Conveying drum with lever segments used in the tobacco industry

Abstract

A conveying drum used in the tobacco-processing industry. The conveying drum comprises a drum body having at least one seat defined therein, and a lever segment pivotably mounted inside each seat. The lever segment includes at least one receiving trough for accommodating rod-shaped articles of the tobacco industry. At least one suction bore is located in the lever segment and extends between the respective seat and the at least one receiving trough. The suction bore extends exclusively in a substantially radial outward direction.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the priority of German Patent Application No. DE 10 2005 027 554.0, filed on Jun. 14, 2005, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Each U.S. and foreign patent and patent application mention below is also incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a conveying drum in the tobacco-processing industry. The conveying drum has lever segments pivotably mounted to a drum body inside respective seats. The lever segments have receiving troughs for accommodating rod-shaped articles of the tobacco industry. Suction bores are associated with the receiving troughs. The present invention also relates to a machine used in the tobacco-processing industry, in particular, a filter tipping machine. [0003] German Patent document DE-A-39 28 273 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,643) discloses a conveying device and / or a conveying drum having a re...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to improve the conduction of air inside conveying drums that have movable lever segments comprising receiving troughs for accommodating rod-shaped articles of the tobacco industry.

[0007] The present invention is based on the idea that the lever segment itself does not have suction bores that are oriented parallel to the axis of rotation of the conveying drum and / or to the pivoting axis of the lever segment. As a result, there are no 90° bends in the suction bores and for the applied vacuum pressure in the lever segment itself. The suction bores, which are admitted with vacuum pressure, are consequently embodied without right angles, thereby avoiding 90° bends of the suction bores. Avoiding the 90° bends leads to reduced air resistance and thus to a reduction of the amount of suction air used.

[0008] According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the suction bores are connected at a shorter distance, and, in some circumstances, the shortest possible distance to the inside of the drum and / or to a vacuum source. Vacuum pressure is thus applied in an effective manner to the suction bores and the articles are held securely inside the receiving troughs on the conveying drum. In addition, the arrangement of the suction bores according to the invention results in a simplified design of the movable and / or moving lever segments and / or the small lever arms of a conveying drum.

[0009] Orienting the suction bores in the radial direction also reduces noise development, because 90° deflections in the lever segment are avoided. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the suction bores are oriented exclusively in the radial outward direction, meaning they do not contain sections that are parallel to the axis of rotation of the conveying drum and / or to the pivoting axis of the lever segment.

[0012] The lever segment head can be detachably connected to the base body, so that the lever segment head (which has the receiving troughs) is movable relative to the base body. As a result, precise adjustments on the conveying drum can be realized easily, for example, for a format change on a filter tipping machine.

[0014] According to another exemplary embodiment, further improvement in the adjustability of the conveying drum can be achieved by using a detachable connection between the lever segment and a cam lever. As a result, it is easy to precisely adjust the location of the receiving troughs relative to the location at which rod-shaped articles are transferred from a different conveying drum to the conveying drum of the present invention.

Problems solved by technology

Avoiding the 90° bends leads to reduced air resistance and thus to a reduction of the amount of suction air used.

Images