Process and Apparatus for the Manufacture of Cylindrical Cigars and Cigarettes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 4th Mar., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process and Apparatus for the Manufacture of Cylindrical Cigars
and Cigarettes.
I, Dr. JAKOB NÜESCH of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 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 :―
In the processes heretofore employed for the manufacture of cylindrical cigars,
the moist tobacco body is always rolled together either by hand or by machinery,
and is then enveloped by a separate leaf after which it receives the outer covering
leaf which is applied by hand.
According to the present invention the inner enveloping leaf is entirely dispensed
with, the dry tobacco body being first brought into cylindrical form by rolling in a
cloth, and immediately afterwards it has the covering leaf applied to it in the same
machine. By this means a considerable saving in time, tobacco leaves, cost of
drying, and in waste tobacco is effected.
The machine for carrying out this process consists mainly of a fixed rolling table
having a stepped surface to the upper end of which the end of a rolling cloth is
fixed which partially covers the table and on which the covering leaves, previously
coated with cementitious matter, are laid, while the tobacco filling is laid uniformly
in a fold of this cloth and is held therein by a moveable slide, so that when the free
end of the rolling cloth, which is connected to a roller, is rolled up by turning the
roller, the tobacco filling will be rolled up in the cloth so as to receive the desired
cylindrical form, before it seizes the covering leaves situated above the step of
the rolling table, and by the further rolling up of the cloth, rolls them round
the tobacco body, the finished cigars being eventually made to fall from the upper
end of the rolling table.
The arrangement and mode of working of the said machine will be readily
understood on reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figs. 1, 2 and 3
shew respectively a side view, a front view, and a plan of the machine. Fig. 4
shews a cross section, and Fig. 5 a section on line X X Fig. 1. Figs. 6 to 10 are
views explaining the action of the machine.
The table A, provided with a stepped part a is fixed on both sides to the
cheeks B and B₁; the latter have on their outer sides, near their upper edge, a
longitudinal groove b, into which take the side cheeks C C¹ of the slide, which are
fixed together by the cross piece D, so that the slide can be moved along the side
cheeks B B' while guided by the grooves b.
To the lower end of the two bolts E,
which pass through corresponding holes of the cross piece D, is fixed a bar F, while
the upper ends of the bolts carry the bar G adjustably between nuts ee². The
spring d, one end of which is fixed to the cross piece D, while the other free end
presses against the bar G tend to push this bar away from the cross piece D and to
press the bar F against the latter, so as to hold the slide in the position shewn at
Fig. 8, while two spring catches c on the side cheeks of the slide, which catch
over the ends of the bar G, hold the slide in the closed position shewn at
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10. The slide generally rests by means of the cross piece D
On each side
against the springs h fixed to a cross rail H of the framing.
piece C and C of the slide are fixed cords i, that pass over a roller ¹, and have a
weight I suspended from their free end. At the upper ends of the side cheeks B B¹
are formed bearings carrying the journals of a roller J provided with a broad metal
hookj extending along its entire length. On the one journal of the roller is fixed
a spur wheel K, which is geared to the wheel M by an intermediate wheel L. On

page_text: the axis of M is fixed a crank handle N, so that by the rotation of the latter the
wheel K and consequently the roller J will be rotated.
At the upper end of the rolling table A is fixed, at a', the one end of the rolling
cloth O, of oil cloth, caoutchouc, leather or the like; the free end of this cloth O is
provided along its whole length with a broad metal hook o which can engage with
the hookj of the roller J. A table P fixed to the framing serves for temporarily
placing thereon the rolling cloth O.
If now it is desired to make cigars by means of this machine, the slide is opened,
that is to say, the two catches c are simultaneously withdrawn, so as to leave the
rail G free; the latter is then raised by the action of the springs d, and consequently
also the bar F (Fig. 8). The rolling cloth is then spread out on the table A and is
drawn over the slide and is pushed somewhat between the table and the bar F in
order to form a fold g (Fig. 8) into which the necessary tobacco filling Q for a cigar
is placed in such manner that the tobacco is situated underneath the bar F, and
is not jammed between this bar and the rolling table on the depression of the former.
In order to insure a uniform distribution of the tobacco over the whole width of the
machine, a sheet metal trough R, Figs. 6 and 7, is employed, which is of a length
equal to the width of the machine, and in which the tobacco for the filling is
previously uniformly distributed, to an extent determined by the desired thickness
of the cigars, so that the contents of this trough has merely to be transferred to the
said fold.
The slide is now closed, that is to say, by a pressure upon the rail G this, as also
the bar Fare brought into the position shewn at Figs. 4 and 5, in which the
catches cc hold the rail G down. The covering leaves S (Fig. 3) previously coated
on their back surfaces with cementitious matter are then so placed above the step a,
with their front faces lying upon the rolling cloth spread on the table A, that the
ribs of the leaf lie parallel with the upper edge of the rolling table A, the leaves
being so near to each other, that on rolling up the cigar, the rear end of a leaf will
be slightly overlapped by the front end of the next leaf. The free end of the
cloth is then secured by its hooks o to the roller J (Fig. 4) and the latter is
rotated by means of the crank handle N in the direction of the arrow
(Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9) so as to coil the cloth round it (Fig. 9). The bulge produced
by the roll of tobacco in the cloth is then drawn in contact with the underside
of the bar F and is consequently made to carry the slide up with it. The tobacco
in the bulge of the cloth thus becomes rolled round and round so as to assume
the form of a cylinder by the motion of the cloth.
In order to facilitate the production of the cylindrical form, the lower side
of the bar F is formed with a hollow or groove. As soon as the slide arrives
above the step a (Fig. 9) the tightly rolled tobacco cylinder will become some-
what loosened by the step and can therefore, in rolling onward, lay hold of the
lower ends of the covering leaves S which thus become rolled round the filling.
(If it were not for the step a, the tightly rolled tobacco cylinder would push
the covering leaves in front of it.) When the slide has arrived at the upper
edge of the table (Fig. 10) the finished tobacco cylinder, which may be several
yards in length is drawn from under the bar F and falls upon a removeable
board T placed to receive it, and it can then be dried and cut into the requisite
lengths.
On the tobacco cylinder and the rolling cloth being drawn from under the
bar F the slide becomes free and descends again by gravity and by the action
of the weights I into its original position shewn at Figs. 1 to 4, the springs h
serving to lessen the force of the blow.
The weights I can be increased or decreased according to the desired degree
of compression for the cigars, or to the amount of moisture in the tobacco.
It will be obvious that the machine may also be applied to the manufacture of
cigarettes in which case it is only necessary to replace the covering leaves by
paper.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
inveution and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The method of manufacturing cylindrical cigars without inner enveloping
leaf and of considerable length, consisting in operating upon the dry tobacco
body or filling of the cigar by rolling it up by means of a rolling cloth in
which it is held by means of a slide, whereby it is made to assume a cylindrical
form, after which it is rolled up in covering leaves coated with cementitious matter
on one side and placed upon the said rolling cloth, so that by the continued motion
of such cloth, the tobacco body is rolled up in the leaves, and is then ejected from
the machine as a finished long cigar, substantially as described.
2. For carrying out the method of manufacture referred to in the preceding
claim, a machine consisting, firstly of an inclined rolling table A, fixed to side
cheeks B B¹ of the framing and having a step a for the reception of the covering
leaves; secondly, a moveable slide C C D, acted upon by weights I and having a
cross bar D carrying sliding bolts E connecting bars F and G, which bars, when
held in their lowered position by catches cc, hold the tobacco filling in the fold of
the rolling cloth during the rolling, while when raised by means of the springs d
they allow of the introduction of the filling into the fold of the cloth formed
between the table A and the bar F, the latter being formed with a lateral hollow
for facilitating the cylindrical rolling of the tobacco filling; thirdly, a rolling
cloth O, the one end of which is secured to the upper end of the table A, while the
other end carries a metal hook which, after the introduction of the tobacco filling
into the fold Q of the cloth and after the covering leaves S have been placed
thereon above the step a, and the bar F has been lowered, is made to engage with
a corresponding hook on a roller J, so that on now coiling up the cloth by the
rotation of the said roller, the tobacco filling is first rolled up into cylindrical
form and is then rolled up in the covering leaves, substantially as described.
3. As a new manufacture, long cylindrical cigars produced by the above described
process and machine, and consisting of a cylindrical body with covering leaf and
without intermediate enveloping leaf.
4. The application of the process and machine referred to in the first and second
claims, to the manufacture of cigarettes, substantially as described.
Dated this 10th day of January 1893.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.