Improvements in or connected with Machines or Apparatus for Making Cigarettes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1894-Accepted, 28th July, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Machines or Apparatus for
Making Cigarettes.
We W. D. & H. O. WILLS LIMITED of Virginia Cavendish Works, in the City
of Bristol and of Holborn Viaduct in the City of London, Tobacco Manufacturers
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been communicated to us
from abroad by Demetrius Bittle Strouse, President of the Bonsack Machine
Company of Salem, Virginia, in the United States of America) and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The present invention relates to that class of cigarette machines which make a
long, or continuous, cigarette by wrapping a continuous narrow wrapper strip of
paper around a filler of tobacco deposited thereon and securing the opposite edges
of the said strip together to form a seam running lengthwise of the cigarette after
which the long or continuous cigarette is cut into proper lengths for use.
This invention relates particularly to what is known as the wrapping Lube of a
cigarette machine, by which the wrapper strip is wrapped, or curled, around the
filler, and the object of the said invention is to prevent the edges of the wrapper
strip from being bent, or turned backward, or crumpled, or torn by contact with
the filler, as the wrapper is gradually curled, or wrapped, around the filler. This is
accomplished by providing the wrapping tube with open slots through which the
edges of the wrapper project which slots not only keep the edges out of contact
with the filler until they have been moved, or curled, around the filler to
substantially the position they are to occupy in the finished cigarette, but also
permit the edges to move freely, and without obstruction, as the open slots are not
liable to become clogged with fibres of tobacco.
The present invention also provides a tongue, or finger, beneath which the tobacco
filler is advanced, which tongue or finger is separated from the main body of the
wrapping tube by the open slots above referred to. The forward end of this
tongue or finger is unattached to the contiguous parts and can be forced upward by
pressure of the tobacco beneath it, and will spring back to its normal, or proper,
position when the upward pressure is removed.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 is a longitudinal central section of the
wrapping tube shewing the endless belt passing through it.
Figure 3 is a plan or top view of the said tube; and
Figures 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 and 10 are cross sections on correspondingly numbered
lines of Figure 3.
A represents the lower, or main, part of the tube, and B represents the upper
part which is conveniently made separate from the part A and secured thereto,
which may be done by brazing or soldering. These parts are so shaped relatively
to each other, and are so united, as to form a tubular tapering channel extending
from a to z as shewn in Figure 2 through which the tobacco filler and the wrapper
strip are moved, the filler being deposited upon the strip at, or near, the entrance to
the channel. As they are advanced, or pass, along through this channel, the strip
is partially wrapped around the filler and one of the edges of the strip is brought
to substantially the circumferential position which it is to occupy in the finished
cigarette, the edges of the strip, however, being kept out of contact with the filler
by the construction hereafter described, and shewn in the drawings.
At the rear of the tubular channel is a trough C, beginning nearly flat and being
gradually bent into circular form, until, near the mouth of the tubular channel, it

page_text: is nearly semi-circular. The edges of this trough are bent over to form closed
guides to direct the edges of the wrapper strip, and these guides are preferably
continued for a short distance after the tubular channel is reached as seen in
Figures 3 and 5 of the drawings.
At the termination of the guides D the narrow open slots E E¹ begin, and they
lie between the walls of the part A and the part B, and afford openings through
which the opposite edges of the wrapper strip can project as the wrapper moves
along, and through, the tube.
The part 1, forward of the guides 1) forms a tongue or finger F which can
move upward when sufficient force or pressure, is exerted beneath it, and being
preferably constructed of springy material will return to its normal position when
the upward pressure is removed. This function of the said tongue is very
advantageous as it frequently happens that nails or other hard and unyielding
substances, become accidentally mixed with the tobacco and are carried along with
it or sometimes the tobacco itself becomes bunched, and wedged into the narrow
space near the end of the tongue, and unless some means be provided for temporarily
increasing the size of the channel at this point the passage will become clogged and
the cigarette wrapper and filler, or the apparatus, will be broken.
The slots E and E gradually converge, or approach each other, from the ends
of the guides D, towards the end of the tongue F, at which point the slot E
terminates and the edge of the wrapper, which has been travelling along this slot,
and has been curled circumferentially around the lifter, is guided under the end of
the wall of the part or section A' (which, at this point, is formed into nearly a
completed tube) and is laid down upon the filler in substantially the position which
it is to occupy in the finished cigarette. The end of the section A' nearest the
tongue Facts as a guide to direct the edge of the wrapper down upon the tiller
while the lady of this tubular section holds this edge of the wrapper in contact
with the filler until it is ready to receive the overlap of the opposite edge of the
wrapper.
The slot E is continued beyond the end of the tongue F and is the narrow space
where the opposite edges of the wall forming the section A' do not quite come
together. The wall of this section is nearly vertical to permit a horizontally
rotating wheel or other device, to apply a line of paste or other cement to the edge
of the wrapper strip which travels along this wall, after which the wall is bent
inwardly and downwardly to form a guide to direct the pasted or cemented edge
of the wrapper inwardly and downwardly, to overlap the opposite edge which has
already been laid down and retained upon the filler, the wall of A being cut away
at this point to permit the overlapping of the wrapper edges, as shewn at K
Figure 3. The terminal end L of the device is formed into nearly a cylindrical
tube whose bore is about the size of the cigarette and as the formed cigarette is
passed through this tubular passage the overlapped edges which form the seam are
firmly pressed and secured together.
The main part A of the wrapping tube including the sections A and 1, may be
formed from a single piece of suitable material, such as, for instance, heavy sheet
brass by the use of a properly shaped mandrel and tools. The part B. F. is
preferably of stiff and springy material, steel being preferred, and may be secured
in place to the part A along the guides D. D. and by arched pieces GG.
A convenient means for passing the tobacco filler and the continuous wrapper
strip through the wrapping tube is an endless flexible belt M, preferably made of
strong linen cloth, running through the tube and over rollers O. and P. situated at,
or near, the ends of the tube. The wrapper strip N, taken from a reel, or other
convenient source of supply, is threaded through the tube above the belt and is
then ready to receive the tobacco filler. This belt, by reason of its continuous
contact with the wrapper strip throughout the length of the tube, equalizes the
strain upon the paper and prevents it from tearing, or rupturing.
The wrapping tube herein described, and shewn in the drawings may be attached
to cigarette machines, in any desired way such as by standards fixed to the frame

page_text: of the machine, and clamps securing the tube thereto, and the belt roller P, if a
helt he used, may be driven by any suitable means, it being simply important that
the tube should be secured to the machine in such relation to the feed of the
tobacco filler that the latter shall be received upon the strip of paper, in the
trough C, from whence it will be carried forward by the movement of the paper
independently of the means which may be employed to feed, or advance, the paper
through the machine.
It will be observed that this construction of wrapping tube is especially adapted
to make cigarettes from tobacco which has not been fully compressed to the size
and shape of the finished cigarette before it is fed to the wrapping tube. Under
such conditions, as the tobacco passes through the tapering channel, it is gradually
compressed to the proper size and shape, the greatest compression being near the
end of the tongue F, just before the edge of the wrapper strip, which travels
through the slot E and has been gradually curled around the filler, is laid down
upon the filler in its final position. During the compression and shaping of the
tobacco only the central, or middle, portion of the wrapper strip is in contact with
the tobacco, or filler, the edges of the wrapper being kept out of contact with the
said tobacco, or filler, first by the guides D. D. and then by the projection of the
wrapper edges through the open slots E and E', the filler meanwhile passing
beneath the tongue F. The slots E and Et permit of the ready introduction of a
thin tool to keep them clear of any fibres of tobacco which may be drawn into them,
and they are far less liable than closed slots, or guides, to become clogged.
Any suitable mechanism may be employed for forming the tobacco into a partial,
or complete, filler, and feeding the same upon the wrapper strip near the mouth
of the wrapping tube. If tobacco be compressed into a complete, or nearly
complete, filler before it enters the wrapping tube, other means than an endless
belt passing through the tube may be employed for advancing the wrapper strip
and the filler.
Any suitable device, or mechanism, may be employed for cutting the continuous
cigarette Q as it issues from the wrapping tube into suitable lengths, for smoking.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
1. In a wrapping tube for applying a continuous wrapper strip to a tobacco
filler, a tubular channel through which the wrapper strip and filler are passed, the
wall of the tubular channel being provided with converging open slots through
which the opposite edges of the wrapper can project as it is advanced and curled
around the filler.
2. The combination in a tapering tube for applying a wrapper to a tobacco
filler, of wrapper edge guides D. D. and converging open slots E and E', substan-
tially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
accompanying drawings.
3. The combination in a tapering tube for applying a wrapper to a tobacco
filler, of a tongue F and slots E and E' by which the tongue is separated from the
main part of the tube and through which the opposite edges of the wrapper can
project.
4. The combination in a tube for applying a wrapper strip to a tobacco filler, of
an open slot E and a tubular section A near the point where the slot E terminates
the end of the said section acting as a guide to direct the edge of the wrapper,
which has travelled through the slot E, down upon the filler and the body of the
said section retaining the turned down edge upon the filler substantially as herein-
before described and shewn in the accompanying drawings.
5. In a tube for applying a wrapper strip to a tobacco filler, a tongue F separated
from the main part of the tube by open slots E and E' the slot E ending at or
near, the end of the tongue, and the slot E' extending beyond the end of the
tongue, in combination with a tubular section A', provided with a guide J, for

page_text: turning the edge of the wrapper, which has travelled through the slot E, down
upon the opposite edge of the wrapper which has travelled through the slot E and
been laid down and retained upon the filler, by the section A, substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
6. A tube for applying a wrapper strip to a tobacco filler, consisting of a tubular
chaunel through which the filler and wrapper can be passed, the wall of the channel
being provided with converging slots through which the edges of the wrapper can
project, a tubular section A', a guide J, and a tubular section L, in combination
with an endless belt passing through the tube, substantially ne hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1894.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
Agents.