GB470523A - Improvements in or relating to the feeding of tobacco to cigarettemaking machines - Google Patents

Abstract

470,523. Cigarette-making machines. GOOCH, C. W. May 8, 1936, No. 13084. Convention date, May 31, 1935. [Class 130] A continuous or very long tobacco rod is produced in a limited space by showering shredded tobacco uniformly into a curved or spiral channel over substantially the entire length of the channel and the shreds are formed gradually into a rod in the channel by accumulation from the shower. As shown, tobacco from a carded feed roller 3 is showered by a picker roll 37 over a rotary distributing cone 53 into a spiral channel formed by a stationary coil 52 and a rotating disc 40 closing the bottom of the channel. The coil 52 is carried by radial arms 51 on a core 50. The disc 40 is formed with radial grooves to move the tobacco along the channel and is driven through gearing 45, 46, 48 from the shaft 44 of the cone 53, so that the disc and the cone rotate at different speeds. The cone is formed with vanes v having scrapers 54 in light contact with the upper edge of the coil 52. From the outermost turn of the coil, the tobacco is guided on to a moving web W by guides 59, 60, 63, a rotary scraping wheel 64 being provided between the guides 60, 63. Tobacco is fed to the roller 3 from a hopper 78 by a roller 8 having ratchet-like corrugations extending along its full length. The roller 8 is intermittently rotated through gearing 11 .. 14 from a ratchet wheel 10 driven by a pawl 15 on a lever 16 pivoted upon the shaft 9 of the roller 8. A block 17 adjustable in a slot in the lever 16 is pivoted to a connecting-rod 18 reciprocated by an eccentric 19 through a strap 20 and a lever 21. A roller 23 on the rod 18 rests on a bar 24, hinged at one end to a stationary bracket 25 and supported at the other end through a link 26 connected at its lower end to a segment 27 pivoted on a rod 28. The segment 27 forms part of a curved housing concentric with the rollers 8, 3, and a spring 29 allows the segment to yield in accordance with the pressure of tobacco in the housing. The resulting movement of the bar 24 adjusts the block 17 in the slot of the lever 16 and consequently adjusts the stroke of the pawl 15 to keep a constant feed of tobacco through the passage R. A concave shield 36 attached to the lever 21 pushes back into the passage R any excess tobacco picked up by the teeth of the roller 3, and a levelling roller 2 is provided. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 describes and illustrates diagrammatically a method of preparing tobacco for cigarette making in which the tobacco is cleaned, shredded, dried, &c. and formed into charges of uniform density and size or cross-section. The charges are separated and showered into a device for forming a tobacco rod, which may be the mechanism described above. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.