Abstract: A continuous tobacco rod generated by a machine for making tobacco products is separated into reclaimable lengths by a device that comprises a pair of tension rollers designed to exert a pulling force on the rod, also a pair of brake rollers operating upstream of the tension rollers and serving to offer a measure of resistance to the action of the tension rollers; as a result of the interaction between the tension rollers and the brake rollers, the portion of the continuous rod extending between them is forced to break by tearing apart.

Abstract: A printing unit for printing a strip on an automatic machine, wherein a pressure roller cooperates with a printing roller, having printing areas, to press the strip against the printing roller; a television camera, facing the printed surface of the strip downstream from the printing roller, optically determines the intensity of the print on the printed surface, and, depending on the intensity of the print, an actuator is activated to adjust the position of the pressure roller with respect to the printing roller.

Abstract: A continuous cigarette rod is prepared by a unit comprising a looped conveyor on which a continuous stream of tobacco particles advances toward the entry point of a forming station where the rod is assembled. Also forming part of the unit, ordered in sequence along a predetermined feed path, are a first trimming device designed to produce a cyclical skimming action, a compactor device operating synchronously with the first trimming device, serving to increase the density of the stream selectively at points coinciding with the portions skimmed by the first trimming device, and a second trimming device by which the thickness of the stream is reduced uniformly to a prescribed value.

Abstract: A system for manufacturing tobacco products, typically cigarettes, includes a primary processing station in which the tobacco is conditioned, and a station in which the cigarettes are made and packed. Both of the stations are served by a single heat exchange device using a fluid procured from a convenient source, which is circulated initially through the one station to cool the cigarette making and packing machinery, then directed into the other station so that the thermal energy recovered from the preceding exchange of heat can be exploited to maintain the temperature required for the primary processing treatments. The fluid is released ultimately from the primary processing station to a discharge station.

Abstract: A continuous tobacco rod generated by a machine for making tobacco products is separated into reclaimable lengths by a device that comprises a pair of tension rollers designed to exert a pulling force on the rod, also a pair of brake rollers operating upstream of the tension rollers and serving to offer a measure of resistance to the action of the tension rollers; as a result of the interaction between the tension rollers and the brake rollers, the portion of the continuous rod extending between them is forced to break by tearing apart.

Abstract: The outfeed unit of a cigarette maker establishes a feed path along which at least one cigarette rod is caused to advance in a predetermined direction from the outfeed end of a beam, on which the rod is formed, toward a cutter device by which the rod is divided into sticks constituting single cigarettes; the unit is equipped with a cut-off device located in close proximity to the outfeed of the forming beam, by which the rod is severed and diverted from the feed path, and, at a given point downstream of the cut-off device, with pinch rollers by which a portion of the rod separated through the action of the cut-off device is removed from a final stretch of the feed path between the cut-off device and the cutter device.

Abstract: The outfeed unit of a cigarette maker establishes a feed path along which at least one cigarette rod is caused to advance in a predetermined direction from the outfeed end of a beam, on which the rod is formed, toward a cutter device by which the rod is divided into sticks constituting single cigarettes; the unit is equipped with a cut-off device located in close proximity to the outfeed of the forming beam, by which the rod is severed and diverted from the feed path, and, at a given point downstream of the cut-off device, with pinch rollers by which a portion of the rod separated through the action of the cut-off device is removed from a final stretch of the feed path between the cut-off device and the cutter device.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for forming a cigarette rod containing an additive material in a cigarette making machine, in which a continuous tobacco rod is fed along a vacuum conveyor and particles of the additive material are fed to and incorporated along the axis of the cigarette rod by a distributor which comprises a conveyor having a hollow drum with a cylindrical side wall on which there is a plurality of seats designed to house the particles; the drum rotating within a ring-shaped structure and the seats, during rotation of the drum, passing through an ejector unit designed to eject the particles from the seats and incorporate them in the tobacco rod through a feed pipe, so as to control the distribution of the particles of the additive material along the tobacco rod, obtaining a preset positioning of the particles in each cigarette length.

Abstract: In a method of feeding wrapper material, typically as utilized by machines for the manufacture of tobacco products, a first and a second strip presenting two longitudinal side edges and of dissimilar transverse dimensions are advanced along respective predetermined first feed lines, positioned one relative to another in a direction transverse to the respective first feed lines in such a way as to bring about their alignment along one longitudinal edge and finally joined face to face before advancing together along a predetermined common feed line toward a machine unit.

Abstract: On a cigarette manufacturing machine, a continuous cigarette rod is fed to a cutting device by a conveyor belt engaging a number of guide pulleys and a drive pulley fitted to a drive shaft; the traveling speed of the continuous rod being controlled by continuously determining the diameter of the drive pulley, for obtaining a first control signal as a function of the surface speed of the drive pulley and, consequently, as a function of the speed of the conveyor belt, and by comparing the first control signal with a second control signal as a function of the desired surface speed of the drive pulley, for obtaining an error signal for controlling the angular speed of the drive shaft.

Abstract: In a device ensuring safety and protection around the unit by which a cigarette rod is dried and sealed in cigarette manufacturing machinery, a hinged guard is positioned alongside the area of the machine where the heat plate of the drying and sealing unit moves and operates; the guard is capable of movement between a shut position denying access to the operating area and a position whereby access is afforded to the area. A microswitch senses when the guard is in the shut position, denying access to the operating area, and relays an enabling signal to the control valve piloting the cylinder by which the heat plate is lowered, only when the guard is in this same safe position.

Abstract: A machine for simultaneously manufacturing two continuous cigarette rods, whereby a continuous stream of shredded tobacco particles is fed to the bottom end of conveying means by which it is fed on to a pair of parallel suction conveyors traveling in a given direction, for forming on each conveyor a layer of tobacco of a given thickness; which conveying means comprise an upright defining internally a single upflow duct defined laterally by two walls extending in the traveling direction of the conveyors, and closed at the top by the two suction conveyors and by a separating member located between the same; provision also being made for pneumatic means for regulating the tobacco stream fed on to the conveyors.