IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERINGS FOR THE ENDS OF CIGARS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Betts, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Capsule Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERINGS FOR THE ENDS OF
CIGARS."
Sealed the 13th June 1862, and dated the 19th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Betts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
December 1861.
I, WILLIAM BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Patent Capsule Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERINGS FOR THE
ENDS OF CIGARS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of manufacturing soft metal
coverings to be applied to those ends of cigars which are inserted into the
mouth, for the purpose of protecting the same from injury when smoking,
and for dispensing with the necessity for twisting the leaf at the end of the
cigar.
According to this Invention it is proposed to manufacture these coverings
in a stamping machine constructed on the principle of the bottle capsule
machines, which are now well known and extensively used, but with such
modifications that great rapidity of manufacture may be combined with little

page_text: or no waste of material, so that the cost of manufacture may be reduced to a
minimum. The coverings are stamped out of dises of soft metal, which may
be either perforated in the centre before being introduced to the punches and
dies, or perforated during the process of stamping, by having the punches or
dies provided with suitable piercers. Any suitable soft metal may be used
in the manufacture of these cigar tips or coverings, but it is more particularly
intended to employ for this purpose the material employed in the manufacture
of bottle capsules known as Betts' metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Betts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Capsule Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Betts, Her special license that I, the said William Betts, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Betts, my executors, administrators, or 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 Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF COVERINGS FOR THE ENDS OF CIGARS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Betts, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the
hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the same was to be
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 William Betts, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, referénce being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of manufacturing soft metal
coverings to be applied to those ends of cigars which are inserted into the
mouth, for the purpose of protecting the same from injury when smoking,
and for dispensing with the necessity for twisting the leaf at the end of the
cigar.
According to this Invention it is proposed to manufacture these coverings
in a stamping machine constructed on the principle of the bottle capsule
machines, which are now well known and extensively used, but with such
modifications that great rapidity of manufacture may be combined with little
or no waste of material, so that the cost of manufacture may be reduced to a
minimum. The coverings are stamped out of discs of soft metal, which may
be either perforated in the centre before being introduced to the punches and
dies, or perforated during the process of stamping by having the punches or
dies provided with suitable piercers. Any suitable soft metal may be used in
the manufacture of these cigar tips or coverings, but it is more particularly
intended to employ for this purpose the material employed in the manufacture
of bottle capsules known as Betts' metal.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood. I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a front elevation of
a stamping machine suitable for making these cigar tips; Figure 2 is a trans-
verse section; Figure 3 is a corresponding plan of the same; and Figure 4
represents a plan and side elevation, full size, of the cigar tip complete.
A, A, are a number of punches or stampers, and B; B, are a corresponding
number of matrices or dies, these punches and dies being so shaped as to
stamp up the cigar tip to the desired form from a flat disc of soft metal, the
tip being transferred from one punch and die to another until it has passed
through the entire row or series, two of such rows or series being provided in
the same machine. The punches A, A, are carried by the two plates C, C,
which are connected together by the metal frames D, D, within which work
the two eccentrics E, E. These eccentrics are embraced by the collars F, F,
which are free to slide inside the frames D, and accommodate themselves to

page_text: the positions of the eccentrics during their revolution. The eccentrics E are
keyed on the driving shaft G, which is provided with fly wheels H, H, and
fast and loose driving pullies I, I', and works in ordinary bearings in the
plummer blocks K, K. The rotation of the eccentrics E imparts a to-and-fro
horizontal motion to the plates C, C, sliding upon the supporting blocks L, L,
and to the punches or stampers A, A. The dies or matrices B, B, are
contained in suitable holders or brackets M, fixed to the longitudinal beams N
of the main framing. Immediately in front of each series of dies there is a
carriage (shown more clearly in Figure 2), supported by the longitudinally
reciprocating bar P, which receives a reciprocating motion in a longitudinal
direction equal to the distance from centre to centre of the punches in each
row or series by means of the eccentrics Q, Q, rotating between the anti-
friction rollers R, R, carried by the brackets S, S, secured to the bars P, P.
These eccentrics Q are carried by the two separate cross shafts U, U, which
carry each a mitre wheel W, W, gearing into a third mitre wheel Y, fast on
a short shaft of its own, each shaft receiving its rotatory motion direct from
the main driving shaft G, through the intervention of the spur wheels Z, Z.
The disc of soft metal to be manufactured into a cigar tip is dropped into a
suitable mouthpiece or receiver immediately in front of the first one of each
series of dies, and is held there until the.advance of the plate C causes the
corresponding punch or stamper to force it partly into the die behind it,
thereby slightly dishing it at the centre. As the punch recedes, it carries
back with it the partially stamped disc, and deposits it between the fingers or
holders a on the carriage O, a stripper-plate b, forked at its upper end, serving
to strip off the partially formed capsule or tip from the end of the punch as
the latter continues to recede. In the meantime a fresh disc is dropped into
the mouthpiece again, and the carriage is slid longitudinally, so as to present
the partially formed cigar tip in front of the second punch and its corresponding
die, so that at the next forward stroke of the plate C it will receive a still
further setting up in the die, whilst at the same stroke the disc last supplied
receives its first impress, and so on, a constant succession of discs being fed
in and passing through the machine until they are delivered by the last
punch or stamper of each series, in the form represented in Figure 4.
In order to avoid unnecessary repetition and complexity in the Drawings,
I have indicated only some of the several punches or stampers and dies, the
positions of the rest being shewn by the centre lines colored in red, neither
have 1 considered it requisite for the same reasons to repeat all the working
parts in every Figure.

page_text: Having now described and partially ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the mode of manufacturing metal tips
or coverings for the ends of cigars as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Betts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, One thousand eight