Improvements in and relating to Tobacco-cutting Machinery and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 29th July, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 21st Apr., 1893—Accepted, 2nd June, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Tobacco-cutting Machinery and
the like.
WILLIAM DAVIES of The Hubits, St. Martins, Guernsey, English Channel
Islands, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to appliances for pressing and cutting tobacco simultaneously
and consists essentially in certain improvements in machinery for that purpose,
comprising one, two or more rollers, cylinders or druins mounted parallel to each
other (when more than one is used) and revolving in suitable bearings on a stationary
frame. Immediately above each of these rollers another roller is mounted working
in vertical sliding bearings within the stationary frame, each such upper roller
weighted down (independently of any other roller) in the direction of contact with
the lower roller by link-rods, levers, springs & weights and both rollers rotated by
suitable gearing with a regular or with an intermittent motion causing the feed of
tobacco to travel in the direction of and through an orifice or mouthpiece having a
rising and falling lip rising and falling by connection with and in accord with the
ascent and descent of the link-rods and where the protruding tobacco is sliced off by
kuives fixed in a revolving disk or wheel, through apertures in which, the slices or
shreds of tobacco are delivered on to vibratory plates caused to vibrate by the
rotation of the disk or wheel.
Dated this 27th day of July 1892.
WILLIAM DAVIES,
Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Tobacco-cutting Machinery and
the like.
I WILLIAM DAVIES, of The Hubits, St. Martins, Guernsey, Channel Islands,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
The accompanying drawings represent views of my improved apparatus for
pressing and cutting tobacco simultaneously. The invention relates to appliances
for the more expeditious and perfect manufacture of cut tobacco and consists
essentially of one, two, or more horizontal rollers, cylinders, or drums, mounted
parallel to each other (when more than one is used) and revolving in suitable
bearings in a stationary frame, and immediately above each of which rollers another
roller is mounted, working in vertical slide bearings within the stationary frame,
each of which bearings having connected therewith a vertical link-rod the lower end of
which is jointed to another rod ascending in an oblique direction to connection with
a horizontal or nearly horizontal lever weighted down by adjustable weights to
give to the tobacco the desired pressure. The lower rollers are driven by tooth,
worm, friction, or other gear, and the upper rollers are driven in the same way, but
in the opposite direction to the lower rollers and each of the upper rollers ascends
or descends independently of any other roller. The tobacco is placed in a trough
and advanced with or without the assistance of a travelling band, to contact with
the revolving rollers, which cause the feed to pass between them in the direction of,
and through, an orifice or mouthpiece, or more than one orifice or mouthpiece,

page_text: The pinhole in the eccentric rod is elongated for the purpose of arresting the
progress of the feed of tobacen during the instant that a knife is passing the
mouthpiece, and at the end of said pinhole an adjusting screw is introduced to
decrease or increase the elongation of the hole as desired.
Fig. 1. in the annexed drawings represents one external side elevation of my
machine;
Fig. 2. external elevation of the opposite side;
Fig. 3, external side elevation of a second series of framework, rollers and
troughs, when such is used to the same cutting disk;
Fig. 4, the opposite external side clevation."
Fig. 5, plan showing one series of rollers and trough and a second of similar
construction to be worked with the first series when required, by connection with
the axles of the first series of lower rollers, by clutches wheels, or other suitable gear.
Fig. 6. front elevation shewing disk or flywheel, the delivery apertures, brake,
removable section and (by dotted lines) the sharpening breastplate or grid and the
mouthpieces.
Fig. 7, a vertical longitudinal section showing the slotted slides or shutters and
the connection of the brake and the strap fork lever.
Fig. 8. rear elevation shewing eccentric, pawls, oscillating lever, rack, and
swivelled rack rods for securing pinion.
Fig. 9, shewig knife inserted in periphery of disk wheel.
Fig. 10, the eccentric disk and connecting rod, shewing movable pins in slot, the
rack, clasp, clongated pinhole and adjusting screw.
A (Fig. 5) main driving shaft. B; (Fig. 1) disk or flywheel. C; (Fig. 8)
eccentric and connecting rod. D; feeling trough. E; (Fig. 1) countershaft.
F: travelling band roller. G; (Fig. 5) lower rollers. II, 11, (Fig. 5) fast and
loose pullies. I; oscillating lever having at one end a pawl J, swivelled, so as to
rest its alge in the groove of a grooved wheel K and by its friction therewith to
cause it to revolve along with a cogwheel attached to its inner side gearing with
cogwheel fixed on the end of countershaft E (Fig. 1) to give motion to M,
worms, fixed upon the other end of said countershaft gearing with worm wheels N
and fixed on the axle ends of lower rollers G (Fig. 5) to drive them.
U: (Fig. 8) is a pawl swivelled on the framework or standard and suspended over,
and resting its edge in the groove of grooved wheel K, to prevent, by friction,
retrograde motion of said wheel. On the axle of front lower roller G (Fig. 5) is
ixel a gear wheel P', which gears with an intermediate wheel Q (Fig. 1) which
latter gears with a second intermediate wheel R having its axle working in S,
linkbearings the upper ends of which have their axis on the end of axle of upper
roller T on which is keyed U, the driving wheel of said upper roller, which gears
with R and the lower ends have their axis on the axle of Q the first intermediate
wheel and by which arrangement the upper roller is caused to revolve in unison
with, but in the contrary direction to, the lower roller notwithstanding the varying
distance between the upper and lower roller caused by the varying thickness of the.
feed passing between them. V, V; are vertical bars or linkrods the upper ends
of which are attached to the axle ends of the upper rollers and the lower ends.
are jointed to other rods W ascending obliquely to connexion with levers X
weighted by adjustable weights to give the desired pressure to the tobacco.
Y(Fig. 2) gear wheel fixed on axle of rear lower roller G, gearing with inter-
mediate wheel a which gears with a second intermediate wheel which gears
with the driving wheel of upper roller d by linkbearings S, causing said upper
roller to revolve in unison with said rear lower roller, in the same manner as, and
in unison with, the front upper roller T and front lower roller G, at the same
speed and for the same purpose, but with independent action. e, e; (Fig. 4) are
spur wheels fixed on the axles of the lower rollers of second series which when out
of gear with the other or first series of lower rollers are rotated by pinion/
turned by hand power when it is required to introduce or to withdraw a feed of
"

page_text: having a rising and falling lip, rising and falling by connections with, and in accord
with, the ascent and descent of the vertical rods and upper roller nearest to said
lip, and where at said mouthpiece or mouthpieces the protruding tobacco is sliced
off by knives fixed to a revolving disk or wheel, rotated by any suitable power, and
stopped rotating, by the application of a brake, attached to and applied by, the
same lever or fork which guides the driving strap on to or off the driving and loose
pullies, and through apertures in which disk, the slices of tobacco are delivered
on to vibratory shutes or plates, caused to vibrate by slight contact with the
rotating disk, the cutting knives on which, are so fixed as to be pressed against and
glide past a smooth or rough or partly smooth and partly rough breastplate or grid
of hardened steel or other imetal, extending in direction on all sides from the centre
of said disk so as to receive the pressure of the knives equally at all or any parts of
the revolution of the disk and to keep them true across the face surfaces of the
mouthpieces and in sharp condition. The disk which is also the flywheel, is of
anal, and is placed on the end of a driving shaft having fast and loose pullies on it,
and is kept up to the desired pressure of contact with the said breastplate or grid
hy suitable adjusting screws in and upon the driving shaft. The disk has n
removable section, commencing at the cutting edge of the knife, to allow space
(the disk being at rest) for the tobacco to pass through when introducing a feed.
When the feed becomes sufficiently firm to commence cutting, the weights are let
down, and the first cut is made by drawing the disk round by hand-the section is
then replaced. The knives are attached to the disk wheel by inserting them at the
periphery and sliding them along in grooves in the back of the disk to the required
distance, when a snap-spring or catch secures them against tangential force. The
interstices or open spaces in the frame left open by the ascent of the upper rollers
are closed by slotted slides or shutters connected with the axles of the upper
rollers, which as they ascend draw up the said shutters and as they descend push
them down again in dovetailed spaces within the framework or standards: the faces
of said shutters to be flush with the surface of the feeding passage.
The upper
slots of said shutters embrace the upper roller axles, and the lower slots embrace
the axles of the lower rollers, and the bottoms of the lower slots when they reach
contact with the axles of the lower rollers, limit the extent to which the upper
rollers may ascend. The ends of the lips of the mouthpieces are attached to
vertical sliding rods within the standards. Intermittent notion imparted by an
eccentric or more than one eccentric, fixed on the driving shaft, having slots
through them from face to face and movable pins therein for regulating the length of
stroke of the connecting rods, which at their lower ends are attached to levers to
work ratchet wheels and pawls, or to oscillating levers or rods having their axis on
the axles of a cogwheel having grooves, or grooved wheels on the same axle,
attached to its sides or incorporated therewith. In one end of each oscillating
lever a pawl is pivoted, which by friction in said groove causes the cogwheel to
revolve, in gear with another cogwheel, fixed on the countershaft which works the
rollers. Another pawl is suspended swivelled over the grooved wheel, having its
edge resting in the groove to prevent retrograde movement of said cogwheels.
The slots in the eccentric disk have the lower or the upper edges notched, and
the pins have on their ends pinion wheels, to work in the said notched edges, as
a pinion in a rack. The position of the pin in the slot is altered as desired to
vary the width of shred of tobacco and at such position it is locked by a clasp.
swivelled at one end on the eccentric disk and at the other end shaped inwardly
to correspond with the external form of the pinion or a thumbnut attached to it 5
and having a pointer to a graduated scale on the eccentric disk. On the ends
of the pin of the eccentric rod, pinion, wheels are fixed, to gear with racks on
the sides of the oscillating lever, for the purpose of altering the distance of
the pin from the axis of said lever, as a further provision for change of cut,
and at the desired position it is secured by a rack rod, springed or otherwise, 5
swivelled on the end of the oscillating lever and gearing with the said pinion wheel.

page_text: tobacco independently of connexion with the other or first series of rollers.
(Fig. 6) apertures in the disk through which the slices of tobacco pass on to
delivery shutes or plates (Fig. 1) which by slight contact with the face of the
revolving disk are caused to vibrate to prevent lodgment thereon of the cut
tobacco. The dotted lines (Fig. 6) represent the breastplate or grid of hard
metal, behind the disk, against which breastplate or grid the knives pass to keep
n a section of the
them in sharp condition and true across the face of the feed.
disk removable so as to allow space for the first portion of tobacco to pass
through when introducing as feed; when the feed becomes sufficiently firm, the
first portion is cut off by a turn of the disk wheel and the section is replaced,
secured by any suitable method. ; (Fig. 7) slotted shutters or slides working in
grooves or slides within the framework or standards; the upper slots encompass
the axle ends of the upper rollers and the lower slots encompass the axle ends of the
lower rollers; when the upper roller axles ascend to contact with the upper ends
of the upper slots, the said shutters or slides are carried up and when in descending,
the axles of the upper rollers arrive at contact with the lower ends of the upper
slots the said shutters or slides are pushed down again; thus the openings in the
standards in which the vertical sliding bearings work are always kept closed as the
feed of tobacco is passing through between the rollers. 1; brake and brakelever
actuated by lever m which guides the strap fork. ; (Fig. 5) clutch wheels for
connecting the lower rollers of the second series with the lower rollers of the other
or first series, when desired. a; (Fig. 7) travelling band. Z; (Fig. 1) ratchets
and pawls for holding levers X when lifted for introducing feed. (Fig. 9) is
end section of knife inserted in the periphery of diskwheel B. q; (Fig. 10) slot in
eccentric disk with rack. movable pin and pinionwheel to alter the width of
the shred of cut tobacco. 8; flexible securing clasp shaped internally at one end
so as to correspond with the external form of the pinion wheel r, and at the other
end swivelled on the side of the eccentric disk. To alter the cut the said clasp is
drawn off the pinion wheel which is then rotated along the rack to either end of
the slot (as fine or coarse cut is desired) increasing or decreasing the distance
between the centre of the eccentric disk and the driving shaft so as to give a
greater or a lesser intermittent impulsion as required, of the feed to obtain any
desired alteration in the width of the shred of cut tobacco. t; elongated pinholes
in the eccentric rod in which the pin when carried up elevates the end of the
oscillating lever I with which it is connected, but in descending does not depress
said lever end until the upper end of said pinhole arrives at contact with the pin;
meanwhile the feed is not being impelled and the knives pass the mouthpieces
slicing off the tobacco protruded by the previous intermittent impulsion and free
of pressure from the feed. ; is a set screw for adjusting the necessary extent of
play in the said elongated pinhole. w; (Fig. 8) pinion wheel and racks for further
extending the range of width of shred of cut tobacco, to alter which the upper,
swivelled, rack is lifted out of gear with the pinion wheel which is then rotated
along the lower rack nearer to or further from the fulcrum of oscillating lever I
as fine or coarser cut is required and at the desired position it is secured by
dropping the upper rack into gear again with the pinion wheel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is ;
Combination of disk B, removable section a, breastplate or grid i, brake and
brakelever connected with and actuated by the saine lever that guides the
driving strap, the notched edges or racks to the eccentric slot y, pinion r, securing
clasps, pinion wheel and racks w, elongated pinhole t, adjusting screw v, oscillating
lever and pawls J and U, linkbearings S, link rods V, oblique connecting
rods W, slotted slides k, clutch wheels y, spur wheels e, e, and pinion, the
knives 2, inserted in the disk B at its periphery, and the general construction and

page_text: arrangement of the machinery in the manner and for the purposes herein before set
forth and described.
Dated this Eighteenth day of April 1893
Declared, at St. Peter Port, Island of Guernsey,
this Eighteenth day of April, 1893, before me,
JOHN C. LE MOTTEE,
Notary Public,
Guernsey.
WILLIAM