US1087874A - Machine for applying mouthpiece material to cigarettes. - Google Patents

Description

P. L. FOWLER & J. S. MoGLEA.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL T0 GIGARETTES.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

Patented Feb. 17

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

P. L. FOWLER & J. S. McGLEA. MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIEUE MATERIAL T0 CIGARETTES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2. 0

5] c 6 PQEsra/V%Z W Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

P. L. FOWLER & J. S. MGULEA. MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL T0 OIGARETTES. APPLICATION TILED NOV. 18, 1912.

1,087,874. Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3. 7 9- P. L. FOWLER & J. s. McOLBA. MACHINE FDR APPLYING MOUTHPIEGE MATERIAL T0 GIGARETTES. APPLICATION FILED NOV.18, 1912.

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PRESTON Ii. FOWLER AND JOHN S. MOGLEA, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS TO P. LORILLARD COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING MOUTHPIECE MATERIAL TO CIGARETTES.

insaera.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 191d.

F0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PRESTON L. FOWLER and JOHN S. McCLnA, citizens of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Applying Mouthpiece Material to Cigarettes, of which the following is a specification.

()ur present invention relates to certain new and useful in'iprovements in machines for applying mouth-piece material to cigarettes, and by way of example we have shown these improvements embodied in the type of machine shown and described in the U. S. Patent to F. X. Malocsay, No. 840,004 dated January 1, 1907, although theyinay be embodied in other types of machines.

In the said patented machine, to which we have applied the improvements forming the subject matter of the present application, the mouth-piece material, which is in strip form, is fed forward to a suitable support and cut into mouth-piece lengths or sections, which lengths or sections are folded about the end of the cigarettes and secured thereto by suitable adhesive, the ends of the strip preferably overlapping each other slightly. The mouth-piece strip may be of any suitable material, as for example sheetcork, or cork or metal foil, or other suitable material applied to a backing of paper.

The machine of the Malocsay patent ernbodies in its construction a support for the out off mouth-piece sections, the face of the support being perforated and its body being hollow and having communication by means of air conduits, chambers and valves, with a suitable air suction device, in order that the mouth-piece section may be maintained upon its support by suction.

The machine also embodies means, such as folding rods or pins designed to lift the free ends of the month-piece material to a posi tion in which they will be engaged by an oscillatory brush or wiper that alternately engages the folded or lifted ends of the mouth-piece section to apply or aiiix said ends to the cigarette by a wiping action, said rods or pins being mounted upon a reciprocating support common to both sets of pins.

The beforementioned suction supporting means for the mouth-piece material as embodied in the Malocsay machine, necessarily complicates the construction of the machine, increases the cost of manufacture, installation and maintenance thereof, and is not altogether certain of operation, and one of the chief purposes of the present invention is, therefore, to dispense with the said suction support and substitute therefore a purely mechanical means, which cooperates with a cigarette and .its mouth-piece section to lift and hold the said section in contact with the end of the cigarette before the section has been cut from the strip of mouth piece material, and while the free ends of the mouthpiece section are being folded about and aliiXed to the end of the cigarette.

*Another feature of the invention is the provision of simple individually operable means for actuating the mouth-piece folding or lifting pins, that are disposed upon opposite sides of the cigarette, whereby these folding pins will be actuated alternately and independently of each other and in timed relation with the movements of the oscillating brush or wiper so as not to be engaged thereby during its oscillations.

Theinvention resides in the features of construction and in the arrangement and operation of the several parts as hereinafter described in detail, reference being had for this purpose to the accompanying drawing where1n Figure l is a front elevation of a sufficient part of a mouth-piece applying machine to show our present improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, certain of the parts being shown in section. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the cigarette support and some of the cooperating elements as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. is a top plan view of the cigarette support. F 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the same parts. Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, are detail views partly in section, of the parts for applying the section of mouthpiece material about the eud of the cigarette and showing the parts in successive positions during the operation of applying the mouth-piece material. Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing a cigarette provided with a mouthpiece as applied by the machine.

The reference numeral 1 designates the carrier for the cigarettes, said carrier being preferably in the form of a rotating wheel, the width of which is substantially equal to the length of the cigarettes and provided around its periphery with a number of cigarette receiving grooves or recesses 2, extending parallel with the axis of the wheel and forming pockets or holders for the cigarettes. The carrier is mounted upon a shaft 3, suitable means being provided to impart motion to the shaft and giving the carrier a step-by-step movement in order to bring the cigarette receiving recesses or pockets 2 successively into alinement with the cigarette support and into cooperative relation with the mouth-piece applying mechanism presently to be described.

The cigarettes l may be fed to the carrier With one end projecting therefrom, by any suitable means, and arranged above the carrier, for holding the cigarette securely in position in the pocket 2 while the mouthpiece material is being applied to the end thereof, a holding device is provided, a single holding device being employed for co-acting with the successive pockets as the movement of the carrier brings them into position. For this purpose a reciprocating plunger 5 is provided, said plunger having its under face concaved and arranged in position to bear against the body of the cigarette in the pocket 2. The plunger 5 is mounted upon a vertically reciprocating rod 6 which slides vertically in a suitable bracket, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2 and is reciprocated by a lever '7 pivoted intermediate its ends, the outer end of the lever carrying a roller 8 which bears upon a rotary cam 9 mounted upon a shaft 10. The shaft 10 is driven from a suitable part of the machine and the rotary movements of the cam 9 are so timed that the plunger will move downward into holding position upon the cigarettes as they are brought successively under the same by the step movements of the rotary carrier 1, and will then be raised after the mouthpiece material has been applied to the end of the cigarette so held by the plunger. After the mouth-piece material has been applied, the projecting end of the cigarette is pushed back into the pocket 2 in the carrier by means of a pusher 12, and the carrier is then advanced a single step to bring a fresh cigarette into position to be acted upon.

Any suitable means may be provided in connection with other features of the invention for applying the mouth-piece material to the end of the cigarette and for feeding or supplying the mouth-piece ma terial to the applying means, and for the purposes of illustrating our improvements we have shown in the accompanying drawings the means illustrated and described in the aforesaid Malocsay patent. By such applying means a short section of mouthpiece material is folded about the end of the cigarette by having an intermediate portion of the section applied to the cigarette and the extending portions of the section then folded about the cigarette, the section being preferably of a length such that the meeting ends thereof will slightly overlap. The individual pieces or sections of mouth-piece material are preferably severed from a long strip of material 13, more clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the strip eing fed forward intermittently a distance corresponding to the length of the individual pieces or sections for forming the mouth pieces. The means for feeding the strip may conveniently consist of a reciprocating gripper 14:, which may be moved back and forth by any suitable mechanism, not shown, to grip the end of the strip and draw a mouth piece length over the cigarette support presently to be described, and in position to enable the section to be applied to the cigarette. The strip of mouth piece material is moved between suitable guides 15 and passes under a paste applying roller 16, so that the upper surface thereof will receive a coating of adhesive as the strip is fed forward. Arranged adjacent the cigarette support, yet to be described, is a strip-severing means consisting of a movable blade 17 that cooperates with a fixed blade 18, the said movable blade 17 being car ied by a vertically reciprocating bloclr 19 that is actuated by a lever 20 from any suitable moving part of the machine, the movable blade operating to sever a mouth-piece length or section from the strip, after said section has been drawn over the cigarette support by the gripper l t; the said movable blade operating in certain timed relation with the movements of the cigarette support, the mouth-piece applying mechanism, and the holding plunger 5, to sever a mouth-piece section from the strip after an intermediate portion of the section has been pressed up against and while it is being held in contact with the under side of the cigarette, as will presently be made clear.

The reference numeral 21 designates the cigarette support, the face of which is grooved or recessed as at 22 to correspond to the shape of one side of the cigarette, the recessed face of said support being normally below he plane of the pocket 2, but adapted to be brought into alinement with the said pocket and against the under side of the section of mouth-piece material to hold an intermediate portion of said section against the under side of the end of the cigarette while the free ends of the section are being folded about said end. he support 21 is mounted upon a verti ally reciprocating slide 2 the lower end of which is forked as shown and a portion of which lower end above the fork carries roller 2% mounted for rotation in a cam groove 25 formed in one face of a cam-disk which disk is carried by and rotates with a driven shaft 27 The cam 25 operates to impart slight reciprocatory movements to the support 21 in order to first lower the same sufficiently to take the upper end thereof out of the pad of travel of the gripper 1 L as the latter moves back and forth in the act of feeding the strip of mouthpiece material over the support and to then raise the same to press the mouth piece section into contact with the under side of the end of the cigarette, the said upward movement of the support taking place after an intermediate portion of the mouth piece section has been pressed against, and while it is being held in contact with the end of the cigarette by a suitable pressing and holding member now to be described, which pressing and holding member constitutes one of the important features of the present invention.

cooperatively associated with and movable vertically through a longitudinal openformed in the support 21 is a mouthpiece pressing and holding member consisting in the instance shown of a vertically movable finger 28, the upper end of which is concaved to correspond to a convex wall of the cigarette, the said finger being carried by a vertically reciprocating slide 29, the lower end of which carries a roller 30 that cooperates with a cam 31 formed on the periphery of the cam disk 26. The cam 31 is so shaped and timed in its movements as to operate to raise the pressing and holding finger 28 to cause an intermediate portion of the mouth-piece section to be lifted and pressed into contact with the under side of the end of the cigarette that overlies the concave face 22 of the support 21., the said finger operating in advance of the upward movement of the support 21, and immediately after the holding plunger 5 has moved down upon the body of the cigarette 4; resting in the groove or pocket 2 of the carrier 1.. Immediately the finger 28 has moved, upward to press the mouth-piece section against the under side of the cigarette, the gripper 14c releases its hold upon the end of the mouth-piece section, and at the same time the movable member 17 of the cutting mechanism descends to sever a mouth piece section from the strip 18, the finger 28 during these operations securely holding the mouth-piece section in position and continuing to hold the same during the subsequent operations of folding the free ends of the mouth-piece section around the end of the cigarette. Tmmediately after the mouthpiece section has been severed from the end of the strip the support 21 is elevated to bring the upper curved face 22 thereof in line with the upper curved face of the finger 28 and the portions of the mouth piece section immediately adjacent the finger 28 in contact with the under side of the cigarette. The support 21 and the finger 28 are maintained in the position last described until after the mouth-piece section has been completely applied to the cigarette, immediately after which both these parts are caused to move downward to the initial starting positions as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6.

The mouth-piece holding and pressing finger 28 just described provides a simple means for holding the end of the strip of mouth-piece material while and after a mouth-piece section has been severed from the end of the strip, and enables us to dispense with the suction holding means as employed in the beforementioned illalocsay patent, thus materially simplifying and reducing the cost of manufacture and maintenance of the machine.

The means for folding the free ends of the mouth-piece about the end of the ciga rette will now. be described. r-irranged on each side of the finger 28 and passing through openings formed in the support 21 are pins 32, as more clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5, one or more pins being arranged on each side of the finger 28, independent means being provided for separately and alternateiy elevating the pins to alternately lift the free ends of the mouthpiece section into position to be engaged by an oscillating wiper presently to be described, whereby said free ends are folded about and aflixed to the cigarette. Each of the pins 32 is carried by a head 33 mounted in the upper end of a vertically reciprocating rod 34, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1, each rod being pivotally connected at its lower end to a lever 35 pivoted intermediate its ends as at 36 to a bracket 37 secured to a part of the machine frame. The free end of each lever is pivotally connected by a link 38 to the longer arm 39 of a bell-crank lever pivoted at to to the lower forked end ll of the bracket 37, the shorter arm d2 of said bellcrank lever carrying a roller L3 that moves in a cam groove formed in one face of the cam disk 26, the said cam groove having a single offset portion as that cooperates with the two bell-crank levers 4-2 to alternately lift or ele ate the pins 32, it being understood that each of the pins is actuated by its own operating mechanism, which actuating mechanisms are separately and independently operable in order that they may be moved out of the path of the beforenientioned oscillatory wiper, as the same opcrates to apply the mouth-piece section to the cigarette.

The oscillatory wiper referred to comprises in the instance shown a brush section as to which an oscillatory movement is imparted by means of a reciprocating rack not shown, the wiper operating during its movement in one direction to apply one of the free ends of the mouth-piece section to the cigarette. and when moving in the opposite direction, or upon its return movement, to apply the other free end of the mouth piece section to the cigarette, these ends being alternately lifted in position to be engaged by the wiper by means of the pins 3 The operation of a machine embodying our improvements is as follows, reference being made more particularly to Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive, where the several stages of opera n in applying the mouth-piece section to the cigarette are shown: Assuming the cigarette support and the pressing and holding linger to be in the position illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6, the gripper 1% moves forward over the face of the support and gras s the end of the strip 13, of mouth-piece material drawing a mouth-piece l ngth the strip over the face of the support, the support as well as the presser fin er during its opera 1011 being in its lowermost )SSlllOI}. A

cigarette is then delivered by the carrier with a rojecting end thereof over ying the support, and the holding plunger 5 is then brought to bear upon the body of the cigarette to securely hold the same upon the carrier during the operations of applying the mouthaiece material about the cigarette, and an intermediate portion of the mouth piece section which is yet uncut rom the strip. The pressing and holding finger 28 is now moved up to the position indicated in Fig. 7, pressing an intermediate portion of the mouth piece section against the under side of the cigarette and holding the same against movement. The severin mechanism now eve s a mouth piece length of the material from the strip and immediately after the severing operation the cigarette support 21 moves upward to the position illustrated in S and one of the lifting pins 82 also moves upward and folds one of the free ends of the mouth-piece section in an upward direction as illustrated in Fig. 8, to bring the same in the path or" move ment of the wiper to be engaged thereby during its movement in one direction to ap- 1 '1: ply anu anin sa d hited end of the mouthpiece section to the cigarette. Immediately the forward end of the wiper engages the lifted end of the mouth-piece section the pin 32 is lowered and the companion pin at the opposite side of the cigarette is raised to fold th other free end or the mouth piece section in an upward direction to be engaged by the wiper 45 upon its return movement to apply said free end to the cigarette, the last named lifting pin beng retracted immediately the wiper engages the free end of the mouth-piece sect-ion upon its return movement, the parts then assuming the position illustrated in Fig. 10, and the mouth-piece section eing then completely applied to the end of the cigarette as illustrated in Fig.

Toe mouth piece support- 21 and the linger 28 then move downward to the initial 1 'ti as illustrated in 6, and the before-described operations are repeated.

v lat we claim is 1. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material to cigarettes and in combination, cans for holding acigarette, means for feeding a strip of mouth-piece material a mouth-piece length and positioning the same for application to the cigarette, a strip severing means, and means for pressing and holding an intermediate portion of said mouth-piece length of material into contact with the cigarette, said last named means coming into operation before the severing means has acted to sever the strip.

2. ln a machine for applying mouthpiece material to cigarettes and in combination, means for engaging and holding the body portion of a cigarette, means for feeding a strip of mouth-piece material a mouthpiece length and positioning said length for application to a cigarette end, means for pressing an intermediate portion of said length against one side of tle cigarette, means for severing said length from the strip, and means for folding the free ends of said length about an end of the cigarette, said pressin means coming into operation before the section is severed from the strip and being maintained in operation during the severing operation and the operations of folding the section about the cigarette.

3. In a machine for applying mouth-piece .iaterial about one end of a cigarette, means or supporting the bodyportion of a ciga ette with an end projecting beyond he same, neans for holding the cigarette upon said upporting means, a support for the mouthpiece material and the said projecting end or" the cigarette, a presser member carried by and movable independently of the sup port for pressing the mouth-piece terial against the cigarette, and means for folding the free ends of the material about the cigarette while the presser member is holding an intermediate portion of said material against the cigarette.

4. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of a cigarette, means for supporting the body portion of a cigarette with an end projecting beyond the same, means for holding the cigarette upon said supporting means, a movable support for the mouth-piece material, a presser member carried by and movable independently of the said movable support, means for mov ing said presser member in advance of the said movable support to bring an intermediate portion of the mouth-piece material into contact with the cigarette, means for advancing the movable support toward the cigarette after the said presser member has operated, and means for folding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette while the said presser member is holding an intermediate portion of the 1naterial against the cigarette.

a. In machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of a cigarette, a sup port for the mouth-piece material and the end of the cigarette to which said material is to be applied, and a presser member in-- dependent of the support for pressing an intermediate portion of said material against a side of the cigarette at one end and maintaining the same in contact with said end during the subsequent operations of folding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette.

6. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about one end of a cigarette, a support for the mouth-piece material and the end of the cigarette to which said material is to be applied, and an independent prcsser member movable through said support for pressing an intermediate portion of said material against a side of the cigarette at one end tiereof, and maintaining the same in contact with said end during the subsequent operations of folding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette.

7. In a machine for applying mouth-piece material about the end of a cigarette, a support for the mouth-piece material and the end of the cigarette to which said material is to be applied, a movable presser member independent of the support for pressing an intermediate portion of said material against a side of the cigarette at one end thereof, and means for folding the free ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette while the said pressing member is hold ing the intermediate portion of the material against the cigarette.

8. 'The combination of means for supporting a cigarette with one end projecting beyond the supporting means, means for feeding a strip of mouth-piece material a mouth-piece length and positioning said length for application to the said projecting cigarette end, means for severing the said strip, means for applying the said length of mouth-piece material about the projecting end of the cigarette, and a vertically moving presser finger for pressing an intermediate portion of the length of mouth-piece material against the cigarette and holding the same in contact therewith, said presser finger acting in advance of the strip severing means.

9. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a vertically movable support, means for positioning a piece of mouthpiece material above the support, an inde pendently movable presser finger cooperatively associated with the support, means for raising the presser linger in advance of the support to press a piece of mouth-piece material into contact with and hold the same against the end of a cigarette, and means for folding the extending ends of the mouth-piece material about the cigarette.

10. The combination of means for bold-- ing a cigarette, a support, means for posi tioning a piece of mouth-piece material bove the support, means for raising the support to carry an intermediate portion of the piece of mouthpiece materialagainst the cigarette, independently movable folders carried by the support for folding the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piece material upward, and means for folding such up-turned ends down upon the cigarette.

ll. The combination with means for holding a cigarette, a support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece material above the support, means for raising the support to carry an intermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against the cigarette, folders carried by the support for folding the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piece material upward, independent means for operating sail folders successively, and means for folding such lip-turned ends down upon the cigarette.

1.2. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a vertically movable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece material above the support, means independent of the support for pressing an intermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against the cigarette, independently movable folding rods mounted to reciprocate through the face of the support, independent means for operating said rods to fold the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piece material upward successively, and means for folding such tip-turned ends down on the cigarette.

18. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a vertically movable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece material over said support, means for raising the support to carry an intermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against the cigarette, vertically movable folding rods mounted to reciprocate through the face of the support, a separate bell-crank lever having an operative connection with each folding rod, and means for actuating said bellcrank levers successively.

l l. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, a vertically movable support, means for positioning a piece of mouth-piece material over the support, a presser finger cooperatively associated with and movable independently of the support for pressing an intermediate portion of the piece of mouth-piece material against the cigarette, independently movable folding rods mounted to reciprocate through the face of the support for folding the extending ends of the piece of mouth-piece materail upward successively, a pair of pivoted levers one connected to each folding rod, a pair of bell-crank levers, one connected to each of the aforesaid levers, means for actuating said bell-crank levers successively, and means for folding the up-turned ends of the mouthpiece material down on the cigarette.

15. The combination of means for holding a cigarette, the support 21, the presser finger 28 movable through an opening in and independently of the said support, means for moving the said finger in advance of the support, folding rods 32 for lifting the free ends of the piece of mouthpiece material, and means for folding the Lip-turned ends of the piece of mouth-piece material down on the cigarette.

16. The combination of means for feeding a strip of mouth-piece material, a support over which said strip of material is fed, a reciprocating gripper for drawing the end of the strip over the support, strip severing means beyond the support, a vertically reciprocating presser finger movable through the support, means for raising the presser finger to press an intermediate portion of the strip against the end of the cigarette, said finger raising means operating in advance of the strip severing means, and means for folding the free ends of the severed piece of mouth-piece material down on the cigarette.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscrib ing Witnesses.

PRESTON L. FOYVLEP. JOHN S. MOCLEA. Witnesses J. GRANVILLE MEYERs, L. A. HAMMERSLEY.

copies of this patent may be obtained for jive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0.

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