GB485302A - Improvements in or relating to cutting machines having a rotary knife carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

485,302. Cigarette-making machines. MAY, P. J., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. Jan. 8, 1937, No. 597. [Class 130] [Also in Group I] A cigarette-rod or like cutting machine, of the type having a rotating head furnished with one or more knife blades, is provided with means for feeding the blades forward. to compensate for wear &c., comprising an electromagnet or the like operatively connected to the actual feeding device, e.g. a nut and screw, and means by which the magnet may be energized to operate the feed when desired. A cutter head 14 fixed to one end of a hollow shaft 8 driven through worm gearing 12, 13 carries a number of blades 15, each of which is mounted between a back-plate 16 fixed to the head and a spring clamping plate 17. Each knife is fed forward by a half nut 19 engaged by a feed screw 18 carrying a worm wheel 23 rotated by a worm 24 on a spindle 25. The spindle carries a ratchet wheel 28 by a strong friction clamp, this wheel being adapted to be actuated by a pawl 29 on a lever 30 having a tail 35 engaging in a groove in a collar 36 freely mounted on the cylindrical core 37 of a solenoid 38. This core has an enlarged head 41, so that when the solenoid is energized a sharp blow is given to the collar 36. Springs 42, 43 return the core and the collar to their original position when the solenoid is de-energized. The lead wires to the solenoid pass through the hollow shaft 8 to metallic segments 45 on an insulating ring 46 fixed to the shaft. Bushes 47 in a holder connected by leads to an electric supply engage the ring 46 and once during each revolution of the shaft the circuit is completed through the solenoid and all the knives are fed forwards by the actuation of the ratchet wheels 24. The ring 46 may also carry a pair of complete slip rings 50 connected to the solenoid and engaged by brushes 51, the circuit to which is controlled by a manual switch so that the knives may be fed forward at the discretion of the operator. To set any knife independently of the others, the corresponding shaft 25 is turned by a knurled hand wheel at its end, the ratchet wheel slipping on the shaft through its friction clutch therewith. In a modification, each pawl is actuated by a separate solenoid. In a further modification, the solenoid or solenoids are arranged at the other end of the shaft and mounted on the machine frame, a transmission rod or rods passing through the shaft to engage the tails of the pawls : in this modification, when a single rod is used, it may be mounted eccentrically in fixed bearings on the frame, the shaft rotating around it so that the pawls are engaged in succession.. Specification 365,997, [Group I], is referred to.