Patent GB-1274280-A (GB)
Title: Method and apparatus for producing cigars or like rod-like articles
Inventor: MIELKE JOHANNES
IPC: A24C3/00
Filed: 1969-09-04
Abstract: 1,274,280. Cigar-making machines. HAUNIWERKE KORBER & CO., K.G. 4 Sept., 1969 [4 Sept., 1968], No. 43838/69. Heading A2C. Covering material, e.g. wrapper strip or end patches, in which the tobacco filler of cigars, cigarillos, cheroots, &c. is at least partly wrapped has a hot-melt adhesive deposited on it prior to wrapping. Applying wrapper strip. Cigar bunches W, Fig. 1, enclosed in inner wrappers are fed from a storage container 2 on to a conveyor 3 on which they are spaced under control of a photo-electric device 20 and delivered through a funnel 4 to a space between a pair of endless belts 9, 10 by which the wrapper strip 18 is rolled helically around the bunches, the motion of the belts, which are driven by gearing 17 and cross at an angle of about 80‹, rotating the bunches and at the same time advancing them axially towards a funnel 7. The wrapper, which may be a continuous strip of reconstituted tobacco or a succession of pieces of natural tobacco, is drawn under tension on to the belt 10, which has perforations 23 for suction, and lateral deflection of the bunches being rolled due to the tension in the strip is resisted by a roller 26. Two stripes 19d, 19e of hot-melt adhesive are applied to the strip 18 through holes in a tube 19, or alternatively, the strip 18 may be precoated with adhesive stripes which are activated by an infra-red heater in place of the tube 19. The continuous rod issuing from the funnel 7 is severed between the bunches by a cutter 6. The bunches fed to the funnel 4 may come directly from a continuous rod making and severing machine instead of from the container 2. Applying end patches. Tobacco &c. tape is drawn from a reel 378, Fig. 6, coated with a hot-melt adhesive by heated rolls 391, 392, severed into short lengths on a drum 398 by a cutter roll 401, and cut by punching roll 403 into three-lobed patches which are picked up by suction in forming heads 427 on a drum 421 where they are applied to the ends of double-length cigar bunches 376. These cigar bunches are transferred at E from a drum 373 to suction holders (not shown) on the drum 421 and withdrawn, after application of the patches, by a drum 409 on which they are parted before being transferred to a conveyor 411. The forming heads are arranged in pairs to treat the two ends of the double-length bunches simultaneously. Each forming head is pivotally mounted on the drum 421 and has a roller 432, Fig. 9, co-acting with a cam (not shown) whereby it can be swung from a position in which its axis is radial with respect to the drum for picking up a patch by a suction head 459, to a position with its axis parallel to that of the drum for applying the patch to the end of a bunch. In this latter position a presser head 444 is advanced over the end of the bunch by a cam 438 coacting with a roller 437 to secure the patch, the adhesive being activated by heaters 453. Coned surfaces 442 through which the motion imparted by the cam 438 is transmitted result in radial contraction of the presser head, which has three radial slits 448. The presser head is subsequently retracted by the cam 438 to allow the cigar bunch to be removed.