A feeding system (1) for feeding groups (7) of rod-like elements (2) for a tobacco industry machine, wherein the group (7) includes at least two rod-like elements (2) arranged coaxially next to each other, the feeding system including: a container (3) for the rod-like elements (2); a single element feeder (4) for feeding individual rod-like elements (2) from the container (3); an intermediate storage (5) for transferring the rod-like elements (2) from the single element feeder (4) along a storage duct (20) to an elements group feeder (6), wherein an outlet (24) of the storage duct (20) has a tilting track (21) forming a recess (36) for stopping the rod-like elements (2); wherein the elements group feeder (6) includes: a transporting duct (25) connected to the storage duct (20); and a transporter (26) including shovels (27), wherein the shovels (27) are configured to transport the groups (7) of the rod-like elements (2) one after the other along the transporting duct (25) from the storage duct (20) to an outlet duct (37); and a pushing unit (8) including a reciprocally movable pusher (33), configured to eject the group (7) of the rod-like elements (2) from the outlet duct (37).

A method and a kit for adjusting a machine for wrapping or packing articles, including a conveyor associated with an electric motor where, in an operating condition, the motor drives the conveyor in rotation about its axis of rotation. The method includes associating the conveyor with a reference integral with the conveyor and disposed at an angular position about its axis of rotation; detecting the angular position of the conveyor relative to the force of gravity by measuring the angle between a radial line passing through the reference and the force of gravity; detecting the angular position of the axis of the motor relative to a zero reference associated with an angular position transducer of the motor; calculating and storing the angular displacement between the angular positions of the motor and the conveyor corresponding to the angular displacement between the zero reference and the force of gravity.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing multi-component aerosol forming articles, each aerosol forming article defining a longitudinal axis and comprising N components serially juxtaposed along the longitudinal axis, where N is an integer2, the method comprising: providing transporting means for transporting components of aerosol forming articles in a transporting direction, said transporting means defining seats along said transporting direction; supplying seats of said transporting means with a first component for each aerosol forming article by positioning said first components one after the other along the transporting direction with their longitudinal axis parallel one to the others; checking each seat for the presence of said first component; adjoining a second component to the first component in a lengthwise axial manner in a given seat only if the first component is present in said given seat.

A method for producing rod-like articles of the tobacco industry is provided, including: performing a first cutting in which a continuous rod is cut into a train of double rod-like articles; changing a direction of conveying the double rod-like articles from a first direction along an axis of the articles to a second transverse direction, each time two double rod-like articles are transferred into grooves of a drum conveyor, and two input streams of the double rod-like articles are formed; transforming the input streams into one intermediate stream by moving a double rod-like article from one of the streams between two double rod-like articles of the other stream, geometric centers of the double rod-like articles in the intermediate stream being disposed in a plane parallel to the second direction; and performing a second cutting in which the double rod-like articles conveyed in the intermediate stream are cut into two single rod-like articles.

A tray for containing products with reduced longitudinal dimensions, including a plurality of accumulation chambers, each of which is delimited by a rear wall, a base wall and two side walls for containing a layer of a plurality of the products stored according to an ordered orientation and covering an entire surface of the rear wall The accumulation chambers define modules whose respective rear walls are parallel to each other and a distance between two rear walls of two adjacent modules is substantially the same as reduced longitudinal dimensions of the products contained therein. Each tray includes a plurality of stackable modules which can be closed in a pack to define the thickness of the tray itself. A connecting and disconnecting mechanism is provided between each module and another so that the tray may be composed of a variable number of modules.

The present disclosure relates to a drum (18) for a tobacco industry product manufacturing apparatus. The drum (18) comprises an axis (19) about which it rotates and a seat (23) adapted to carry components of tobacco industry products during use. The seat (23) is movable in a direction towards the axis (19) of the drum (18) in response to said components being pressed against the seat during use.

An apparatus (10, 20, 30, 40) for shifting of rod-shaped articles (4, 4) of different lengths or rod-shaped article groups (6) of different total lengths on a drum conveyor (2), comprising a pushing unit (5, 25, 35) mounted angularly to the axis of rotation of the drum conveyor (2), forcing the movement of the rod-shaped articles (4, 4), whereas the pushing unit (5, 25, 35) comprises rotational pushing elements (11, 21, 31) for shifting of the rod-shaped articles (4, 4), characterised in that the pushing unit (5, 25, 35) is movably mounted in a direction being substantially transverse to the axis of the flute (3) of the drum conveyor (2) so as to shift the rod-shaped-articles (4, 4) or the rod-shaped article groups (6) inside the flute (3) of the drum conveyor (2) by the pressure of surfaces (11A, 21A, 31A) of the pushing unit (5, 25, 35) directly on the ends of the rod-shaped article (4, 4).

Apparatus (1, 1) for axial centring of a rod-like article (4, 4) or a group (30) of rod-like articles wherein the rod-like article (4, 4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles is conveyed in a flute (3) situated on the circumference of a drum conveyor (2), whereas the length of the article (4, 4) or the total length of articles in the group (30) may vary, provided with pusher elements (5) acting on the rod-like article (4, 4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles, characterized in that the pusher elements (5) of a shifting mechanism (13) are driven by a common driving unit (24, 24) and are connected in such a way that the force exerted by the driving unit (24, 24) is distributed to the pusher elements (5) acting axially on the rod-like article (4, 4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles. The object of the application is also a method of axial centring of the rod-like article (4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles wherein the rod-like article (4, 4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles is conveyed in the flute (3) situated on the circumference of the drum conveyor (2), by means of the pusher elements (5), whereas the length of the article (4, 4) or the total length of articles in the group (30) may vary, characterized in that the force exerted by the driving unit (24) is distributed to the pusher elements (5) of the shifting mechanism (13) acting axially on the rod-like article (4, 4) or the group (30) of rod-like articles.

An apparatus for forming a circumferential slit in a tobacco industry rod article is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a drum and a rolling hand spaced apart from one another so as to form a space for a tobacco industry rod article, and a cutting element extending into the space and configured to form a circumferential slit in the tobacco industry rod article.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to an apparatus (1) for use in the manufacture of tobacco industry products. The apparatus (1) comprises a rolling unit (9) comprising: a rotatable drum (14) having a plurality of flutes (18) formed in a curved outer surface (17) of the drum (14) to receive axially-aligned components (5,6) of a tobacco industry product; a roll hand (15) having a contact surface (34) facing and spaced from the outer surface (17) of the drum (14) to define a space, between the contact surface (34) and the outer surface (17), within which space components of a tobacco industry product are rollable upon rotation of the drum (14); and a kicker bar (16) disposed adjacent to the roll hand (15) and having a contact edge (36) facing and spaced from the outer surface (17) of the drum (17). At least one of the roll hand contact surface (34), kicker bar contact edge (36) and drum outer surface (17) includes a groove (31,32,33) extending in a substantially circumferential direction of the drum (14) and configured to least partially receive one or more of the tobacco industry product components as the drum (14) rotates.