IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
CEAL, of Aldgate, Manufacturer, and Henry Bear, of the New Road, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Alfred Ceal and Henry Bear, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Alfred Ceal and Henry Bear, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Alfred Ceal and Henry Bear, our exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
TOBACCO;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the
said Alfred Ceal and Henry Bear, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Alfred Ceal and Henry Bear, do hereby declare that the nature of our
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the
letters marked thereon, that is to say:―
Our Invention consists in so preparing tobacco leaves by flattening the
stalks that they can be cut or manufactured into roll, cavendish, negro-head,
cut tobacco, segars, or any other article which may or can be manufactured
from tobacco leaves by the ordinary process. And the method which we
propose for this purpose is after having damped and opened the leaf in the
ordinary manner to pass it in the direction of the stalk between two rollers, by
which means the stalk is reduced to the same or nearly the same thickness as
the leaf, and is made to appear similar.
The annexed Drawing exhibits the rollers and machinery which we propose
for this purpose, in which A, A, represent the two rollers between which the
stalk of the leaf is to be flattened, fixed upon the shafts or axles B, B, coupled
together by toothed wheels so as to move at the same speed in the directions
shewn by the arrows, and driven by any convenient power. C, C, are two
scrapers pressing lightly against the rollers for the purpose of detaching the
leaf, which may occasionally adhere to them. D, D, are screws bearing upon
the shaft or axle of the upper roller for regulating the degree of pressure
applied to the tobacco stalk. One end of the leaf being inserted at E it
is carried through by the motion of the rollers, and delivered on the opposite
side, the stalk having been flattened by the pressure of the rollers.
The annexed Drawing and the foregoing description only exhibit one
method of flattening the stalk by means of rollers; we are aware that other
methods might be used, such as stamping, beating, or compressing the stalk,
but as the mechanical arrangement forms no part of our said Invention
the foregoing is sufficient to explain one way in which it may be effected.
We are aware that tobacco is occasionally manufactured with the stalk in the
leaf into an article commonly called bird's-eye tobacco, but without compressing
the stalk. We are also aware that the stalks have sometimes been stript from
the leaf manufactured in the ordinary manner. But what we claim as our
said Invention is, so compressing the stalk with the leaf that both may be

page_text: anufactured together and used for all purposes that the stript leaves have
een or may be used for.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Ceal, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.