AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR » MANUFACTURING CIGARS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Whitfield Tanner, of Providence, Rhode
Island, United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
» MANUFACTURING CIGARS."
Sealed the 28th February 1873, and dated the 26th October 1872.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Whitfield Tanner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 26th October 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WHITFIELD TANNER, of Providence, Rhode Island, United States of
America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING CIGARS," and have petitioned Her Majesty

page_text: to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration
that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Whitfield Tanner, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming a
part of this Specification :-
This Invention is an improvement upon the machine for which Letters
Patent, dated the 3rd day of August 1872, No. 2329, were granted to
George Haseltine, as a communication from me, for "Improvements in
Machinery for Manufacturing Cigars." The said Invention relates to
the construction of a machine wherein shall be combined the mechanism
for accomplishing the several different operations required for the
manufacture of a cigar, and for which two or more machines have hereto-
fore been necessary. The said machine makes the "bunch" or "filling,'
and moulds, binds, wraps, and finishes the cigar, that is to say, the
manufacture of the cigar with the exception of cutting the wrapper
and squaring or cutting off the "lighting" or
"tuck end is com-
menced and completed in the same machine by one operator, and in
one continuous operation.
"
"
"
In the manufacture of cigars by the machinery hitherto used it has
been customary for one operator to make the "bunch or "filler' in
one machine, and to pass the same to the wrapping or finishing machine
where the cigar is completed by another operator. By means of my
improved machine I economise space, time, and labour, and defects or
imperfections occasionally occurring in the cigars made by two or more
machines and interrupted operations are avoided.
Another advantage obtained by the use of my improved machine is
that in the manufacture of cheap cigars the binder or inner wrapper
may be altogether dispensed with.
Also an operator can more easily and quickly learn to make good
cigars in this machine than by the other machines heretofore employed,
and as each cigar is commenced and finished by the same operator he is

page_text: entirely responsible for its condition or quality, and bad or careless
workmanship will be detected and assigned without difficulty to the
proper person.
The essential mechanical parts or elements required for the manu-
facture of cigars, are a series of rotary mould or shaping rollers, an end
gauge or compressor, and a contrivance for pointing the cigar end.
Some of the mould rollers are supported in stationary bearings and form
the bed of the mould, while the others are supported in adjustable
bearings; and my present Invention consists in the combination of these
contrivances in one machine in such a manner that the same will
conveniently and advantageously accomplish the various operations
required in the manufacture of a cigar as herein-before explained.

page_text: the
the standard f; the said releasing roller remains in gear with
central pinion except when thrown back by the trigger lever, the said
springs then yielding and allowing the roller d and its supporting bar d'
to be thrown back to permit the removal of the cigars.
The end compressor is a rod or bar h fitted to slide within the shaft i
and provided with a head or point he which is preferably fitted to turn or
swivel on the end of the said rod; h³ is a sleeve provided with a spring
arranged to bear upon a flat portion on the shaft i, and thereby retain
the compressor h in any position in which it may be adjusted.
The top roller j is fitted to turn freely in bearings in the frame k; the
bearing is dovetailed in the said frame and secured by a screw or pin;
the purpose of this separate bearing is to permit the said top roller to be
conveniently placed in the frame k; the pinion is preferably made
separately and secured on the roller spindle after the same has been
placed in its bearings, but if desired I may form the said pinion with a
shank and drive the same into a hole bored in the roller; the frame k is
pivotted at ¹ to the standards b, and the said frame turns upon an axis
or hinges to raise and lower the top roller; the said frame is provided
with a thumb piece k³ of convenient form to permit it to be adjusted by
the hand of the operator, who is thus enabled to readily and conveniently
effect the releasing and closing of the said top roller. Projecting from
the pivoted frame are two arms ', whose extremities are provided
with antifriction rollers ; below these rollers are placed the springs 1;
these springs are secured to the standards 6 or to the bed a, and are so
formed and arranged that in adjusting the said top roller frame its
axis or hinges the antifriction rollers run upon the said springs, and by the
pressure of the latter the frame is securely held when adjusted in either
the position shewn in Figure 3 or that shown in Figure 4. By the use
of these contrivances for releasing and holding the top roller I free the
machine from the encumbrance of the treadle and the apparatus for
connecting the same to the top roller, which apparatus was a great
obstruction to the operator in cigar machines in present use, and the
machine is rendered more portable and convenient, and the making of
the cigars is facilitated.
upon
The mould is terminated at the end opposite to the compressor / by the
the

page_text: horn n, is carried on the end of the releasing roller and the horn o on
the top roller frame; but it must be observed that these horns do not
rotate with the rollers.
The main shaft i is supported in bearings in the standards and p
and is geared in connection with the driving wheel by the wheel and
pinion, 3, or it may be driven by other convenient means. The
rollers c, d, j, the horns or fingers m, n, o, and the guards may be
made of metal, glass, hard rubber, or other suitable material.
In making cigars in this improved machine I take a sufficient
quantity of loose tobacco leaves to fill the mould or space between the
rollers and press the same by hand into the said space while the top
roller is raised or opened (like the lid of a box), as shewn in Figures 1.
and 3; I then turn down the said top roller (or close the lid of the mould),
as shewn in Figures 2 and 4, and turn the said rollers by means of the
driving wheel . This operation gives the tobacco the form of a cigar.
Then when desired the binder consisting of a portion of a tobacco leaf
is inserted at the proper angle to the axis of the mould and the revolu-
tion of the rollers winds the same upon the enclosed tobacco. While
the binder is being thus applied, the end compressor is adjusted to
force the end of the cigar into the horns and thereby form the point;
then a wrapper consisting of a portion of a tobacco leaf cut to a suitable
shape is inserted in the same manner as the aforesaid binder, and by the
revolution of the machine is wound upon the cigar; gum is applied to
the end of this wrapper for the purpose of securing the point of the
cigar; the compressor is then drawn back, the top roller and releasing
roller are raised, and the hand wheel turned slightly, the cigar is then
taken from the mould finished except squaring the "tuck" end which
may be effected in any convenient manner.
Having thus fully described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I wish it understood that I do not claim as of
the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, the bed
rollers, the releasing rollers, the end compressor, the horns or the top
roller with their operative contrivances when taken separately, or the
exclusive use of the same except when combined and adapted in the
manner and for the purposes herein set forth, but what I claim is, a
machine for manufacturing cigars having a top roller supported and

page_text: horns or fingers, and the end compressor acting in the manner and for
the purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Whitfield Tanner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
GEORGE WHITFIFLD TANNER. (L.S.)
Witness,
WM. ROBT. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.