Abstract

An apparatus for transporting a mass flow of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry from a first station to a remote second station has two coaxial upright helical tracks one of which extends from the first station and the other of which extends from and is at least close to the second station. One or more endless chain or belt conveyors are provided to advance the articles of the mass flow along an elongated path which is defined in part by the first and in part by the second track. The apparatus can be used as a variable-capacity first-in first-out reservoir for rod-shaped articles due to the provision of one or two bridges. If the apparatus employs a single bridge and first and second conveyors, the bridge carries a first conveying device which receives articles from the first conveyor serving to accept articles at the first station, and a second conveying device which receives articles from the first conveying device and transfers the thus received articles onto the second conveyor. If the apparatus employs a single conveyor and two bridges, the single conveyor extends along a portion of the one track, along one of the bridges to the other track, along the other track to the other bridge, along the other bridge on to the one track and back to the first station. The bridge or bridges are movable axially of as well as angularly about the common axis of the tracks.