Cigarette transfer assembly for transferring cigarettes from a cigarette making machine to a cigarette packaging machine

Claim 1

A cigarette transfer assembly comprising a first vertical conveyor for conveying a stream of individually spaced apart cigarettes upwardly to an elevated position; a second horizontal conveyor for receiving a flow of cigarettes from said first conveyor; a reservoir means extending from beTween said elevated position of said first conveyor and said second conveyor for receiving excess cigarettes from said flow of cigarettes and for delivering the excess cigarettes into said flow at a subsequent time, said reservoir means including an elongated conveyor extending transversely from the flow of the cigarettes, said conveyor being expandable transversely of the flow of the cigarettes to said second conveyor for receiving excess cigarettes thereon and a sensing means on an opposite side of said flow of cigarettes from said elongated conveyor for sensing a change in the flow rate of cigarettes between said first and second conveyors, said sensing means including a pair of switches located in preset position and a pivotally mounted plate responsive to changes in the flow rate of cigarettes between said first and second conveyors, each said switch being operatively connected to said elongated conveyor to activate said elongated conveyor, said plate being positioned between said switches to selectively activate one of said switches in response to an accumulation of cigarettes between said first and second conveyors to activate said elongaed conveyor to receive excess cigarettes and the other of the said switches in response to a reduced accumulation of cigarettes between said first and second conveyors to activate said elongated conveyor to expel cigarettes.