Patent GB-458362-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to the stripping of tobacco leaves
IPC: A24B5/06
Filed: 1935-06-14
Abstract: 458,362. Tobacco-stemming machines. ZEUN, L. H., 103, Hilton Avenue, Catonsville, Baltimore, U.S.A. June 14, 1935, No. 17132. [Class 130] In a machine having at least one set of leaf strippers movable in an endless path, each stripper having a recess or notch for receiving the stem of a leaf, means for moving the strippers in a direction transverse of the leaf stem to bring the stems into the recesses, and means for causing relative stripping movement between the strippers and the leaves, each of the strippers is mounted for independent transverse movement, which is effected or governed by a device or devices acting yieldingly and successively upon the individual strippers, so that an appropriate degree of transverse movement is imparted to each stripper according to the size of the leaf stem engaged by it. In the machine shown, the leaves are traversed over a table 50 by belts 55 ... 58 to which they are fed by belts 52 ... 54. The leaves are placed on the belts 52 ... 54 with their butts in contact with a fence 121, and are carried beneath a belt 132 travelling over pulleys 122, 123, 133 at a speed slightly greater than that of the belts 52 ... 54, the pulleys 122, 123 being provided with stem-engaging projections in order to assist in separating the stems. The stems are further separated by a belt 140 passing over pulleys 141, 142, the pulley 141 being supported in bearings carried by arms 143, 144 pivoted on a shaft 109. The leaves are then delivered to gripper shoes 205, 197 carried by the links of upper and lower sprocket chains 207, travelling respectively over sprocket wheels 210; 211 on shafts 109, 212 and 200, 201 on shafts 106, 202. The shoes 205 on the upper chain are fitted with resilient pads 206 and the links carry rollers coacting with a strip 209 in order to increase the clamping pressure on the leaves gradually to a maximum. The upper run of the shoes 205 and chain 207 is supported by a rib between the side walls of a casting 213 in which the shaft 212 of the sprocket 211 is journalled, and the casting may be swung upwards about the shaft 109 of the sprocket 210 to give access to the mechanism. The shoes 197 on the lower chain are of wood or the like, and the upper run of the chain is supported by a strip 203 on which the rollers travel. The butt ends of the stems are cut off by a scissors blade 224, Fig. 20, bolted to a lever 225 and coacting with a ledger plate 228. The lever 225 is mounted on a shaft 229 in a sleeve 230 carried by bracket arms 231, the end of the shaft 229 having a crank arm 232 actuated through a link from an eccentric on the main shaft 65. The severed butts fall into a delivery shoot 239. The butts are stripped by notched stripper plates 156 travelling in the inclined path 222, Fig. 20, the leaves being carried continuously along the machine and the stripper plates having a component of movement along the length of the machine at the same speed as that of the leaves, so that no transverse strain is placed upon the stems. The stripper plates 156, Figs. 25 and 27, are each bolted to a sliding plate 158 slotted at 160 and sliding in a block 163 grooved to engage the teeth of sprocket wheels 168, 169 which drive the strippers. Blocks 164 retain the plates 158 in blocks 163, which are connected together by links 170, Fig. 37. The sprocket 169 is keyed on a shaft 171 driven through worm gearing 172, 173. Offset portions 159 of the plates 158 travel on a track 180 connected by an incline 182 to an upper track 181 terminating at 183 to allow the plates to drop. The plates are forced down into straddling relation with the leaf stems by spring-actuated levers 184 pivoted to a bar 185, the levers being alternately staggered upon their pivots 188, so that they can move past each other as shown at the left of Fig. 25. The leaf stems, on reaching the plane of the butting strippers, extend over spaced plates 192, 193, Fig. 27, between which the notched ends of the strippers 156 project, while the stems are held against the pull of the buttstripping operation by the gripper shoes 205, 197 (see above). The leaf material stripped from the butts is delivered to a shoot 194, Fig. 20. The remaining portion of the leaf is stripped by stripper plates 240, Figs. 17 and 31, similar to the plates 156 but travelling in a path 223, Fig. 20, parallel to the travel of the leaves, the stripping action being effected by withdrawing the stems laterally by means of stripping rollers 300, 301. The roller 301 is adjustable pivotally about one end on turning an eccentric bushing 309, and the ends of the rollers between which the stems enter are provided with coarse threads 316, 317, a shoe 318 being arranged to guide the stems between the rollers. Pressure is placed on the rollers by a spring-pressed rod 319 to enable them to grip the stems and pull them through the stripper plates. The pressure of the spring acting on the rod 319 may be released by means of a cam 324 pivoted on the top of the housing and having a cam finger projecting under a collar on the rod 319. The leaf stems are elevated into engagement with the stripper plates 240 by knurled edged wheels 259, 260 each having a peripheral slot through which the stripper plates travel. Offset projections 255 on the plates 240 travel on a track 256 having inclined portions 258, 257 for lowering and lifting the plates to and from the stripping position. A portion 273 of the lower part of the track consists of pivoted sections connected by links 274 ... 276 to crank arms 277 ... 279 on shafts 283 ... 285 provided with arms for adjustment, the heads of which move in slots in the casting and are clamped in adjusted position. To prevent the stems from rising as they are withdrawn from the leaf material, a plate 294 is pivoted on a shaft 295 and provided with an adjustable counterweight 296. The stripper plates are resiliently depressed by levers similar to the levers 184 acting on the butting strippers. The stems are notched near their tips, to permit their withdrawal from the leaves, by rotary cutter 337, Fig. 44, supported by an arm 336 adjustable longitudinally on an angle arm 327 mounted on the frame member 213. The shaft of the cutter is driven through chain gearing, including a sprocket 333 slidable on a feather on a shaft 329. U.S.A. Specifications 1,787,966, 1,787,967, and 1,879,651 are referred to.