Patent GB-191108969-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or applicable to Cigarette Making Machinery.
Inventor: SLOAN ROBERT ALEXANDER
IPC: A24C5/34
Filed: 1911-04-11
Granted: 1912-07-11
Abstract: 8969. Sloan, R. A., and Barnes, J. E. L. April 11. [Cognate Application, 25,016/11. Cigarette-making machines.-The speed of the tobacco-feed mechanism is regulated by a weighing-apparatus so that the cigarette produced shall be as near as possible of the weight intended. The device weighs a specific number of cigarettes continuously and the speed of the feed mechanism can be regulated by hand or preferably automatically. The cigarettes are guided on to a conveyer band 4, Fig. 2, carried by the weigh-beam 1 hung on knife-edges 2 and balanced by weights 8. 8a, 8b. The conveyer band 4 is driven from the main drive 22 by means of a chain 24, shaft 25, which drives shaft 26 through Hooke's couplings 33, 331 so that the poise of the beam is not affected, worm gear 29, a chain 31, and sprockets 3. The conveyer band consists of two layers of fabric with transverse steel wires 16 stitched between them. The wires are guided on angle-bars and engage with the sprockets 3. The tobacco-feed regulating spindle 9, Fig. 12, carries a ratchetwheel 10, which is adapted to be turned by pawls H1, L1 operated by solenoids H2' L2 and so turn the spindle in either direction, according as the cigarettes are above or below the intended weight as indicated by the position of the weighbeam. In the position shown, the pawls H1' L1 are raised clear of the ratchet-wheel by means of the standards 50 so that the rotation of the wheel by one pawl may not be interfered with by the other. A rod 39, Fig. 2, is continuously reciprocated by means of a rod 44 and a pin 42 on a disk acting on a bell-crank lever 43. The rod 39 carries spring prongs M, L, H, Figs. 2 and 10, which periodically make contact with a contact-piece 37, H5, L5 carried by the weighbeam and consisting of two metal parts H5, L5, and a glass piece 37 so that in the ascent or descent of the beam, the circuit is made as shown in Fig. 10. A metal cylinder 45, Fig. 10, having a part cut out so as to leave a segment 45a, which periodically breaks the circuit, is carried by the framework and continuously rotated. The brush M is in contact with this cylinder while brushes H6 L6 are placed so that on the make of the circuit one or other is drawn down to the cylinder by its respective solenoid H7 L7 and better contact made so that one or other of the solenoids H2, L2 is energized and the tobacco-feed regulating spindle 9, Fig. 12, rotated. The weigh-beam is provided with a dash-pot arrangement 36a, 36b, Fig. 2, and also with an index finger, the tail of which plays between two fixed pins so that any movement of the beam, other than that required to operate the relay, is indicated on a scale. Fig. 8 shows a modification of the weigh-beam. The cigarettes are fed by means of a band 71 to a bridgepiece 69 and thence to the weigh-beam, which is provided with vanes 65 and is adapted to carry cigarettes both above and below, the cigarettes being transformed from the top of the beam to the lower part by means of a fixed guide 70. In another form of relay, two bevelwheels may rotate continuously in opposite directions and one or other of the bevel-wheels operates the feed-regulating spindle according as one or other of the magnetic clutches is energized.