IMPROVEMENTS IN CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, OLIVER IMRAY of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CIGARETTE MAKING
MACHINES" and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the Specifications to Patents N° 3523 of 1880 and N° 3293 of 1882 was
described machinery for manufacturing cigarettes. By one portion of that
machinery, the tobacco is fed on to a travelling flexible belt, which, in its course,
becomes gradually more and more curved, till it is at last wrapped quite round the
tobacco moulding it into the form of a continuous cylindrical rope which is
afrerwards dealt with to convert it into separate cigarettes.
In operating with this machinery, it has been found necessary to employ an
attendant to spread the tobacco equally on the travelling belt and to tamp or pack
it with the fingers into the hollow of the belt. The present Invention has for its
object to dispense with manipulation for this purpose by providing a self acting
tamping, packing and compressing bar, by the use of which the operation of the
machinery is rendered more rapid and uniform, expense is saved, and the cigarettes
are produced so uniform in character that no critical examination is required such
as is necessary when the work of tamping, packing and compressing is performed
by hand.
The accompanying Drawings shew how this automatic appliance is worked in
connection with the existing machinery of which no more is represented than is
necessary to illustrate this improvement, the other parts of the mechanism
remaining unchanged.
.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine up to the point where the filling leaves
the belt and enters the filling tube, and Fig. 8 is an end view.
Fig. 2 is a plan to an enlarged scale of the table and mechanism for effecting the
automatic tamping, packing and compressing by means of a bar which is shewn in
perspective by Fig. 3.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a part end view, taken at one side of the mechanism shewn at Fig. 2, of
which. Figs. 6 and 7 are side views shewing the packing bar, in two different
positions.
A is the table which carries the operative parts of the mechanism, and is
mounted upon frames B preferably of metal. Z is the picker chamber, constructed
..and arranged as heretofore. C is the travelling belt or tape, which, in passing
through the bottom of the picker chamber Z receives the tobacco which it carries
with it. Thence the belt passes to the packing chamber D where the sides of the
belt are gradually curved upward and over to give cylindrical form to the tobacco.
The belt C is unwound from one roll E, and after passing round a guide pulley,
returns beneath the table, and under the driving pulley A¹ and over a tension roll a
to a second roll E' on which it is wound. Both the rolls E and E are mounted on
a frame F at the end of the machine. A belt e passes from a large pulley E², upon
the axis of the upper roll E, to a smaller pulley E³ upon the axis of the lower
roll E¹, so that the latter tending to revolve faster than the former, exerts a
As seen
constant tension upon the belt C as determined by the slip of the belt c.
in Fig. 8, the two rolls are alike, so that when the belt C has been wholly unwound
from the upper roll E, and wound upon the. lower roll E¹ the two rolls may be
interchanged rendering it unnecessary to wind and unwind the belt for a new
travel and thus saving time and trouble and wear of the belt.
For convenience in connecting the belt to the roll a notch e² is cut in it, as
shewn in Fig. 9 to receive the end of the belt.
Upon the table a little in front of the entrance to the packing chamber D,,a
transverse shaft G is mounted in bearings g, the end of this shaft carrying a chain-
wheel H. Upon the shaft G, is fitted one end of a carrier-bar I, having its other
end inserted in the slot of at post K, (shewn in perspective at Fig. 5) where it
rests upon a spring k, pressing the bar upwards as determined by an adjusting
screw, which is passed through a yoke 2, hinged to the top of the post K.
.
Upon the carrier bar I is mounted a second chain wheel H₁, connected to H by a
chain H2, so that the two wheels revolve uniformly together. The chain H may
be tightened by a tension roll h on an arm h¹ pivotted upon the carrier-bar I, but
this is not generally necessary. Each of the chain wheels H and H¹ has projecting
from its face, a crank pin i on which are fitted eye screws that screw into
bosses of the tamping, packing and compressing bar L. By detaching the eyes
from the crank pins, and screwing them more or less into the bosses 7, the height of
the bar L can be adjusted as required, to adapt its action to the volume of the
tobacco lying upon the belt C, which volume may vary according to the size of
cigarette to be produced. The bar L is somewhat longer than the packing chamber
its smaller and projecting end extending into the throat of the chamber and
substantially filling the narrowing portion thereof..
The shaft G is driven by a cross belt from a central, longitudinal shaft S, which
runs beneath the table from end to end, giving rotation to the chain wheels in the
same direction as that of the travelling belt C at such speed that the tamping,
packing and compressing bar L, as it descends towards the belt, moves also with it.
As the belt moves beneath the bar L, each portion of the belt is repeatedly acted
on by the bar before it is carried beyond its range. By this repeated tamping and
packing, the filling is compressed to the exact volume and form required to prepare
it for the subsequent operations of the mechanism, and all the protruding sbreds or
filaments of tobacco are, by the action of the bar, drawn under the bar and tamped
down into the filler.
The bending upwards of the sides of the belt has a tendency to push the
tobacco which it carries upwards at the sides and above the edges of the belt.
Heretofore, as mentioned above, manipulation by an attendant has been required to
tamp and compress the filling to avoid this tendency, but this labor is extremely
fatiguing and adds materially to the cost of production. The tamping and
compressing bâr L acts as an automatic substitute for the work of the hand,
presenting the great advantage of compressing the filling to the same degree at

page_text: each operation, and of operating over a much greater length than could be covered
by the hand of an attendant. As the bar reaches the lowest point in its stroke.
its motion coincides with the movement of the belt, and there is, therefore, no
derangement of the tobacco and no danger of the feed of the belt being interrupted.
The filling is also thus uniformly packed and compressed, so that the finished
cigarettes are more perfect in shape and uniform in size and volume of tobacco than
any cigarettes made by hand, or by machines whero the tamping and packing aro
effected by hand.
To facilitate removal of the tamping packing and compressing apparatus when it
is necessary to gain access to the packing chamber, the yoke hinged to the
post K, is thrown off the end of the carrier bar I, which can then be turned on the
shaft G as an axis into the position shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 1.
As shewn in the Drawings, the operative parts are in duplicate, one set arranged
at cach side of the table, both of the tamping packing and compressing bars being
operated by the same shaft G, so that either or both may be used. The belts C
also are duplicated, their rollers being arranged on each side of the frame F.
Although the belt has been described as being arranged to wind off one roll on
to another it might obviously be an endless belt such as is usually employed.
The tamping packing and compressing bar L is preferably made of highly
polished metal to which oils or viscous matter from the tobacco will not readily
adhere. It may be plated with nickel or other metal or coated with celluloid, or
similar material or it may be made wholly of such material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a cigarette making machine, in combination with the travelling belt
carrying the tobacco and the packing chamber, a tamping packing and compressing
bar having intermittent and repeated action on the tobacco, substantially as and for
the purposes set forth.
2. In a cigarette making machine, in substitution for the usual endless carrying
belt, a belt unwound from one roll and wound on another roll interchangeable with
the former, substantially as described.
3. In a cigarette making machine, arranging the tamping, packing and
compressing mechanism so that it can be turned up on its driving shaft as an axis,
substantially as described.