Method and apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of tobacco industry

Abstract

An apparatus for conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry to feed articles to a receiving area of a transferring unit. The transferring unit has lugs moving on a circular path and conveys the articles to the receiving apparatus. The receiving apparatus conveys the articles axially and the lug reduces the speed at least in a part of the path of movement before the area and/or in the area for receiving the articles from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus and increases the speed at least in a part of the path of movement between the area for receiving the articles from the feeding apparatus and the area for transferring the articles to the receiving apparatus. And a method of conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry from a receiving area to a transferring area.

Claims

1. Apparatus (1, 1′, 1″) for conveying rod-like articles of the tobacco industry comprising a feeding apparatus (2, 2′) adapted to feed rod-like article (5, 5′) to a receiving area (6) of a transferring unit (3, 3′, 3″), the transferring unit (3, 3′, 3″) having lugs (15, 15′) moving on a circular path, adapted to convey a rod-like article (5, 5′) from the feeding apparatus (2, 2′) to the receiving apparatus (4), the lug (15, 15′) being attached rotatably relative to a rotatable disc (11, 11′) and actuated by means of a drive mechanism (20, 20′), the path of movement (21) of the lug (15, 15′) passing through the area (6) for receiving the rod-like article (5, 5′) from the feeding apparatus (2, 2′) and an area (7) for transferring the rod-like article (5, 5′) to the receiving apparatus (4), and the receiving apparatus (4) adapted to convey the rod-like articles (5, 5′) axially one after another, characterised in that the drive mechanism (20, 20′) is adapted so that the lug (15, 15′) reduces the speed at least in a part (21B) of the path of movement (21) before the area (6) and/or in the area (6) for receiving the rod-like article (5, 5′) from the feeding apparatus (2, 2′) to the transferring apparatus (3, 3′) and increases the speed at least in a part (21A) of the path of movement (21) between the area (6) for receiving the rod-like article (5, 5′) from the feeding apparatus (2, 2′) and the area (7) for transferring the rod-like article (5, 5′) to the receiving apparatus (4).

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism (20, 20′) is additionally adapted so that the lug (15, 15′) increases the speed at least in a part (21B) of the path of movement (21) between the area (7) for transferring the rod-like article (5, 5′) to the receiving apparatus (4) and the area (6) for receiving the rod-like article (5, 5′) from the feeding apparatus (2, 2′).

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism (20, 20′) is provided with a cam (19, 19′) and a double-arm lever (13) attached rotatably relative to the rotatable disc (11,11′), in addition, the lug (15, 15′) is attached to the double-arm lever (13), to its longer arm (14), and the shorter arm (16) of the double-arm lever (13) is provided with a roller (17) which rolls on the cam (19, 19′) of the drive mechanism (20, 20′), whereas the longer arm (14) of the double-arm lever (13) has a considerably greater length than the shorter arm (16) of the double-arm lever (13).

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 characterised in that the proportion of the length of the longer arm (14) of the double-arm lever (13) to the shorter arm (16) of the double-arm lever (13) is greater than 2:1, preferably greater than 3:1.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism is provided with an electric drive with a linear electromagnetic motor whose track (27) has an oval shape, and drive carriages (26) which move along the track (27), in addition, the lug (15′) is attached to the drive carriage (26), whereas the electric drive is adapted to actuate the drive carriage (26) with a variable speed.

6. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism (20, 20′) is provided with a gear wheel (28) and a mating planet gear (30) attached to the rotatable arm (29), the lug (15″) being attached to the gear wheel (30), the arm (29) and the gear wheel (28) having independent drives.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the drive mechanism is provided with a flexible bracket (31) and an arm (32) provided with support elements (33) comprising the flexible bracket (31), whereas the lug (15″) is attached to the flexible bracket (31), and the flexible bracket (31) and the arm (32) have independent drives.

8. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the feeding apparatus (2) is adapted to feed the rod-like article (5, 5′) transversely to the axis (X) of the rod-like article (5, 5′).

9. Apparatus as in claim 8 characterised in that the feeding apparatus (2) is provided with a separating cam (10) designed to feed the rod-like article (5, 5′).

10. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the feeding apparatus (2′) is adapted to feed the rod-like article (5, 5′) tangentially to the circular path of movement (21) of the lug (15′) on the transferring apparatus (3″).

11. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus is a belt conveyor.

12. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus is a conveying disc (24) with lugs (25).

13. Apparatus as in claim 1 characterised in that the receiving apparatus (4) is adapted to convey the rod-like articles at equal distances.

14. Method of conveying rod-like article of the tobacco industry from a rod-like article feeding apparatus through an apparatus transferring a rod-like article to a receiving apparatus in which the rod-like article is fed from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus, the rod-like article is transferred on a circular path of movement by means of the transferring apparatus provided with lugs, the lug being attached rotatably relative to a rotatable disc, the rod-like article is transferred from the transferring apparatus to the receiving apparatus adapted to convey the rod-like articles axially one after another, characterised in that while conveying the rod-like article in the transferring apparatus the speed of the rod-like article is reduced before the area and/or in the area for receiving the rod-like article from the feeding apparatus to the transferring apparatus, and while conveying the rod-like article in the transferring apparatus the speed of the rod-like article is increased between an area for receiving a rod-like article from the feeding apparatus and the area for transferring the rod-like article to the receiving apparatus and in that increase or reduction of the speed of the rod-like article is made by the lug actuated by a drive mechanism.

15. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc transversely to the axis of the rod-like article.

16. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc tangentially to the axis of the rod-like article.

17. Method as in claim 14 characterised in that the rod-like articles are conveyed at equal distances in the receiving apparatus.

Description

(1) The object of the invention was shown in detail in a preferred embodiment in a drawing in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a transferring apparatus in a first embodiment;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the transferring apparatus according to the invention;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the transferring apparatus according to the invention;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the transferring apparatus according to the invention;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a fifth embodiment of the transferring apparatus according to the invention;

(7) FIG. 1 shows a conveying apparatus 1 comprising a feeding apparatus 2, a transferring apparatus 3 and a receiving apparatus 4. The feeding apparatus 2 is adapted to feed the rod-like article 5 with the longitudinal axis X to a receiving area 6 of the transferring apparatus 3 which conveys the rod-like article 5 to a transferring area 7. Furthermore, the receiving apparatus 4 is adapted to receive the rod-like article 5 from the transferring area 7, axially one after another. In the embodiment shown, the feeding apparatus 2 comprises a channel 8 along which the rod-like articles 5 move axially one after another in the direction T1 in a stream S1, whereas the movement of the rod-like articles 5 is accomplished by means of a spiral drum 9. A separating cam 10 is used to push the first rod-like article 5 into the receiving area 6, whereas the pushing and the feeding of an individual rod-like article by the feeding apparatus 2 takes place transversely to the axis X of the rod-like article 5. The feeding apparatus 2 is adapted to feed the rod-like article 5 so that the rod-like article is placed tangentially to the circular movement of a lug 15 on the transferring apparatus 3. The rod-like article 5 may be fed transversely to the axis X with a zero velocity in the tangential direction to the path of movement of the rod-like article 5 on the transferring apparatus 3. The rod-like article 5 may be fed with a certain velocity v1 in the tangential direction to the path of movement on the transferring apparatus 3, whereas the velocity v1 in the tangential direction constitutes the initial velocity of the rod-like article 5 for the movement on the path of movement, and its value stands at between 0 and 4 m/s. The feeding apparatus 2 may also have the form of a vertical channel in which the rod-like articles 5 which are fed one by one to the receiving area 6 are collected; in such case the initial velocity amounts to zero. In this embodiment, the receiving apparatus 4 is a belt conveyor provided with a belt 4A which conveys the rod-like articles 5 in the direction T2 in a stream S2 at equal distances.

(8) Furthermore, the receiving apparatus 4 may have the form of a conveying disc with lugs. The velocity v2 with which the rod-like article 5 moves in the transferring area 7 and on the receiving apparatus 4 is several times greater than the initial velocity v1, whereas the value of the velocity v2 stands at between 8 and 12 m/s. For example, when conveying the rod-like article 5 the velocity of the rod-like article 5 is increased from the velocity v1 equal to 2 m/s to the velocity v2 equal to 10 m/s.

(9) The transferring apparatus 3 is provided with a rotatable disc 11 with the axis of rotation Y having the circumferential surface 12, whereas the disc 11 rotates with a constant speed ω. The transferring apparatus 3 is provided with the lugs 15, rotatably attached to the disc 11 by means of a double-arm lever 13 and actuated by means of a drive mechanism 20. The double-arm lever 13 is rotatably attached on the axis Z, whereas the lug 15 is attached to the double-arm lever 13 on its longer arm 14, and the shorter arm 16 of the double-arm lever 13 is provided with a rotatably attached roller 17 rolling on the cam 19 of the drive mechanism 20. The lug 15 is used to convey the rod-like article 5 around or on the circumferential surface 12 in a conveying channel 18. The roller 17 mates with the cam 19 attached fixedly, centrally to the rotatable disc 11. The arms 14 and 16 of the lever 13 may be equal, however, preferably the arm 14 carrying the lug 15 is longer than the arm 16 carrying the roller 17, preferably 2 times longer, more preferably more than 3 times longer. The cam 19 together with the roller 17 and the arms 14 and 16 of the lever 13 constitute the drive mechanism 20 designed to shift the lugs 15 relative to the surface of the rotatable disc 11.

(10) The lug 15 moves on the movement path 21 and is adapted to convey the rod-like article 5 in the conveying channel 18, from the feeding apparatus 2 to the receiving apparatus 4. The movement path 21 has two parts, the first part 21A of the path 21 runs from the rod-like article receiving area 6 to the rod-like article transferring area 7, the second part 21B of the movement path 21 runs from the rod-like article transferring area 7 to the rod-like article receiving area 6. In the receiving area 6, the rod-like article 5 begins its movement in the part 21A of the path 21, while in the transferring area 7 the rod-like article 5 ends its movement in the part 21A, with the drive mechanism being adapted so that the lug 15 reduces the speed at least in the part of the movement path 21 before the receiving area 6, i.e. still in the part 21B and/or in the area 6 for receiving the rod-like article 5 from the feeding apparatus 2 to the transferring apparatus 3, and increases the speed at least in the part 21A of the movement path 21, between the area 6 for receiving the rod-like article from the feeding apparatus 2 and the area 7 for transferring the rod-like article 5 to the receiving apparatus 4. In order to reduce the accelerations acting on the rod-like article 5, the cam 19 is designed so that in the receiving area 6 the lug 15 moves with a minimum speed, while a reduction of the speed of the lug 15 takes place at least before the receiving area 6, precisely before the moment of commencement of the movement by the rod-like article 5 in the receiving area 6. After the commencement of the movement by the rod-like article 5 in the part 21A of the path 21 the velocity of that article increases. The transferring velocity, i.e. the velocity required in the transferring area 7, may be achieved only in a certain fragment of the part 21A. Then, after being fed, the rod-like article 5 initially increases its velocity to the maximum velocity required in the receiving apparatus 4, and then moves further witch such velocity up to the transferring area 7. The increase of the velocity of the rod-like article 5 to the transferring velocity may take place in the entire part 21A. Then, after being fed, the rod-like article 5 increases its velocity at a uniform rate on the entire way from the receiving area 6 to the transferring area 7. The double-arm lever 13 is attached rotatably relative to the disc 11. In order to increase the speed of the lug 15, the cam 19 forces a clockwise rotation of the lever 13 relative to the disc 11. Once the lug 15 has passed through the transferring area 7, the lug 15 moves in the part 21B, whereas at the end of the part 21B the speed of the lug 15 must be reduced to the minimum. The cam 19 may be designed so that the speed of the lug 15 is reduced continuously. The drive mechanism 20 may be additionally adapted to increase the speed of the lug 15, at least in the part 21B of the path 21, between the area 7 for transferring the rod-like article 4 to the receiving apparatus 4 and the area 6 for receiving the rod-like article 5 from the feeding apparatus 2, i.e. the cam 19 may be also designed so that initially the speed of the lug 15 increases in the part 21B, and then decreases to the minimum in the receiving area 6. In order to reduce the speed of thee lug 15, the cam 19 forces an anticlockwise rotation of the lever 13 relative to the disc 11.

(11) FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the conveying apparatus 1′, similar to the first embodiment, where the rod-like articles 5′ with a greater length are conveyed. According to this embodiment, the transferring apparatus 3′ is provided with the lugs 15 moving on the path 21. The levers 13 mating with the cam 19′ are attached rotatably relatively to the disc 11′ with a smaller diameter than in the first embodiment, the disc 11′ rotates with a constant speed ω. The shape of the cam 19′ was adapted to the greater length of the rod-like article 5′, it was taken into consideration that the speed of the lug needs to be reduced earlier in the part 21B in order to achieve the minimum speed earlier. In the second embodiment, there was used a stationary guide 22 having a circumferential surface 23 on which the rod-like articles 5′ move.

(12) In the third embodiment of the conveying apparatus 1″ shown in FIG. 3, the drive mechanism is provided with an electric drive with a linear electromagnetic motor. According to this embodiment, the feeding apparatus 2′ has the form of a rotatable disc 24 provided with the lugs 25 fixedly attached to the disc 24. The feeding apparatus feeds the rod-like articles 5 axially and tangentially to the movement path of the rod-like article 5 in the receiving area 6 on the transferring apparatus 3″. The transferring apparatus 3″ is provided with the lugs 15′. The lugs 15′ are attached to drive carriages 26 which have an electromagnetic drive and move on a track 27 with an oval shape, on a stationary guide 22 in such a way as if they were attached rotatably relative to the axis Y. Besides, the electric drive is adapted to actuate the drive carriage 26 with a variable speed as described for the first and second embodiments. The acceleration of the carriage, maintaining the speed of the carriage at a constant level and the deceleration of the carriage take place by means of an electromagnetic drive controller.

(13) FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of an individual lug 15″ which may be used in the conveying apparatus. According to this embodiment, the drive mechanism is provided with a gear wheel 28, rotatably attached on the axis Y. A planet gear 30 which is geared and is mating with the gear wheel 28 is attached to the rotatable arm 29 also on the axis Y. The gear wheel 28 moving with the speed ω1 has a drive which is independent of the drive of the arm 29 moving with the speed ω2 and carrying the planet gear 30 (the drives of the gears were not shown). The lug 15″ is attached to the planet gear 30. The speed of the lug 15″ is controlled by changing the angular speeds ω1 and ω2. When the lug 15″ moves before the receiving area 6, the speed of the lug 15″ is reduced either by reducing the speed ω2 or by increasing the speed ω1, in each case the lug 15″ will turn with the speed ω3 so that the lug 15″ will reduce its speed (in the drawing, it will deviate to the left). In order to accelerate the lug 15″, a reverse change of the speeds ω1 and ω2 needs to be made.

(14) Another embodiment of an individual lug 15′″ was shown in FIG. 5. According to this embodiment, the drive mechanism is provided with a flexible bracket 31 of the lug 15′″, rotatably attached on the axis Y and an arm 32 provided with support elements 33 comprising the flexible bracket 31. The flexible bracket 31 has, for example, the form of a flat spring. Also on the axis Y, there is attached an arm 32 having support elements 33 which comprise, on both sides, the flexible bracket 31. The flexible bracket 31 moving with the speed ω1 has a drive which is independent of the drive of the arm 32 moving with the speed ω2 (the drives were not shown). The speed of the lug 15′″ is controlled by changing the angular speeds ω1 and ω2. When the lug 15′″ moves before the receiving area 6, the speed of the lug 15′″ is reduced either by reducing the speed ω2 or by increasing the speed ω1, in each case the lug 15′″ will deviate so that the lug 15′″ will reduce its speed (in the drawing, it will deviate to the left). In order to accelerate the lug 15″,′ a reverse change of the speeds ω1 and ω2 needs to be made.

(15) The object of the invention is also a method for conveying the rod-like articles 5, 5′ from the rod-like article feeding apparatus 2, 2′ through the rod-like article transferring apparatus 3, 3′, 3″ to the receiving apparatus 4. In the embodiment of the method according to the invention the rod-like article is fed from the feeding apparatus 2, 2′ to the transferring apparatus 3, 3′, 3″, the rod-like article is transferred on a circular path of movement by means of the transferring apparatus 3, 3′, 3″ provided with the lugs 15. Then the rod-like article is transferred from the transferring apparatus 3, 3′, 3″ to the receiving apparatus 4 adapted to convey the rod-like articles one after another. While conveying the rod-like article in the transferring apparatus 3, 3′, 3″ the speed of the rod-like article is increased between the area 6 for receiving the rod-like article from the feeding apparatus 2, 2′ and the area 7 for transferring the rod-like article to the receiving apparatus 4.

(16) In one of the embodiments of the method according to the invention the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc transversely to the axis of the rod-like article. Alternatively, the rod-like article is fed to the transferring disc tangentially to the axis of the rod-like article. Regardless of the above, in the preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention the rod-like articles are conveyed at equal distances on the receiving apparatus 4.