GB522327A - Machine for stripping tobacco leaves - Google Patents

Abstract

522,327. Stripping tobacco leaves. HANSEN, N. Jan. 4, 1939, No. 298. [Class 130], Tobacco leaves are held against apertured panels 8 at the top of casings 3 by suction transmitted through pipes such as 4 from a fan 6, while rotary disc knives 21 are moved over fixed knives 10 to cut out the stems which fall down a shoot, not shown. After the stems have been removed the panels 8 are turned through 180 degrees and flaps 11 are turned through 90 degrees to enable the leaf-halves to be deposited on stacks carried on counterweighted verticallyslidable supports 12. The knives 21 are carried on shafts 18 which are supported in the forked end of a lever 17 and are rotated by rollers 26 which run over the panels 8 as the lever 17 is actuated by a foot-pedal 31. Spring-pressed rollers 65 hold the knives 21 against a curved member 20 which tilts the knives on their shafts to bring their cutting edges against the edges of the knives 10. The lever 17 is returned to its initial position by a foot-pedal 31 and as the knives 21 approach the end of the panels 8 the notched end of a lever 36 engages an abutment 38 on a lever 37 to release the lever 37 from a clutch member and.free a spring-pressed bolt which moves into engagement with a clutching element to permit a shaft 42 to be rotated by a driving motor. Cams 44 then operate pivoted levers 45 which, through chains 47 held against sprockets 50 by springs 48 rotate the panels 8 around axes 8<SP>1</SP> through 180 degrees, and cams 50 on the axes 8<SP>1</SP>, through linkage 52, 53 rotate the flaps 11 through 90 degrees. The clutching elements are disengaged when an abutment on the machine frame engages an inclined surface on the arm 36.