Abstract: An article backlog control system for a processing machine such as a wrapper maintains a backlog count within a preselected range. Articles being randomly supplied to the backlog are continuously counted as are articles being removed from the backlog for processing, the difference between article counts is continuously determined and the speed of the processing machine is controlled by the system on the basis of the count difference in order to maintain the backlog within the preselected range.

Abstract: A modular conveyor guide comprising first and second end walls and a connecting top wall having first, second and third regions adapted to guide first, second and third conveyors.

Abstract: A receiving station at the outlets of several pneumatic conveyor pipes which discharge discrete files of axially moving filter plugs accommodates a separating unit immediately downstream of the outlets and an orientation changing unit immediately downstream of the separating unit. The separating unit defines discrete lanes, one for each file of filter plugs. In each of the lanes, the filter plugs of the respective file are converted into a series of axially spaced filter plugs which continue to move lengthwise, and the filter plugs of each series are delivered into discrete upright ducts of the orientation changing unit wherein each series is transformed into a row whose filter plugs move sideways.

Abstract: An improved conveying apparatus and an electronic control module for conveying systems is disclosed. The conveying apparatus includes two or more belt conveyors operating in tandem and is controlled by separate electrical circuits so that each conveyor in the system operates independently and on automatic demand of a given or preset response. The electrical control for the conveying system includes a timer which is adapted to time each object being conveyed to transverse the length of the conveyor and to stop the conveyor when the object is not present along the length of the belt. The timed circuitry further includes a memory function so that if a conveyor stops for any reason, it will restart and operate for the unexpired segment of the time required to provide a total cycle. This assures that the object being conveyed is never left on a conveyor belt unintentionally and eliminates all unnecessary operation or running of the conveyors.

Abstract: Apparatus for transporting cigarettes or analogous rod-shaped articles from one or more makers to a packing machine has a transporting system consisting of belt conveyors and one or more ducts which advance the output of the makers into the inlet of an upright channel serving to deliver the cigarettes to the packing machine. When the output of the makers exceeds the requirements of the packing machine, the surplus is diverted from the discharge end of the transporting system into one or more variable-volume surge bins by way of a reservoir wherein the height of the cigarette stream exceeds the height of the stream in the transporting system but is less than the height of the stack or stacks of cigarettes in the surge bin or bins. The reservoir has one or more conveyors which can advance cigarettes from the transporting system into the surge bin(s) or from the surge bin(s) into the channel.

Abstract: Products, accumulated on a supply conveyor having low-friction belts, are transferred to a flight conveyor with an intervening single level infeed conveyor system which includes a high-friction belt squeezer conveyor that accepts products at its inlet end from the supply conveyor and releases them for synchronous arrival in the flight conveyor. Means are provided for keeping the squeezer conveyor filled with a column of abutting products at all times during a production run so there is no speed change and, hence, no abrasion of products as they advance from the low-friction supply conveyor to the squeezer conveyor inlet.

Abstract: Conveyor control circuit for use at a junction of conveyors at which articles move from one conveyor to another or between a number of conveyors. Speed signals from conveyors whose speeds are dictated by conditions elsewhere in the system are summed to produce a "net flow signal" which is preferably corrected by the addition of a signal from a sensor at the junction, whose sensitivity may be adjusted in accordance with the net flow signal so that the correction is greater when the net flow towards or away from the junction is greater. The controlled conveyor may be used to move articles to or from a reservoir device. Additional speed correction may be applied if the sensor signal is outside a range which varies in size with the net flow signal.

Abstract: Apparatus for transporting cigarettes or analogous rod-shaped articles from one or more makers to a packing machine has a transporting system consisting of belt conveyors and one or more ducts which advance the output of the makers into the inlet of an upright channel serving to deliver the cigarettes to the packing machine. When the output of the makers exceeds the requirements of the packing machine, the surplus is diverted from the discharge end of the transporting system into one or more variable-volume surge bins by way of a reservoir wherein the height of the cigarette stream exceeds the height of the stream in the transporting system but is less than the height of the stack or stacks of cigarettes in the surge bin or bins. The reservoir has one or more conveyors which can advance cigarettes from the transporting system into the surge bin(s) or from the surge bin(s) into the channel.

Abstract: A conveyor system for cigarettes and other rod-like articles includes a reservoir consisting of a conveyor which is preferably laterally flexible and moves along a helical path so that a long thin stack of articles can be taken into the reservoir and can be delivered from the reservoir when necessary. The conveyor may consist of a plastic surface member which has a flexible zig-zag shape and is driven by a chain. The conveyor system may be overhead and may receive the articles from an elevator consisting of two parallel bands moving upwards along a sinuous path so as to grip the articles between them.

Abstract: A retarding conveyor for cargo such as pallets is disclosed. The conveyor is of the type which can be driven in sections by intermediate rollers, the latter being adjustable into a driving position or an idle position by feelers extending into the path of motion of the cargo. Respective sections of the conveyor comprise at least two parallel uninterrupted traction devices which are deflected at the ends of the section by guide wheels joined together for rotation, supports being provided on the conveyor for supporting the traction devices to carry the cargo and at least one of the guide wheels being driven by an intermediate roller.

Abstract: In a system for making and packing cigarettes, cigarette making and packing machines are arranged in units each including a making machine, a packing machine and a reservoir, each unit being slightly mis-matched as to its making and packing outputs so as to have, on average, a surplus or deficit of cigarettes which is fed away or made up by a transfer conveyor linked to an additional packing or making machine which absorbs the surplus or makes up the deficit of all the units as the case may be.

Abstract: A tray indexing apparatus is disclosed for indexing trays containing rows of containers to be filled beneath a filler head. The apparatus includes means for supporting trays for movement along a predetermined path, means for indexing the supported trays beneath a filler head where the respective rows of containers are filled, and means for successively moving the supported trays along the predetermined path to a position for indexing by the indexing means and moving indexed, supported trays containing filled containers further along the predetermined path.

Abstract: There is disclosed apparatus for feeding articles, such as bottles, for example, to a machine and includes a conveyor advancing articles past a gate member and into an infeed worm which times and spaces the articles properly for introduction to the machine. The articles are accumulated upstream of the worm on the conveyor and the accumulation detected by a sensor means. The gate is extendable across the conveyor to close and arrest the bottles when an insufficient supply accumulation is sensed. When a sufficient article accumulation occurs, the sensor means enables the gate to retract or open. The opening of the gate is timed by a first proximity switch in circuit with the sensor means so that articles which first pass the gate will be synchronized with the worm and enter it smoothly. If and when articles are in short supply, the sensor means signals to close the gate for again accumulating them.

Abstract: The channel between the convergent tobacco compacting upper and lower chain conveyors of a tobacco shredding machine receives particles of tobacco from one or more vibrating troughs which define paths extending in parallelism with the direction of travel of particles between the chain conveyors toward the cutting station. The troughs can have stepped bottom walls to effect preliminary homogenization and compacting of particles on their way toward the rear portion of the lower conveyor which extends rearwardly beyond the upper conveyor. The quantity of tobacco particles in one or more troughs is monitored by photocells whose signals are utilized to vary the speed of the motor for the chain conveyors, the frequency and/or amplitude of vibratory movements of the trough or troughs and/or the rate of feed of particles to the trough or troughs when the monitored quantity deviates from a desirable range of quantities.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for the controlled accumulating and feeding of piles of magazines from an input conveyor to a trimmer infeed conveyor. A flow director receives magazine piles and directs them to one of three parallel conveyor lanes, each lane including a series of independently driven conveyor sections. The leading pile in each lane is fed by a gate to the trimmer infeed conveyor while a restrictor restrains the succeeding piles from advancing. The procedure is repeated for each succeeding pile on each lane. Each section of each conveyor lane is provided with detectors for detecting stalled magazine piles. When stalled piles are detected at the downstream end of a conveyor section the adjacent downstream conveyor section is shut down. The traffic on the three lanes is compared and the flow director is instructed to not feed piles to a lane having an excessive backup of piles as compared to its neighbors.

Abstract: An integrated high volume method and system for transporting and dynamically storing articles, such as luggage, baggage, identified items of cargo, parcels, and the like, for sorting and routing them is provided. The method and system are completely integrated, synchronized, and controlled to facilitate sorting and routing and to permit stopping of the entire system without loss of position or timing of any of the designated articles in the system. The article handling system includes a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between an input station and a coding or routing station. These intermediate conveyors are individually operable and have article-sensing means and control means which activate and deactivate the individual conveyors. When the system is operating in the conventional operating mode, all the conveyors are activated to transport articles. The buffer conveyors near the coding station are selectively stopped as articles become stored thereon.

Abstract: A reservoir system for cigarettes and other similar rod-shaped articles comprises a delivery conveyor arranged to convey the articles horizontally towards an inlet to the reservoir; a reservoir conveyor which lies below the delivery conveyor and is arranged to receive a stack of the articles delivered through the inlet and to run, when necessary, in a direction opposite to that of the delivery conveyor; a horizontally movable carriage carrying a movable end wall defining an end of the stack of articles on the reservoir conveyor adjacent to the inlet, and carrying also a sensor adjacent to the inlet which controls the direction (and possibly also the speed) of movement of the carriage; and an outlet for articles at the end of the reservoir conveyor towards which the latter moves.

Abstract: A conveyor system for cigarettes includes means defining a junction zone, at least two conveyors each having one end adjacent to the junction zone and arranged to carry cigarettes into or from the junction zone, and a moving sensor band which has an operative section partly defining the junction zone and capable of flexing outwards, against a tensioning force, under the pressure of cigarettes in the junction zone, the sensor band being driven so as to assist the movement of cigarettes through the junction zone.

Abstract: There is disclosed apparatus in a high speed continuous cigarette processing plant for maintaining substantially constant the length of an accumulated layer of cigarettes. The apparatus comprises a carrier for carrying cigarettes in a predetermined direction, a charging device to displace the cigarette transversely to the respective longitudinal dimensions thereof and thereby to load the cigarettes onto the carrier to be accumulated thereon side-by-side in a single gapless layer, and a discharging device disposed downstream of the carrier to remove the cigarettes in uniform sequence from the carrier.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a handling process for staging manufactured articles leaving a production unit and travelling towards a receiving machine, e.g. a packaging unit working at a preset speed, and a facility for putting this process into effect.

Abstract: Two pairs of spaced conveyor chains 18, 19 and 20, 21 are disposed one inside the other, and traverse identical rectangular runs between an infeed station 28 and an outfeed station 58. Each pair carries a respective serial array of pickup devices 22-23 and 33-41 arranged in two oppositely spaced groups for accommodating rolls of paper towels or the like. The conveyor chain pairs are independently driven by separate motors 6, 7 in such a manner that while one group of pickup devices is being intermittently stepped or indexed through the infeed station for loading, the other, previously loaded group is continuously advanced to the outfeed station for unloading and thereafter back to the vacated infeed station.

Abstract: There is disclosed an automatic cargo transport apparatus for moving cargo between different vertical levels in which endless chains are synchronized to move along vertical ascending and descending paths in an elevator gantry. Laterally extending cargo loading and cargo discharge conveyors are located at different vertical levels to transfer boxes of cargo to and from pairs of cradles moving respectively in ascending and descending vertical directions within the gantry. Discharge sensors detect unwithdrawn units of cargo at the cargo unloading space and inhibit further operation of the cargo transport until this condition is corrected. Loading sensors detect the ascending movement of cradles at the cargo loading station and synchronize the interpositioning of cargo loads at the cargo loading space.

Abstract: In an installation for distributing food products such as sweets from a primary conveyor line to respective transverse conveyors leading to packaging machines. A secondary conveyor line having two successive bunching conveyors is arranged to receive intermittently rows of products from the primary conveyor line, through the operation of a deflecting device, and to bunch and align the products prior to transferring them in rows to the transverse conveyor, at a conveying speed which can be matched to the demand of the packaging machines, even though this may differ from the speed of the primary conveyor line.

Abstract: An induction system for a sortation conveyor includes a single infeed conveyor adapted to supply two separate loading stations. In a preferred embodiment, the infeed conveyor is operatively connected with a reversible turn conveyor interposed between the infeed conveyor and the two separate loading stations, one loading station receiving articles from one end of the reversible turn conveyor and the other loading station receiving articles from the other end of the reversible turn conveyor. The reversible turn conveyor may be automatically or manually controlled to operate in either a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction as required to supply articles from the infeed conveyor to both loading stations.

Abstract: An improved feeder of a concrete block splitting apparatus which splits a concrete block to form natural looking stone surfaces for gateposts, walls, etc. The feeder has a table which moves in the vertical direction with the concrete block thereon, and receiving members which receive the concrete block when the concrete block is lifted to the predetermined position. The table can be lowered to the original position for successive operations of concrete block lifting while the concrete block is held by the receiving member for the purpose of being fed toward a splitting apparatus.

Abstract: A conveyor system for cigarettes and other rod-like articles includes a reservoir consisting of a conveyor which is preferably laterally flexible and moves along a helical path so that a long thin stack of articles can be taken into the reservoir and can be delivered from the reservoir when necessary. The conveyor may consist of a plastic surface member which has a flexible zig-zag shape and is driven by a chain. The conveyor system may be overhead and may receive the articles from an elevator consisting of two parallel bands moving upwards along a minuous path so as to grip the articles between them.

Abstract: A collecting arrangement for elongated articles such as sawn timber, preceding delivery to a processing station, includes a rectangular frame provided with a feed conveyor constituted by a set of parallel spaced endless conveyor units pivotally mounted at one end along one side of the frame and from which they are transferred to a discharge conveyor also constituted by a set of parallel spaced endless conveyor units pivotally mounted at one end along the opposite side of the frame, the discharge conveyor being operated in the same direction as the feed conveyor but in a step-like manner. The feed and discharge conveyors are supported below by a carrier girder extending transversely of and movable along the length of the conveyors on arc-shaped or polygonally curved runways extending along the other two opposite sides of the frame.

Abstract: A torque motor is directly coupled to a starwheel in a system for conveying containers. The torque motor has the unique characteristics of generating a constant torque while operating at the speeds of the starwheel between standstill and the maximum speed at which the containers are conveyed on the conveyor line. The torque motor normally produces a sufficient torque in a direction to overcome the running friction of the starwheel system, thereby causing the starwheel to be effectively a frictionless freewheeling device under all operating conditions.A detector is disposed at a position along the conveyor line in front of the starwheel. The torque from the motor is reversed to produce a braking action on the starwheel when the detector indicates an interruption in the conveyance of the containers. The braking of the starwheel to a standstill is timed so that a particular number of containers (the prime) remain between the detector and the starwheel.

Abstract: A method of and apparatus for feeding randomly received items and for placing these items on apparatus, such as a flight conveyor or a packaging machine, which cycles continuously at a steady rate, with the flight conveyor being operated at a cycling rate slightly faster than the average rate at which the items are randomly received, with the placement of an item on the flight conveyor being in timed relation to a portion or window of each cycle of the flight conveyor, and with placement of an item on the flight conveyor being intermittently deferred so as to bring the rate at which the items are randomly received and the operating rate of the flight conveyor into phase with one another.

Abstract: An object accumulator and feeder uses a relatively long path divided into a series of independently operable sections. The upper surface of the path is covered with a pile material having bristles with tips supporting the objects and inclined toward a direction of feed, and sections of the path are vibrated to vibrate the bristles against the objects to feed the objects through the sections. A sensor is arranged along the path in each section, and the sensors have one output when an object is present in the sensing region and another output when no object is present in the sensing region. Timers respond to the two-state outputs from the sensors and are in circuit with vibrators for switching vibrators on and off to accumulate the objects by successively filling up the sections from the output end toward the input end of the device, to feed the objects out on demand, and to shut off selected vibrators for intervals during which the vibrators are not needed for advancing the objects.

Abstract: The moving parts of a tobacco cutting machine and the conveyor or conveyors which transfer tobacco to the cutting machine are driven by a variable speed motor whose speed is regulated in dependency on the volume of tobacco in a duct from which the conveyor or conveyors draw or receive tobacco for transfer into the machine. The height of the pile of tobacco in the duct is monitored by photoelectric cells which transmit signals to a speed regulator for the motor so that the speed of the motor increases and decreases when the height of the pile respectively increases and decreases. The duct receives tobacco at a constant rate from a metering unit. Fluctuations of the height of tobacco pile in the duct are due to changes in size, moisture content and/or temperature of tobacco which is being supplied by the metering unit. The latter can supply tobacco to the ducts of two or more discrete cutting machines and then includes a distributor which feeds tobacco to all ducts at an equal rate.

Abstract: A vibratory feeder system is disclosed which employs control circuitry for controlling one or a plurality of vibratory feeders such that product is discharged at a constant weight per unit time. This is preferably achieved by deriving a weight analog representative of product weight and then using this information for controlling product velocity as by modulating the tray velocity or varying the flow of product from a supply source to the tray.

Abstract: A device to lower bulk material from a supply level down to a discharge conveyor which device will avoid free falls of material when in operation such as would damage the material. The device includes a conveyor having a vertical run which defines a chimney from a point just below the supply level down to the discharge conveyor, the chimney speed and discharge conveyor speed being related to the supply to keep a body of material within the chimney supported by the discharge conveyor. The chimney is formed by two endless elements which come together and diverge at the top and bottom of the chimney.

Abstract: A conveyor line between two working stations for objects such as bottles and comprising a single or multi-row buffer section between the discharge conveyor of a preceding working station and the feed conveyor to a subsequent working station and provided with means for currently checking the number of objects present in the buffer section, said means being adapted to adjust the speed of the buffer section conveyor continuously in response to the detected number of objects.

Abstract: The disclosed conveyor system provides for a more organized and orderly flow of articles between a pair of spaced stations. The system generally comprises spaced infeed and discharge portions with an intermediate travel portion. Signal means provide for the formation of a train or slug of the articles on the infeed portion and thereafter their delivery downstream. Generally the articles within a slug are spaced from each other as they move downstream so that the system provides for a minimum of contact and pressure between the articles. The system provides for maximum accumulation so that production at the infeed station may continue up to a given period of time even while the discharge station is experiencing down-time. The one or more belt conveyors of the intermediate portion of the conveyor system are driven and controlled by an hydraulic system that automatically senses the need to stop for purposes of accumulation and when operation is again to be resumed.

Abstract: A sorter system for articles such as baggage, mail bags, cartons, and the like is provided which combines a high speed main or sorting conveyor and a feed or induction conveyor, or a plurality of such induction conveyors along the length of the main conveyor. The induction conveyors are for the purpose of loading the main conveyor by depositing articles thereon with a velocity imparted to the articles in the direction of movement of the main conveyor which is substantially equal to the high rate of main conveyor velocity thereby avoiding shock. The arrangement is such that articles having length and width are deposited on an induction conveyor to travel in the direction of their length and be deposited on the main conveyor transversely of the motion thereof and thus oriented widthwise on the main conveyor to reduce the area required per article on the main conveyor.