Improvements in or relating to Cigarette-making Machines.
Year: 1896

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Cigarette-making Machines.
A communication from HEINRICH FÜRCHTEGOTT WOLF, of the Firm Kosmos,
Tobacco and Cigarette Manufacturers, of 12 Trompeterstrasse, Dresden,
Empire of Germany.
1, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 111 Hatton Garden, Holborn Circus in the
County of Middlesex, Chartered Patent Agent 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 :-
Since flat cigarettes have been introduced, that is to say cigarettes of elliptical
or approximately elliptical cross-section, the demand for them has been always on
the increase. It has hitherto been impossible to produce them mechanically.
The obvious plan of producing on the Elliot and other machines of well-known
types, a rope of tobacco of elliptic instead of cylindric section has failed for reasons
which need not here he explained; the failure was inevitable because the endless
band which in such machines gives shape to and guides the cigarette "rope" could
not be made to adapt itself to the elliptical cross-section of the shaping tubes and
to flatten itself in the direction of the larger axis of the ellipse.
The present invention is carried out upon a different principle:-Shortly before
reaching the place where each cigarette is cut off from the rope, the part of the
rope immediately behind the knife (i.e. the part which is to be separated by the
cut next following upon one which is assumed as in course of occurrence) is
pressed flat by a press consisting of an upper and lower die. As the rope is con-
stantly moving the press is mounted on a reciprocating part of the machine (the
knife slide) which carried also the knife so that the press like the knife advances
to meet the rope, catches it and compresses it.
In the accompanying drawings in which the arrangement is shown as applied to
a machine of the kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 8230
of 1890 granted to Henry Clay Elliott,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 the plan of the end part of the frame
cheeks A of such a machine with the knife-slide B.
Fig. 3 is a front view of the knife-slide and its appurtenances, the cheeks of the
frame being in section,
Figs. 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 1 with certain parts omitted for the sake
of clearness and other parts added and
Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section of the press, on a larger scale than that to
which the other figures are drawn.
In Figs. 1, 3 and 4 the upper die el of the press E is raised. In Fig. 5, which
otherwise agrees with the first four figs., the upper stamp is on the contrary shown
lowered, and the same is the case in Fig. 6. C (Fig. 2) is the end part of the
shaping tube for forming the cigarette "rope," c is the endless band coming out
from the tube C and guided downwards by the pulley d; the cigarette rope runs
in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2. E is the press herein before referred to,
el being the upper and e the lower die thereof. The tobacco rope S (Fig. 3)
formed in the tube C with the aid of the endless band c, together with the paper
covering is, as hitherto, cylindrical (see the circular cross-sections in Fig. 3).

page_text: ide B is slung at one side on the knife-shaft 6 by means of arms
attached to the slide. The knife-shaft reciprocates in standards B¹ secured to the
cheeke A of the main frame. The bottom plate of the knife-slide at the side
opposite to that which is slung as aforesaid is supported by the roller 6 carried in
bearings on the main frame (see Fig. 3). The reciprocating motion of the knife-
slide is imparted to it by the lever B2 which is actuated by a can not shown in the
drawings. The curved knife-disc M, which is fixed to the shaft between the
arms & is rotated by a chain pulley m shown by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, or
may be rotated by any other gear.
Directly behind the knife-dise M is placed the press E, as shown through which
the rope S, guided by a fixed eye 1 (Figs. 1 and 2) must pass, in order to pass
through a tube 2, after having passed by the knife. The press E comprises a
fixed lower die e and the vertically reciprocating upper die e. The cross-section
of the channel of the press, (see Fig. 6) is formed by two arcs of a circle, so that
the diese compress the cylindrical rope S (Fig. 3) in such a way that an
elliptical section s¹ (Figs. 2 and 6) results. The upper die el is guided in its
vertical movement by bolts 3 secured in the lower die e and to its opposite sides
are pivoted links 4 (Figs. 2 and 3) which connect the upper die with the lever
arms 5. These latter are mounted on a pin 6, which is supported in the lower die e
and carries the lever arm 7. The free end of the arm 7 carries a laterally-
projecting pin 11 and is suspended by the spring 8, which is secured to the arm F
fixed on the frame. On the inner side of the arm F there is an inclined cam-bar f
which acts as a cam on the pin 11 of the lever 7. A plate 9 is carried on the
upper ends of the bolts 3 and below it is a spring 10, which is stronger than the
spring 8 and just so long, that with the parts in the position shown in Figs. 1, 3
and 4, it forms an elastic abutment for the upper die whenever the latter is lifted
by the spring 8 and lever 7 as shown in the said figs, but when the parts are in the
position shown in Fig. 5 has no influence whatever on the upper die. As long
therefore as the cam bar f does not act, the upper die remains in the upper or
raised position in which it is shown in Fig. 4 and the pin 11 on the lever 7
reciprocates along the line - of the same figure.
From the position in which the slide B is shown in Fig. 4 it moves back, that is
to say, in a direction opposite to that in which the tobacco rope advances. The
latter passes through the eye 1 into the press E and then the return movement of
the slide B commences, with the velocity of the rope and in the same direction.
Next the pin 11 on the lever 7 runs against the cam bar f, by which it is pressed
down, and then the press is closed, the several parts of the mechanism taking the
position in which they are shown in Fig. 5. Just before that position is reached
the cutting edge of the knife M approaches the flattened rope and the cutting
takes place, the closed press holding the rope, so that a clean cut is effected. 4
Meanwhile the pin 11 on the lever 7 has passed the lower edge of the cam-bar;
then the spring 8 begins to act and lifts the upper die e, till it touches the
spring 10 and the pin 11 on the lever 7 again is in the line x-x. As soon as in
the return of the slide the pin 11 comes against the back of the cam-bar f, the
upper die is raised higher up, the spring 10 being compressed, till the upper edge 4
of the cam-bar releases the pin, when the spring 10 again brings about the
original position of the parts as shown in Fig. 4. The arrangement of springs,
partly working against each other has the object of permitting the pin 11 during
its advance to pass under the cam, and to pass over the bar f in the return stroke.
This is necessary as the cam is shorter than the path of the slide, for the press is 5
not to be closed at the beginning of the described process and is to be opened
immediately after the end of the process, in order to receive the rope, which has
meanwhile advanced. The same object can of course be achieved by other means.
In machines of known types in which the circular knife rotates, but at the
moment of cutting, advances against the rope, the press must of course take part 5
not only in the reciprocating movement of the knife in the direction of the rope,
but also the movement of the knife at a right angle to the first movement.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. In a cigarette-making machine the combination of a reciprocating knife-slide
and a reciprocating press such as E operatively connected therewith and having
press-dies so grooved on their opposing faces as to form a channel of approximately
elliptical cross-section substantially as and for the purposes described.
2. In a cigarette-making machine the combination with a reciprocating knife-
slide such as B, of a reciprocating press such as E carried thereby or operatively
connected therewith press dies such as e el a lever such as 7 operatively connected
with one of the dies and a cam-bar such as f with or without the springs 8 and 10
substantially as and for the purposes described.
3. In a cigarette-making machine the combination and arrangement of parts for
converting a cylindrical cigarette-rope into one of approximately elliptical cross-
section substantially as and for the purposes described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 31st day of March 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.