Improvements in Machines for Making Cigars, Cheroots, and Tobacco Plugs.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 15th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 15th Feb., 1896
Improvements in Machines for Making Cigars, Cheroots, and
Tobacco Plugs.
I DUKE WILLIAM BULLARD of 35 Market Street, Manchester in the County
of Lancaster, Tobacconist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
This invention relates to machines for making cigars cheroots and tobacco plugs
and consists in an improved construction of such machines and arrangement of the
parts thereof.
The improved machine consists of a series of rollers or of sets of rollers
enclosing a hollow space of the shape of the article to be made for the greater
part of its circumference but with a space between two of the rollers or sets of
rollers for the purpose of observing the rolling and adding or subtracting tobacco
from the quantity enclosed. Preferably I use five rollers or sets arranged so as to
leave one sixth part of the circumference of the article to be rolled exposed, four
of said rollers or sets being mounted in a semi-circle in a fixed frame so as to form
a bottom trough into which the tobacco can be filled in and one being mounted on
a hinged lid which can be closed down upon the bottom part and lifted up. More
or less than five rollers or sets may be used but in every case they do not enclose
the article all round but have a space between the bottom or top rollers or sets
when the lid is closed.
The rollers or sets of rollers are so arranged that when they are rotated at a
uniform angular speed, their surface speed is proportional to the diameter of the
cigar or other article to be rolled at each point thereof or very nearly so, so that
the article is rotated or rolled evenly over its entire length. For this purpose in
the case of cheroots and similarly shaped articles conically tapering rollers are
used, while for cigars having a cylindrical part in the middle and two tapering ends,
sets of three rollers each would be used, each set containing a cylindrical roller in
the middle and a conical roller of the length and taper corresponding with that of
the cigar at each end, the three rollers being connected by clutches or equivalent
drivers so as to make the same number of revolutions. Where required more or
less than three rollers may be used for each set.
In order to prevent tobacco from entering between the ends of the rollers in a set
and being crushed up and the working of the machine interfered with, I reduce the
diameters of the roller ends abutting against each other so as to form pivots and
form the clutches in the form of teeth engaging with each other on the ends of
these pivots, and mount the pivots in intermediate brackets the top of which
conforms to and is flush with the surface of the rollers where the cigar or other
article is in contact with the same, and conforms to the shape of the article in the
intervening part.
The bottom sets of rollers for a cigar with tapered ends would be supported on
two such intermediate brackets and on two end brackets with suitable bearings, and
the four brackets are fixed upon a joint base plate which is removeably attached to
the bed plate of the machine, so that the whole can be removed simultaneously in
order to substitute a similar bed plate with brackets and rollers for another shape
of cigar, without having to use another entire machine for this purpose, the driving
gear being likewise arranged so that this exchange can be effected.

page_text: For this purpose I arrange on the bedplate of the machine two parallel shafts in
suitable bearings, these shafts being driven in the same direction through gearing
from the driving pulley of the machine, the gearing being so arranged that it is
below the level of the table or working board and does not interfere with the
operator. The driving pulley runs loose upon a spindle arranged below the level
of the bed plate, and is provided with a clutch and a lever for moving it sideways
by pressure with the knee of the operative, the clutch engaging with another on a
spurwheel driving the shafts aforesaid through intermediate wheels. Each shaft
carries a spur wheel at its outer end which spurwheel drives two of the rollers or
sets by means of pinions cut into the rollers so that the four bottom rollers are
driven by the two shafts. The pinions are cut in the middle part of the rollers
with tooth spaces running out level with the surface of the rollers, so that there
are no corners crushing or injuring the tobacco leaf. Where more than four bottom
rollers or sets are used, the other rollers are driven through carrier wheels from one
or more of the four.
The top roller or set is mounted in a similar manner in end and intermediate
bearings upon a hinged plate forming a lid for the bottom trough. A pinion is cut
on the same and gears with a spur wheel supported in bearings on the lid, and when
the lid is closed down this wheel comes into gear with one of the bottom rollers.
The whole of the rollers are thus driven from the two parallel shafts aforesaid.
The lid is hinged to brackets which are preferably fixed to the base plate or
brackets supporting the top rollers, so that the whole can be taken off the machine
together and exchanged for another set for a different shape or size of cigar, the
brackets being so arranged that they clear the two parallel shafts. The lid however
may be hinged to brackets fixed to the bed-plate of the machine. At the back of
the bedplate behind the lid a lever is fulcrumed and connected to the lid by a
spring or elastic band, the lever being formed with a projection catching under part
of the lid and holding it when closed. When the lever is pushed back the projection
first slides from under the lid and liberates it, when it is pulled up by the spring,
while in closing the lid it is first let down into its closing position, after which the
projection on the lever slides under the lid and locks it. In this way the lid can be
opened and closed again and locked by one backward and forward movement of the
lever, without stopping the machine.
Improvements in Machines for Making Cigars, Cheroots, and
Tobacco Plugs.
I, DUKE WILLIAM BULLARD, of 1 Queen's Chambers, John Dalton Street,
formerly of 35 Market Street, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Tobacconist,
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 machines for making cigars, cheroots and tobacco plugs
in which a series of rollers or sets of articulated rollers enclosing a hollow space of
the shape or form of the article to be made are employed and by their rotation roll
and make the cigar or other article, and consists in improvements in the construction
or arrangement of said machines and the parts thereof.

page_text: In machines of the said kind hitherto made the rollers or sets of articulated rollers
have been so arranged, partly in fixed lower bearings and partly in bearings fixed
to a lid, as to enclose the tobacco to be rolled into a cigar, cheroot or plug, all
round, in consequence of which it was impossible for the attendant to watch the
operation or to add to or take away from the tobacco placed into the cavity
enclosed by the rollers, or to introduce the cover leaf, without lifting the lid and
allowing the rolled filling to expand again, in consequence of which said machines
have not been practically workable. They have also been so arranged that for each
size and shape of cigar or other article a complete different machine was required.
The object of my invention is chiefly to remedy these defects and to generally
simplify the machines and their details.
On the sheet of drawings appended hereunto,
Fig. 1 shows a plan view of the improved machine as arranged for rolling cigars
with a cylindrical middle part and two tapering ends.
Fig. 2 a front elevation.
Fig. 3 a cross section with the rollers shown diagrammatically only.
Figs. 4 and 5 details of the roller bearings.
On the drawings a represents the bed plate of the machine which is bolted to a
table at which the attendant sits. Upon this a base plate 6 is fixed by screws b¹,
which carries two intermediate bearings c and two end bearings d for four sets of
articulated rollers, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each of these consists of a central parallel
part e, and two conical end parts f and g, the diameters of the rollers at each part
or point of the length being proportional to the diameter of the cigar to be made
at the same point, so that when they are rotated at the same angular speed, the
surface speed of the rollers at every point is proportional to the diameter of the
cigar at that point. The bearings c and d are shewn as fixed to the base plate b
by screws screwed into them from the underside, but may be fixed in any other
convenient manner. The brackets d are wedge shaped at the upper part and
follow the outline of the rollers on their top side, so as to form a level surface with
them and close the space between their ends, so that the tobacco cannot get between
the ends. The rollers are reduced at their ends meeting at these bearings so as to
form pivots turning in them, and are formed with toothed clutch boxes as shewn on
Fig. 4, or bevil wheels or equivalent means for rotating the end rollers f and g at
the same angular speed as the middle roller e. The end bearings d contain bearings
for the ends of the conical rollers and g as shewn by Fig. 5.
To the bed plate a two brackets h¹ are fixed or formed at the back in which the
pivots of a swing frame or lid h, hereinafter called lid, are supported. The lid
carries intermediate bearings c¹ and end bearings d' constructed similarly to the
brackets c and d, but arranged for one set of rollers 5 only, this set being formed
of a cylindrical part and two conical parts identical with those of the bottom
rollers 1 to 4. The lid is held in the position shewn on the drawings by a lever i
fulcrumed in a bracket fixed to or formed on the bed plate a, which lever is
formed with a projection catching under the edge of the cross plate 2 of the lid
or other convenient part and is held in its locking position by an indiarubber band k
passing round the lever i and a hook ³ on the lid, or by an equivalent spring. By
pushing the lever back the projection is first withdrawn from under the edge, and
the lid thus liberated pulled back by the rubber band or spring and the rollers 5
lifted off the bottom rollers, while in pulling the lever forward the lid drops into
its position and is locked again.
The rollers 1 to 5 are arranged as shewn so that the rollers 1 to 4 form a trough
for the filling tobacco, surrounding the bottom half or thereabout of the cigar to
be rolled, while the upper movable roller 5 encloses another part of the same, but
leaves an opening between rollers 1 and 5 for adding to or taking away from the
filling tobacco, and introducing the cover without having to open the lid. In the
machines hitherto made rollers were so arranged as to surround or enclose the tobacco
entirely all round, which made it impossible to perform these operations without

page_text: opening the lid, when the rolled and compressed tobacco of course opened out again,
which rendered the machines quite useless for practical manufacturing purposes.
I do not confine myself to the use of five rollers or sets of articulated rollers,
but more of these may be used especially for rolling plug tobacco; but in every
case I arrange them so as to leave a space between the rollers supported in the
bearings fixed to the base plate b, and that or those supported on the lid. According
to the shape of the article to be rolled, each set of rollers may consist of three, or
more or less than three rollers connected so as to rotate at the same angular speed.
For cheroots only one tapering roller supported on pivots in end brackets would be
required.
As the shapes and sizes of cigars are very various, a complete separate machine
will be required for each size and shape unless the machine is arranged so that the
parts determining such size or shape can be readily removed and replaced by
different ones without deranging the remainder of the machine.
With this object the bearings c and d for the bottom rollers 1 to 4 are as above
described not fixed to the bed plate a but upon a separate base plate b, so that they
can be removed bodily with the same; the top roller 5 being removable with the
lid after taking off one of the brackets /'; or the brackets ' may be fixed to the
base plate b so as to remove the lid together with the base plate, and the gear for
rotating the rollers is arranged in the following manner: At each side of the
bottom rollers a shaft is arranged supported in a bracket at the roller end and
a bracket at the outer end. Each shaft carries a wheel m at this end, and both
wheels m gear with a larger wheel m¹ which runs loose on a stud n fixed in a
bracket n¹, formed on or fixed to the bed plate a. The wheel m¹ is formed with a
clutch box and the band pulley o running likewise loose on the stud n is formed
with a corresponding clutch box and driven from a band pulley preferably below
the table. The boss of the band pulley has a groove turned in it into which the
forked lever p engages which is fulcrumed on a stud below the table and arranged
in the usual way so that its lower end can be pushed in one direction by the knee
of the operator and in the other direction by a spring, for putting the clutch boxes
into and out of gear. By this arrangement of the gearing the top of the table is
left free, the wheels being covered in by a guard not shewn on the drawing.
is
On the inner end of each shaft la pinion r is fixed. Each pinion gears with
two pinions cut or cast on the middle or cylindrical roller e of each set, and the
four bottom rollers are rotated in this way in the same direction. On the lid a
bracket is formed or fixed in which the shaft or pivot of another pinion
supported which gears with the rollers and 5 in the position of the lid shewn on
the drawings, and by these means the roller 5 is rotated from the roller 4. The
pinions r and those cut on the rollers are formed with rather long teeth so that
the base plate 6 with the bottom rollers can be lifted up and removed without
disarranging the shafts l.
By means of these arrangements of driving and supporting the rollers they can
be bodily removed and replaced by another set without disturbing the bed plate a
fixed to the table and the main driving gear, thus obviating the necessity of having
a separate bed plate and driving attachments for each shape or size to be made and
saving outlay and especially floor space in the factory.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. The general arrangement of a machine for making cigars, cheroots and
tobacco plugs, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
drawings.
2. In a machine for rolling cigars, cheroots and tobacco plugs by means of
rollers or sets of rollers whose diameters at each point are proportional to the
diameter of the article to be rolled and which are rotated at a uniform angular

page_text: speed, the arrangement of said rollers or sets of rollers so that there is an open
space left between two of them, substantially as and for the purposes set forth and
illustrated by the drawings.
3. The mounting and driving of the rollers or sets of rollers in machines for
rolling cigars, cheroots and plugs such a manner that they can be bodily removed
from and replaced in the machine without disarranging their mounting or the bed
plate and main driving arrangement of the machine, substantially as hereinbefore.
described and illustrated by the drawings.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, and 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.