Suction belt conveyor of a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry for conveying materials, in particular tobacco, a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry and use of the rod-forming machine and a method for measuring material properties of a material rod of the tobacco processing industry. The suction belt conveyor includes at least one rod guiding channel, which is open at the bottom and which is delimited by two lateral channel sides and a suction belt along a conveying path. At least one electromagnetic measuring device is integrated in the channel sides of the suction belt conveyor at at least one position along the conveying path in order to determine properties of the conveyed material.

Suction belt conveyor of a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry for conveying materials, in particular tobacco, a rod-forming machine of the tobacco processing industry and use of the rod-forming machine and a method for measuring material properties of a material rod of the tobacco processing industry. The suction belt conveyor includes at least one rod guiding channel, which is open at the bottom and which is delimited by two lateral channel sides and a suction belt along a conveying path. At least one electromagnetic measuring device is integrated in the channel sides of the suction belt conveyor at at least one position along the conveying path in order to determine properties of the conveyed material.

A method for manufacturing rod-like articles for tobacco industry, the rod-like articles comprising longitudinal inserts located in a filling material, the method comprising: feeding a continuous tape-like wrapper; feeding a strand of the filling material onto the moving wrapper; feeding an insert material, in a form of a tape having weakenings, into the strand of the filling material; forming a continuous rod by wrapping the wrapper around the strand of the filling material with the insert material; cutting the moving continuous rod into discrete rod-like articles by a cutting head at a cutting plane that traverses the weakening in the tape of the insert material; the method being characterized by: inspecting ends of the insert in the rod like article cut from the continuous rod and comparing the ends with a predefined model to obtain a measure of similarity; and depending on the similarity, adjusting the action of the cutting head with respect to the movement of the continuous rod such as to increase the similarity between the ends of the insert to the model in a following rod like article.

The tongue includes a shaft, the shaft being hollow. The tongue includes an upper plate connected to the shaft. The upper plate includes a first protrusion on a first side of the upper plate, and a second protrusion on the first side of the upper plate. The first protrusion and the second protrusion define a notch. The first protrusion runs along at least part of an upper portion of a longitudinal length of the shaft. The rod forming apparatus includes the tongue. The method installs the tongue on the rod forming apparatus.

A machine for wrapping smokable material in a wrapper includes a garniture defining a straight path along a longitudinal axis on which a wrapper is guided. A garniture belt transports the wrapper along the straight path. A feeding device for feeding a smokable material to the garniture includes a first conveyor having an upper section on which the smokable material is supported, the first conveyor being actuatable to move the smokable material in a feed direction toward a downstream side of the first conveyor. A holding container has a bottom defined at least partially by the first conveyor. A feed transports the smokable material from a supply container to the holding container so that that an amount of smokable material in the holding container is maintained within a range including a predetermined minimum amount and a predetermined maximum amount. A metering device meters the amount of smokable material that is moved by the first conveyor from the holding container toward the garniture.

A device for changing operative portions for tobacco industry machines including a receiving portion made in a structural part of a tobacco industry machine; a plug member attached to an operative portion of the tobacco industry machine, a locking member, housed in the structural part of the machine and configured to adopt a locked position, where it locks the plug member in the receiving portion, and a released position, where it releases the plug member from the receiving portion and actuating means acting on the locking member at least to move the locking member from the locked position to the released position.

A method for continuously manufacturing aerosol generating articles includes: (i) providing a continuous web or a continuous strip of an aerosol generating substrate; (ii) providing a continuous web of susceptor material; (iii) continuously cutting the continuous web of susceptor material to form a plurality of susceptor patches; (iv) consecutively applying the patches to a surface of the continuous web or continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate with a predefined and constant spacing between each successive patch; and forming the web or strip of aerosol generating substrate and the patches into a continuous rod. Step (iii) uses a rotary cutting unit including a support drum supporting the continuous web of susceptor material around its periphery and a cutting drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced cutting elements around its periphery. The cutting elements cooperate with the support drum to shear cut the continuous web of susceptor material to form the patches.

A method for continuously manufacturing aerosol generating articles includes: (i) providing a continuous web or a continuous strip of an aerosol generating substrate having a substantially flat surface; (ii) providing a continuous web of susceptor material; (iii) intermittently applying an adhesive to a surface of the continuous web of susceptor material to form adhesive areas on the surface; (iv) continuously cutting the continuous web of susceptor material at positions between the adhesive areas to form at least one susceptor patch ; (v) adhering the susceptor patch to the substantially flat surface of the continuous web or the continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate; and (vi) forming the continuous web or the continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate and the at least one susceptor patch adhered to the surface thereof into a continuous rod

A method for continuously manufacturing aerosol generating articles includes: (i) providing a continuous web of an aerosol generating substrate, the continuous web including a substantially flat surface having a centre line; (ii) applying at least one susceptor patch to the substantially flat surface substantially along the centre line to leave an exposed region of the continuous web of aerosol generating substrate on each side of the at least one susceptor patch; (iii) cutting the exposed regions of the continuous web of aerosol generating substrate to form a plurality of aerosol generating strips on each side of the at least one susceptor patch; and (iv) forming the plurality of aerosol generating strips and the at least one susceptor patch into a continuous rod.

A method for continuously manufacturing aerosol generating articles includes: (i) providing a continuous web of an aerosol generating substrate; (ii) separating a continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate from the continuous web of aerosol generating substrate provided in step (i), the continuous strip having a substantially flat surface; (iii) applying at least one susceptor patch to the substantially flat surface of the continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate obtained by step (ii); (iv) cutting the continuous web of aerosol generating substrate to form a plurality of aerosol generating strips; and (v) combining the at least one susceptor patch and the continuous strip of aerosol generating substrate obtained by step (iii) with the plurality of aerosol generating strips obtained by step (iv) to form a continuous rod.