AN APPA- RATUS FOR CUTTING OR FINISHING CIGARS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Elman and Harris Leon Brown, both of
Sheffield, in the County of York, for the Invention of "AN APPA-
RATUS FOR CUTTING OR FINISHING CIGARS."
Sealed the 28th June 1872, and dated the 3rd January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Elman and
Harris Leon Brown at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 3rd January 1872.
We, SAMUEL ELMAN and HARRIS LEON BROWN, both of Sheffield, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention
for “An Apparatus FOR CUTTING OR FINISHING CIGARS," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to a simple and efficient apparatus to be
attached to a cigar maker's bench for the purpose of simultaneously
finishing or cutting off the end of the cigar, and splitting open the
severed portion so as at once to expose and loosen the inside thereof and
admit of its being immediately used in the filling of other cigars, thereby.

page_text: dispensing with the separate hand operations of first cutting off the end,
then splitting the leaf, and finally redamping the inside, as by reason of
these operations having to be performed after the process of finishing or
cutting the severed ends become in the meantime too dry for use and
require to be redamped.
The apparatus consists essentially of a spring shear, the blades of
which are of a concave form on their cutting edge in order not to flatten
the cigar when cutting. To one of these blades there is fitted at a right
angle a second cutter, which slits longitudinally the severed portion of
the cigar, and to the other blade there is fitted at a right angle a rest or
support for holding the severed portion whilst being slit. The cutters
and rest are all made adjustable by means of slots, and the cutting
surfaces are maintained apart when not in action by a blade or other
spring acting upon the jointed arm or arms which carry the cutters.
The ennamtus is worked by the pressure of the hand upon the upper
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Elman and Harris Leon Brown in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
ELMAN and HARRIS LEON BROWN, both of Sheffield, in the County of
York, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the 35th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Samuel Elman and Harris Leon Brown,
Her special license that we, the said Samuel Elman and Harris Leon
Brown, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Samuel Elman and Harris Leon Brown, our executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,

page_text: should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR FINISHING
CIGARS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel
Elman and Harris Leon Brown, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date_
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samucl Elman and Harris Leon
Brown, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention relates to a simple and efficient apparatus to be
attached to a cigar maker's bench for the purpose of simultaneously
finishing or cutting off the end of the cigar, and splitting open the.
severed portions so as at once to expose and loosen the inside thereof,
and admit of its being immediately used in the filling of other cigars,
thereby dispensing with the separate hand operations of first cutting off
the end, then splitting the leaf, and finally redamping the inside, as by
reason of these operations having to be performed after the process of
finishing or cutting the severed ends become in the meantime too dry
for use and require to be redamped.
The apparatus consists essentially of a spring shear, the blades of
which are of a concave form on their cutting edge in order not to flatten
the cigar when cutting. To one of these blades there is fitted at a right
angle a second cutter, which slits longitudinally the severed portion of
the cigar, and to the other blade there is fitted at a right angle a rest or
support for holding the severed portion whilst being slit. The cutters
and rest are all made adjustable by means of slots, and the cutting
surfaces are maintained apart when not in action by a blade or other
spring acting upon the jointed arm or arms which carry the cutters.
The apparatus is worked by the pressure of the hand upon the upper
arm, or by a slight tap or blow imparted thereto.

page_text: And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in both Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a front view of our said improved
apparatus, and Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation of the
same.
A pair of arms A, B, of any suitable material jointed together at C,
each carry a steel cutter D and E, working against each other like
ordinary shears. These are shaped on their cutting edges so as to cut
the cigar without crushing it, and are provided with slots a, b, so that
as they wear away with sharpening they can be brought into the proper
position again. On the top cutter D in the position shewn there is fixed
a separate cutter D' at right angles with the cutter D, and on the back
of the lower cutter E a rest or support E¹ is cast or otherwise attached.
The two arms are kept apart by a spring F fastened to the bottom arm
(or in any other desirable position).
It is obvious that if the newly-made cigar be passed through the
mouth of the cutters into the opening G, and the top arm A pressed down!
by the operator's hand on the head H, the cigar will be cut into two
parts, and the end supported by the rest E' will be split lengthwise by
the small cutter D¹. A guage may be added so that the cigars can bo
cut to any desired length. It is intended to fix the machine cutter on
the right-hand edge to each work board by screws at I.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting a
machine for simultaneously finishing or cutting off the ends of cigars
and splitting open the severed end so as at once to expose and loosen
the inside thereof, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second The amaloumint

page_text: to each other in combination with the cutter E and rest E¹, as and for
the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harris Leon Brown, on behalf of
myself and the said Samuel Elman, have to this our Specification
set my hand and seal, this First day of July One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-two.
HARRIS LEON BROWN. (L.S.)