Apparatus for Treating Cigars, Tobacco, and Cigarettes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1896-Accepted, 30th Jan., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Treating Cigars, Tobacco, and Cigarettes.
I, LEWIS BOYD WHITE, of No. 143 Elm Street in the City of New York, in
the County and State of New York, in the United States of America, Mechanical
Engineer, 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:-
The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus for
removing, in the most effective manner deleterious and noxious constituents
substances, or matter, such as mould, dirt, dust, sourness, bad smell, etc., from leaf'
tobacco, cut tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, etc., and which apparatus can also be used,
without removing the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes from the same for flavoring:
them more or less or impregnating them with any desired treating substance as the
exigencies of the case may require.
In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification :
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section of one construction of my improved'
apparatus.
Figure 2 is a similar view of a modification of the same.
Various kinds of tobacco, cigars or cigarettes require slightly different kinds of
treatment and I have therefore modified my apparatus in such a manner as to adapt
it for these various kinds of treatment.
In all cases, the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes are placed into a vessel which can
be closed hermetically and which is connected with means for exhausting the air'
to a greater or less degree as may be necessary..
In the construction shown in Figure 1 or 2 this vessel A has a removable
cover A and is provided with a pressure gauge B₁ and a vacuum gauge B2 both
connected with the vessel A by pipes having suitable cocks, so that either gauge
can be brought in communication with the vessel A.
The vessel A is connected by a pipe E having a shutting off cock E' with the
suction part of a pump D to be operated either by hand or power as shown in
Figures 1 and 2 respectively and the discharge part of said pump is connected
with a pipe H having a shutting off cock H¹.
In the construction shown in Figure 1 the discharge pipe H leads to the bottom
of tank K having a water jacket K¹ in which a bell M is immersed, and below said
tank a coil R is arranged, one end of which is connected with the bottom of the
tank, so that the liquids discharged by the pump into the tank K can pass into the
coil. The coil has a gauge glass P and below the coil a burner O or other heating
device is provided for heating the coil and vaporizing its contents. A pipe L
having a cock L is connected with the pipe E between the pump D and the
cock E and extends to the top of the tank K and is open at its upper end.
A pipe F having a cock F is connected with the pipe E between the cock E¹
and the vessel A and is also connected with an outlet nozzle J having a cock J¹ and
with a pipe G having a cock G¹ which pipe G is connected at its lower end with
the outlet pipe H between the cock H¹ and the pump D.
The cigars or tobacco to be treated are placed into the vessel A, the cover A' is
secured in place and the vacuum gauge B2 is brought in communication with said
vessel, the cocks E' G¹ and J' are opened and the cocks F¹ L' and H' are closed
and the pump is operated so as to create a vacuum in the vessel A, whereby the
deleterious and noxious constituents are exhausted from the cigars or tobacco and

page_text: pass with the air exhausted from the vessel A through the pipe E, the discharge
end of the pump, the pipe G and the nozzle J. When the desired degree of
vacuum has been obtained the cock E' remains open and the cock L' is opened, the
cocks Hand F remaining closed and the flavoring or aromatic vapors in the
tank J and bell M, which were generated by heating a flavoring or aromatic
extract, such as for example Tonka bean, or Havanna stem extracts, in the coil R,
are forced by the pressure exerted in the bell through the pipes L and E into the
vessel A.
Then the cock E' is closed, the cocks G¹ and F¹ are opened, the cock J' is closed
and the pump D is operated so as to draw flavoring vapor through the pipes L
and E into the pump which forces it through the pipes G, F and E into the
vessel A, in which the pressure is thus raised until the cigars or tobacco are fully
permeated with the flavoring vapors.
Then the cocks F' L' and G₁ are closed and the cocks E' and H' are opened
and the pump worked to draw the flavoring vapors or the liquid condensed from
the same, from the vessel A into the tank K until the pressure in the vessel A. is
equal to atmospheric pressure.
In case mouldy, dusty or dirty tobacco is to be purified a slightly modified
apparatus is used, as is shown in Figure 2, and this apparatus is also used when
the tobacco is not to be flavored by means of vapor but by a sprayed liquid.
For this purpose the pipe E has an air inlet tube e having a cock e¹ and the
outlet pipe H has a branch pipe h between the pump D and the cock H¹ said
pipe h having a cock h¹ and terminating at its upper end in an atomizing nozzle
extending into a neck or chamber T of the vessel A. The suction tube V of the
atomizer has a nozzle at its upper end also within the neck or chamber T and the
lower end of said tube V dips into a tank V¹ containing the flavoring liquid to be
sprayed upon the tobacco or cigars.
The vessel A has an air inlet neck W the inner end of which is closed by an
inwardly opening valve W₁ which is pressed upon its seat by a spring Qthe tension
of which can be adjusted by means of a nut Q on the screw threaded stem of said
valve.
As it sometimes is necessary to dry or heat the air admitted into the vessel A
especially during wet weather the inlet end of the neck W is connected with a
coil m open at its lower end and below which a burner n or other heater is
provided.
The cigars or tobacco are placed into the vessel A which is then closed
-hermetically and the cocks e¹ and ¹ are closed and the cocks E' and H' opened.
The tension of the spring Q is so adjusted that the valve W¹ opens inwardly
when a certain degree of vacuum has been attained in the vessel A and then the
pump D is operated.
The air in the vessel A is rarefied to the certain fixed degree when the valve W₁
opens automatically for an instant to admit fresh air and then the air is again
rarefied and so on. Thereby mould, dust, sand etc., are drawn out of the tobacco
or cigars and are carried off by the current of air, until the tobacco has been
entirely deprived of its noxious or deleterious constituents and is thoroughly
dried. The tobacco or cigars may then be removed for further treatment or
if they are to be flavored the cocks E' and H' are closed and the cocks e¹ and ¹
opened and the pump is again started whereby a current of air is forced through
the nozzle which current atomizes liquid drawn up through the tube V and
sprays it upon the tobacco or cigars.
If desired an atomizing rubber bulb C may be used as shown in dotted lines in
Figure 2 in case the liquid is to be atomized by hand.
Mouldy, musty or dirty tobacco can thus be cleaned and flavored very easily and
rapidly or the tobacco can be cleaned only or if it is too strong it can be made
milder and the tobacco can be treated with various flavoring or coloring liquids
either in the form of vapors, without any loss of the treating liquid or as a sprayed
or atomized liquid.

page_text: 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. In an apparatus for treating cigars, tobacco and cigarettes, the combination
with a vessel for receiving the cigars, tobacco or cigarettes, of a pump for
exhausting the air from said vessel and means for introducing a flavoring extract
into said vessel by means of said pump, substantially as herein shown and
described.
2. In an apparatus for treating cigars, tobacco and cigarettes, the combination
with a vessel for receiving the cigars, tobacco or cigarettes, of a pump, a tank,
a pipe connecting the pump with the vessel, a pipe connecting the pump with the
tank, a pipe connecting the above two pipes at opposite sides of the pump and
having cocks and an outlet and means for generating vapors in the tank,
substantially as herein shown and described.
3. In an apparatus for treating cigars, tobacco and cigarettes, the combination
with a vessel for receiving the cigars, tobacco or cigarettes, of a pump, a tank,
pipes connecting the receiving vessel and the tank with the pump, a connecting
pipe and cocks for establishing connections between either the suction or the
forcing end of the pump and the receiving vessel and the tank, and a pipe for
establishing direct communication between the tank and the receiving vessel,
substantially as herein shown and described.
4. In an apparatus for. treating tobacco, cigars or cigarettes the combination
with a vessel for receiving the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, of a device for
exhausting the air from the same, an inwardly opening air inlet valve and adjustable
resistance for said valve, substantially as herein shown and described.
5. In an apparatus for treating tobacco, cigars or cigarettes the combination
with a vessel for receiving the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, of a device for
exhausting air from the same, an inwardly opening air inlet valve for said vessel,
an adjustable resistance for said valve, and means for heating the air passing to
the vessel before the said air enters the vessel, substantially as herein shown and
described.
6. In an apparatus for treating tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, the combination
with a vessel for receiving the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, of a device for
exhausting air from the same, an inwardly opening air inlet valve for said vessel,
an adjustable resistance for said valve and a spraying device for spraying a liquid
into said vessel, substantially as herein shown and described.
7. In an apparatus for treating tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, the combination
with a vessel for receiving the tobacco, cigars or cigarettes, of a pump for
exhausting the air from said vessel and a spraying device to be operated by said
pump, substantially as herein shown and described.
1800
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
Southampton Buildings, Chaucery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.