US240252A - Hermann hugk - Google Patents

Description

Patented ApriHQ, I881.

H. HUOK.

' Process of Curing and Coloring Leaf Tobacco. NO, 240,252.

N-FETERS. PNGTQLITNOGRIPHER, WASHINGTON. D. O.

, UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

'HERMANN HUOK, OF

LONG MEADOW, MASS, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES S. PHILIPS, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,252, dated April 19, 1881.

- Application filed February 6, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMANN HUoK, of Long Meadow, county of Ham pden, and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Curing and OoloringUnmanufacturedLeaf-Tobacco,which improvements are fully set forth in the following specification.

My invention relates to the treatment of unmanufactured leaf-tobacco for the purposes of darkening the color of it, extracting a portion of the nicotine, maturing it, and improving it for smoking and other uses.

Various means have hitherto been employed for artificially sweating leaf-tobacco, so as to produce the results set forth above, among which have been the application of steam direct to the tobacco, while it was hung up or otherwise suitably arranged in asteam box or compartment, or the application of heat in such a compartment, through the medium of steam-pipes placed therein; also inclosing tobacco,.in a moist state, in a vessel, and exposing said vessel to the action of a surrounding body of steam, or to hot air in an oven or otheisuitable place; but by neither of the before-mentioned methods can tobacco be so treated by heat as to produce the result attainable by my process, as herein set forth. Furthermore, neither hot air nor steamheat can be safely employed for such a purpose, for a heat above 212 Fahrenheit is injurious to it. Nor should it be exposed to a drying heat; and many grades require to be treated under a steady, unfiuctuatin g, damp heat much under 212 Fahrenheit.

It is obvious that by the employment for said purposes of steam or hot air, under such restrictive conditions as to steady damp heat under 212 Fahrenheit, as it requires, owing to the imperfect conductivity and drying nature of hot air, and to the fact that steam is an aqueous vapor into which water is converted when heated to the boiling-point, and must consequently impart heat at or above 212 Fahrenheit to the tobacco, such heats as are thus produced by hot air and steam, when used for this purpose, are injurious, for heated air is too drying, and by its employment the moisture is often extracted from the tobacco, causing it to be burned, so as to be made too tender for use, and the heat from steam applied externally to the vessel containing tobacco-leaves moistened with water converts said water into steam, and thus becomes a source of serious injury to the contents of said vessel, for steaming the tobacco I also renders it too tender for manufacturing purposes.

To obviate the above-named imperfections in processes heretofore employed, and especially to provide such a process as can be successfully and practically employed for treating tobacco properly to such degrees of steady damp heat below 212 Fahrenheit as circumstances may require, is the object of my invention.

In practicing my process according to my invention I sprinkle or otherwise dampen the tobacco to be sweated or matured, place it rather loosely than otherwise in a vessel havinga loosely-fitting cover. Ithen provideavessel larger than the last-named one, arrange it suitably over a tire or furnace and partly fill it with water. In this larger vessel I place the one containing the tobacco-leaves, taking care that there shall be sufficient water in the larger one to till it up about to the line of the top of the tobacco in the smaller vessel, when one is placed within the other, as aforesaid, or the tobacco-holding vessel may have a water-tight cover and be quite submerged in the water,

always taking care that between the fire and the sides of the vessel with which the tobacco comes in contact a suitable body of water is interposed. Thus arranged, I beat the water contained in the larger vessel, and the water conveys its heat steadily and continuously through the walls ofthe smaller vessel to the tobacco therein inclosed. I continue the exposure of the tobacco to the heat of the water for about twenty-four hours, or less, according to the nature or original color of the leaves being treated.

The tobacco treated is that which has been dried in the usual way and packed in boxes by the growers thereof or others. The various conditions of moisture and temperature under which said tobacco was packed, and the temperature, humidity, and dryness of the atmosphere, in places where such packed cases may have been stored, all influence the color and burning qualities of the tobacco; therefore, when cases are opened for consumption, it becomes desirable to finally cure and color the leaf preparatory to making it into cigars, under conditions which are adapted to the various qualities found usually in a case or lot. There= fore the quality to be treated, and the extent to which it has naturally sweated, must determine the heat required'and the time of exposure. These conditions vary from 50 Fahrenheit to 212, and from twelve' to forty-eight hours exposure.

Before heating the water and the tobacco to be operated upon the degree of heat under which it is to be treated is determined, and any well-known means may be employed for so regulating the fire as to maintain the temperature of the water which surrounds the tobacco-holding vessel at such a point as the tobacco within said vessel may require.

It is obvious that, under the circumstances and conditions above set forth, the tobacco cannot be exposed to a heat above 212 Fahrenheit, nor to other than a damp heat, and hence no damage can be done to it by overheating it.

After the tobacco has been treated as abovedescribed it is removed from the vessel in which it was sweated, and, soon becoming dry, is ready to be packed in cases for sale, or for immediate manufacture.

An apparatus for use in carrying out my improvement is shown in the drawings, in which Figure l is a longitudinal sect-ion; Fig. 2, a plan, the cover being removed.

Arepresents awater-tank B, the fire-grate d, a smoke-flue; c, the main cover of the tank e, the tobacco-receptacle; i, the support between the tank A and receptacle 0; b, a vertically-sliding cover for the receptacle 0; 0, a water-space between tank A and the receptaole; w, a vapor-pipe through the cover 0, and E the sides and bottom to the furnace surrounding the tank A.

The cover 0 may be hinged or not. Its purpose is to retain the warmth within the furnace and over the tank'and receptacle.

The cover I) is provided to be laid down against the top of the tobacco in box 6, which is, as seen, arranged to be surrounded with water, and the water-tank A is exposed to the heat of the fire in the furnace.

The'pipe a; in cover 0 provides for such a free exit for any evaporation from tank A as to prevent any steam-pressure which would tend to raise the temperature under the cover above 212.

I am aware that tobacco has been treated in chambers under heat, moisture, and pressure; but 1 have ascertained that this treatment is destructive to many grades of tobacco, and that, under all circumstances, by treating the tobacco at a heat less than 212 a much improved product is produced.

What 1 claim as my invention is- The hereinbefore-described improvement in the art of sweating and maturing unmanufactured leaf-tobacco, which consists in inclosin g such tobacco, while in a moist condition, in a proper receptacle, and subsequently in wholly or partially submerging said receptacle containing the tobacco in a bath of warm or hot water, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

HERMANN HUGK.

Witnesses:

WM. H. GHAPIN, O. W. STEBBINs.

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