US2357659A - Safety device for cigar-making machines - Google Patents

Description

p 1944- s. ioHAN'soN' ET AL SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR MAKING MACHINES Filled May 29, 1942 I INVENTORS SVEN JOHANSON BY NATHAN WALKER ATISORNEY Patented Sept. 5, 1944 SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR-MAKING MACHINES Sven Johanson and Nathan Walker, Manchester,

N. H., assignors to International Cigar Machinery Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application May 29, 1942, Serial No. 444,940

2 Claims.

This invention relates to cigar machines and more particularly to safety and bunch protecting devices for soft work cigar machines.

In modern soft Work or short filler cigar bunch making machines, it is customary to provide one or more intermittently moving endless carriers or turrets having spaced mold or shaping pockets into which raw bunches are placed by an operator during a dwell in themovement of the carrier. After traveling from the infeed position to an ejecting position, the pockets are opened and the shaped cigar bunches are then automatically transferred to the wrapping device for rolling in a wrapper leaf. Generally the shaft of thecarrier is located adjacent to the table plate of the machine so that a portion of the carrier is below the table, and there is some danger of the operators hands being caught in the mold pockets or between the turret surface and associated mechanism.

It is also necessary, if bunches are to be properly shaped and waste is to be kept at a minimum, that each bunch be inserted into a pocket of the turret in such a, manner that it does not project from the pocket and become damaged either by the edge of the table as the bunches are moved thereby or by the pressing member entering the pockets to seat the bunches therein.

The present invention is an improvement on the safety device shown in U. S. Patent No. 2,275,423, issued to Burning. The device shown in Durning acts satisfactorily to detect the presence of bunches which are improperly positioned, and it also protects the operator from injury when serving the machine. However, this device is not entirely foolproof because some operators have the habit of lifting the hinged feeding plate away from the machine to clean or remove some obstacle from the machine while it is running. In this Way the operator may unwittingly expose herself to a greater danger than that to which she would be exposed were she to run the machine with the hinged feeding plate closed without any safety switch.

The main object of the present invention is therefore to provide a safety device for soft work bunch machines which will not only detect the presence of improperly positioned cigar bunches and protect the operators hands while serving the machine, but which will also protect the operator from injury whenever the hinged feeding plate is lifted out of its normal feeding position.

With these and other objects not specifically mentioned in view, the invention consists in certain combinations and constructions which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically set forth in the claims hereunto appended. In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification and in which like characters of reference indicate the same or like parts: Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation on line l-l of Fig. 2, showing the new bunch protecting and safety device applied to the turret of a cigar machine; and

Fig. 2 is a top view from line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, T represents the turret of a soft Work cigar machine of the type shown and described in copending application No. 183,405, filed January 5, 1938, by H. H. Wheeler on which Patent No. 2,316,828 was issued April 20, 1943. Turret T is driven by an electric motor 28 through a belt 8 and a clutch 29, which is similar to clutch 29 of the Wheeler Patent 2,316,828 and similarly controlled through an operating rod 13, an expanding device 10 and an expansion ring 69, by the armature of a solenoid T5, the said clutch being connected by a worm and wheel (not shown) with the drive shaft'of the machine, which in turn, through sprocket chains 9 and ill connected with a system of gears and a cam operated indexing device contained within the gear box I drives the turret intermittently. Suitable mechanism to effect this intermittent drive is illustrated and described in detail in said Patent No. 2,316,328. The motor 28 is operated through wires I88 from a starting switch 36 connected to the power line by a plug cord I82.

. In order to incapacitate the machine as above described, a trip means is preferably arranged to cooperate with an electric control system. A snap switch MS (shown diagrammatically), of the type commercially known as a microswitch, is included in the circuit of solenoid 15. A further descrip-' tion of a microswitch is herein dispensed with for the sake of brevity, and for further details reference may be had to such patents as P. K. McGall 1,960,029 and A. J. Mottlau 1,668,974. A second switch 76 is interposed in the same circuit operating the solenoid E5 to incapacitate the turret whenever the member I4 is raised by the operator. Normally the switch MS and switch 1% are' maintained closed, permitting current to flow through them to the solenoid and the intermittent movement of the carrier or turret T continues. Switch MS (Fig. 1) is connected at one end by wire 2% to the coil of solenoid l5 and at i s other end by wire 589 to switch box 39, the electric circuit is completed by wire 280 which also connects the other end of the coil of solenoid 15 to switch box 30. In order to break the circuit when either or both of the above mentioned contingencies occur, the lever, I! is so mounted that when it is tripped by contact of an operators hands or by an improperly placed bunch, it will immediately open switch MS thereby breaking the circuit through solenoid 15, and thus stop the movement of carrier '1 which is driven by a sprocket chain drive I2 engaging with a suitable sprocket on the carrier shaft. Indexing mechanism similar to that shown in the above mentioned patent issued to H. H. Wheeler may be used for intermittently rotating the turret shaft.

The normal pocket serving zone of the turret T is between the 12 oclock and the 3 oclock positions (see Fig. 1). Arranged adjacent the turret and cooperating therewith are presser plungers P and Q which press and locate the bunches in the mold pockets. Knives K are positioned at the end of the turret for trimming the ends of the bunches in the molds during the indexing of the turret. The presser mechanism and the knives may be similar in construction and operation to those shown in Letters Patent No. 2,157,537 for Cigar bunch shaping machine, granted May 9, 1939, to H. H. Wheeler.

Due to the presence of the presser P at approximately the 3 oclock position or end of loading zone, it is possible for an operator to injure her hands if they are not removed before the turret is indexed or the presser P moved into a loaded pocket to locate a bunch B therein. Therefore safety mechanism has been provided to obviate any such danger.

In the illustrated embodiment this mechanism comprises a member I4 extending along the face of turret T. This member is hinged to the table 36 by hinge I3 and rests on a ledge I5 secured to the table 36. By hinging member I4 to the table 36 in this manner it makes it very easy to swing the member up for cleaning the turret and plunger mechanism located beneath the table. It also makes it possible to more easily adjust the trip mechanism and control the set limits of movements of lever II and plate I8. The member I4 is provided with bearings I6 which carry a fixed shaft I! on which turns a plate I8 attached to arms I9 loosely mounted on said shaft. The free end of plate I8 is in close proximity to the periphery of turret T and is held level with the top surface of member I4 by suitable springs 20 anchored in collars ZI afiixed to shaft I I and pressing side projections .of arms I9, provided for this purpose, upwards against the member I4. One of the arms I9 is provided .with a web 22 against which rests the lever II which is pivoted on a stud 23 fast in a lug 24 extending from casing 25 of switch MS.

The switch MS has a circuit breaking button actuated by a pusher 26 sliding in a sleeve 21 extending from said button, into which is floatingly inserted a still spring 3|. The lower end of lever I I carries a screw 32 registering with pusher 26. In setting the limits of the lever, this screw is so adjusted that in the closed position of switch MS, with the opener button positioned to engage with the switch blade ID, the upper end of lever II just contacts the web 22. Any movement of feeler plate I8 caused by a projecting bunch B passing thereby, or by a hand of the operator, will cause the switch MS to open and immediately stop the drive of the turret T.

In its open position, the switch blade I0 rests against a stop 33, and any excess motion of lever II is absorbed by spring 3I. After an operators hands have been removed from trip plate I8 or after member I4 has been swung on its hinges I3 back to normal position following the adjustment and rearrangement of a bunch in the turret, the machine is again set in operation by reclosing swich MS through spring-tensioned reset button 34 provided in the cover of casing 25.

A lug 11 is formed on one end of member I4 and acts to close switch 15 (which may be of the microswitch type) whenever the member I4 is in its lowered position. Whenever member I4 is raised up for purposes of cleaning or otherwise, the lug 'I'I disengages switch 16 which permits the spring I8 to force the switch into its open position, thereby breaking the circuit actuating the solenoid 25. The turret will remain incapacitated until member I4 is again swung back to its normal feeding position. In the meantime it is safe for the operator to clear or clean the machine.

The microswitch MS is of the type which will either remain open or closed until it is positively actuated. In the present diagrammatic showing, a spring 40 is provided for this purpose. When the pusher 26 actuates the switch MS, the spring 40 will pull the pivoted switch blade I0 against the stop 33 and when the operator presses reset button 34 the switch blade I0, with the aid of spring 48, will be pulled back into its closed position. In this way the machine is maintained incapacitated until it is restarted by some positive act of the operator.

The switch 16 is connected in series with switch MS in order that the machine may remain incapacitated even though the reset button 34 be pressed, if the cover I4 should be open. In this way the operator is protected because the machine will not run unless the cover I 4 is in correct operating position and the microswitch MS closed.

The invention above described may be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many concrete embodiments of the same. The invention therefore is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigar machine, the combination with a carrier provided with a plurality of bunch shaping pockets and a feed table swinga-bly mounted adjacent said carrier, a trip plate connected to said feed table and located in a substantially horizontal plane closely adjacent said carrier, meansfor driving said carrier, control mechanism cooperating with said trip plate for discontinuing the driving force for said carrier whenever said trip plate is depressed, control means for discontinuing the driving force for said carrier whenever said feed table is swung out of normal feeding position, and manually operable means for reinstating the operation of the carrier, said control means being connected to said control mechanism to prevent reinstating of the operation of said carrier by said manually operable means while said table is swung out of normal feeding position.

2. In a cigar machine having a turret provided with a plurality of bunch shaping pockets, a hinged platform normally positioned adjacent to said turret above which an operator works when placing cigar bunches in said shaping pockets; a safety device comprising a trip plate carried by said platform and positioned closely adjacent to said turret so that it will be tripped by a cigar protruding from the turret or by the fingers of the operator if they travel down past the platform; operating means for intermittently rotating said turret; an electric circuit for controlling the incapacitation of said operating means; a pair of switches interposed in series in said circuit, each being adapted to break said circuit; means connecting said platform with, and operating to open one of said switches for breaking said circuit whenever said platform is moved out

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