IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF TOBACCO, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR כן
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William John Copeland Bradshaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th February 1877
WILLIAM JOHN COPELAND BRADSHAW, of Enniskillen, in the County of Fermanagh,
Ireland, Timber Merchant and Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OR TREATMENT OF TOBACCO, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
כן
This Invention comprises improvements connected with the process through
which tobacco passes from the time when it is spun or twisted to its being ready for
sale
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification, the spun tobacco is
prepared for being heated and pressed by being wound or coiled on circular plates,
which are in some cases formed with cential nipples or projections proportioned
either to form mere depressions in each cake or flat coil of tobacco, or to form
central holes through the cakes or coils
To suit different tastes the cakes or coils may be made with close or open centres,
and the central opening or eye may be produced by means of a plug of wood, cork,
metal, or other suitable material, and when it is not formed on or fixed to the plate
the cake or coil may be wound or formed in any convenient way apart from the
plate
The heating, pressing, and cooling processes are effected in cylinders, in each of
which six or other convenient number of cakes or flat coils are packed with metal
plates placed between the coils and above and beneath the uppermost and lower-
most coils Each cylinder is formed with a hollow zone or belt with inlet and
outlet pipes for steam or other convenient heating fluid, and hollow end discs are
fitted to the cylinder and are also provided with pipes for a heating fluid
It is
important that the tobacco coils should be uniformly heated quite to their centres,
and with this view the plates are made of suitable thickness for conducting the heat
The heating belt is not as broad as the space occupied by the tobacco coils so as to
avoid over heating at the outer parts of the uppermost and lowermost coils, and if
necessary the outside edge of all the coils may be protected from overheating by
bands of non-conducting materials or fabrics The steam applied for the heating
operation is by preference of a pressure of about ten pounds per square inch and of
corresponding temperature, but this may be varied in different cases.
... 611

page_text: After the heating has been continued long enough the tobacco is subjected to
pressure, the cylinders being constructed with that view, and so that the end discs
can enter into them as the tobacco becomes compressed. The pressure may be
applied by screws or levers on by hydraulic apparatus, and two or more of the
cylinders may be acted upon together in one press
The tobacco is cooled whilst in the compressed state by passing cold water or
other cooling fluid through the interiors of the belt and end discs.
In cases in which considerable quantities of tobacco are operated on, the cylinders
may be mounted on wheels or wheeled frames running on rails on a table or bed
When packed and
frame, at one part of which each cylinder is packed in turn
heated each cylinder is moved along to a hydraulic screw or other press, and on the
pressure being applied wedges, keys, or links are used to hold the end discs in the
compressed position so that the cylinder can be at once removed from the press to
make way for the next, and still hold the tobacco in a pressed state as long as is
considered desirable
In some cases the tobacco may be packed in cylinders which are not themselves
formed with spaces for steam, but which when packed are placed in a stove or closet
heated by steam or otherwise, or the heating apparatus may be contrived in the
casing or other parts of the press The plates between which the coils of tobacco
aic placed may be made hollow to receive steam or other heating fluid, and the
cylinder in which the tobacco is packed with such plates may be made with grooves
or slots to admit the pipe connections of the plates, filling blocks or slides being
provided to prevent the tobacco from bulging into such grooves
The cooling of the tobacco may be effected in separate cylinders from those in
which it is heated, and it may be pressed a second time in the cooling cylinders
This Invention also comprises the introduction of a new finishing process which
renders the condition of the tobacco more uniform through its thickness and imparts
a smooth surface finish to the outside In the man heating a piessing process, and
particularly when cloths or other materials are used to prevent the tobacco from
adhering to the plates and to moderate the action of the heat on the outer surfaces,
those surfaces are apt to lose color and become marked, and to remedy these defects
the coils are repacked with inter posed plates having smooth or polished surfaces, and
aftoi being slightly heated are again pressed
The finishing plates may be of metal, polished or enamelled, or of glass, marble, or
other suitable material
When the tobacco is to be made up in what is termed the roll form, the processes
through which it is put are the same as those herein-before described, but the
thickness of tobacco between the plates of the heating and pressing apparatus or
between those of the finishing apparatus is of course greater
When the tobacco is to be inade up in the form known as "nail rod," rectangular
boxes are substituted for the cylinders, and a similar modification is suitable for the
form known as "flat cavendish
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