Patent GB-459241-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to booking or stripping and booking machines for tobacco leaves
IPC: A24B5/12
Filed: 1935-07-05
Abstract: 459,241. Stripping and booking tobacco. INTERNATIONAL CIGAR MACHINERY CO., 5520, 2nd Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. July 5, 1935, No. 19225. Convention date, Feb. 27. [Class 130] In a machine for booking, or stripping and booking, tobacco leaves, including a rotary booking drum and means such as endless travelling belts for holding the leaves in book formation on the surface of the drum, a pneumatic device is provided for effecting an automatic spreading or opening of the leaves by the flow of air over their surfaces as they are fed or guided to the surface of the drum. As shown, the leaves are held on the booking drum 35 by belts 34 travelling on rollers 24, 36, tension rollers 37, and rollers 39, 29. The tension rollers 37 are carried by arms 38 on a shaft 19 provided with weighted arms 40. The rollers 24 are supported by arms 22 on a shaft 16 arranged to be swung by a handle 21 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 ; the belts 34 then pass over a rod 25 carried by the arms 22. The booking drum is formed in two halves, having flanges 51 with which cooperates a stripping knife 52 mounted on a shaft 20. Tobacco leaves fed to the drum are guided by a plate 27 secured to brackets 26 which are fastened to a shaft 17 and support the shaft 28 of the rollers 29. The plate 27 can be swung into the position 27<1>, Fig. 1, to allow access to the booked leaves and the stripping knife 52, by means of a handle 33 on a shaft 18 having arms 32 connected by links 31 to arms 30 on the shaft 17. Upon the guide plate 27 are mounted suction chambers 53, 53<1> partly closed at the front and rear by end walls flanged for securing to the plate 27. The chambers 53, 53<1> normally register with heads 57, 57<1> communicating with suction pipes 58, 58<1> each provided with a valve 59. Air drawn into the chambers 53, 53<1> flows over the leaves and spreads them out laterally from the stems. When the plate 27 is swung into the position 27<1>, Fig. 1, carrying the chambers 53, 531 out of register with the heads 57, 57<1>, the valves 59 are closed by links 96 connecting arms on the shaft 17 and the valve spindles. The leaf stems are gripped, to carry the leaves through the chambers 53, 53<1>, by sprocket chains 68, 72, the chain 68 travelling in a central slot in the plate 27. The chain 72 runs on sprocket wheels 71, 73, the latter being carried by an arm 75 on a shaft 23 supported by the swinging arms 22 ; the chain 72 can thus be swung into the position 72<1>, Fig. 1, when the handle 21 is thrown over to the position 21<1>. The chain 72 can also be lifted to the position 72<11>, when introducing a leaf, by means of a knee lever 91 connected to an arm 84 on the shaft 17, which is connected by sprocket and toothed gearing to the shaft 23. The lower run of the chain 72 is pressed downwards by a spring-pressed rail 77 on the arm 75, and the upper run of the chain 68 is supported by a rail 76 on the plate 27. The rotation of the drum is controlled by a one-revolution stop clutch, adjusted to stop the machine with the forward end of the book somewhat below the guide plate 27, so that the forward end of a leaf reaches the drum as the forward end of the book arrives opposite the inner edge of the plate 27.