IMPROVED MACHINE FOR WRAPPING UP OR MAKING PACKETS OF TOBACCO OR SIMILAR MATERIAL
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Rose at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 8th January 1881.
"
'AN
WILLIAM ROSE, of Gainsborough, in the County of Lincoln, Tobacconist.
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR WRAPPING UP OR MAKING PACKETS OF TOBACCO OR
SIMILAR MATERIAL."
This Invention relates to a machine chiefly designed for wrapping or putting up
tobacco in parcels or packets for sale in tobacconists' shops.
The said machine has a series of rollers and an endless band or apron, between
which the tobacco and the paper in which it is to be wrapped are placed, the said
rollers and band with other mechanism, hereinafter described, then operating to roll
up and secure the paper around the tobacco, thereby forming parcels or packets
containing an ounce, a half ounce, or any other required quantity, similar to the
packets ordinarily made up by hand.
The said machine has a frame constructed of iron or other suitable material
which carries the operative parts of the mechanism. At one side of this frame is
arranged a toothed wheel which I term the main or driving wheel. This wheel
has gaps or places devoid of teeth on its periphery for a purpose hereinafter
explained; it is geared with a pinion on a shaft which extends across the said
machine, and is mounted in suitable bearings in the sides of the frame; the said
shaft carries a roller around which passes the said endless band or apron. Adjacent
to this roller I arrange a pressure roll; the belt or apron passes between these two
rolls, and the said pressure roll is caused by springs, or otherwise, to exert the
required pressure to prevent the slipping of the other roller within the band or
apron. The said endless band or apron is extended around a pair of rollers
arranged parallel to each other at the upper part of the back of the machine, and
below these two rollers is a shelf, upon which the endless apron rests when the
paper and tobacco are placed therein previous to forming the same into a parcel.
At the sides of the machine within the frame I arrange two vibrating arms which
carry another roller (which I term the adjustable roller) also extending across the
machine. These arms are fixed on a shaft which has on its end a tappet arranged
in the path of a stud or pin projecting from the inner side of the aforesaid main
wheel so that at one period of the said wheel's revolution the said stud will act on
this tappet and thereby actuate the arms to depress the adjustable roller carried
thereby. The machine is then in a position for placing upon the endless band or
apron the paper and tobacco to form a parcel. A cam also formed or fixed on the said
main wheel is properly arranged to then act upon the aforesaid tappet and thereby
raise the said adjustable roller, thus closing the band and wrapping the paper
around the tobacco. The said cam is also formed to act in combination with one

page_text: surface of the said tappet so as to keep the adjustable roller in its last named
position while the ends of the package are closed by the following mechanism,
that is to say-At or near the back of the said machine I arrange two vertical shafts
provided at their upper ends with pieces which I term folding arms, these two
shafts are coupled together by a connecting rod jointed to short arms on the said
shafts. One of these shafts is also provided with an arm which is connected by a
link or rod with a short vertical shaft, geared with and rotated by a series of teeth
on the side of the said main wheel, and I thereby impart a reciprocating or
vibrating motion to the said vertical shafts and folding arms. These teeth extend
only partly around the said main wheel, and are so arranged as not to gear with
the said pinion during the wrapping or folding up of the paper around the tobacco.
The said folding arms are so formed, arranged, and operated in combination with
the said main wheel that at intervals corresponding with the aforesaid gaps thereof
they act with a series of inward movements upon the ends of the package and
thereby, in combination with the following devices, fold the paper at these ends.
Above these folding arms I arrange a shaft which carries these devices; the latter,
which form a very important feature of my Invention, are constructed and arranged
in a peculiar manner, so that when the paper with the tobacco is first placed on
the said shelf they lie above the paper at the two ends of the shelf, and when the
said arms commence to fold the ends of the packet these devices assist in this
operation and hold the ends of the packet and finish the folding in of the paper at
these ends, and then discharge the finished packet as hereinafter described. These
devices consist of levers carried by the said shaft and provided with laterally
projecting arms whose extremities have a curved or spiral form, whereby they are
adapted to support and finish the ends of the packet, that is to say, these spiral
ends rest upon the edges of the paper on the shelf, and form a nearly circular
interior support against which the paper is folded by the said folding arms, the
rotative movement of the packet between the movements of the said arms causing
the said supports, by reason of their special formation, to pass from the interior to
the exterior of the ends of the packet. They are actuated by means of one of the
arms of the adjustable roller as follows:-The said arm is formed with a segment,
and I therefore term it the segmental arm; on its periphery I form a few teeth at
the end farthest from the end in which the roller has its bearing. And on the
shaft of the said spiral supporting and finishing devices I place a small toothed
segment which, when the adjustable roller is being depressed and has nearly
arrived at its lowest position, is acted on by the teeth on the said segmental arm,
and thereby raises the said spiral devices. The latter are depressed and thereby
brought into the proper position for supporting and holding the packet by a spring
arranged to act on their shaft, or by other suitable means; and the said shaft has
on it a flat portion which engages with the plain or untoothed portion of the said..
segmental arm, and thereby the said devices are held immovably in their position
until the packet is finished. The adjustable roller is then depressed and the teeth
on the segmental arm engage with the small segment on the shaft carrying these
devices, thereby raising the latter and discharging the packet from the machine.
The aforesaid endless band or apron may be formed of canvass, leather, or other
suitable material. The power for operating the said machine may be applied
thereto by a handle attached to the said main wheel, or in any other convenient
manner.
It will be obvious that my improved machine may be used for wrapping or
putting up various materials other than tobacco.