Abstract: Apparatus for transferring selected numbers of garment hangers from a downwardly sloping rail onto horizontal rod- or bar-shaped carriers of trolleys which are suspended on and advance along an overhead track has a singularizing device which is adjacent the discharge end of the rail and is operable to permit a selected number of hangers to advance onto the adjacent carrier while the respective trolley is pushed or pulled through a hanger receiving station. The trolleys are advanced by a chain conveyor the motor of which is started in response to signals from sensors denoting that the front end of the trolley has assumed a predetermined position with reference to the receiving station as well as that the conveyor for the trolleys assumes a predetermined position.

Abstract: Apparatus for singularizing garment hangers in a plant wherein the hooks of garment hangers are slidable along a downwardly sloping ramp has a stop with a tooth extending upwardly from an intermediate portion of the ramp. The tooth has a substantially vertical arresting flank confronting the oncoming hooks, and a downwardly sloping second flank defining with the arresting flank an apex at a level above the topmost portion of the hook which is arrested by the tooth. An elevator, which is movable up and down by a fluid-operated motor, has a leg which is reciprocable adjacent the stop upstream of the arresting flank to lift the foremost arrested hook to a level above the apex so that the lifted hook can ride over the tooth and descends onto the ramp below the stop. The leg of the elevator has a top land which slopes downwardly and is flush with the second flank of the tooth in the upper position of the elevator to facilitate downward movement of the lifted hook. The effective width of the top land is between 0.

Abstract: Apparatus for transporting garment hangers has an overhead track for one or more trolleys having horizontal webs for the hooks of a series of garment hangers. An upwardly sloping first ramp is adjacent a portion of the path of movement of the web of an oncoming trolley, and a downwardly sloping second ramp follows the first ramp. The ramps are disposed at one side of the track and diverge laterally from the path of movement of the trolleys. A conveyor with a set of entraining pins is set in motion when a trolley approaches the upwardly sloping ramp to transfer successive hooks or groups of successive hooks from the web of the foremost loaded trolley onto the first ramp where the hooks advance toward and thereupon slide along the second ramp. A second conveyor can be set in motion when a trolley approaches the first ramp to positively advance the foremost loaded trolley along the first ramp. The two conveyors can be driven by a common prime mover.

Abstract: An apparatus for optical monitoring of the surface of rod-shaped smoking articles and/or filter rods for the tobacco industry comprises a conveying means transporting the rods perpendicularly to their longitudinal direction and a high-pressure lamp which serves as light source and which is connected via an optical fibre cable to a sensor block; the optical fibre cable is divided amongst at least two cross-section transformers with strip-shaped light exit regions whose light rays are directed via a further optical system from above and below respectively onto the line-shaped region of the surface of the rod. In addition the sensor block contains a row of photoelectric transducers which simultaneously the line-shaped surface region in the longitudinal direction of the rod and thereby pick up the light reflected at the surface of the rod.