Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system having auxiliary section for storing items... – Auxiliary section has the same entrance and exit
Patent
1995-06-14
1996-10-29
Bidwell, James R.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system having auxiliary section for storing items...
Auxiliary section has the same entrance and exit
1983473, B65G 100
Patent
active
055688560
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for transporting and storing cigarettes, having a storage unit comprising several containers which are arranged one beside the other and are connected fixedly to one another, and having a cigarette conveyor for feeding the cigarettes, in particular, from a cigarette-making machine and conveying away the cigarettes, in particular to a packaging machine, it being possible for the individual containers to be filled or emptied one after the other in a filling station by the cigarette conveyor (16).
The handling of cigarettes, after they have been manufactured and before they are packaged, poses particular problems for the packaging of cigarettes. The cigarette-making machines manufacture cigarettes at a high output of, for example, sixteen thousand cigarettes per minute. The comparatively large number of cigarettes has to be fed to the packaging machine in an expedient manner. In this arrangement, manufacturing-related fluctuations in the output of the cigarette-making machine as well as those of the following packaging machine have to be taken into account. It is thus conventional for storage devices for cigarettes to be placed between said two units. Depending on the fluctuations in output, the cigarettes are conveyed into said store or discharged from the same.
So-called trays which can be filled from their upper side or their underside are known for storing and transporting cigarettes. In order to empty the trays, the upper side of the same is first of all closed by a slat, the trays are tilted through approximately 180.degree. over an emptying station, and the trays are then entered into the emptying station. As a result of this complicated handling of the trays, the size of the storage device, into which several containers are assembled, is restricted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to propose a device for storing and handling cigarettes which, using containers for receiving a cigarette stock, exhibits a considerably larger storage capacity and permits facilitated handling during distribution of the stored cigarettes.
In order to achieve this object, the device according to the invention is characterized by the following features: a large-surface-area front wall, a large-surface-area rear wall, narrow side walls and a bottom wall, the plane of the front wall, the width of the side wall and of the bottom wall corresponding approximately to the length of the cigarettes, filled and emptied without any change in their relative position, cigarette stream in the region of the cigarette conveyor.
According to the invention, the containers are filled through an opening arranged in the bottom wall and emptied again through the same opening. Tipping of the containers or emptying the same is not necessary. All that is needed is for the relevant container to be displaced into the filling station for filling or emptying. As a result, the handling of the containers is simplified considerably. Furthermore, this means that virtually any number of containers can be assembled into the storage unit.
Preferably, the bottom wall is mounted pivotably in the region of the filling opening and can be pivoted from an essentially horizontal normal position into a V-shaped position with at least one leg sloping down to the opening.
Upon filling a container which is empty or only slightly filled, the bottom wall is located first of all in a V-shaped position. If a certain degree of filling is reached, the bottom wall is pivoted from the V-shaped position into the normal position. In this position, a cuboidal container is obtained. Dead spaces which cannot be used for storing cigarettes are avoided.
Upon emptying such a container, first of all cigarettes are conveyed away with the bottom wall still located in the normal position. If the degree of filling falls below the predetermined degree of filling, the bottom wall is pivoted into the V-shaped position. In this manner, the container can be fully emptied.
The filling opening is preferably arr
REFERENCES:
patent: 4366895 (1983-01-01), Bennett et al.
patent: 4423996 (1984-01-01), Applegate et al.
patent: 4503965 (1985-03-01), Applegate et al.
patent: 4744453 (1988-05-01), Krause et al.
patent: 5462153 (1995-10-01), Friis
Colley Robert G.
Gosebruch Harald
Bidwell James R.
Focke & Co. (GmbH & Co.)
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