Improved Process and Apparatus for Making Cigarettes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 31st May, 1897-Accepted, 3rd July, 1897.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Process and Apparatus for Making Cigarettes.
I, MAX BERNSTEIN of 74 Blumen Strasse, Berlin Germany, patent agent, do
hereby declare the nature of my said invention and in what manuer the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement: --
Machine made cigarettes have hitherto been produced in two different ways,
according to one system the cigarette tube is filled or stuffed with the tobacco,
whilst on the other system the cigarette was rolled, the paper being rolled round
the tobacco and secured in any suitable manner. In the first case finished paper
cigarette tubes are required the ends of which were sometinies closed by folding
over the end of the paper tube. In the other case a long roll of tobacco is enclosed
in a paper covering spirally wound round the same and the roll thus formed
subsequently cut up into any desired lengths.
By means of the apparatus and process forming the object of the present
invention the cigarettes are made and provided with mouthpieces, without the aid
of finished paper tubes, the cigarette leaving the apparatus complete with the
mouthpiece thereon.
According to the present process, the mouthpiece, is first wound on the end of
a reciprocating rod, having a tapering spiral formed on its operative end and
then projected into the end of an open tube or sleeve, containing the requisite
quantity of tobacco. The mouthpiece and tobacco roll are then enclosed in the
cigarette paper and the finished cigarette is withdrawn by the reciprocation of
the said bar, and pushed off the end of the same by suitable means, falling out of
the machine in a finished state.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible
reference is had to the accompanying drawing in which similar letters of
reference denote similar parts throughout the several views:
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through one form of embodying my invention,
the feed hopper being shown in elevation.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the front end of the machine partly in section on
line of Figure 4,
Fig. 3 a rear end elevation of the machine,
Fig. 4 a section on line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of Figure 1, showing the device for rolling
or twisting the mouthpiece and for ejecting the finished cigarette, said devices
being omitted in Figures 2 and 3,
Fig. 5 is a detailed elevation of the mechanism for rolling the mouthpiece and
ejecting the cigarette,
Fig. 6 a plan of Figure 5,
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show the same mechanism in side elevation partly in section
in three different stages of its operation, Fig. 7 shows the mouthpiece being rolled,
Fig. 8 the insertion of the finished mouthpiece into the tobacco tube or sleeve and
Fig. 9 the withdrawn rod with the finished cigarette pushed off the same and
falling from the machine,
Fig. 10 is a detail elevation of the driving gear for the rod,

page_text: Fig. 11 a detail elevation in full size of the rod itself,
Fig. 12 side elevation and vertical section through the tobacco tube or sleeve,
Fig. 13 detail longitudinal section through the guide sleeve for the rod and
Fig. 14 a plan of the cigarette paper strip.
The tobacco is placed in the feed hopper A (Figs. 13 and 4) and passes from
thence between two studded rolls B B, rotating at different speeds said rolls
serving to spread the tobacco ovenly and to crush any knots it may contain. An
endless cloth is stretched over the table C said cloth C¹ being adapted to receive
the layer of tobacco issuing from the rolls BB, said cloth transporting the
tobacco and causing it to pass underneath the roll D which presses it into an even
layer. The layer thus obtained is divided into equal lengths or strips a (Fig. 1)
by suitable means, such means being however known in the industry and not
forming part of the present invention are omitted in the drawing, each of the
said strips or lengths containing the quantity of tobacco requisite for one
cigarette. The band C is moved at intervals as hereinafter specified and feeds the
strips or lougths a one at a time to the hopper A. The interrupted or stopwise
movement of the band C is attained by the aid of the two rolls bb' the former of
which is mounted under the table above the band in stationary bearings, whilst
the latter has its bearings in the ends of reciprocatory or swinging arms d. These
arms are pivoted at their free ends to the machine frame and carry intermediate of
their pivots and the roll a second roll adapted to run on a cam c mounted
on a cam shaft c' in the machine frame. The latter shaft is rotated by means of
suitable pulleys and a belt, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, from the shafts
of one of the rolls B 13 or from any other suitable source of movement. The
roll b¹ is rotated by means of a chain and chain wheels f f (Fig. 3). The said
rolls bbl are advantageously chamfered, and when the lower roll is raised by the
cam they grip the cloth C and move the same a certain distance until the cam
again lowers the lower roll.
i
The tobacco falls from the hopper A' into a dip G formed by an endless band h
which passes round rolls g, g', g³ ³, g', suitably mounted in the machine frame
and the dip is formed by the edges of the endless band passing under the
ledge and the end of the guide sleeve n, as may best be seen from Figure 4.
The roll is capable of reciprocatory movement towards the roll g', said roll
being mounted in the upper ends of swinging arms & pivoted at to the machine
frame and having their lower ends retained against cams by means of
springs (Figs. 1 and 2). The endless band is driven from the roll g³ by
meuns of chain and chain wheels m m' coupling it to the cam shaft, which is in
its turn connected to the cam shaft cor to any other suitable rotary part of the
machine by means of a belt or the like.
Within the dip G the tobacco is rolled and encased in the cigarette paper
after the mouthpiece has been projected into the dip G in the manner hereinafter
described.
Referring to Figures 4 to 12:-The sleeve o is mounted in a line with the dip G
said sleeve having at its outward end a bush in which the bar or rod p
(Fig. 1) is mounted to slide longitudinally. The rod is provided at its end
adjacent the dip with a tapering spiral formed at the said end as at p' said
spiral having at its forward end three or four pius, extending radially therefrom
as at p said pins being adapted to grip the end of the material t of which the
mouthpiece is formed, which end passes through a slot in the end of the
sleeve o (Fig. 12) beneath which slot the spiral lies when the rod p is withdrawn
from the dip G. The rod p is rotated by suitable means hereinafter described
and winds the strip forming the mouthpiece on to the spiral p¹. The
longitudinal reciprocations and the rotary motion of the rod pare attained by the
following means: A gear 7 (Figs. 5, 6 and 10) is mounted on a shaft suitably
supported in the machine frame and a portion of the teeth are removed from the
circumference of the said gear. The said gear 7. engages a rack q' suitably
guided in the machine frame and rigidly attached to the rear end of the rod p.

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The gear g
is rotated by means of bevels r r the former mounted on a shaft y,
which is driven from any suitable rotary part of the machine. The shaft of the
gear 9 also carries a bevol s' adapted to engage at certain intervals with a gear
keyed to the rod but longitudinally moveable thereon. A light spring z is
wound round the rod p between this gears and the rear end of the sleeve o, whilst
a stronger spring encircles the said rod between the said gear and a collar
formed at the rear end of the rod 2. At the commencement of the operation the
rod P is in the position shown at Figure 6, and the gear is in engagement with
the rack q'. The rod is thus advanced by the gear g to the position shown at
Figure 7 compressing the light spring 2. At this point the gears has been
advanced far enough to engage the gear s with which it meshes so that the rod
will be rotated at the period at which its spiral commences to come under the
slot o' of the sleeve o. The pins grip the end of the mouthpieco projecting
through said slot and wind the same round the spiral. The length of the strip
forming the mouthpiece is now cut off which is effected by a movement of the
guide sleeve n. This sleeve is pivoted to the upper end of a lever (Fig. 4)
pivotally mounted in the machine frame and having its lower end running in a
cam groove mounted on the end of a suitable shaft and rotated by any suitable
means. As soon as the strip has been wound the guide sleeve n, which is
formed with a sharpened outer edge is moved by the cam u out of the dip G,
and the spiral end of the rod with the mouthpiece wound thereon is
simultaneously projected into the said dip and serves as substitute for the sleeve a
to guide or retain the said dip G. In the meantime the roll g has been closed
on to the roll g' by the action of the cams kk and the tobacco in the dip G has
been properly rolled. The cigarette paper is now fed by the roll as to the dip and
the roll of tobacco, together with the mouthpiece is wound round by the paper
sleeve, which is previously gummed by a reciprocating brush mounted in
immediate proximity to the roll te, said being of known construction and operation
the same is not illustrated in the drawings, not forming part of the present inven-
tion. The roll g is now thrown back from the roll g' and the last tooth of the
wheel is about to leave the rack q'. It should be mentioned here that during the
latter part of the forward movement the spring has been compressed by the
engageLient of the bevels with s'. As soon therefore as the gear g leaves the ruck
the rod and with it the cigarette will be driven back by the spring, the
cigarette being pushed off the spiral by the bush in the sleeve o, said
cigarette falling through an opening provided in the sleeve into a suitable
receptacle.
The above operation is then repented.
Several machines of the kind described may be arranged side by side and if
desirable the rod p of all the machines may be driven by a common shaft y having
a series of bevels in approximation therewith.
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. A process for making cigarettes having mouthpieces, characterised by the
automatic rolling or twisting of the material forming the mouthpiece, by means
of a longitudinally reciprocating rod having formed at one end a tapered spiral
with gripping pins thereon, said rod being adapted to be rotated at intervals
and projecting the mouthpiece thus formed into the end of a dip formed by an
endless band said dip being opened at intervals to receive the tobacco and the
cigarette paper, and after having enclosed the said mouthpiece and tobacco in
the cigarette paper, withdrawing the cigarette on the end of the said rod and
pushing it off the same substantially as described.
2. An apparatus for performing the process covered by claim 1, in which the
strip of material of which the mouthpiece is twisted is automatically fed to the

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end of a rod p provided with gripping pins p, said rod being spring pressed and
driven forward by means of gearing ', the said strip being twisted to form a
mouthpiece by the aid of gearing a the said mouthpiece being then projected
by the said rod into the end of a dip formed by an endless band h, said dip being
opened and closed at intervals and being adapted to receive the tobacco and
cigarette paper, and in which the finished cigarette is withdrawn from the said
dip by the said rod and brushed off the same by a bush o substantially as
scribed.
Deal.:
1
BOULT WADE.
Agents for the Applicant.