Feed rate control device of cigarette packaging machine

Claim 1

A machine for the formation of orderly groups of cigarettes constituted of orderly superposed layers of cigarettes comprising in combination: means for dispensing the layers of cigarettes; a plurality of individual stations for receiving the respective layers; container means for receiving said groups of cigarettes; a plurality of pusher means, each of said pusher means for pushing a layer of cigarettes at a time into said container means; conveyor means for intermittently displacing said container means in an operative direction past said stations; each of said stations includes means defining a supporting surface for the cigarettes, said supporting surfaces being arranged in consecutive order in said operative direction along said conveyor menas laterally offset thereto, said supporting surfaces being arranged at different levels with respect to each other increasing in said consecutive order, the level difference between next among said supporting surfaces corresponding at least to the said of a cigarette, and wherein said respective pusher means are arranged at a level corresponding to the level of said supporting surfaces and adopted to sweep the respective of said supporting surfaces to transfer the layer of cigarettes collected on said supporting surface onto a corresponding of said container means, said container means having open sides to receive sideways the respective layer of cigarettes transferred from the respective of said supporting surface, said container means having a botton arranged on said conveyor means at a level corresponding to the lowermost level of said supporting surfaces; motor means for operating said machine; a device positioned adjacent said conveyor means for controlling the rate of flow of the respective layers of cigarettes dispensed from said dispensing means to said respective stations; said device including a plurality of feeler members mounted substantially opposed to said respective pusher means; said feeler members being electrically connected in parallel to one another and registering with said respective pusher means; and relay means responsive to said feeler members and adapted to control energizing circuit means of the relay means for controlling the operation of said motor means.