Philip Morris Inc.

Ricky N Cooper

Martin T Garthaffner

Steven R Rinehart

Charles Gary Atwell

Andrew J Gillespie

Ronald D Honaker

William H Smick, Iii

Richard N Webb

William H Pettigrew

Steven M Campbell

Louis R Turano

Renee R Cooper

Richard E Bowman, Jr

Robert C Kucera, Jr

Stephen D Brown

Charles P Pendleton

A drum elevator and method of elevating cigarettes, the apparatus including a series of rotatable cigarette transferring drums including a first plurality of horizontally disposed drums at a first elevation and a second plurality of vertically disposed drums extending to a second elevation, the second plurality of vertically disposed drums receiving output from the first plurality of drums, the series of drums adapted to receive a procession of cigarettes at the first elevation and to elevate the cigarettes along a transfer path to the second elevation while maintaining the cigarettes arranged substantially in the procession; a rejection station at a location along the transfer path; a controller operative to selectively actuate the rejection station; and a stack former at the second elevation, the stack former receiving output of the second plurality of vertically disposed drums.

Drum elevator system

A cigarette cartoner apparatus comprising a folding station configured to wrap a carton blank about a pre-arranged bundle of cigarette packets; means for repetitively dispensing carton blanks along a pathway; a signal generator adjacent a print location along the aforementioned pathway; at least one fluid jet print head adjacent the print location; a controller configured to operate the print head responsively to the signal generator; and a guide arrangement within the cartoner defining a contact-free path portion as the packaging material is progressed from said print location.

Cartoner with ink jet coder

A drum elevator and method of elevating cigarettes, the apparatus having a series of rotatable cigarette transferring drums including a first plurality of horizontally disposed drums at a first elevation and a second plurality of vertically disposed drums extending to a second elevation, the second plurality of vertically disposed drums receiving output from the first plurality of drums, the series of drums adapted to receive a procession of cigarettes at the first elevation and to elevate the cigarettes along a transfer path to the second elevation while maintaining the cigarettes arranged substantially in the procession; a rejection station at a location along the transfer path; a controller operative to selectively actuate the rejection station; and a stack former at the second elevation, the stack former receiving output of the second plurality of vertically disposed drums.

An apparatus for agitating cylindrical articles in a bulk flow and removing non-aligned articles from the flow includes a plurality of parallel, spaced rotating pins having helical threads on an outer surface. The flow of articles is directed through the pins and non-aligned articles are conveyed out of the flow direction by the threads while aligned articles pass across the pins. Eccentric rotation of the pins agitates the articles to assist maintaining free flow of the articles.

Agitator apparatus for cylindrical articles

Growing community of inventors

Concord, NC, United States of America

Ricky N Cooper