An Improved Machine for Removing the Paper Wrappers from Cigarettes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 4th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 23rd Jan., 1>97
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Removing the Paper Wrappers from
Cigarettes.
We, RICHARD JAMES MINNS, of 22 Alexandra Road, Crosby near Liverpool
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and WILLIAM HENRY JONES, of 60 Craven
Street, Birkenhead in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a machine for removing the paper wrappers from
cigarettes. It is found that a considerable proportion of cigarettes made by
machinery are imperfect, and as the tobacco in such cigarettes is required to be
used up again, it is necessary to remove the paper in which the tobacco is wrapped.
Where a large number of cigarette machines are employed the number of cigarettes
which require to be dealt with in this way is very considerable, and the object of
our invention is to provide a machine into which the imperfect cigarettes are fed
and in which the paper is removed from the tobacco.
Such a machine, constructed according to our invention, comprises a series of
parallel tapes carried by pulleys supported at opposite ends of a horizontal table,
one of the pulleys is driven and the tapes are maintained at the proper tension by
a jockey pulley; the tapes pass under a rocking feed hopper which ensures that
the cigarettes fed in shall fall longitudinally on to the tapes, so that each tape
carries a single file of cigarettes; the tapes pass through a "former" which turns
up the sides of the tapes so that each tape almost completely circumscribes its file
of cigarettes; we also provide a series of knives-one for each tape-adapted to
slit the paper wrapper between the two edges of the tape, which, as already
mentioned do not quite meet. We find that when the paper has been slit there is
little difficulty in separating the papers from the tobacco owing to the comparative
lightness of the paper.
The cigarettes are fed into the hopper so as to be parallel with the line of tapes;
the tapes as they pass under the hopper are caused by the "former" to assume a
trough shape and the hopper is provided with converging guides which, as the
hopper rocks transversely across the line of tapes, guide the cigarettes into the
tapes as described.
We prefer to arrange the knives so that the points thereof get under the paper
wrappers which are thus slit as the cigarettes are forced along by the tapes, but of
course circular rotating knives can be used.
We provide a hopper at the end of the machine into which the tobacco is
carried by its inertia, and means are provided to intercept the paper wrappers.
Dated this 3rd day of March 1896.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
26 Castle Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: COME LEIE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Removing the Paper Wrappers from
Cigarettes.
We, RICHARD JAMES MINNS, of 22 Alexandra Road, Crosby near Liverpool
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and WILLIAM HENRY JONES, of 60 Craven
Street, Birkenhead in the County of Chester, 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 aud by the following statement:-
This invention relates to a machine for removing the paper wrappers from
cigarettes. It is found that a considerable proportion of cigarettes made by
machinery are imperfect, and as the tobacco in such cigarettes is required to be
used up again, it is necessary to remove the paper in which the tobacco is wrapped.
Where a large number of cigarette machines are employed the number of cigarettes
which require to be dealt with in this way is very considerable, and the object of
our invention is to provide a machine into which the imperfect cigarettes are fed
and in which the paper is removed from the tobacco.
Such a machine constructed according to our invention, comprises a series of
parallel tapes carried by pulleys supported at opposite ends of a horizontal table;
one of the pulleys is driven and the tapes are maintained at the proper tension by
& jockey pulley; the tapes pass under a feed hopper which ensures that the
cigarettes fed in shall fall longitudinally on to the tapes, so that each tape carries
a single file of cigarettes; the tapes pass through a "former" which turns up the
sides of the tapes so that each tape almost completely circumscribes its file of
cigarettes; we also provide a series of knives-one for each tape-adapted to slit
the paper wrapper between the two edges of the tape, which, as already mentioned
do not quite meet. We find that when the paper has been slit there is little
difficulty in separating the papers from the tobacco owing to the comparative
lightness of the paper.
The cigarettes are fed into the hopper so as to be parallel with the line of tapes;
the tapes as they pass under the hopper are caused by the "former" to assume a
trough shape and the hopper is provided with converging guides which, as the
hopper rocks transversely across the line of tapes, guide the cigarettes into the
tapes as described.
The knives may be arranged so that the points thereof get under the paper
wrappers which are thus slit as the cigarettes are forced along by the tapes, but of
course circular rotating knives can be used.
We provide a hopper at the end of the machine into which the tobacco is
carried by its inertia, and means are provided to intercept the paper wrappers.
We have illustrated our invention in the accompanying drawings, which form
part of this specification, and in which
Fig. I is a side elevation of the main part of the machine, a portion only of the
vibrating hopper or screen 39 being shown.
Fig. II is a view similar to Fig. I with the exception that the machine is shown
in longitudinal section on the line A. A. of Fig. III.
Fig. III is a plan, in which, for the sake of clearness, the vibrating screen 39
and the base of the machine are omitted.
Figs. IV, V, and VI are transverse sections on the lines B. B., C. C. and D. D.,
respectively, of Fig. III; in these latter views the portions of the machine beyond
the plane of section are omitted.
Fig. VII is a sectional elevation of the vibrating screen.
Throughout the drawings similar parts are indicated by the same reference

page_text: figures, and in the case of sections, the direction in which they are viewed is
indicated by the small arrows placed adjacent to the letters denoting the plane of
section.
The main portion of the machine is carried on side frames 1 which are secured
together, at the top by a bridge piece 2, and at the bottom by stays 3. The driving
shaft 4 of the machine is carried transversely at one end in suitable bearings, and
it is provided with the usual fast and loose pulleys 5 and 6. The driving shaft is
also provided with a pulley 7 to drive the tapes 8; two tapes are shown in the
machine, but of course there may be more than two. The tapes run from the
underside of the pulley 7 to a pulley 9 suitably carried at the other end of
the machine, and from the top of the latter each tape runs independently through a
former consisting of four portions 10, 11, 12, and 13 arranged in succession. The
former 10 is shown in section in Fig. IV, and is under the feeding hopper 14; its
function is to give the tape a wide trough-shaped section whereby the tape is
adapted to receive the cigarettes. The former 11 shown in section in Fig. V
gradually approximates the edges of the tapes so that when they enter the
former 12, which, as shown in Fig. VI, is immediately under the rotating knives
or saws 15, there is just sufficient room for the latter to enter between the edges
of the tapes and slit the paper wrappers; the former 13 is like 12, but reversely
set, and the tapes after leaving it straighten out on to the top of the tape driving
pulley 7.
The tapes are severally guided by concave pulleys 16 which are capable of axial
adjustment, and whose function is to ensure a fair lead of the tapes into the
former 10; the tapes are maintained at the requisite tension by jockey pulleys 17
carried by levers 18 held up by springs 19. It will of course be understood that
there are as many saws 15, pulleys 16, jockey pulleys 17, levers 18 aud springs 19
as there are tapes, and that each section of the former has as many grooves as
there are tapes.
The feed hopper may be made to reciprocate as a whole, but we have found that
the best results are obtained if the upper portion of the hopper be fixed and the
bottom or guiding portion thereof caused to reciprocate; we therefore provide at
the bottom of the feed hopper a sloping guide 20, a central guide 21, and two side
guides 22; the guides are carried from a slide 23, carried in slide bars as shown
and caused to rapidly reciprocate transversely by means of a connecting rod 24
driven by a crank shaft 25, of small throw, which latter is driven from the main
shaft by the belt gear 26; it will be seen that one of the belts of this gear has a
quarter twist, and that the belts are tightened by means of a tightening lever 27.
The function of these vibrating guides will be understood from an inspection of
Fig. IV; the sloping guide 20 allows the cigarettes to pass one at a time between
its opposite edges and the inside edges of the hopper, and the central guide 21 and
the side guides 22 direct the two streams of cigarettes on to the respective tapes,
with the result that the tapes are loaded with cigarettes in single file.
The cigarettes are carried by the tapes, which are caused to grip the cigarettes
as described, to the knives, which may be either fixed or caused to rotate; we find
the latter, (especially if serrated on the edge like a saw), are better adapted than
the former to cut the paper, and we have accordingly illustrated them in the
drawings. The knives or saws 15 are carried on a spindle 28 driven, in the direction
indicated by the arrow, by the belt gearing 29. The cigarettes with their wrappers
split are now carried into a hopper or screen 39 which consists of a rectangular box
carried by links 30, which are preferably flexible, from a frame work 31 the upper
portion of which is panelled-in as shown.
The frame work 31 is connected to the side frames of the main machine by a
common base 32. The hopper or screen is vibrated by a connecting rod 33 operated
by a crank shaft 34 driven from the main shaft by the chain gear 35.
The cigarettes are carried by their own inertia on to a shelf 36 the bottom of
which is composed of woven wire work of about three-quarters of an iuch square
mesh; some of the wrappers are here separated from the tobacco.

page_text: The vibratory motion causes the wrappers and tobacco to fall on to the wire
work bottom of the screen (which has a coarser mesh than that of the shelf) at the
upper end thereof; the tobacco, as it is shaken down the screen, passes through
the mesh of the wire work bottom into a suitable receptacle, the wrappers being
intercepted and allowed to accumulate until they overflow through 37; transverse
bars 38, preferably of rubber, may be provided to facilitate the separation of
the tobacco from the wrappers. A spring 41 is provided to steady the vibrating
screen.
The tapes are made of woven fabric and in order to ensure an effective drive the
surface of the pulley 7 may be covered with a rubber band 40 as shown.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is ;-
1. An improved machine for removing the wrappers of cigarettes, in which the
cigarettes are fed in single file on to a travelling tape, which is caused, by formers,
to almost encircle the cigarettes and which tape carries the cigarettes to a knife
whose edge enters between the edges of the tape and cuts the wrappers, which are
afterwards separated from the tobacco; substantially as described.
2. In a machine for removing the wrappers of cigarettes, in combination; an
endless travelling tape; a hopper the bottom of which vibrates and guides the
cigarettes in single file on to the tape; formers through which the tape runs and
which turn up the tape so as to almost encircle the cigarettes; a rotating cutter or
knife which enters between the edges of the tape and cuts the wrappers; and a
vibrating screen adapted to separate the wrappers from the tobacco; substantially
as described and illustrated.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts forming the improved machine
for removing the wrappers of cigarettes; substantially as described and illustrated
in the drawings.
Dated this 3rd day of December 1896.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicants.