US 11,910,840 B2
Manufacturing machine for the production of disposable cartridges for electronic cigarettes
Francesco Milandri, Cesena (IT); Andrea Dondini, Bologna (IT); Enrico Medina, Bologna (IT); Luca Lanzarini, Crespellano (IT); Luca Federici, Bologna (IT); Stefano Serafini, Crevalcore (IT); and Daniele Grosso, Bologna (IT)
Assigned to G.D SOCIETA' PER AZIONI, Bologna (IT)
Appl. No. 17/264,678
Filed by G.D SOCIETA' PER AZIONI, Bologna (IT)
PCT Filed Aug. 8, 2019, PCT No. PCT/IB2019/056772
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 29, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/031138, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 13, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102018000007950 (IT), filed on Aug. 8, 2018; and application No. 102019000009288 (IT), filed on Jun. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0298366 A1, Sep. 30, 2021
Int. Cl. A24F 40/70 (2020.01); A24F 40/42 (2020.01)
CPC A24F 40/70 (2020.01) [A24F 40/42 (2020.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A manufacturing machine (8) for the production of disposable cartridges (1) for electronic cigarettes; the manufacturing machine (8) comprises:
a manufacturing drum (13), which is mounted in a rotatable stepwise manner around a vertical rotation axis (14) and supports at least one group (15) of seats (16), each of which is adapted to receive a corresponding component (2, 7) of the disposable cartridge (1); and
a feeding unit (21), which feeds corresponding components (2, 7) of the disposable cartridges (1) to the seats (16) of a group (15) of seats (16) that is standing still at the feeding unit (21);
wherein each seat (16) comprises a housing through channel (26), which crosses the manufacturing drum (13) from side-to-side and is adapted to contain a component (2, 7);
wherein each seat (16) comprises a pair of opposite jaws (27), which are mounted in the housing channel (26) and are movable between a gripping position, in which they engage a component (2, 7) arranged in the housing channel (24; 26), and a transfer position, in which they do not engage a component (2, 7) arranged in the housing channel (24, 26); and
wherein in each pair of jaws (27), at least one jaw (27) comprises a tooth (128), which is arranged at the top of the jaw (27) and projects from the jaw (27) towards the center of the seat (16), so that, when the two jaws (27) are arranged in the gripping position, the tooth (128) holds the component (2, 7) inside the seat (16) at the top.