Abstract: The invention involves the transfer of rod-like articles to or from an endless belt conveyor which has protrusions at regular intervals on its operative face by a pulley having a middle part around which the conveyor passes and two coaxial outer parts on opposite sides of the middle part which are of a larger diameter than the middle part for guiding the rod-like articles.

Abstract: Apparatus for joining at least two axially abutting rods of the cigarette industry comprises means for delivering the rods to a rolling drum, a rolling device mounted adjacent to the drum to roll the rods with respect to the drum, and means for applying a hot-melt adhesive to the rods to produce a bonding film which overlaps the adjacent ends of the rods and extends at least around a major part of the circumference of the rods.The adhesive may be applied by a nozzle directly to the rods, or may be applied initially to the drum as a film which is then picked up by the rods.

Abstract: Wrapper portions, principally for use as uniting bands for joining together groups of component filter portions to form a composite filter rod, are obtained by longitudinally slitting a web, supporting the resultant strips on a plurality of suction tapes, guiding the tapes around angled pulleys to space them apart for delivery to a suction rolling drum, and cutting the strips into portions on the drum.

Abstract: A buffer store for filled and empty cigarette containers is provided between a cigarette making machine and a cigarette packing machine so that either of the machines may be kept running if the other stops. In one example the buffer store consists of separate cigarette loading and unloading stations between which the cigarette containers are carried in trolleys. In a further example, the loading and unloading stations are combined into a single unit which is adapted to either load or unload containers, depending on the operating conditions of the machines, the containers again being carried in trolleys.

Abstract: An ejection mechanism, primarily for use in association with the cigarette hopper of a cigarette packing machine having a vertical channel in which cigarettes may be stacked one above the other and descend intermittently, comprises a pair of support members at a support level higher than the bottom of said channel for supporting end portions of a cigarette in the channel and movable out of the channel to allow said cigarette to fall; sensing means at a level above the support level; an air nozzle at a level below the support level for producing an air-blast to displace a cigarette from the channel; and a valve controlled by the sensing means so that the air-blast operates when the cigarette at the nozzle level has a bad end detected by the sensing means. When the air-blast operates, the presence of support members relieves the cigarette to be displaced from carrying the weight of cigarettes stacked in the channel above the support members and hence permits the air-blast to produce a sufficient displacement.

Abstract: Composite filter rods, from which composite filters for attachment to cigarette lengths are obtained, are produced by joining component filter portions with uniting bands which overlap the end portions only of adjacent filter portions. The uniting bands are obtained by longitudinally slitting a web of wrapping material into strips, spacing the strips by passing each strip around spaced turner bars, and finally severing the strips on a rolling drum. The component filter portions are conveyed transversely in aligned groups to a rolling plate which cooperates with the rolling drum to wrap a uniting band around each junction between adjacent filter portions in a group.

Abstract: A buffer store for filled and empty cigarette containers is provided betwen a cigarette making machine either of the machines may be kept running if the other stops. In one example the buffer store consists of separate cigarette loading and unloading stations between which the cigarette containers are carried in trolleys. In a further example, the loading and unloading stations are combined into a single unit which is adapted to either load or unload containers, depending on the operating conditions of the machines, the containers again being carried in trolleys.

Abstract: A continuous carpet of particulate cigarette filler material, of which part along one side comprises core such as a low quality tobacco or non-tobacco material and the remainder comprises normal tobacco, is rolled by means of an air jet, starting from the core material side of the carpet, to form a cigarette filler stream consisting of an annulus of normal tobacco around a core consisting of the core material. Before the annulus tobacco is rolled around it, the rolled core material is trimmed to remove excess core material. Furthermore, a variable part of the normal tobacco in the carpet is discarded under the control of a sensor responding to the density of the nearly completely formed filler stream.

Abstract: This invention is concerned with cigarette making systems including a testing device for detecting bad quality cigarettes. Basically, the cigarette testing device is itself tested by deliberately making test cigarettes containing predetermined faults and checking whether the test cigarettes are detected by the testing device. The deliberate faults may be holes deliberately made in the cigarette wrappers. The holes may be made either on the cigarette paper web before it is wrapped around the filler in a continuous rod cigarette making machine, or the holes may be made in the wrappers of finished cigarettes.

Abstract: Apparatus for conveying filter-tipped cigarettes, comprises means for receiving two streams of such cigarettes with the filters of the two streams facing in opposite directions, means for conveying the two streams side by side while twisting the streams in opposite directions about longitudinal axes of the streams so that the cigarettes of the two respective streams are then parallel, with the filters all facing in the same direction, and means for merging the two streams.

Abstract: Filter cigarettes are produced by delivering individual filter portions to corresponding ends of each of two rows of staggered tobacco sections as delivered by the catcher drum of a cigarette making machine. The tobacco sections and filter portions of each row are preferably rolled separately (e.g. by parallel ring tipping operations) and subsequently the rows are combined, without any tip turner or final cut. The filter portions may be delivered to take up their staggered formation by feeding pneumatically in an axial direction, or, in a process especially suitable for Russian cigarettes having filter portions consisting of tubular mouthpieces, by transverse movement and alignment.

Abstract: Filter material is formed into a continuous rod without wrapping and divided into first filter portions which are then spaced apart whilst moving axially. These first filter portions are intercalated with a stream of spaced second filter portions to form an alternating stream which is then continuously wrapped to produce composite filter rod. The resulting composite filters obtained from this rod include less wrapper material than in conventional construction.

Abstract: In a soft packet, particularly for filter-tipped cigarettes, the narrow sides are reinforced by panels, which may be joined together at the bottom to form a U-shaped frame. The longitudinal edges of the panels may be curved, or bent perpendicularly inwards. Various moisture-proof wrappers are disclosed for directly holding the panels about the cigarettes, some incorporating tear guiding strips to assist opening of the top of the packet.

Abstract: Cigarettes are made with a filler comprising an outer annulus of tobacco surrounding a core of a tobacco or other material different from that in the outer annulus. The annulus tobacco is showered onto a conveyor to form a layer which is then bent into a U-section. Core material is fed into the longitudinal recess in the layer, after which further tobacco is showered on to the layer plus core to enclose the core in tobacco the core may be formed by showering the core material onto a separate conveyor which then feeds the core material into the recess in the first layer. Alternatively, the core material may be in the form of regularly spaced segments.

Abstract: A buffer store for filled and empty cigarette containers is provided between a cigarette making machine and a cigarette packing machine so that either of the machines may be kept running if the other stops. In one example the buffer store consists of separate cigarette loading and unloading stations between which the cigarette containers are carried in trolleys. In a further example, the loading and unloading stations are combined into a single unit which is adapted to either load or unload containers, depending on the operating conditions of the machines, the containers again being carried in trolleys.

Abstract: In continuous rod cigarette making machinery waste tobacco is collected from various sources (in particular from a stripping device for rejected cigarettes) and is fed to a separation box where non-tobacco waste is removed. The waste tobacco is then conveyed to a small hopper in which a carded drum meters the tobacco into the main tobacco shower at a point such that the surplus tobacco subsequently trimmed by the ecreteur does not consist of any waste tobacco, thereby minimising tobacco degradation. Waste tobacco may also be collected from the filter plug assembler by means of an inclined chute mounted over a conveyor which feeds the waste to the separation box.

Abstract: A cigarette packet is closed at one end by an air impervious tube which is sealed flat, the resulting margin and triangulated ends being folded against the packet. In one packet the tube extends to both ends of the packet, which are sealed in the same manner; in a second packet the middle part of the tube is omitted and replaced by a tubular body of card and aluminium foil; and in a third packet one end is closed by a foil cap. The packets described may be used inside a conventional hinged lid packet.

Abstract: A filler for a continuous cigarette filter rod is formed by feeding a wide band of filaments of filter material on to a slower moving surface, to which suction is applied so that the band is axially shrunk and the filaments crimped. The band is then narrowed to the desired width of the filler whilst retaining the crimp in the filaments, preferably by the use of a plasticiser.

Abstract: Using a hot melt adhesive on the strip of material uniting a mouthpiece to a cigarette, and hardening the adhesive while the strip is rolled around the assemblage by heat lost to a surface along which the assemblage is rolled. The rolling takes place between a rolling plate and a drum which is heated to reactivate the adhesive prior to rolling.