Abstract: Rod-like articles, particularly cigarettes or cigarette filter rods, are conveyed in a stream in a direction transverse to their lengths at a speed which is progressively reduced, so that the height of the conveyed stream is increased. Prior to the reduction in conveyance speed the speed of individual articles is increased briefly to avoid damage from following articles. The speed reduction takes place in a path having divergent boundary walls.

Abstract: Rod-like articles, particularly cigarettes or cigarette filter rods, are conveyed in a stream in a direction transverse to their lengths at a speed which is progressively reduced, so that the height of the conveyed stream is increased. Prior to the reduction in conveyance speed the speed of individual articles is increased briefly to avoid damage from following articles. The speed reduction takes place in a path having divergent boundary walls.

Abstract: Apparatus for separating axially-aligned rods of the cigarette industry comprises a first pair of conical drums (14,16) mounted on a first common sleeve (32) and arranged to receive respectively the two rods (10) of each pair to be separated, the axes of rotation (22, 24) of the drums being inclined so as to separate the rods carried by the respective drums; a second pair of conical drums (25,26) mounted on a second common sleeve and arranged to receive the cigarettes from the first pair of conical drums, the second pair of conical drums having axes inclined so as to space the rods further apart while returning the rods to axially-aligned orientations; and device (28) for receiving the spaced-apart rods from the second pair of conical drums.