GB405335A - Device for orienting tobacco leaves - Google Patents

Abstract

405,335. Cutting tobacco. IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. (OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND), Ltd., East Street, Bedminster, and COATES, A. F., Codrington Grange, Broadway Road, both in Bristol. Aug. 5, 1932, No. 21981. [Class 5 (i).] Tobacco leaves are arranged with their stems substantially parallel while on their way to a cutting machine, by means of a number of endless conveyers arranged side by side and having different movements imparted to them. Fig. 1 shows a feeding-device in which the tobacco leaves are fed by a hopper 21 on to a band 5, which is slowly raised by ratchet gear 15, 16 rotating a pulley 9, to which one end of the band 5 is attached after passing over a fixed pulley 8. The tobacco leaves are then raised and fall over a slanting plate 59 on to a series of six conveyer bands 26, 29 arranged side by side and moved at different speeds. This is effected by passing the bands over pulleys of different sizes on the driving-shaft 25. The bands also pass over pulleys on other shafts 22, 23, 24, those on the last-mentioned shaft being loosely mounted thereon and of varying sizes conversely to the sizes of the driving-pulleys on the shaft 25. The differing speeds of these bands bring the leaves into the required parallel relationship, and they then pass over an oscillating chute 37 on to a conveyer band 49, being fed by this under a second band 50 and into a mouthpiece 55, over which reciprocates the cutting-knife 56. A pressing-down plate 57 oscillates at the rear of the band 50. The chute 37 may be divided into two or more chutes side by side. Specification 405,334 is referred to in the Provisional Specification.