GB488027A - An improved method and apparatus for forming a continuous tobacco filler - Google Patents

Abstract

488,027. Cigarette -making and like machines. MOLINS, D. W., and MOLINS MACHINE CO., Ltd. Dec. 29, 1936, No. 35611. [Class 130] A continuous tobacco filler is formed by feeding strips of tobacco in succession to a moving surface with the lengths of the strips arranged substantially in the direction of movement of the surface, feeding the tobacco received on the surface into one end of and through a confining passage which determines the cross-sectional area of the filler and, prior to the tobacco of adjacent ends cf successive strips entering or leaving the passage, causing the tobacco of the rear end of a strip to be engaged by the tobacco of the leading end of the succeeding strip. The ends of successive strips may be brought into abutment by moving the tobacco into the confining passage at a higher speed than that at which it is removed from the passage, or the strips may be tapered at the ends and deposited on the moving surface so that the tapered ends overlap. In the apparatus shown, tobacco from the carded roller of a feed hopper is showered by a picker roller upon a smooth high-speed roller 15 and passes through a confining passage formed by the surface of the roller and by a curved plate 16 pivoted at its upper end and connected near its lower end to an eccentric strip, by which it is moved towards and awav from the surface of the roller. The stream of tobacco built up in this confining passage passes between a concave guide 19 and a roller 20 whose peripheral speed is less than that of the roller 15. The roller 20 may be smooth, rough, or provided with pins or carding. Strips of tobacco are cut from the leading end of the stream by a rotary knife 21 co-operating with a knife 22 mounted on two pairs of spring plates 24 as described in Specification 459,607, [Group VIII]. The end of the stream is supported, until cutting is effected, by a plate 25 connected to an arm 26 on a shaft 27, which carries an arm 28 actuated by a cam 30 on the shaft of the knife-carrier 23. The severed strip falls through a shoot 31 into a receptacle formed by projections 36 on a roller 35, and is deposited on a band 32 travelling in the bottom of a trough 33. A guide 37 surrounds the projections 36 and the roller 35 is rotated intermittently by means of a Maltese-cross drive comprising rollers 40 mounted on a pinion 39 and engaging radial slots 41 in a disc 42. The projections 36 or the axis of the roller 35 may be slightly inclined to the band 32 to deposit the strips of tobacco with a slight inclination, and the drop to the band 32 may be sufficient to ensure that the ends of a strip of tobacco reaching the band will be tapered. The band 32 moves the strips lengthwise beneath rollers 49, 50, Fig. 3, and into a confining passage bounded by side walls 53, 54, a top wall comprising rollers 50, 51 and a fixed member 52, and a bottom wall comprising the band 32, a bridge piece 57, and an endless band 55 supporting a web 56 of cigarette paper. The band 55 travels at a greater speed than the band 32 and the tobacco is built up to a cross-section at least equal to that of the confining passage. In modifications, (1) the roller 35 is omitted and the several strips of tobacco fall directly upon the band 32 ; (2) the several strips fall on an endless band which moves them transversely towards the band 32 ; (3) the strips are received directly on a web of cigarette paper which conveys them lengthwise under a forming tongue without endwise compacting. Specifications 440,182, 465,900, and 488,029 also are referred to in the Complete Specification and Specification 441,402 in the Provisional Specification, which states also that the strips of tobacco may be severed by a member having a serrated edge.