Claims:1. A system with a hopper assembly for forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, the said assembly comprising:
- a unloader arrangement;
- a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
- a set of oscillating agitator rollers;
WHEREIN rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said automatic unloader to the channels or vanes of said sectioned hopper with the help of said rollers to form a collation of said articles into the configuration required for the final pack with multiple variants of the said articles in a single push.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said oscillating rollers comprising a worm wheel or a four bar linkage mechanism.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 comprising a motor for driving / moving the articles.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unloader arrangement comprising at least one tray unloader for unloading cigarettes in specific orientation and order.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the tray is a sectioned tray unloader with separating plates.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the channels or vanes in the sectioned unloading tray fits directly into the vanes in the sectioned hopper.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unloader arrangement comprising multiple automated tray unloaders.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, comprising an array of parallel conveyors for transporting the articles from the said unloader to the upstream of sectioned hopper.

9. A pack of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles being produced by using a hopper assembly as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8.

10. A hopper assembly for systems to form collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, the said assembly comprising:
- a unloader arrangement comprising at least one sectioned unloading tray made of separating plates;
- a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
- a set of oscillating agitator rollers;
WHEREIN rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader arrangement to the channels or vanes of said sectioned tray to the said sectioned hopper with the help of said rollers to form a collation of multiple variants of said articles into the desired configuration for the final pack in a single push.

11. A hopper assembly for systems to form a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, the said assembly comprising:
- a unloader arrangement;
- a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
- a set of oscillating agitator rollers; and
- an array of parallel conveyor belts;
WHEREIN rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader to the channels or vanes of said sectioned hopper by the conveyor belts and with the help of said rollers to form a collation of multiple variants of said articles into the desired configuration for the final pack in a single push.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of machines and more particularly to a hopper assembly of a system for forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles. The invention further relates to a pack comprising multiple variants of rod shaped articles, which have been formed into a collation by the said assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
Various types of cigarettes are available in the market, one end of the spectrum differs vastly in type, taste, flavour and so on from the other end of the market. Traditionally, these cigarettes have been sold in packages consisting of multiples of sticks, like packs of 10, 16 or 20. Each of these packs generally contain one brand, one variant or one type. However, if a consumer requires/ wants to use multiple types of cigarettes, he is left with no option but to buy the full packs for all of the desired types of cigarettes. Thus, to deliver aesthetic value to the consumers, a single pack capable to accommodate different types of cigarettes which are visually different in terms of colour, design or contents are developed and are available in the market.

In prior art documents, US20130213835, WO2010077662, US20100139676 and US20120079794 teaches packing of two different sizes of cigarettes in one pack. However, it may be noted that almost all cigarettes sold around the world maintain consistency in cigarette length in a single pack. Further, CN203789141U teaches packaging of four different types of cigarettes in a back-to-back string like fashion, however the product thus produced is itself significantly different from the regular cigarette packaging formats.

In prior art documents, US999117 and US519204 teaches a box designs for packing multiple sizes and types of cigars.

In prior art documents, US20140131233 teaches the design for packing only two different types of cigarettes in a pack with two sub-pockets while US5074412 teaches the design of an elongated pack that can be opened from both ends.

All the above mentioned prior art teach various pack designs. Additionally, these packs have number of limitations like the number of types of cigarettes in a pack; require extra packaging raw material and if feasible, specialized machines which are of slower speed than conventional packing machines.

Thus, it is required to create a pack which can accommodate multiple types of cigarettes, visually or otherwise. However, such a requirement imposes an increased level of complexity at the manufacturing and packaging end. Further, modern day high speed packing machines are mostly designed to pack one type of cigarette at high speeds. Therefore, it is required to devise an attachment or assembly for the present systems that is capable of producing packs with the above requirement at high speeds.

In prior art documents, US20150197356 discloses use of a separate hoppers with vanes and vibration means or rotating fingers in the feeder, hopper or pockets. It is intended to be used with upstream machinery. However, it has its own limitations for e.g. it causes more strain on the cigarette body which tends to cause more damages to the cigarette, which is highly unacceptable. Further, it cannot be applied to any existing high speed machinery.

In prior art documents, WO 2013175400 discloses an apparatus for forming groups of smokers' articles. It teaches insertion of one substantially cylindrical articles of a second type (cigarette) per row of such articles in a pack. The cigarette pockets are filled in row by row, with a rotation of conveyor after each row gets inserted. Finally they are all expelled into the pack.

However, the available packaging machines are not able to provide a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles in one single pack in one push or one time. Further, complete replacement of machines are required. There is no simple attachment available that can be applied to existing high speed machinery to form packs of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles in one push or one time.

The other key challenges or problems in manufacturing or packaging are as follows:
• Consistency in number of cigarettes of each type in every pack. This is important to ensure consumer compliance.
• Consistency in configuration of cigarette arrangement in the pack. This is to enable better aesthetic value of the final product.

Thus, it is required to develop a cross-platform solution that can be implemented across conventional packing machines of different makers and that is capable of forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles in one single pack in one push or one time. It is further required to develop an attachment or assembly that can be fitted on to an existing machine with no irreversible change to it and ensures minimal drop in the machine speed and changeover time.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide hopper assembly for existing systems for forming collations of multiple variants of rod shaped articles.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide a hopper assembly for forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles which can be implemented across conventional packing machines of different makers.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide a hopper assembly for forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles which is simple and cost efficient.

It is yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system and hopper assembly that forms a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles in one single pack in one push or one time.

It is still another object of the present invention is to provide a system and hopper assembly that with no irreversible change to it and ensures minimal drop in the machine speed and changeover time.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a hopper assembly for existing system to form a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, said assembly comprising:
a unloader arrangement;
a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
a set of oscillating agitator rollers;
wherein rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader to the channels or vanes of said sectioned hopper with the help of said rollers to form a collation of said articles into the configuration required for the final pack with multiple variants of the said articles in a single push.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a hopper assembly for systems to form collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, the said assembly comprising:
- a unloader arrangement comprising at least one sectioned unloading tray made of separating plates;
- a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
- a set of oscillating agitator rollers;
WHEREIN rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader arrangement to the channels or vanes of said sectioned tray to the said sectioned hopper with the help of said rollers to form a collation of multiple variants of said articles into the desired configuration for the final pack in a single push.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a hopper assembly for systems to form a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles, the said assembly comprising:
- a unloader arrangement;
- a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes;
- a set of oscillating agitator rollers; and
- an array of parallel conveyor belts;
WHEREIN rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader to the channels or vanes of said sectioned hopper by the conveyor belts and with the help of said rollers to form a collation of multiple variants of said articles into the desired configuration for the final pack in a single push.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
The following drawings are illustrative of particular examples for enabling methods of the present invention, are descriptive of some of the methods, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The drawings are not to scale (unless so stated) and are intended for use in conjunction with the explanations in the following detailed description.
Figure 1 illustrates the sectioned main hopper, separating plates and agitator rollers on a packaging machine.

Figure 2 illustrates the multiple hoppers used on a packaging machine.

Figure 3 illustrates in an enlarged view of multiple hoppers shown in figure 2.

Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of the possible collation of 5 variants in a pack of 10 cigarettes.

Figure 5 is a schematic illustration of the possible collation of 3 variants in a pack of 10 cigarettes.

Figure 6 is a schematic illustration of single sectioned tray unloaders connected to the sectioned main hopper.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

The present invention relates to a simple sectioned hopper assembly to form a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles which may be implemented on any conventional packing machine system of different makers, while ensuring minimal drop in the machine speed and changeover time and produces no irreversible change to it.

In the present invention, depending on the number of brands / types / variants required in the final pack, separate channels are created in the hopper using separating plates. This is called the Sectioned Main Hopper. Required variants of rod shaped smoking articles, cigarettes are prepared separately on the making machine and are subsequently unloaded onto the Sectioned Main Hopper using various methods described herein.

The present invention provides a system with a hopper assembly for forming a collation of multiple variants of rod shaped smoking articles. The said hopper assembly comprising: a unloader arrangement; a sectioned hopper with separating plates to form plurality of channels or vanes; a set of oscillating agitator rollers; wherein rod shaped smoking articles are transported from said unloader to the channels or vanes of said sectioned hopper with the help of said rollers to form a collation of said articles into the configuration required for the final pack with multiple variants of the said articles in a single push.

In an implementation, a hopper system with a sectioned unloading tray is used for unloading of cigarettes into the sectioned main hopper. The sectioning in the sectioned unloading tray and sectioned main hopper is done using separating plates, creating different channels or vanes. These vanes in the sectioned unloading tray fit directly into the vanes in the main hopper such that they are easily connected. Therefore, the manual action required in running the system remains the same. The sectioned main hopper is depicted in Figure 1. The cigarette flow is ensured using a set of agitator rollers. These are driven using an electric motor through a worm wheel or four bar linkage. This assembly makes minimal changes to the original machine, uses less space and is conducive to quick changeovers.

In an implementation, as depicted in Figure 2 and 3, a hopper system with unloader units may be used for easy unloading of cigarettes. Each unloader unit is filled with a different brand / type / variant of the product or article. Articles or cigarettes from these unloader units are transported to the sectioned main hopper using an array of parallel conveyor belts. These parallel conveyors are driven using servo motors which run at the required rate to ensure no shortage of supply in every vane. Cigarette flow is ensured using a set of agitator rollers.

In the present invention, at least one tray unloader may be used. The tray unloader may be sectioned to allow for storage of one or more types of said rod shaped articles. Also, multiple tray unloader may also be used to supply one or more types of said rod shaped articles. Further, the tray unloader used may be capable to automatically unload cigarettes in correct orientation and order.

Referring to figure 2, three tray unloaders, each of standard size and shape may be used to allow for interchangeability and ease of use.

Referring to figure 6, sectioned tray unloader may be used to allow for storage of multiple types of cigarettes in one unloader.

In an implementation, conveying means may include an array of conveyor belts, preferably in parallel fashion, each carrying the same or different brands of said rod shaped articles. The conveying means may supply said rod shaped articles to said sectioned hopper as per requirement to ensure a continuous flow. The conveyors are upstream of the sectioned main hopper and its function is to ensure no interchange of various types of cigarettes between vanes. Further, the said conveying means may be operated by the aid of driving means.

In the present invention, the driving means provides rotational oscillatory motion to said agitator rollers. These include a motor, servo motors and other electric motors. The means provide transfer motion to the agitator rollers such as a linkage between motor and all rollers, such as a four bar linkage.

In the present invention, the oscillating agitator rollers are used. Oscillating rollers apply less strain on the cigarette body as opposed to rotating ones. This lesser strain translates to a lower probability of cigarette damage, and hence affects product quality. Additionally, the oscillation of the agitator rollers is achieved using a worm wheel or a four bar linkage rather than a simple rotation by motor.

In the present invention, subsequent to the unloading of various brands / types / variants of cigarettes into the respective channels of the sectioned main hopper, they are collated into the configuration required in the final pack. Some types of collations achieved through the implementations described above are shown in Figure 4 and 5.

The present invention may be attached to the conventionally available manufacturing or packaging machine. The assembly may be installed on a machine. While changeovers are slightly longer, this assembly creates a robust, simple way to package different brand / type / variant of the product in one pack. Using the above implementations, most modern day cigarette packing machines may be used to pack multiple brands / types / variants in a single pack in one push. Multiple types of cigarettes are inserted into the pack in one go or “push”. It fills in multiple types of cigarettes from different vanes at a time. For example, with proper sectioning, the present invention may fill in a pack with cigarettes such that each cigarette is of a different type.

In an implementation, the system with the hopper assembly may pack at real time operating speed, preferably in the range of 0 to 700 packs per minute.

In the present invention, the cylindrical rod shaped articles may be with one or more physical and/or non-physical characteristics / properties. The said physical characteristics of the substantially cylindrical rod shaped articles include but is not limited to weight, variant name, stylized text, special text, logo, graphics, tipping design, ventilation, filter type, color of print or tipping or a combination thereof. The said non-physical characteristics of said article include but is not limited to at least one selected from tobacco type, smoke profile, quality, variant, brand, flavor or a combination thereof.