IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TWISTING TOBACCO
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw Black, both of
King's Lynn, in the County of Norfolk, for the Invention of "Iк-
Sealed the 29th December 1868, and dated the 1st July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ward and
Walter Shaw Black at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 1st July 1868.
We, THOMAS WARD and WALTER SHAW BLACK, both of King's Lynn,
in the County of Norfolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TWISTING TOBACCO," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
twisting tobacco. In twisting tobacco it is required to enclose a con-
tinuous core of tobacco which is slightly twisted in tobacco leaves, which
are lapped around the core with a much more rapid twist.
To attain this result we proceed as follows:-The tobacco to form the
core of the twist is laid out regularly on a feeding plate, and this core

page_text: is rotated, and at the same time drawn continuously forward by apparatus
herein-after described. As the core thus rotates the workman applies
to it the tobacco leaves which are to form the outer covering, they are
presented leaf by leaf and as the core revolves they are wound up upon
it. Immediately in front of the feeding plate are three rollers turning
on stationary axes or centres, and receiving rotatory motion from the
tobacco twist which passes between them, and on which they all press
lightly. The axes of these rollers are so inclined that the rollers may
as they revolve roll truly in the direction of the length of the covering
tobacco leaves, that is to say, the axes of the rollers are somewhat
inclined to the length of the twist or cord which is being produced. The
twist now passes around a small capstan barrel which is carried in a
frame, and this frame by means of a pulley and band or in other
convenient manner is rotated so that the capstan is carried around in the
plane of its axis, and thus the core receives the rotation which causes it
to lap the covering leaves around it. The capstan has on its axis a
toothed wheel gearing with a fixed spiral, so that as the capstan is
carried around in its frame it is also caused to turn on its own axis at a
slower speed, and it is thus that the core receives its forward motion so
that the covering leaves may lap around it spirally. After leaving the
capstan the tobacco twist is wound upon a reel carried in the same
revolving frame and driven by friction, so that the reel winds up upon it
the twist delivered by the capstan. The motion of the reel may be
obtained by a wheel fixed to the reel and caused by a spring to bear on
a stationary surface, so that as the reel is carried around in its frame the
wheel may run on the stationary surface and wind up the twist as it
comes forward; or the reel may be driven by a band passing round a
pulley upon it and also around a pulley on the centre of the frame, such
pulley being caused.to revolve with the frame by friction as rapidly as
the delivery of the tobacco twist by the capstan will admit. In the use
of this apparatus the amount of twist applied to the core can be regu-
lated by the workman; the more he presses upon the core and checks its
rotation whilst it is on the feeding plate the more tightly it will be
twisted and the more rapid will be the coil of the covering leaves.
In some cases in order to obtain a mechanical regulation of the twist
of the core we place in front of the apparatus already described three
rollers meeting in an eye so as to compress the core and revolving so as
to carry it forward, and this arrangement of rollers is rotated bodily and

page_text: in a plane at right angles to the core at a speed differing from the speed
of the revolving frame, carrying the capstan and reel by the amount of
twist it is desired to give to the corc. These rollers are caused to rotate
about their own axes so as to draw the core forward by toothed wheels
upon them which gear with fixed spirals or inclines. The covering leaves
are applied as before, that is to say, between the eye of these rollers
and the three transverse rollers which take their motion from the
rotation of the core.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw Black in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 1st January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESPRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, THOMAS
WARD and WALTER SHAW BLACK, both of King's Lynn, in the County
of Norfolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw Black,
Her special licence that we, the said Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw
Black, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw Black, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR TWISTING TOBACCO," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Thomas Ward and Walter Shaw Black, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one
of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be

page_text: performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Ward, on behalf of myself
and the said Walter Shaw Black, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
twisting tobacco. In twisting tobacco it is required to enclose a con-
tinuous core of tobacco which is slightly twisted in tobacco leaves, which
are lapped around the core with a much more rapid twist.
To attain this result we proceed as follows:-The tobacco to form the
core of the twist is laid out regularly on a feeding plate, and this core is
rotated, and at the same time drawn continuously forward by the apparatus
herein-after described. As the core then rotates a workman applies
to it the tobacco leaves which are to form the outer covering, they are
presented leaf by leaf, and as the core revolves they are wound up upon
it. The twist now passes around a small capstan barrel which is carried
in a frame, and this frame by means of a pulley and band or in other
convenient manner is rotated so that the capstan is carried around in
the plane of its axis, and thus the core receives the rotation which
causes it to lap the covering leaves around it. The capstan is caused
to revolve slowly on its axis by means of gearing, and it is thus that
the core receives its forward motion so that the covering leaves may
lap around it spirally. After leaving the capstan the tobacco twist
is wound upon a reel carried in the same revolving frame and driven
by friction, so that the reel winds up upon it the twist delivered by
the capstan. The motion of the reel may be obtained by a wheel fixed
to the reel and caused by a spring to bear on a stationary surface, so
that as the reel is carried around in its frame the wheel may run on the
stationary surface and wind up the twist as it comes forward; or the reel
may be driven by a band passing round a pulley upon it and also around
a pulley on the centre of the frame, such pulley is caused to revolve
with the frame by friction as rapidly as the delivery of the tobacco
twist will admit. In the use of this apparatus the amount of twist
applied to the core can be regulated by the workman; the more he presses
upon the core and checks its rotation whilst it is over the plate the

page_text: more tightly it will be twisted and the more rapid will be the coil of
the covering leaves. In order to compress the core at the point where
the wrapping leaves are applied we employ a small mallet which by
the mechanism is caused to strike upon the core in rapid succession.
to describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a plan view; Figure 2 a side view, partly in section;
Figure an end view, and Figure 4 a transverse section, of a machine
constructed according to our Invention.
a is the framing of the machine; b is a table upon which the tobacco
leaves which are to form the core and the outer covering of the twist
are laid in heaps; the form of the table b is indicated by dotted lines
in the plan view, Figure 1, the table not being shown in full in order
that the form of the framing may be seen clearly; c is a smaller raised
table at the points where the core and covering are fed into the machine.
The core as it passes into the machine lies in the grooves c³ of the
table c; the entrance end of this groove is enlarged as shown at Figure 2,
so that the core as it is roughly made up in the hands of the workman
may enter freely into the machine. The leaves which are to form the
covering are fed forward up the inclined side c² of the table c; by means
of another workman standing at the side of the machine these leaves
are by the workman passed endwise up the incline, and as their forward
ends pass under the core which is being revolved the leaves will be
wound up around it. The covering leaves are placed upon the incline c*
with their ends lapping one over the other so as to form a continuous
band, the workman constantly placing fresh covering leaves behind and
somewhat overlapping those which are being wound up around the
core; d is the frame carrying the capstan e and reel f, upon which the
twist is wound up; the frame is composed of two discs d¹ connected
together by four rods, as is seen in Figures 1 and 2. The disc at the back
end of the machine has a hollow axis & projecting back from it which
is capable of revolving freely around the fixed hollow spindle g, which
at its rear end is carried by the framing of the machine. Upon the
exterior of the hollow axis d is a driving wheel h formed in steps,
upon any one of which a driving belt may be passed; this wheel is
capable of revolving freely around the hollow axis, but can be made

page_text: fast therewith by a coned friction wheel k being forced endwise
along the shaft by springs 1, and so caused to engage with corres-
ponding coned surfaces on the interior of the driving wheel. When
it is desired to stop the machine the friction wheel k is moved
away from the driving wheel h by means of the clutch lever m (sec
Figure 1); the end of this lever lies between flanges which pass
around the friction wheel, and when the clutch lever is turned to
disengage the friction wheel from the driving wheel the two ends of a
small projection or enlargement on the under side of the lever near its
end are by the turning of the lever caused to bear against the two
flanges, and they put such an amount of friction upon the flanges as
at once to stop the axis d and frame d from rotating. The clutch lever
is by a rod m¹ connected to a short arm n² on an axis n near the front
end of the machine; on this axis is a lever handle n' by which the axis
can be turned, so that if the workmen fail either in supplying a sufficient
quantity of leaf to the end of the core or a continuous succession of
leaves for the covering, either of them can at once stop the machine
by shifting the lever n³, this lever being in close proximity to both of
the workmen. The capstan or drum e is carried by bearings from the
disc d which is at the front end of the machine, and it is caused to
revolve by a worm wheel upon its axis engaging with a worm, on the
axis of which is a toothed wheel o gearing with a wheel on the axis
of the bevil wheel p; this bevil wheel as the frame d is revolved rolls
around the fixed bevil wheel q, and is thus caused to turn on its own
axis and so transmits a revolving motion to the capstan; a tubular
passage is formed through the centre of this fixed wheel through which
the twist is led as it passes from the groove c¹ of the table c. The
axis of the reel upon which the twist is wound is supported in frames
fixed to the rods of the frame d; on the axis of the reel is a grooved
pulley faround which passes a cord f which is also led over guiding
pulleys and around a pulley which can turn freely around a tube r',
which enters into the end of the hollow axis g. The back end of the
tube is closed and it is pressed backwards by means of the spiral
spring & within it; the strength of this spring may be varied by causing
the disc against which the forward end of the spring bears to move
towards or from the rear end of the tube and so more or less compress
the spring, this is done by turning round the screw stem which carries
the disc t. At the forward end of the tuber is a collar which is by
the spring a drawn against the side of the pulley ", and thus the pully

page_text: is held against the end of the fixed hollow bearing g, and by this means
the rotation of the pulley r is retarded, and so the force with which
the reel tends to wind up the twist can be adjusted. At the back
end of the frame d is a grooved wheel d³ which by a cord drives a
pulley on the axis t, and this axis by another grooved wheel gives
motion by a cord to a pulley on the axis u, upon which is a crank u¹
which gives motion to the mallet or beater which is to strike against
the core of tobacco leaves, and consolidate it just at the point where the
covering leaves are applied to it; this mallet is carried by arms which
at their rear end are jointed to a link and which are also received
between two pieces of cork or flexible material, one piece of cork rests
against a fixed stop and the other piece is pressed towards the stop
by means of the bent spring w. The crank which gives motion to the
hammer is of such a length that when the mallet is by the crank caused
to strike a blow upon the twisted core of tobacco the crank will not
have passed over the centre of its stroke, and consequently the spring w
has to yield to allow the crank to turn, and thus after giving the blow
to the twist of tobacco it gives to it a powerful squeeze. The mallet
strikes down upon the twist as it lies in the groove c', and thus the
twist of tobacco is unable to escape from the squeeze given to it by
the mallet, and this squeezing is given to the twist just at the point
where the covering leaves are being lapped around it; the covering
leaves will thus be caused to bind tightly around the core. In order
that the crank u¹ which works the mallet may be carried round at
the time of giving the squeeze to the tobacco twist a small fly wheel u³
is placed upon its axis, and in order that the action of the mallet may
be at once arrested if the machine is stopped a small wooden break
block x is at this time caused to be forced against the periphery of the
fly wheel. The block x is for this purpose carried at one end on a
pin x, and at its other end it is connected by a rod to a small arm y
on the axis of the disengaging lever; z is a roller which is carried by
an arm on the pin 2, and this pin is turned by a spring 22 in such
manner as to press the roller against the twist of tobacco and so keep
it in the groove c¹.

page_text: First. Arranging machinery for twisting tobacco in such manner
that a core of tobacco leaves in connection with spinning or twisting
apparatus may be pieced or made up by a workman at a suitable table,
and may then have covering leaves of tobacco applied to it and lapped
around it with a more rapid spiral, the amount of twist on the core
and the length of the spiral of the covering leaves being under the
control of the workman and regulated by the amount by which he
checks the rotation of the core.
Second. Compressing a core of tobacco leaves by a reciprocating
mallet or pressing instrument at or near the spot at which covering
leaves are applied to it.
Third. The arranging machinery for twisting tobacco, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ward, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
THOMAS WARD. (L.s.)
Witness,
RICHARD HITCHCOCK.