Patent GB-190627735-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Machines for Applying Mouth Pieces to Cigarettes.
Filed: 1906-12-05
Granted: 1907-08-15
Abstract: 27,735. British-American Tobacco Co., [Burroughs, A. H.]. Dec. 5. Cigarette-making machines.- Relates to a machine for providing cigarettes with exterior tips or mouthpieces of sheet cork or cork; metal foil, &c. applied to a backing of paper. The cigarettes are advanced endways to the mouthpiece-applying mechanism along a feedway 10 by a series of fingers 12 ... 16, Figs. 4, 7, and 9. The fingers 12, 16 are mounted on a rod 27 reciprocated by a lever 29 and cam 31 mounted on the driving- shaft 30, Fig. 4, while the fingers 13, 14, 15, Fig. 7, are attached to a sleeve 35 on the shaft 36 and are caused to reciprocate by a pin 37 which engages in a slot 38, thereby providing for a certain amount of lost motion and causing the fingers 13, 14, 15 to have a shorter stroke than the fingers 12, 16. The path of the finger 12 is shown in Fig. 9; the fingers 13, 14, 15 are slidably connected together and are raised from the feed-channel on the return stroke by the rod 40 and the leaf-cam 41, Fig. 4, the cam being of such a length that the fingers remain raised during the whole of the return stroke. The finger 16 feeds the cigarette into position on the carrier 20, where it is clamped by a plunger 60 operated by means of a lever 62 and cam 64, Fig. 4, and is in position to receive the strip of mouthpiece material. The strip x of mouthpiece material is drawn from a web roll, Fig. 2, over guide - rolls and between feed-rolls 73, 74, rotating intermittently, to the guide-channel 90 ; the feed-roll 73 preferably serves as the paste roll, and to this end projects into a paste can 88. The surplus paste is removed by a brush 91, Fig. 11, and the end of the strip is drawn into position by a reciprocating gripper 100 carried by a slide 101, the gripper comprising a stationary gripping - finger 102 and a movable one 103. During the return movement of the gripper, a catch 105 keeps the finger 103 raised against the action of the spring 106, the catch being disengaged at the end of the movement by a slot 107. The strip is then drawn forwards by the gripper, and the correct length is cut off by a fixed knife-92 co-operating with a reciprocating knife 93. In order to ensure more perfect action, the end 90<a> of the guideway is raised slightly at the moment the gripper engages the end of the strip. The movable guideway 90<a> and the mouthpiece-applying support 130 are preferably perforated, as shown, and communicate with a suction box 124, Fig. 11, a valve 139 operated intermittently by a cam &c. placing the support 130 in connexion with the suction box. The support 130, Fig. 11, carrying the severed strip is then moved up to the cigarette by means of a cam. In this position, a sliding head 147, Fig. 11, carried by the support and having two folding- rods 145,146, one of which 145 is somewhat longer than the other, is moved up by means of a pitman 150 and a cam. 151, bringing the folding-rods into the position shown in Fig. 15, and causing the strip x to assume the position shown. An oscillatory brush 155 then presses this upstanding edge of the strip on to the cigarette, and on the return stroke of the brush presses down the other edge of the strip, which meanwhile has been forced into the position shown in Fig. 16, by the rod 146, both rods retreating as the brush approaches the cigarette. The brush 155 is oscillated through the rack 158 and pinion 157, Fig. 11, from a cam-groove in the cam 64, Fig. 4. The support 130-and the plunger 60 next retreat, and a rod 165 operated by the lever 166 and cam 167, Fig 4, returns the cigarette to the carrier 20, which then rotates one step to bring another cigarette into position, the rotation being produced by a ratchet 47 and pawl 48 operated by the levers 49, 51 from a cam, Fig 2; accurate positioning is obtained by another ratchet 52 and a spring-pressed stop-pawl 53, which is thrown out of its operative position to permit forward movement of the carrier by a cam 55 carried by the lever 49, Fig. 2. The carrier 20 is provided with two side plates 152, 153 for guiding the mouthpiece material. A stop-plate 170, Fig. 7, is provided to prevent the cigarette from being returned too far by the rod 165, this stop-plate being depressed on the feeding - stroke by the finger 16. The cigarettes on the carrier are delivered on to a travelling belt 190, Fig. 5, after passing a guard 185 and endless pressing-belt 180.