture. The tipping paper feed assembly (1) comprising a first feed device adapted to supply a first tipping paper web (4) that is fed into apparatus for smoking article manufacture, and a second feed device adapted to supply a second tipping paper web (11). The tipping paper feed assembly (1) also comprises a splice mechanism (12) adapted to attach the first and second tipping paper webs (4, 11) together for changeover between the first and the second feed devices. The tipping paper feed device (1) also comprises a registration system configured to register features of each tipping paper web (4, 11) prior to attaching said first and second tipping paper webs together with said features in register.

Apparatus for producing a rod of aerosol-generating material is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a first feed device adapted to supply a first web of aerosol-generating material to a processing unit, a second feed device adapted to supply a second web of aerosol-generating material, and a web changeover unit arranged to change supply of aerosol-generating material to the processing unit from the first web of aerosol-generating material to the second web of aerosol-generating material. The web changeover unit is configured to position a leading edge of the second web of aerosol-generating material adjacent to a trailing edge of the first web of aerosol-generating material upstream of the processing unit during changeover from the first web of aerosol-generating material to the second web of aerosol-generating material. A method of producing a rod of aerosol-generating material is also disclosed.

A method for splicing two sheets of material is provided, including: providing a processing line including a splicing head and a quality sensor located between upstream and downstream ends of the processing line; providing first and second sheets of material; processing the first sheet on the processing line along a processing direction from the upstream end towards the downstream end; detecting, by the quality sensor, a value of a quality parameter at a detected portion of the first sheet; and, when the value falls within a predetermined threshold, transporting the first sheet along the processing line such that the detected portion is located prior to getting into the splicing head from the upstream end, and splicing the first and the second sheets at the splicing head when the detected portion is located prior to getting into the splicing head from the upstream end.

The invention relates to an apparatus for wrapping a rod-shaped article and for providing a material web for the tobacco processing industry, comprising a material web provision device providing a material web comprising a first feed roller pair and a second feed roller pair for conveying the material web along a conveying path. To guarantee the wrapping process even when using thick wrapping papers or hydrophobic papers, the material provision device comprises a first restoring force reduction unit, wherein the first restoring force reduction unit is located downstream of the first feed roller pair along the conveying path and is located upstream of the second feed roller pair along the conveying path.