US2874739A

US2874739A - Machine for cutting leaf tobacco

Info

Publication number: US2874739A
Application number: US467845A
Authority: US
Inventors: Schreiber Patrick Quint Robert
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-11-10
Filing date: 1954-11-09
Publication date: 1959-02-24
Anticipated expiration: 1976-02-24

Description

F eb. 24, 1959 Filed Nov. 9; 1954 P. Q. R. SCHREIBER MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEAF TOBACCO 3 SheetS- -Sheet 1 I nventor Atfof'ney Feb. 24, 1959 P. R. SCHREIBER 2,874,739

MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEAF TOBACCO Filed NOV. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Attorney P. R. SCHREIBER 7 2,874,739

MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEAF TOBACCO Feb. 24, 1959 Filed Nov. 9, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet s F/G'SJ Attorney United States Patent Claims priority, application Great Britain November 10, 1953 3'Claims.- or. 146-119) This invention concerns machinesin which leaf tobaccois fed between conveyors to a mouthpiece, through which it passes to be cut into shreds by knives with cutting edges moving in a cylindrical path which nearly touches the front face of the mouthpiece. It is desirable for the top member of the mouthpieceflogether with the front of the upper conveyor beneath which the tobacco passes, bacco emerges at substantially uniform density although the quantity between the conveyors may fluctuate. ...Preferably the tobacco passes between an upper. and a lower belt conveyor, and the top member of the mouthto rise and fall while under load so that the to- .1

2,874,739 Patented Feb. 24,

preferred construction of machineembodying the features of this invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine with parts broken away;

Figures 2 to 5 are sections on the lines II-- II, III'IIl,

IV-.- -IV and V-V in Figure 1; and Y Figure 6 is a fragmentary front view in the direction of the arrow VI in Figure 1. 1

- Leaf tobacco is fed into the space 2 between two converging

conveyor belts

4 and 6 which carry the tobacco to a mouthpiece 8 and at the same time compress it so 1 that it is driven through the mouthpiece as a plug. As

the plug emerges it is shredded by knives on a cutter 9 which revolves about an axis 16 in bearings carried by arms 17. Thecut tobacco falls into a hopper 20 and. is carried away. Details of the cutter are more fully deseribed'in application Serial No. 467,846 filed Novempiece and'the front roller or rollers of the upper conveyor are so constrained that as they rise and fall the lower face of the top member remains parrallel to a fixed datum plane, while the front lower edge of the Top member moves in an are substantially. concentric with and having substantially the same radius as the path of the cutting edges..1 w i The principal object of this invention is to improve the mechanism which permits the upper conveyor and the top member of the mouthpiece to rise and fall. Other objects will appear from the following description.

According to one feature of this invention, while the top member and the front of the upper conveyor .are constrained in this way, the rear of the upper conveyor is constrained by a conveyor frame to remain at a constant distance from the front of the upper conveyor and is constrained by pivoted levers to move in an arc in a direction nearly parallel to the direction of feed of the tobacco. Thus the opening into which the tobacco enters remains of constant depth.

According to a further feature of this invention the top member is fixed at each end to a plate which lies in a vertical plane and extends rearwards from the mouthpiece, each plate being connected to a main frame of the machine by a pair of parallel links which are pivoted at their rear ends to the plate and at their front ends to the main frame and which do not extend forward of the mouthpiece. This is an important difference from an earlier arrangement described in U. S. Patent 2,464,- 896, in which links extend to the vertical plane through the axis of the cutter, and so render the cutter inaccessible. The distance between pivot axes of the links is substantially equal to the radius of the cylindrical surface.

Preferably the plates lie outside side walls which confine the tobacco in its passage between conveyors, and the upper conveyor has outer frame members which are pivoted to the plates, and inner frame members which lie between the side walls and support the front of the upper conveyor and are rigidly connected to the outer frame members.

According to a further feature of this invention pressure is applied to the top member by a ram pivoted to the top member and working in a cylinder pivoted to a main frame of the machine above the mouthpiece.

The accompanying drawings show an example of a ber- 9, 1954. r

The machine has main side frames 22, and within these' side frames are side walls 24 which are also stationary and which confine the tobacco in its passage between the

conveyors

4 and 6. At the front, the side walls are prolonged by a member 26 which forms the bottom and sides of the mouthpiece (see Figure 6). i

The top of the mouthpiece is formed by a top member 28 which can rise and fall between the sides of the member 26. The top member 28 includes a cross bar 30 which is fixed at each end to plates 32 which extend rearwards :from the mouthpiece between the side walls 24. and the main side frames 22. Each plate is connected to a main side frame by a pair of

parallel links

34 and 36 which are pivoted at their rear ends at 38 to the plates and at their front ends at 40 to the main side frame. The distance between

pivots

38 and 40 is equal to the radius of the cutter 9. The top mouthpiece member '28 is thus constrained to move in an arc substantially concentric with the cutter 9. In the drawings the top mouthpiece member is shown at the uppermost limit of its movement during operation of the machine. In its lowermost position the mouthpiece is nearly closed. When the machine is at rest, the top mouthpiece member can be raised further to permit inspection and cleaning.

The lower conveyor belt 4 runs over rollers 42 and 44 supported by the side walls 24 and main frame, and is driven by means not shown.

The upper conveyor belt 6 runs over rollers 46, 48 and 50 supported by a conveyor frame consisting of two outer frame members 52 and two inner frame members 54 rigidly connected together by cross bars of which one is shown at 56 in Figure 5. The outer frame members lie between the side walls 24 and the plates 32 while the inner frame members lie within the side walls. The cross bars clear the top edges of the side walls. The front roller 46 is in three

lengths

58, 60, 62 journalled on a shaft passing through the inner frame members 54. The outer frame members 52 are pivoted to the plates 32 by pins 64 coaxial with the front roller 46. Thus the front roller partakes of the motion of the top mouthpiece member.

The rear roller 50 is fixed to a shaft 66 which is journalled in the outer frame members 52 and in levers 68 which are pivoted to the main side frames 22 at 70. Thus as the front roller 46 rises and falls, the rear roller 50 is constrained to remain at a constant distance from the front roller and to move in an are nearly parallel to the direction of feed of the tobacco. The shaft 66 carries a gear wheel 72 which meshes with a driving pinion 74 coaxial with the pivots 70.

The roller 48 serves as a tensioning roller and its axis can be displaced slightly relatively to the conveyor frame by mechanism 76. The lower run of the upper conveyor wardly from each side of belt is backed by a plate 77 carried by the inner frame members 54.

Pressure is applied to the top mouthpiece member by a ram 78 which is pivoted to the top member at 80 and which works in a cylinder 82 pivoted to the main side frames 22 at 84, When the machine is in operation, thev upper part of the cylinder is connected by a pipe 86 to a reservoir not shown, which may have ten to thirty times the volume of the cylinder and which forms a closed system into which compressed air is admitted, to make up leakage, through a constant-pressure valve. Thus the ram is subjected to a downward force which increases slightly as the top member rises.

When the top member is to be raised for inspection or cleaning, the lower part of the cylinder, which is normally open to atmosphere, is supplied with compressed air through a pipe 88, while the pipe 86 is opened to atmosphere and cut off from the reservoir.

I claim:

1. A machine for cutting leaf tobacco into shreds comprising a main frame, a mouthpiece having a top member, an upper and a lower conveyor for feeding tobacco through the mouthpiece, a rotary cutter, arms supporting said rotary cutter from a portion of said frame lying a substantial distance below the level of said mouthpiece, knives mounted on said rotary cutter, said knives having cutting edges generating a cylindrical surface of revolution, portions of the surface of revolution being immediately adjacent the front of the mouthpiece, means mounting the top member of the mouthpiece and the front of the upper conveyor for substantially vertical movement, the front lower edge of the top member moving in an are substantially concentric with and having the same radius as the cylindrical surface of revolution, a plate disposed in a vertical plane and extending rearthe mouthpiece, means mounting the top member on said plates, a pair of parallel links connecting each plate to said main frame, said links being pivoted at their rear ends to said plates and at their front ends to the main frame, said front ends being rearward of said mouthpiece,

2. A machine according to claim 1 including a cylinder pivoted to said main frame above the mouthpiece and a pneumatic ram working in the cylinder and pivoted to said top member for applying pressure to the top member.

3. A machine for cutting leaf tobacco into shreds comprising a main frame, a mouthpiece having a top member, an upper and a lower conveyor for feeding tobacco through the mouthpiece, a rotary cutter, knives mounted on said rotary cutter, said knives having cutting edges generating a cylindrical surface of revolution, portions of the surface of revolution being immediately adjacent the front of the mouthpiece, means mounting the top member of the mouthpiece and the front of the upper conveyor for substantially vertical movement, the front lower edge of the top member moving in an arc substanti'ally concentric with and having substantially the same radius as the cylindrical surface of revolution, a plate disposed in a vertical plane and extending rearwardly from each side of the mouthpiece, means mounting the top member on said plates, a pair of parallel links connecting each plate to said main frame, said links being pivoted at their rear ends to said plates and at their front ends to the main frame, said front ends being rearward of said mouthpiece, sidewalls confining the tobacco in its passage between the conveyors, said plates lying outside said side walls, outer frame members on the upper conveyor, said outer frame members being pivoted to the plates, and inner frame members which lie between the side Walls and support the front of the upper conveyo'r and are rigidly connected to the outer frame members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 460,268 Ross Sept. 29, 1891 2,464,896 Schreiber Mar. 22, 1949 2,690,777 Korber et al. Oct. 5, 1954