Abstract: The method and device for sealing a narrow tape to a strip of heatsealable material in cigarette packing machines, which produce packets of cigarettes protected by an external wrapper made of plastic which can be torn using the said tear tape; to avoid a thermal degradation in the sections of heatsealable strip adjacent to the sealing zone, the present invention envisages sealing the narrow tape to the strip by passing them through a sealing unit, in contact with one another, and joining them with an ultrasound sealer which directs the ultrasound to at least a zone in which the narrow tape and strip overlap; the intensity of the heatsealing action of the ultrasound is controlled and adjusted by elements which detect the feed speed of the narrow tape and strip.

Abstract: A rigid hinged-lid packet for elongated elements, the packet being defined by a cup-shaped bottom container and by a cup-shaped lid hinged to an open top end of the container so as to rotate between an open and a closed position wherein the container is respectively open and closed; the packet being substantially in the form of a parallelepipedon presenting at least one beveled transverse edge.

Abstract: A group-forming device for use with cigarette packing machines, wherein each group consists of a number of cigarettes arranged in at least two adjacent and offset layers, with each group being formed in a single motion on the end wall of an outlet of a feed box, such outlet being divided into a number of side-by-side channels. Respective rows of cigarettes, arranged crosswise to the direction of travel, are fed downwards along channels of dissimilar lengths, such channels being inclined approximately 60.degree. in relation to the end wall of the outlet, at least at the layers of offset cigarettes.

Abstract: A slender ribbon currently in use and nearing depletion is spliced automatically with a similarly slender new ribbon, held motionless and ready to feed as the replacement for the ribbon in use, by a device comprising a pair of jointing rollers positioned in symmetry on opposite sides of the two ribbons and disposed normally in a standby configuration, stationary, which allows the ribbon in use to pass freely between their two peripheral faces whilst the leading end of the new ribbon is restrained by one of the rollers and distanced from the ribbon in use through the action of an adjacent pulley; in a second configuration, the two rollers contrarotate synchronously and in a direction concurrent with the feed direction of the ribbon in use, completing one full revolution during which the new strip is accelerated initially by the restraining roller to a feed velocity matching that of the ribbon in use, whereupon the two ribbons are sandwiched between two stickers and pinched tight.

Abstract: Intended typically for slender tear strips, the automatic splicer comprises at least two supply reels wound with respective strips, the one in use and the other a replacement, set in rotation singly or together by a common drive, and feed wheels with peripheral grooves positioned with axes normal to the axes of the reels, by which the two strips are directed into a splicing station where the trailing end of the strip uncoiling from the reel in use is joined to the leading end of the strip uncoiled from the replacement reel; the splice is effected by means of a positioning and restraining component and a reference and reaction component stationed on either side of the strip in use, which can be drawn together until the ends of the strips are fully in contact, with the leading end of the replacement strip positioned and restrained in a longitudinal groove afforded by the relative component. The ends of the strips are trimmed automatically by separate cutters.

Abstract: In a cigarette packet appearing essentially as a parallelepiped body capable of accommodating at least two groups of cigarettes enveloped in respective wrappers surrounded by at least one internal collar, the body and wrappers each exhibit a front face, a rear face and two flank faces; the individually wrapped groups of cigarettes are positioned one adjacent to the other with the relative wrappers in mutual contact by way of the broader front and rear faces rather than by way of the flanks.