GB396230A - Method of and apparatus for treating cigar bunches - Google Patents

Abstract

396,230. Cigar-making machines. TRIGGS, W. W., 57, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.- (International Cigar Machinery Co.; 5520, 2nd Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.) Aug. 12, 1932, No. 22606. [Class 130.] A cigar bunch is treated by shaping the previously formed bunch and forcing dry air or gas to flow into, through or over the bunch while it is being shaped in the mould. The air or gas may be heated or chilled before being used, and is supplied under pressure and/or drawn through by suction. The method enables soft, well-filled bunches to be produced with a minimum amount of tobacco. As shown in Fig. 1, an intermittently rotating turret shell 10 carries mould elements 17, 18. Compressed air is passed through a filter or moisture trap 38 and an electric heating chamber 39 to a chamber 43 on the end of the moulds 17, 18, and a chamber 44 at the head end of the moulds is connected to a suction fan 46. In order to allow the air to be passed over the surface of the bunches, cam tracks 20, on which run rollers 19 carried by the upper mould members 18, are shaped to lift the members 18 at intervals during the rotation of the turret. For cigars having tightly wrapped heads, the head is pierced by a needle 49 actuated by a cam 55 on a rotary shaft 51. The bunches are removed from the moulds by pins 23, Fig. 5, carried by an arm 24 on a vertically sliding rod 25, Fig. 1, actuated through a link 27 by a cam. The bunch is engaged by clamp fingers 29 on an arm 30 and transferred to wrapping mechanism 31, the shaft 32 carrying the arm 30 being connected by sprocket gearing 35 to the shaft 37 carrying the clamp fingers. In a modification, the heater 39 is replaced by a chamber surrounded by dry ice or provided with other refrigerating means, moisture being precipitated from the air by a baffle in the chamber. In a further form, a stationary mould of wood &c. is fitted between a pressure chamber and a suction chamber connected respectively to a source of dry compressed air and to a suction fan.