AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MOULDING TOBACCO AND OTHER ARTICLES INTO PACKETS.
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Clarke, of the firm of Woodhead & Clarke, of
Shoreditch, in the county of Middlesex, Tobacco Manufacturers for an
Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MOULDING TOBACCO AND OTHER
ARTICLES INTO PACKETS.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Clarke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th August 1882.
HENRY CLARKE of the firm of Woodhead & Clarke of Shoreditch, in the county
of Middlesex, Tobacco Manufacturers "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MOULDING
TOBACCO AND OTHER ARTICLES INTO PACKETS
"
This invention relates to the construction of a machine specially applicable for
"moulding" tobacco into packets.
Hitherto the moulding of tobacco has been performed by means of what are
known as a "block and stick" the tobacco being first rolled into papers of the
required size, the roll is then placed in the block and the ends of the paper are
turned in by hand and then flattened by the stick.
The great disadvantage of packet tobacco thus moulded is that the packages are
not uniform in size and that the tobacco is not usually placed in the middle of
the paper.
Now the object of my invention is the construction of a machine which in
addition to moulding the packages of uniform size and ensuring the tobacco being
placed in the middle of the paper, will also effect a great saving of labour.
A suitable arrangement of apparatus for carrying out my invention for moulding
tobacco is as follows:-
In a suitable stand I provide a circular revolving table around which are
arranged at equal distances apart a series of eight cylinders open at the ends; the
said table and with it the cylinders are revolved by the operation of a hand lever
or a treadle. Corresponding to the position of one of the cylinders, and in an axial
line therewith, I provide a pair of pistons or plungers, one above and one below
D. 31

page_text: the cylinder, and corresponding to the position of each of the four next cylinders
I provide a pair of fingers; to the next cylinder a pair of pistons or plungers and
to the next cylinder a single top piston or plunger. The hereinbefore described
pistons or plungers are fixed on the ends of rods in such a manner that they are
moved into the open ends of the cylinders when the lever handle or treadle is
depressed and the hereinbefore described fingers move on pivots mounted on shafts
in such a manner that the depression of the said lever handle or treadle brings the
said fingers over and beneath the open ends of the cylinders for the purpose
hereinafter described.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
The tobacco is rolled as usual in papers the ends being left open, a roll is then
placed in the first cylinder of the apparatus the lever handle or treadle is
depressed and on being released the table is revolved one eighth of a revolution,
by means of a suitable lever arrangement so as to bring the cylinder containing
the tobacco in an axial line between the first hereinbefore described pair of
pistons or plungers; the lever handle or treadle is again depressed and the said
plungers will be brought into the open ends of the cylinder and will press the
tobacco into the middle of the roll of paper; the lever being again released the
ends of the cylinder will be brought opposite the first pair of fingers and on
bringing down the lever handle or treadle the fingers will be brought over the
ends of the cylinder and will partly move on their pivots and will turn down a
portion of the ends of the paper; the remaining portion being turned down by
the next three operations of the lever handle or treadle bringing the cylinder
successively opposite the next three pairs of fingers; the next operation will bring
the cylinder between the final pair of pistons or plungers the pressure of which
will "finish" the ends and the next movement will bring the cylinder underneath
the single piston or plunger which will push the completed packet out of the
cylinder. As the table revolves a roll of tobacco is placed in the empty cylinder
at each operation or movement of the table so that when the table has made a
complete revolution, each subsequent complete movement of the hand lever or
treadle will complete one packet.
I have described the machine as having eight cylinders but this number may be
varied according to requirements and their size and shape will depend upon the
size and shape of the packet to be moulded.
For other articles than tobacco the machine may require to be modified according
to the nature of the article but the operation will be substantially the same as that
herein before described.
A counter may be adapted to the machine to register the number of packets
moulded.
Counterweights or springs are employed to assist in carrying the parts back to
their normal position when the hand lever or treadle is released and suitable stops
or catches limit the play of the parts where required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Clarke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th February
1883.
HENRY CLARKE of the firm of Woodhead and Clarke of Shoreditch in the
County of Middlesex, Tobacco Manufacturers "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
MOULDING TOBACCO AND OTHER ARTICLES INTO PACKETS
"
This invention relates to the construction of a machine specially applicable for
"moulding" tobacco into packets.
Hitherto the moulding of tobacco has been performed by means of what are
known as a "block and stick" the tobacco being first rolled into papers of the
required size, the roll is then placed in the block and the ends of the paper are
turned in by hand and then flattened by the stick.
The great disadvantage of packet tobacco thus moulded is that the packages
are not uniform in size and that the tobacco is not usually placed in the middle of
the paper.
Now the object of my invention is the construction of a machine which in
addition to moulding the packages of uniform size and ensuring the tobacco being
placed in the middle of the paper, will also effect a great saving of labour.
In carrying out my invention I employ a suitable stand provided with a circular
revolving table around which are arranged at equal distances apart a series of
eight cylinders open at the ends; the said table and with it the cylinders are
revolved by the operation of a hand lever or a treadle. Corresponding to the
position of one of the cylinders and in an axial line therewith I provide a pair of
pistons or plungers, one above and one below the cylinder; and corresponding to
the position of each of the four next cylinders I provide a pair of fingers; to the
next cylinder a pair of pistons or plungers and to the next cylinder a single top
piston or plunger. The herein before described pistons or plungers are fixed on the
ends of rods in such a manner that they are moved into the open ends of the
cylinders when the lever handle or treadle is depressed and the herein before
described fingers move on pivots mounted on shafts in such a manner that the
depression of the said lever handle or treadle brings the said fingers over and
beneath the open ends of the cylinders as hereinafter described.
In order to enable my Invention to be better understood I will proceed to
describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1, is
a front elevation of an apparatus for moulding tobacco into packets constructed
according to my invention; figures 2, and 3, are side elevations of the same,
figure 3, shewing the parts of the apparatus in the position they occupy when the
handle of the apparatus is depressed; figures 4, and 5, horizontal sections on the
lines A, B, and C, D, (figure 1) respectively Figure 8 part back elevation of figure 3.
Figures 6, and 7, detached views of one of the cylinders and fingers. Figures 1,
to 5 and fig 8 are drawn to a scale of about one third full size of a machine
suitable for moulding tobacco into half ounce packages; figures 6, and 7, are drawn
full size. Similar letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
a, a, is the stand or framework of the apparatus; b, is a fixed vertical hollow
shaft on which revolves the table c, between the plates d, and e, fixed to the frame-
work; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, are the eight cylinders fixed around the table c, at
equal distances apart as shewn; f, f, are projections on the table to allow the
same to be revolved intermittently one eighth of a revolution at a time by means
of the pawl g, jointed to the arm h, fixed on one end of the bar or rod i, working
in bearings, and 2, the other end of the rod i, being connected to the link

page_text: arrangement j, j¹, j², provided with the weight k, which can slide up and down
with its rod ¹, which slides in the guide 2; 7, is a counterweight to lessen the
shock of the weight k, when falling; m, is a lever handle whose fulcrum is at m¹;
the said handle m, is jointed to the beam n, centering at n', and carrying at its
back end the counterweight o,; o', pins or studs on the counterweight o, and
bearing against the underside of the links ², j, so that when the handle is depressed
into the position shewn in figure 3, the weight o, is thereby raised and with it the
links j,,, operated by the pins o¹ (as shewn clearly in figure 8) and the rod or
bar i, is partly turned in its bearings so as to operate the arm h, and pawl g, and
bring them into the position shewn in dotted lines figure 1; p, is a rod jointed
at p¹, to the beam n, and passing down the hollow vertical shaft b, so as to slide
therein; the shaft b, has a vertical slot at the bottom, and a pin on the lower end
of the rod p, passes through the slot and through the boss q.
.
• For the purpose of description the cylinder which is in the position of the
cylinder marked N° 1, is in the following description spoken of as the first cylinder;
that of N° 2, the second cylinder and so on.
Corresponding to the position of the second cylinder and in an axial line therewith
are the pistons, r¹, above and below the open ends respectively of the cylinder;
similar pistons 2, 3, being similarly placed over and under the seventh cylinder;
the rods 8, 81, of the upper pistons r, and 2, are connected respectively to a
crank t, t', on either end of the rod 82, which is connected by the links or arms t², t³,
to the lever handle m, at t; s², and 83, guides for the rods 8, and s¹; the rods u,
and u', of the lower pistons r¹, and 3, are connected by the levers u², and us, to
the boss q; u, and u³, guides for the piston rods u, and u'; by this arrangement
when the handle m, is depressed the pistons are brought just over or into the open
ends of their respective cylinders; near each of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth
cylinders is a rod v; on each of these rods v, are fixed two arms v³, one above and
one below the top and bottom respectively of each of the four cylinders and to the
end of each of these arms v', is pivotted a finger w having a spring w² for returning
it to its normal position after it has been moved; the ends of the rods v, can turn
in bearings in the framing of the machine; the lower ends of the rods v, are con-
nected together by the arrangement of links or jointed levers x, x, x, x, and the
rods v, v, of the fifth and sixth cylinders are also connected together at the top by
the arrangement of links or jointed levers a¹, x², and x², the latter being jointed to
one end of the horizontal bar ³, the other end of which is jointed at x, to the
arm y, on the lever handle m. By this arrangement when the handle m, is
depressed the rods v, will by means of the said link connections be partly rotated
so as to bring the tail ends w¹, of the fingers w, against the sides of the cylinders
and the movement of the rods continuing the fingers will move on their pivots and
be turned over and into the ends of the cylinders; z, is a piston over the top of the
last cylinder the rod of the said piston being jointed to and moving with the lever
handle m. A, is a counter operated by the ratchet B, and weighted pawl C,
turning on the stud D, on the beam n; E, is a spring pawl for holding the weight kc,
in its raised position until released by the fall of the weight o.
OPERATION OF THE APPARATUS
The tobacco to be moulded is rolled as usual in papers, the ends leing left open;
a roll F, is placed in the first cylinder (N° 1) as shewn in figure 2, the lower open
end resting on the plate G, the lever handle m, is depressed by hand (or by means
of a treadle which may be connected to the handle, or by power) into the position
shewn in figure 3, whereby the pawl g, by means of the beam n, counterweight o,
pins or studs o², link arrangement j, j,j, bar or rod i, and arm h, will be brought
into the position shewn in dotted lines figure 1, the end of the pawl being moved
from the projection f, between the first and eighth cylinders to the projection f,
between the seventh and eighth cylinders; the handle m, being then raised to its
normal position the pawl g, will by the fall of the counterweight k, (raised by the
E

page_text: depression of the handle) on the link arrangement j, j', ², be carried back to its
normal position moving the table c, one eighth of a revolution so as to bring the
cylinder marked N° 1 between the pistons r, and ; the lever handle m, is again
depressed and will thereby bring the said pistons as herein before described into
the cylinder and thereby press the tobacco into the middle of the roll of paper;
the spring plate H, pressing the roll so that its lower end shall rest on the plate G;
the handle being again raised the table will be again revolved one eighth of a
revolution as herein before described, the cylinder will be brought opposite the
first pair of fingers w, w, which by the next depression of the lever handle will, by
the arrangement herein before described, be brought over the ends of the cylinder
(into the position shewn in figure 7) and will turn down a portion of the ends of
the paper; by the next three forward movements of the table the roll in the
cylinder will be brought respectively under the action of the second, third, and
fourth pairs of fingers each of which successively turns down a portion of the ends
of the paper so that each end thereof will have been turned down at four points
in a manner similar to that when the ends of the paper are folded down by hand;
the next movement of the table c, will bring the cylinder between the pistons r²,
and, and the handle being again depressed the pistons will be brought against
and finish the ends of the roll; by the next movement of the table the cylinder
will be brought under the piston z, which being depressed by the next downward
movement of the handle will push the completed roll out of the cylinder.
I, is a spring catch arrangement on the rod K, operated by the cylinders striking
the projection J, as they revolve, thereby locking the table in position after each
movement on the raising of the handle.
As the table revolves a roll of tobacco is placed in the empty cylinder at each
operation or movement of the table so that when the table has made a complete
revolution, each subsequent complete movement of the lever handle will complete
one packet.
I have described the machine as having eight cylinders but this number may be
varied according to requirements and their size and shape will depend upon the
size and shape of the packet to be moulded.
For other articles than tobacco the machine may require to be modified according
to the nature of the article but the operation will be substantially the same as that
hereinbefore described.
At each downward movement of the handle the pawl C, moves the ratchet B, one
tooth and thereby registers on the counter the movements of the apparatus and
consequently the number of rolls or weight of tobacco moulded.
Having thus described my said invention and the best means with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into effect I wish it to be understood that
what I claim is :-
Firstly. The improved apparatus for moulding tobacco and other articles into
packets constructed, arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described
and represented in the accompanying drawing.
Secondly. In an apparatus for moulding tobacco into packets the combination
with a number of cylinders having an intermittent revolving motion of pistons and
fingers arranged and operating as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and
represented in the accompanying drawing.
In Witness whereof I the said Henry Clarke have hereto set my hand and
seal this twenty fourth day of February in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty three.
HENRY CLARKE (L.S.)