A Machine for Stripping or Removing the Stems from Tobacco Leaves.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 24th Nov., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Machine for Stripping or Removing the Stems from Tobacco
Leaves.
I, ARTHUR HAMILTON COCHRANE, of 5 Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists in the construction use and application of a machine for
stripping or removing the stems from tobacco leaves, an operation which has hitherto
been generally performed by hand.
This machine in its simplest form consists of say two pairs of pitch chains which
are supported at one end and driven by two pairs of chain wheels geared together.
At the other end the chains are supported on guide rollers (or it may be chain
wheels) in such a manner that the two pairs of chains travel in an approximately
horizontal direction except when passing round the chain wheels or guide rollers.
The two pairs of chains are set a convenient distance apart aud have carriers
attached to them at suitable intervals, the positions of the carriers on the two upper
chains corresponding to those on the two lower chains. One set of these carriers,
which may be plates or strips of steel or other metal or material, have clips or
catches which are actuated by a fixed stop or catch as the chains pass round the
guide rollers and thereby cause the carrier on one pair of chains to engage with
the corresponding carrier on the other pair. About midlength of the travel of the
chains are mounted a pair of stripping rollers covered with wire card clothing or
other suitable material and these rollers I prefer to drive by chains or other means
in the opposite direction to that in which the pairs of chains are travelling.
In operation the stalk of a tobacco leaf is introduced between a pair of the
carriers just prior to the interlocking or engagement above described, and to prevent
any possibility of the stem slipping I prefer to flute, corrugate or roughen the
contiguous surfaces of the carriers so as to give them a good grip of the stem.
The leaf is then taken forward by the travel of the carriers to the rotating stripping
rollers by which the leaf is removed in good condition from the stem and falls
down into a box or receptacle placed below and to allow the carriers to pass
between the stripping rollers I mount the upper stripping roller in open bearings
or guides and arrange to lift the roller by the passage of the chains. To preveut the
said roller from lifting too freely and also in order to regulate its stripping action
on the leaf, I weight it to the desired degree by means of levers and adjustable
weights or by springs and adjusting screws. After the stripping operation the
stem is carried forward to the chain wheels where the carriers unlock and release
the stem which falls down into another box or receptacle below.
If necessary combs or rollers may be employed to clear the stripping rollers.
Dated this 18th day of January 1894.
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
Agents for Applicant.

page_text: A Machine for Stripping or Removing the Stems from Tobacco
Leaves.
I, ARTHUR HAMILTON COCHRANE, of 5 Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster, Engineer and Contractor, 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 :-
My invention consists in the construction use and application of a machine for
stripping or removing the stems from tobacco leaves, an operation which has hitherto
been generally performed by hand.
This machine in its simplest form consists of say two pairs of pitch chains which
are supported at one end and driven by two pairs of chain wheels geared together.
At the other end the chains are supported on guide rollers (or it may be chain
wheels) in such a manner that the two pairs of chains travel in an approximately
horizontal direction except when passing round the chain wheels or guide rollers.
The two pairs of chains are set a convenient distance apart and have carriers
attached to them at suitable intervals, the positions of the carriers on the two upper
chains corresponding to those on the two lower chains. One set of these carriers,
which may be plates or strips of steel or other metal or material, bave clips or
catches which are actuated by a fixed stop or catch as the chains pass round the
guide rollers and thereby cause the carrier on one pair of chains to engage with
the corresponding carrier on the other pair. About midlength of the travel of the
chains are mounted a pair of stripping rollers covered with wire card clothing or
other suitable material and these rollers I prefer to drive by chains or other means in
the opposite direction to that in which the pairs of chains are travelling.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect I will describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference being had to
the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken about through the centre of a machine
made according to my invention for stripping or removing the stems from tobacco
leaves.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine and Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken
respectively on the lines A A and B B of Fig. 2.
In these views,-a a are the side frames of the machine, and 6 is the driven shaft
mounted in adjustable bearings c fitted to be adjusted in the frame a; on the shaft b
are mounted a pair of fast and loose pulleys d d for the driving belt e and a pair of
chain wheels, also a spur wheel which gears into a wheel g' and gives motion
to a shaft g immediately below the shaft band on the shaft g are fixed two chain
wheels. At the front end of the machine are two shafts and i corresponding in
position to the shafts 6 and 9 respectively and on each of which is keyed a pair of
chain wheels and, the chain wheels ff and being connected by a pair of
chains while the lower wheels and those on the shaft g are connected by two
similar chains k. To each pair of upper and lower chains j and k are secured say
three transverse bars j' and ' respectively placed at equal and corresponding
distances apart on the two pairs of chains. On each end of each lower bar A¹ is
pivoted a catch which is actuated by stationary cams a' a¹ a³ as follows:-
g
Just before each pair of transverse bars j¹¹ meet at the feed end of the machine
the lower ends of the catches on the bar k¹ meet the cams a' and are pushed back
thereby withdrawing their upper hooked ends out of the way of the bar j¹ then as
the bar comes over and meets the bar ¹ it is clipped and locked by the hooked
ends of the catches which are closed as the upper ends meet the cams a³ and the
chains travel forward with this pair of bars j k locked together as shown in Fig. 3
until the lower ends of the catches meet the cams a at the driving end of the

page_text: machine whereby the hooked ends of the catches are withdrawn and the pair of
bars are unlocked. In order to insure the transverse bars j¹ and k¹ meeting
correctly, the shafts and i are geared together by spur wheels h³.
Near the middle of the machine are fitted a pair of rollers covered with wire
card clothing or other suitable material having like characteristics. The lower
roller is driven by a chain m which passes over a wheel on its axle from a chain
wheel m' on the shaft. The upper roller is fitted in blocks arranged to slide in
slots in the frames a and held down by springs n or screwed rods n' or by dead
weights and the position of the roller can be regulated by the nuts n³ on the
rods n' which are secured to the bearings of said roller.
In order to raise the upper roller smoothly projections are secured to the
bars, see Fig. 2, and similar projections are secured to the bars ; these
projections come between bowls on the axles of the rollers and thereby raise
the roller. The rollers have preferably strippers such as pieces of leather n³
secured to transverse bars n', or combs or separate stripping rollers might be
employed to clear the rollers. To drive the upper roller I fit upon the shaft
of the lower roller a bevel pinion which gears into a pinion o¹ keyed upon a
vertical shaft o to the upper end of which is fitted on a feather key a bevel
pinion of which gears into a pinion of keyed upon the shaft of the upper roller 1,
and as the upper bearing of the shaft o³ is formed with the bearing of the roller 1,
the roller is free to be raised and lowered without affecting.its gearing.
On each side of these rollers are fitted partition plates oo which are supported
partially by bosses fitted on the four chain wheel shafts and to these partitions is
connected a frame work which consists of a plate p secured in any required position
to a bar mounted on links p² p³ pivoted at p p to the partition o. The bar pl
has a rod pe secured to it and to the ends of this rod are pivoted to links y, the other
ends of which are connected to a knife carrier or frame q' pivoted on studs q²
carried by the partition o. The frame q' carries a cutting blade q³ between which
and a stationary rest y the tobacco leaf passes while the knife and its frame q¹ are
in their normal positions, that is to say, drawn back by a spring p' attached to the
link p. When a transverse bar & comes over and upon the plate p it depresses it
and causes the bar p' carried by the links p to move toward the driving end of
the machine the links 9 and frame g with the cutting blade being thereby
brought sharply against the stem and so cutting it off against the fixed rest q'.
By adjusting the position of the plate p on the bar pl the knife q³ can be caused
to cut off any desired length of stem from the leaf.
On the shaft i is secured a roller round which is placed an apron which
pasecs over a roller and tension roller; below the roller is a transverse
apron which may have strips of card clothing on it and passes over a roller on a
shaft and small guide rollers and is driven by a band from a pulley on
the driving shaft.
In case any leaf is thrown back too far it is caught by the apron and by it
deposited on the apron ; as soon as the jaws with the leaf meet the plate p they
move it and the bar p' rapidly back and overcoming the spring by which the knife
had been held in its lowest position cause the knife q' to strike its rest q³ and cut
or divide the stem which will be thrown with the leaf on to the apron by the
rollers 1.
In operation the stalk of a tobacco leaf is introduced between a pair of the
carriers k¹ just prior to the interlocking or engagement caused by the catches k
being first opened by the stationary cams a¹ and then closed on the upper bars by
the cams a³ and to prevent any possibility of the stem slipping I prefer to flute,
corrugate or roughen the contiguous surfaces of the carriers, so as to give them
a good grip of the stem. The leaf is then taken forward by the travel of the
carriers to the rotating stripping rollers by which the leaf is removed in
good condition from the stem and falls down on to the travelling apron, by which
it is carried to the side of the machine and into a box or receptacle placed below,
and as the carriers j¹³ pass between the stripping rollers the upper stripping

page_text: roller is lifted in its open bearings or guides as described by the projections on the
bars and engaging the loose bowls on the shafts of the rollers A. After
the stripping operation the stem is carried forward to the chain wheels on the
shafts hand where the carriers j' k are unlocked by the stationary cams a releasing
the catches and so releasing the stem which falls down into another box or
receptacle below while the chains j k continue to travel over the chain wheels.
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 machine for stripping or removing the stems from tobacco leaves, said
machine consisting in its essential features of pairs of travelling chains supporting
carriers which are interlocked to grip and carry forward the tobacco leaf to
stripping rollers by which the leaf is stripped from the stem and after the stripping
operation said carriers are unlocked to release the stem all substantially as herein
Bet forth.
2. In combination pairs of travelling chains, carriers supported thereon, clips or
catches to interlock said carriers, and means such as stationary cams to close and
open the catches, stripping rollers or equivalent means for removing the tobacco
leaf from the stem, and an adjustable knife for dividing the stem all arranged and
operating substantially as and for the purposes herein described with reference to
the accompanying drawings.
3. The general construction combination and arrangement of parts constituting
a machine for stripping or removing the stems from tobacco leaves substantially as
herein described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 18th day of October 1894.
H. B. BARLOW & GILLETT,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for Applicant.