Storage unit for compensating production imbalances between cigarette-manufacturing machines and a packeting machine

Claim 1

A direct-feed cigarette-package plant comprising: a cigarette-packaging machine having an inlet spaced from and disposed below a cigarette-making machine; a downwardly extending duct between said cigarette-making machine and said inlet for delivering a stream of cigarettes to said inlet; and a storage unit for compensating production imbalances between said cigarette-making machine and said packaging machine, said storage unit comprising: a prismatic magazine inclined to the horizontal and opening laterally into said duct over at least a portion of the length thereof, said magazine extending downwardly from said duct and lying in a vertical plane, a plurality of pairs of spaced-apart movable belts having confronting stretches defining respective compartments between them, said compartments being inclined to the horizontal and extending perpendicular to said duct, said compartments being spaced apart along the length of said duct in the direction of travel of said cigarettes between said cigarette-making machine and said inlet and having a width corresponding substantially to the length of a cigarette made by said cigarette-making machine, a respective end wall connected to the confronting stretches of each of said pairs of belts for defining the end of each compartment, said end walls being movable with the respective belts to vary the lengths of the respective compartments and thereby vary the respective cigarette-containing capacity thereof, drive means operatively connected with said belts for displacing same to selectively increase and decrease the cigarette-containing capacities of said compartments, and control means connected to said drive means and including: at least one sensor along said duct responsive to the pressure of cigarettes therein, and circuit means connected to said sensor and defining first and second threshold values of the pressure of cigarettes in said duct whereby said drive means is operated to increase the capacity of at least one of said chambers upon the detection of a pressure exceeding the first value and to decrease the capacity of at least one of said compartments upon the detection of a cigarette pressure in said duct below said second value which is less than said first value.