CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TOBACCO, AND WHICH MACHINERY MAY BE APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEMUEL
WELLMAN WRIGHT, of Sloane Terrace, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Tenth day of July, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Lemuel
Wellman Wright, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, my executors,
admininstrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned.
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CUTTING TOBACCO, AND WHICH MACHINERY MAY
BE APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said Lemuel Wellman Wright, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lemuel Wellman Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Improvements in Machinery for Cutting Tobacco have for their object
a mode of applying cutting knives to the leaves of tobacco without previously
pressing them into cakes, which I effect by feeding the tobacco through a long
trough, and thereby bringing it forward to the cutters progressively by means
of travelling bands. These improvements may be adapted in various ways, as
shewn by the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 is a horizontal view of a tobacco cutting engine on the improved
principle. Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken longitudinally,
shewing the construction of the feeding apparatus. Figure 3 is an end
view of the engine, taken in front of the cutters; and Figure 4 is a
partial elevation taken on the opposite side to Figure 2.
a, a, is the
trough in which leaves of tobacco are spread out lengthwise in sufficient
quantities as to thickness, to allow them to be carried between the pressing
roller. b, b, are a pair of parallel rollers, over which an endless band is passed,
which, as it travels, carries the tobacco forward. c, c, c, are the bottom plates of
the trough, of iron or other substantial material, for the purpose of forming a
firm bed to feed upon; d and e are two large rollers, and ƒ and g are two smaller
rollers mounted on axles turning in bearings in the side plates of the
trough a. Over the rollers & and g an endless band h, of strong leather or
other fit material, is tightly distended, which band h passes through an opening
in the bed plate above the larger roller d, and travels along the upper surface
of a part of the bed plate, and descends through another opening over the
smaller roller g. The rollers e and f, with a similar endless band i passed
round them, forms the pressing apparatus. A piece k is fastened into the
front of the trough for the purpose of confining and conducting the compressed
layers of tobacco leaf to the revolving cutters. The larger rollers d and e are
connected by toothed wheels 1, 1, on their axles, shewn in Figure 4. The
cutters are flat blades j, j, j, j, attached to the face of a vertical wheel m,
which is mounted on a lateral shaft n, shewn in Figures 1 and 4. The cutter
wheel m may be driven by a winch, or by any other means may be made to
revolve and to pass the cutters round in front of the delivering trough, as
shewn in Figure 3. At the reverse end of the shaft na cam wheel o is fixed,
which has as many raised parts as there are knives on the cutting wheel and

page_text: corresponding therewith. This cam is shewn in the elevation, Figure 5, taken
at the back end of the shaft n. As the wheel m and shaft n revolve the
cam o will be made to act against the lower end of a lever p, which hangs
upon a joint in a shed q fixed at the outside of the trough. From this lever p
the click r is suspended, the point of which click is held in the teeth of the
ratchet wheels by a spring. This ratchet wheel s is fixed at the end of the
screw shaft t, see Figure 4, which screw takes into the teeth cut in the con-
cave periphery of the wheel u on the axle of the roller e. It will now be
perceived, that as the cutter wheel m and its axle n with the cam o revolve,
the inequalities of the surface of the cam will cause the lever p, and with it
the click r, to rise and fall, and in so doing to take up one tooth of the
ratchet s at every stroke. Thus by successive strokes the ratchet wheels and
screw shaft t will receive a slow rotary movement, and the screw upon this
shaft, by taking into the wheel u, will cause the upper or pressing roller e to
revolve. The connecting wheels 1, 1, fixed upon the axles of the rollers d and e,
will cause those rollers to revolve simultaneously, and carry forward the endless
bands h and i, and a band from a pulley on the axle of the roller d passed
over a pulley on the end of the axle of one of the rollers b, shewn by
dots in Figure 2, gives motion to the endless bands, by which means the
tobacco in the trough a will be progressively advanced and pressed as it passes
between the rollers and endless bands, and ultimately will be discharged from
the trough in front of the machine, where it will be met and operated upon
by the knives on the face of the wheel m, and cut into fine shreads. As it is
necessary to keep the cutters pressing steadily up to the front of the trough, I
propose to apply, the edge of a wheel against the back of the cutter wheel,
mounted in a bearing with adjustment, as shewn in the horizontal view;
Figure 1. A cylindrical roller w, of wood or other fit material, covered with
cloth, is mounted on a vertical shaft at the under part of the machine, and is
made to revolve by means of a toothed wheel on the lateral shaft n, which
takes into a pinion y on the vertical roller shaft. The periphery of this roller
comes in contact with the flat surface of the knives as they pass, and by re-
volving with about double the speed of the knives, and in the same direction;
acts as a wiper to remove the juicy matter which exudes from the tobacco andl
adheres to the knife in the operation of cutting. A sufficient quantity of water
must be applied to the surface of this roller for the purpose of lubricating the
adhesive matter which may attach to the cutting edge of the knife.
Figure 6 is a horizontal view of a tobacco cutting engine, having the same
apparatus for feeding as described above, but with knives j, j, mounted upon
the peripheries of two wheels and revolving in front of the machine. Figure 7

page_text: is a side elevation of the same. In this construction of cutting engine, the
driving power is to be applied by a winch or rigger to the transverse shaft a,
at the end of which there is a bevel toothed wheel b taking into a corresponding
wheel on the lateral shaft d. At the reverse end of this lateral shaft, the
cam o is affixed, an end view of which is shewn at Figure 8. By the rotation of
the cam o, the lever and click p and r are actuated, as in the former instance,
for the purpose of driving the screw shaft t, and bringing the tobacco forward,
in the same way as described in reference to Figures 2 and 5. In this
instance, the roller w, which cleans the face of the knife, is placed upon a
horizontal axle mounted in bearings behind the cutter wheel, and which is
driven by a small pulley on the axle of the cleaning roller, and a band passed
over a larger pulley on the axle a, as shewn in Figure 6.
Another modification of the improved tobacco cutting engine is shewn in
the front elevation, Figure 9, and side views, Figure 10. In this engine, the
trough and feeding apparatus are intended to be of the same construction as
in Figures 1 and 5, but in this instance the cutting knife is a lever. In the
side view, Figure 10, a is a knife secured to the lever b, which lever works
up and down vertically upon a fulcrum pin c, and is guided by the bracket
piece d. The tobacco is brought forward upon a board by means of the endless
travelling straps and rollers, as shewn in the former Figures, and is cut by the
chopping action of the lever knife. This action of the chopping lever is pro-
duced by the rotation of the crank f fixed on one end of the shaft, which
carries the fly wheel h. This crank is connected to the end of the chopping
lever by a rod g. At the reverse end of the crank shaft f the cam.o is affixed,
which, as before, actuates a lever or rod p and click r, taking into the ratchet
wheels on the end of the screw shaft t, which works into the periphery of the
wheel u, and causes the rollers to conduct the tobacco forward, as before
described.
I also propose another method for feeding and cutting. The tobacco
leaf is to be laid into a trough or box with a top board, which is to be forced
down by screws to produce any degree of pressure, and, consequently, com-
pactness of the leaves, which may be required, and the tobacco is to be con-
ducted forward to the knives by a follower forced up by a screw, which may be
worked in the usual way. The knives or cutters to be adapted in this instance
may be of any of the constructions described in the foregoing Figures.
In conclusion, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to claim as
my Invention any of the separate parts of this machine; but I do claim
the improved arrangement and in particular the peculiar construction of
the feeding apparatus represented in the Drawings, in connection with