Patent GB-460713-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to tobacco leaf stemming machines
IPC: A24B5/06
Filed: 1935-08-02
Abstract: 460,713. Tobacco-stemming machines. AMERICAN MACHINE & FOUNDRY CO. Aug. 2, 1935, No. 21946. Convention date, May 1. [Class 130] A tobacco-leaf stemming-machine comprises a main forwarding and stem - pulling means and an auxiliary stem - pulling means, both co-operating with a single common stripping mechanism travelling in a path divergent from the main means which is adapted to engage the butt ends of the stems to pull them through the stripping mechanism, the auxiliary means travelling in a plane substantially parallel to that of the travel of the leaves and being adapted to engage the ends of any wholly or partly unstemmed leaves projecting from the stripping mechanism to pull them through that mechanism. Leaves L placed by hand on conveyer bands 15, 16 are fed between upper and lower endless cables 21. Each cable consists of a series of runs mounted on sheaves 25, 23, the latter driven by an electric motor 22. The upper sheave 25 is mounted in a sleeve 52 adjustably suspended by an eyebolt 53 from a bracket 54 which is adjustable along horizontal guides 55 by a screw 58; the lower sheave is similarly adjustable. Channel members 69, Fig. 4, which press the upper runs onto the leaves, are urged downwards by springs 74 mounted in supporting brackets 72, 73, the centre one of which is linked to an arm 80 on a lever 82 adapted to raise the channel member and expose the cable for repair &0. A spring- pressed stud engages one or other of two recesses in one of the brackets to retain the channel member in either its raised or lower position. The cables 21 grip the leaves while the butts are stripped by carded rollers 29 mounted on a base 117 carrying a driving motor 30 and itself pivoted about a vertical post 121 and movable on a runway 124 to permit the rollers to be swung clear of the machine for cleaning &c. Opposite the sheaves 23 are sheaves 35, mounted similarly to the sheaves 25 and supporting cables 31 which grip the stripped butts of the leaves while endless carded bands 39, set at an angle to the cables 31, complete the stemming operation. The spindles 44 of the sheaves 43 over which the bands 39 pass are adjustable axially by a screw 129 threaded through a plate 130 vertically adjustable on the support of the upper spindle, bevel gearing 132, 131 ensuring corresponding displacement of the lower sheave. Near the completion of'the stemming operation, the stems are scored near their tips by a rotary cutter 51 co-operating with and adjustable relatively to a fixed disc 154, the disc and cutter being adjustable along the bands 39 to vary the position of the scorings on the leaves. Should a stem gripped by the cables 31 break. the projecting portion is seized by spring. pressed jaws 45 on a rotary disc 152, the jaws being opened as they pass between the uncarded edges of the bands 39 by a stationary cam which again opens them after half a turn to permit a stripping device 151 to remove the stems from the jaws 45. At their remote ends the bands 45 are mounted on sheaves 41 driven bv a motor 40 and formed with overhanging skirts which provide sheaves 47 for delivery bands 46 adapted to convey from the machine any leaves which have escaped stripping in either the bards 39 or jaws 45. Specifications 458,354 and 460,637 are referred to.