Shredded tobacco supply apparatus of cigarette manufacturing machine

Abstract

A shredded tobacco supply apparatus of a cigarette manufacturing machine comprises two tobacco feeders 4 arranged along a tobacco band. Each of these tobacco feeders includes shredded tobacco reservoirs ( 12; 13 ), a deposition chute ( 26 ) receiving shredded tobacco from the reservoir through a bottom conveyor ( 18 ) and an ascending conveyor ( 22 ), and depositing the shredded tobacco, a feed roller unit ( 34 ) for delivering shredded tobacco, an acceleration roller ( 43 ) for accelerating the delivered shredded tobacco, and a jet diffuser ( 46 ) for blowing up the shredded tobacco toward a chimney ( 10 ). The chimney ( 10 ) adjoins the tobacco band in its traveling direction and inclines at an angle to the traveling direction.

1 . A shredded tobacco supply apparatus of a cigarette manufacturing machine, said supply apparatus comprising a tobacco feeder, said tobacco feeder including 
 a reservoir stored with shredded tobacco,    an ascending conveyor capable of receiving the shredded tobacco from said reservoir and transferring the shredded tobacco upward,    a deposition chute capable of receiving the shredded tobacco from said ascending conveyor and depositing the received shredded tobacco,    a feed roller unit of a constant-rate supply type for delivering the shredded tobacco from said deposition chute,    acceleration means for accelerating the shredded tobacco delivered from said feed roller unit without using pneumatic pressure, and    pneumatic transportation means for transporting the shredded tobacco accelerated by means of said acceleration means, along with an air current, toward a tobacco band of said cigarette manufacturing machine,    said pneumatic transportation means including a chimney for guiding the shredded tobacco and the air current toward the tobacco band, the chimney inclining at an angle to the traveling direction of the tobacco band.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , which further comprises a bottom conveyor forming a bottom wall of said reservoir and capable of transferring the shredded tobacco from said reservoir toward said ascending conveyor.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of said tobacco feeders, the respective chimneys of said tobacco feeders being arranged adjacent to one another in the traveling direction of the tobacco band.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said pneumatic transportation means includes a jet diffuser for jetting out an air current toward the chimney, the jet diffuser being capable of jetting out the air current at an angle of inclination equal to the angle of inclination of the chimney.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein said acceleration means includes an acceleration roller located for rotation between said feed roller unit and the jet diffuser, the acceleration roller being capable of mechanically accelerating the shredded tobacco by rotating.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said pneumatic transportation means circulates the air current.