Abstract: Apparatus to accumulate automatically articles traveling between downstream and upstream machines in a production line. The accumulator includes an input magazine, a bin, and an output magazine. When the downstream machine ceases operation, a vertical plunger feeds articles into the input magazine, forming a stack. A loading plunger pushes the completed stack into the bin, where multiple stacks may be held, the stacks being moved from one position to another within the bin by a powered belt. To feed articles from the accumulator back into the production line, a stack is moved into the output magazine. There, a discharge plunger feeds successive lowermost articles in the output magazine onto an output conveyor. The output conveyor has at least twice the throughput capacity as the upstream machine, and articles from the accumulator may be merged into the production line stream, thus making up production time lost during shutdown of the downstream machine.

Abstract: The permeability of a moving web, for example, of perforated cigarette tipping paper, is monitored by inducing a fluid flow across the web, measuring the pressure drop across the web, independently measuring the volumetric flow rate, and calculating the permeability in CORESTA units. This method is embodied in apparatus which sequentially measures the instantaneous permeability of successive areas on the web to provide direct indication of the instantaneous CORESTA permeability.

Abstract: A headpiece for a collapsible tube is a unitary member made up of two different plastics, each plastic providing a different property for the headpiece. The headpiece is formed by extruding on top of one another a first torus like annulus of a first plastic and a second torus like annulus of a second plastic. The two plastic annuli are simultaneously molded to form the headpiece. One plastic forms, primarily, the outer portion of the headpiece and the other plastic forms, primarily, the inner portion of the headpiece.The machine for molding the plastic head includes a work table rotatably indexed from station to station at which various operations are performed. The mandrel which holds the cylindrical body, to which the head is molded, is movable from an inboard position to an outboard position so that operations can be performed relative to it. The molding operation is performed at the inboard position. The loading, extruding, capping and ejection operations are performed at the outboard position.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for counting indeterminately spaced articles traveling in a continuous stream. Successive individual lead articles of the stream are diverted from their direction of movement in an oblique direction. A sensor located beneath the stream at the point of oblique movement detects the sequential presence and absence of articles which information is accumulated to obtain a count. For counting rod-shaped articles, such as cigarettes, the method may be embodied in a drum having a helical groove to move the rods, the drum being located above a reflective scanning sensor head.

Abstract: A flexible sheet feeding mechanism with a hopper for receiving parallel sheets and a suction pickup which has a simultaneous linear and angular reciprocating motion. The pickup separates the outside sheet of the hopper stack by applying suction near one edge. The linear and angular motion of the suction device then peels that sheet off of and away from the stack, feeding it into a set of friction rollers. The plane formed by the outside flexible sheet intersects the plane generated by the path of linear reciprocal movement.