Method of tip turning filter cigarettes or the like

摘要

Filter cigarettes which are produced in a filter tipping machine are transported by a severing conveyor in the form of two rows wherein the filters of cigarettes in one row are adjacent to the filters of cigarettes in the other row. The cigarettes of the one row are thereupon inverted end-for-end by sets of pairwise arranged pivotable levers one of which withdraws a cigarette from the one row during movement along an endless circular path and turns the removed cigarette through 90 degrees about an axis which is normal to the cigarette and is remote from its filter while the one lever travels along an arc of 180 degrees. The thus partially inverted cigarette is taken over by the other lever of the respective pair and is turned through additional 90 degrees while the other lever travels along an arc of 180 degrees. The thus inverted cigarettes of the one row are thereupon shuffled with the non-inverted cigarettes of the other row by moving the two rows of cigarettes axially toward each other on two shuffling drums so that the two rows are converted into a single third row which is ready for testing and transport to storage or packing.