Improvements in the Manufacture of Cigar Lights, Fusees, or Vesuvians, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Mar., 1886.
Complete Left, 31st Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 1st Mar., 1887.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Cigar Lights, Fusees, or
Vesuvians, and Apparatus therefor.
I GEORGE ALBERT SWEETSER, of 35, Kennington Park Road, in the county of
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to further improvements in the manufacture of that class of
cigar lights, fusees or vesuvians for which Letters Patent were granted to me
No. 12551, dated 18th September 1884.
In the manufacture of cigar lights, fusees, or vesuvians by squeezing, or forcing the
material through a die or tube, in the manner described in the specification of my
said former Patent; the material used has to be in a comparatively wet state, and it
comes out of the die or tube soft and has to be dried before it can be held in the
frames for dipping in igniting composition or otherwise manipulated.
My present invention relates to the manufacture of cigar lights, fusees or vesuvians
by moulding or stamping them around or on a core, or without a core, by means of
suitable apparatus, from material in a comparatively dry state so that they are hard
when they come out of the moulds and can be immediately handled.
According to one arrangement for carrying out my invention, I employ a series of
moulds, the internal size of which is the length and width of the fusees to be formed,
the tops of these moulds are left open and plungers are provided to exactly fit the
moulds; the said plungers are mounted on a cross-head capable of a vertical
reciprocating motion, actuated by any suitable gear; over the openings of these
moulds I arrange two shoots open at the bottoms leading from hoppers, one containing
combustible composition, and the other containing non-combustible composition, both
in a powdered but damp state each shoot covers half the length of the whole series of
moulds, the shoots meeting in the centre so that the composition will fall into the
moulds by its own gravity or it can be fed in by any suitable means.
The shoots receive a horizontal reciprocating motion, both alternately away from,
and towards the centre of the moulds thus allowing a free passage for the plungers to
enter the moulds; when a core is used one end of each of the moulds is perforated for

page_text: the passage of the same; the bottoms of the series of moulds are formed of a second
series of plungers mounted on a cross-head fitted with projections to adjust the top
and bottom plungers from coming closer together than a prearranged distance
regulated by the thickness of fusees to be formed, this cross-head is held up to its
place by a spring or by other suitable means. Upon the shoots connected with the
hoppers containing the combustible and non-combustible compositions passing over
the moulds as herein before described the moulds would be filled with the compositions,
that is to say one half with the combustible portion forming the burning end and the
other half with the non-combustible composition forming the stem; the cores are
passed through the holes in the ends of the moulds by suitable feed rollers and the
top plungers descending, compress the compositions contained in the moulds until the
cross-head upon which these plungers are mounted comes in contact with the projections
from the bottom cross-head, the space between the top and bottom plungers regulating
the thickness of the fusees formed; the top cross-head descending with superior force
to the resistance offered by the spring holding the bottom plungers up into their
place, forces the bottom plungers through the bottom and clear of the moulds carrying
the fusees with them; the plungers in their descent crop off the wires forming the
cores, if cores are used. The fusees have now only to be pushed out by any suitable
arrangement from between the top and bottom plungers and guided into frames to be
ready for dipping into igniting composition. The shoots instead of covering half the
moulds as herein-before described, can each be arranged to slide over any suitable
length of the moulds, according to the proportion of burning portion and stem of fusee
required.
It will be obvious that instead of the arrangement hereinbefore described the fusees
can be stamped out of sheets of the combined materials.
It will also be obvious that only one hopper may be used, namely, that enclosing the
combustible material, the unused portion of the core serving as the stem of the fusee.

page_text: Vesuvians, and Apparatus. therefor.
1, GEORGE ALBERT SWEETSER, of 35, Kennington Park Road, in the county of
Surrey, 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:-
This invention relates to further improvements in the manufacture of that class-of..
cigar lights, fusees, or vesuvians, for which Letters Patent were granted to me.
No. 12551 dated 18th September 1884.
In the manufacture of cigar lights, fusees, or vesuvians, by squeezing or forcing the
material through a die or tube, in the manner described in the Specification of my
said former Patent, the material used has to be in a comparatively wet state, and it
comes ont of the die or tube soft, and has to be dried before it can be held in the
frames for dipping in igniting composition or otherwise manipulated.
My present invention relates to the manufacture of cigar lights, fusees, or vesuvians,
by moulding, pressing or stamping them around or on a core, or without a core, by
means of suitable apparatus, from material in a comparatively dry state so that they
"are hard when they come out of the moulds and can be immediately handled.
According to one arrangement for carrying out my invention I employ a series of
moulds the internal size of which is the length and width of the fusees to be formed;
the tops of these moulds are left open and plungers are provided to exactly fit the
moulds; the said plungers are mounted on a cross-head capable of a vertical :
reciprocating. motion, actuated by any suitable gear; over the openings of these
moulds I arrange two shoots or hoppers open at the bottoms, one containing combustible
composition and the other containing non-combustible composition, both in a powdered.
but damp state; each shoot covers half the length of the whole series of moulds, the
shoots meeting in the centre so that the composition will fall into the moulds. by-its
own gravity or it can be fed in by any suitable means.
"
The shoots receive a horizontal reciprocating motion, both alternately away from,
and towards the centre of the moulds thus allowing a free passage for the plungers to
enter the moulds; when a core is used one end of each of the moulds is perforated for "
the passage of the same; the bottoms of the series of moulds are formed of a second
series of plungers mounted on a cross-head fitted with projections. to prevent the top
and bottom plungers from coming closer together than a pre-arranged - distance
regulated by the thickness of fusees to be formed; this cross-head is held up to its
place by a spring or by other suitable means..
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawings in which figure I is a front
elevation of a machine suitable for manufacturing cigar lights, fusees,' or vesuvians «
:

page_text: from material in a comparatively dry or hard state according to my present invention,
the front hopper and the mechanism for operating the apparatus being removed;
figure 2 is a plan of the apparatus, and figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the
same on line A B of figure 1. Similar letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
a, a, are the moulds the internal size of which is the length and width of the fusecs
to be formed, the tops of the moulds being left open as clearly shewn in figure 3;
,, are the plungers which exactly fit the moulds a, a; a' is the cross head carrying
the plungers, b, and having a reciprocating motion communicated to it by suitable
gearing (not shown in the drawings) so as to cause the plungers to enter and be
withdrawn from the moulds a, a; A and B are the two shoots or hoppers, the shoot A
containing the non combustible composition and the shoot B containing the combustible
composition both in a powdered but damp state; the shoots or hoppers A and B have-
a reciprocating motion communicated to them by the said gearing, and when moved
inwards by the same to fill the moulds a, a, each shoot covers half the length of
the whole series of moulds as represented in dotted lines in figure 3; c, c, represent the
wires to form the cores of the fusees, which wires pass through one of the ends of the
moulds a, a, which ends are perforated at c', (as shewn by the dotted lines in figure 2
and by the full lines in 3) for that purpose; d, d, are the second series of plungers
carried by the cross head b¹; e, e, are the projections for preventing the top and
bottom series of plungers from coming closer together than required to give the fusees
the necessary thickness; ff, are the springs for holding the bottom series of
plungers d, d, up in their place; 9,y, are cutters on the upper plungers b, b, for shearing
off the wire e, forming the core of the fusee, on the descent of the said plungers; h, is
a slide operated by the gearing herein before referred to so as to move over the under
surface of the moulds a, a, when the fusees have been pressed or moulded (at which
time they will have been forced out at the bottoms of the moulds) whereby the fusees
are moved clear of the plungers d, d, and are free to fall down a series of shoots i,
formed in the cross head, into a suitable receptacle.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
The shoots or hoppers A and B are first supplied with non combustible and
combustible material respectively and the parts of the apparatus being in the position
shewn in full lines in figures 1, 2, and 3, and the apparatus being set in motion the
shoots or hoppers A and B will be caused to move inwards over the moulds a, a, in the
position shewn in dotted lines in figure 3 and the moulds a, a, will be thereby filled
with the compositions, that is to say, one half with the combustible portion forming
the burning end and the other half with the non-combustible composition forming the
stem; the wires c, to form the cores are then passed through the holes in the ends of
the moulds into the composition by suitable feed rollers (uot shewn in the drawings)
and the shoots or hoppers A and B move back into their former position; the top
series of plungers b, b, then descend and compress the compositions contained in the
moulds until the cross-head a¹, by which the plungers b, b, are carried comes in contact
with the projections e, e, on the bottom cross head 1, the space between the top and
bottom plungers being equal to the thickness of the fusees to be formed; the top
cross-head a', continuing to descend with superior force to the resistance offered by
the springs, holding the bottom plungers d, up in their place forces the bottom
plungers downwards out of the bottoms and clear of the moulds a, a, carrying the
fusees d', with them into the position shewn in dotted lines in figures 1 and 3;
the plungers, in their descent crop off the wires formingt he cores by means of the
cutters . The fusees d¹ are now pushed out by the slide, from between the top and
bottom plungers and fall into the receptacle herein before referred to or are guided
into frames to be ready for dipping into igniting composition; the plungers b, and d,
then resume the position shewn in the drawings and the shoots or hoppers A and B
again move over the moulds a, a, to refill them with composition and so on.
.
The shoots instead of covering half the moulds as hereinbefore described can each
be arranged to slide over any suitable length of the moulds, according to the proportion
of burning portion and stem of fusce required.

page_text: It will be obvious that instead of the arrangement hereinbefore described the fusees
can be stamped out of sheets of the combined materials.
It will also be obvious that only one hopper may be used namely that enclosing the
combustible material, the uncovered portion of the core serving as the stem of the
fusee. Or the fusees can be made without a central core.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:
1. The manufacture of cigar lights, fusees or vesuvians by moulding, pressing, or
stamping them from. suitable material in a comparatively dry or hard state (with or
without a core) in the manner substantially as herein before described.
2. The combination of parts forming the improved apparatus for manufacturing
cigar-lights, fusees or vesuvians from material in a comparatively hard state
substantially as herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawings.
G. F. REDFERN,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agent for the Applicant.