7326. Du Brul, N. April 3, [date applied for under Sec. 103 of Patents &c. Act, A.D. 1883]. Cigarette - making machines.-Relates to improvements in continuous-rod cigarette - m a k i n g machines, the entire machine being shown in perspective view in Fig. 1. The frame 1 is formed of a single casting, all its parts being formed with inwardly - presented flanges. The top flanges are c o n - tinued inwardly to form the upper and lower tables 36, 37, of which the former supports the tobacco feeding, dressing, and ropeforming mechanism, and the latter the wrapping, pasting, cutting, and stacking devices. The tobacco is laid upon an endless apron 41, which carries it beneath a feedroller 51, which condenses it into a close and uniform layer. The web of tobacco is transferred by the guide-roll 53 to a slow-speed pin-roll 52, from which it is torn by a highspeed pin-roll rotating within the casing 55. The tobacco is showered into the hopper 56, through the bottom of which runs an endless leather belt 70, which passes over a driving-wheel on the shaft of the gear 18, and over the guide-wheel 73. The belt 70 passes beneath a grooved presser-wheel 76, and a pair of shaping-wheels 75 presses its edges closely against the presser-wheel as shown in Fig. 6, the tobacco being compressed into a rod of circular section in the space 70<a>. An additional pair of shaping-wheels, co-operating with a second presser-wheel, are preferably employed, the first presser-wheel having a broader peripheral groove than the other. An adjustable tightening-wheel, with which is geared a cleaning-brush, enables the tension in the belt 70 to be regulated. The presser-wheels and shaping-wheels are rendered adjustable as to height and distance apart respectively by the use of axles having eccentric trunnions clamped in the supporting-brackets 94. A third pressure-wheel may be mounted beyond the point where the belt 70 leaves the wheel 76, the extra presser-wheel being driven from a toothed wheel on the axis of the second presser-wheel through an idler supported by toggle links, so that the height of the third presser-wheel is adjustable without impairing the driving connection. A stripping or bridging plate 98 receives the tobacco rod as the belt 70 spreads beyond the shaping-wheels 75, and directs it to the wrapping and pasting devices, through which it is carried by an endless tape 100 driven by the wheel 6 on the shaft of the gear 22. A wheel 103, formed of leather discs clamped between end flanges, presses against the tape on the wheel 6, the pressure being adjustable by means of eccentric journals mounted in brackets 105. The tape passes from the wheel 6 over an adjustable tightening-roller, and thence beneath a guide-roller to a tape-guide, above which is a second guideroller, the axis of which can be tilted slightly by an adjusting-screw so as to cause the tape to travel in the proper line through the parts which form the paper tube. Beyond the aforesaid second guideroller the tape joins the paper strip proceeding from the roll-holder, and they pass together over one roller and round another to the wrapping-tube 7. Fig. 13<a> shows the wrapping-devices and pastewheel 131 in plan view. The paper and tape are partly folded round the tobacco rod in the section 126, one edge of the paper being left upstanding through the slot 127 and receiving paste from the wheel 131. The wrapping-tube 7 is for convenience in construction divided into two sections, the point of separation coinciding with the cross-over point 132 of the slot 127, at which point the pasted edge is folded down upon the opposite edge of the paper strip, so as to complete the cigarette rod, which is delivered to the bridge-piece 136, whence it passes to the cutting-devices. The pastewheel 131 either enters the bottom of the paste cylinder 142 through a slot formed in a recessed or concave part of the cylinder, or may receive paste from a valve block communicating with the cylinder and provided with a port in close contact with the periphery of the paste-wheel. The pastecylinder is provided with a plunger depressed by a feed-screw 151 rotated by a ratchet-wheel 153, which is turned by a dog mounted on a pivoted arm 155. The arm 155 is reciprocated by a vertical shaft 156 oscillated by a cam-actuated arm 157. A torsion spring interposed at the upper end of the shaft 156 prevents the operation of the arm 155 when the plunger is exerting excessive pressure on the paste. The paste-wheel is adjustable both vertically and horizontally with respect to the paper edge to be pasted, such adjustment being rendered possible by the use of screw gears 158, which transmit motion from the main shaft 12. The feed-screw 151 is provided with a divided nut which can be opened to facilitate movement of the screw when re-charging the cylinder &c. The cigaretterod is divided into separate cigarettes by cutting-devices, of which one form is shown in Figs. 35, 37, and 38. The cutting-devices are mounted on a carriage 181 reciprocated by a cam 184 on a shaft 24, Figs. 1 and 35. The cigarette rod is received by a discharge tube 137 adjustable in sockets 179. A vertical slide-bar 189 carries the blades for severing the cigarette rod, and is reciprocated by means of a roller 190 engaging in a groove in the rear face of the cam 184. The blades 192, 193 are of the form shown in Figs. 37 and 38, the ends of the cigarette being crimped or pinched slightly in the act of severing them. The blades are so linked together as to reciprocate oppositely as the bar 189 reciprocates. Rotary disc knives, carried on a vertically-sliding bar and driven by a belt from the main shaft, may be employed instead of the blades described above. The finished cigarettes drop endwise into a discharge-chute 10, passing thence through a lateral outlet 210 on to a conveyer belt 214, which stacks them in the box 212. In a modification, the discharge-tube from the cutting- device telescopes into a fixed tube communicating with the chute, and the latter is so formed that the cigarettes turn completely over and arrive at the conveying-belt in the reverse direction to that of the cigarette rod.