US3004539A

US3004539A - Cigarette making machinery

Info

Publication number: US3004539A
Application number: US838870A
Authority: US
Inventors: Molins Desmond Walter
Original assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Priority date: 1958-09-26
Filing date: 1959-09-09
Publication date: 1961-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1978-10-17
Also published as: DE1164905B; CH357321A; FR1244396A; GB918391A

Description

Oct. 17,1961 D. w. MOLINS 3,004,539

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERY Filed Sept. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AWE/V702 (QMWZ w/ W Oct. 17, 1961 D. w. MOLINS 3,004,539

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERY Filed Sept. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gi V QMM/ 4% 2 /4 4 United States Patent 3,004,539 CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERY Desmond Walter Molins, Deptford, London, England, assignor to Molins Machine Company Limited, a company of Great Britain Filed Sept. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 838,870

Claims priority, application Great Britain Sept. 26, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-109) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to cigarette-making machinery, and in particular, apparatus for feeding cut tobacco in such machinery.

According to the present invention there is provided a tobacco-manipulating machine, such as a continuous rod cigarette-making machine, comprising a plurality of tobacco-hoppers arranged side by side and each arranged to feed tobacco continuously, and a conveyor arranged to move past the said hoppers so as to receive tobacco from different hoppers in succession, whereby tobacco from the said different hoppers (e.g. tobacco of difi'erent types or blends) can be mixed while being fed through the machine, e.g. towards means for forming a tobacco filler in a cigarette-making machine.

The said hoppers may each include means to impel tobacco in a direction transverse to the direction in which the said conveyor moves, and bafiles or chutes may be disposed obliquely across the conveyor to intercept the tobacco so impelled and to direct it downwardly towards the conveyor, whereby the tobacco so intercepted is distributed across the Width of the conveyor. There may, for example, be provided a pair of bafiles or chutes asso ciated with a pair of adjacent hoppers, the said bafiles being arranged to extend obliquely across the conveyor in opposite directions and from a common position close to the adjacent ends of the said two adjacent hoppers.

The different hoppers may be separately controlled so as to be capable of supplying tobacco at different rates (e.g. in order to mix different tobaccos in varying proportions).

The apparatus may comprise means to impel tobacco in a manner such as to cause it to be deposited on a conveyor band arranged to move past the said plurality of hoppers in a direction transverse to the direction in which the tobacco is impelled. One or more bafides or chutes may be disposed across the conveyor band obliquely of the direction of movement of the latter and positioned to intercept tobacco so impelled and to direct it downwardly towards the conveyor, whereby tobacco so intercepted is distributed across the widthof the conveyor.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end view of apparatus for feeding cut tobacco in a cigarette-making machine.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, certain parts being omitted and certain parts being broken away, and

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of the same.

FIGURE 1, being an end view, shows only one of a pair identical side by side hoppers which are separated by a partition 1. Each hopper comprises a feeding drum 2, provided with retractable pusher pins 2a, which feeds tobacco towards a carded drum 3, which latter carries tobacco upwardly past a raking device 4 and a tamping device 5 of known kind. A carded brushing or refuser drum 6 brushes back surplus tobacco from the drum 3, and the layer or carpet of tobacco on the drum 3 is picked from the carding of the drum 3 by a rotating pin roller 7. The picked tobacco is impelled over a concave guide 8 and is engaged and thrownforwardly by a picker roller 9.

A wide endless conveyor band 10 extends lengthwise ice across the front of both hoppers, as can beseen in.

FIGURES 2 and 3, so as to move past both hoppers in a direction transverse to that in which tobacco is impelled by the picker rollers 9.

Above the band 10 are two Walls 11 and 12 (FIGURES 1 and 2) which, as best seen in FIGURE 2, extend obliquely across the whole width of the band 10 in opposite directions, the two walls respectively being located opposite the two separate hoppers and extending from a common position close to the adjacent ends of the two hoppers. The wall 11 is shown broken away in FIGURE 1. These walls extend vertically downwards almost to the band 10, and are high enough to intercept all the tobacco impelled forwardly by the picker rollers 9, thus constituting'baflles or chutes, and forming an enclosure open at its upper end. Due to the oblique arrangement of the

walls

11 and 12, particles of tobacco flung from different parts along the lengths of the picker rollers are intercepted by the walls at different positions across the width of the band 10, and fall on to the band at those positions. By this arrangement the tobacco coming from each hopper is distributed fairly evenly over the conveyor band. Further, tobacco coming from the right-hand hopper (as viewed in FIGURES 2 and 3) and falling on to the conveyor band will be carried past the left-hand hopper, at which position tobacco coming from the lefthand hopper will be distributed over the tobacco already received on the band from the right-hand hopper. Thus the tobacco from the two separate hoppers is mixed while being fed on to the conveyor band.

The drums 2 and 3 and associated devices, including rollers 7 and 9, in one hopper are mounted and driven independently of those in the adjacent hopper, in order that the two hoppers can, if desired, be operated at different speeds in order to supply two different types or blends of tobacco in any desired proportion. The driving arrangements for each separate hopper may be of any suitable known kind.

The conveyor band 10 conveys the mixed and distributed tobacco towards further mechanism by which the tobacco is fed into a passage through which a high velocity stream of air is caused to flow so as to carry the tobacco towards a perforated conveyor band on which it forms a tobacco filler, in the manner disclosed in U.S. patent applications Serial Nos. 479,573 and 738,805. This mechanism is shown in FIGURE 3. A carded roller 13 mounted for rotation over a concave guide plate 14 receives the tobacco from the conveyor band 10, and a fast-rotating picker roller 15 picks the tobacco from the carding of the roller 13 and impels it over a plate 16. The apparatus shown in FIGURE 3 to the left of and including the picker roller 15 is substantially identical with the apparatus described and illustrated in US. Pat. applications Ser. Nos. 479,573 and 738,805 referred to above, and need only be briefly referred to here.

This apparatus includes a narrow passage 17 which extends upwardly towards a narrow perforated metal conveyor band 18 which is arranged to run lengthwise through the passage. A suction chamber 19, above the band 18 is connected with a suction fan (not shown) whereby a stream of air is drawn at high velocity upwardly through the passage 17 and through the band 18.

A perforated cylinder 20, arranged to rotate as shown by the arrow, communicates with an air duct 21 through which air is drawn upwardly so as to pass through the cylinder 20.

Air is drawn, both into the passage 17, and through the perforated cylinder 20. into the duct 21, from a conduit (not shown) located beneath a perforated plate 22. The direction and velocity of the air flowing towards and past the rotating cylinder 20 is such that tobacco particles impelled across the plate 16 by the picker roller 15 m ss-nae are caused to move in a substantially arcuate path about the cylinder into the passage 17. The velocity of the air stream in the passage '17 is such that the tobacco pa t c s ar y o n yesse e t da d e by caus d ray Lnpwa dly. hrough t p ss g in s bst ly epara ed condition- .0 a h ng o yor an 18 the tobacco particles build up on the underjside of the band and form a continuous tobacco filler which is held o t e band y u io What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by ett rs Pa e t A oba co-m nipulating. machine, ch as a .c ntinu u od ciga ettein ng-"ma hin mpr sing. a p urality of tobacco. feeding devicesarranged side by side and each arranged to feed tobacco continuously, and a conveyor arranged to rnove past the said devices so as to receive tobacco from different ones of said'devices in succession, whereby tobacco from the said different dev ce can be mix while be ng fed thro g t achine, ach o s obacco-feeding d c s mp si g. m ns to impel tobacco in a direction transverse to the direction r in which the said conveyor moves, said machine including walls disposed obliquely across the conveyor, each of said walls being located opposite one of said tobaccofeeding devices, to intercept the tobacco so impelled and to direct it downwardly toward-the conveyor, whereby the tobacco -so intercepted is distributed across the width Of-the conv y 1 2. 'A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein a pair of said walls is located opposite a pair of adjacent tobacco feedingdevices; the said pair of walls being arranged to extend obliquely across the conveyor in opposite directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 457,847 Carlie Aug. 18, 1891 1,183,618 'Aiton May 16, 1916 2,166,022 Repper July 11, 1939 20 2,211,172 Shackleton Aug. 13, 1940