British American Tobacco (investments) Limited

3p Innovation Limited

British American Tobacco Limited

Andrew Cleall

Gary Fallon

Kie Seon Park

James Stembridge

Martin Paul Fuller

Geoffrey Vernon

Thomas Grunfeld

Thomas William Bailey

Martin Fuller

There is described apparatus for filling a material into a receptacle, said apparatus comprising: (i) a material; (ii) a receptacle handling unit comprising a pair of axially aligned bushes for collecting a receptacle; and (iii) a bush pair handling system comprising: (a) a means for separating the receptacle into a receptacle body and a receptacle closure; (b) means for temporarily attaching and detaching the one or both of the bushes from the bush pair handling system; (c) means for transporting the receptacle body to the filling station and aligning the receptacle body with a filler nozzle at the filling station; (d) means for transporting the filled receptacle body from the filling station to a closure unit for refitting the receptacle closure; and e) means for segregating compliant receptacles from non-compliant receptacles.

Capsule filler

A feed unit, for example for feeding components to smoking article assembly apparatus, has a guide member () and a plurality of pushers () arranged to push components () along a path defined by the guide member () for output from the feed unit. The guide member () is arranged to separate the components () into separate streams () according to their orientation. The stream () of non-correctly oriented components () comprises a channel that is helically rotated to orientate correctly said components (). Both streams () converge downstream said helical section to achieve a single flow of components () of similar orientation.

Feed unit

A feed unit, for example for feeding components to smoking article assembly apparatus. The feed unit has a rotary device having a supply region () and one or more channels () adapted to receive components from the supply region () such that the components are stacked one on top of another within each channel (). Each channel () has an inlet () and an outlet through which components pass for output from the feed unit. One of the inlet () and the supply region () is configured to reciprocate relative to the other to agitate the components in the supply region () so that components pass into the channel ().

A feed unit, for example for feeding components () to smoking article assembly apparatus, having a stationary guide member () and a dispensing unit configured to dispense components () into the stationary guide member (). The dispensing unit has one or more channels () to receive components () one on top of the other, and each channel () has a control gate () to apply suction/gaseous flow to control output of components () from the channel () for onward conveyance through the stationary guide member ().

A feed unit, for example for feeding components to smoking article assembly apparatus, includes a rotary device having one or more channels () adapted to receive components, one on top of another, and one or more pushers () associated with each channel. The feed unit also has a track () to receive components from outlets of the one or more channels () and the rotary device is configured to rotate with respect to the track () so that components pass through the channels () and are pushed along the track by the pushers () for output from the feed unit.

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Warwickshire, United Kingdom

Andrew Cleall