Apparatus for directly connecting stations for the filling and emptying of containers with rod-shaped articles in the tobacco processing industry

The invention relates to an apparatus for directly coupling a pallet filler (3) and a pallet emptier (4) in the tobacco processing industry, between which cigarette-filled pallets and empty pallets (1) are exchanged, a two-storey rotating tower (2) arranging the reciprocal exchange with the assistance of a pallet trolley (6) through a 180 DEG or 90 DEG pivoting movement, so that the cigarettes which are removed from a conveying stream and returned to the stream by inversion have the same position, in respect of the orientation of their ends, as the cigarettes which have remained in the conveying stream.