US3291137A

US3291137A - Tobacco manipulating machinery

Info

Publication number: US3291137A
Application number: US456020A
Authority: US
Inventors: Labbe Francis Auguste Maurice
Original assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Molins Machine Co Ltd
Priority date: 1958-01-21
Filing date: 1965-04-26
Publication date: 1966-12-13
Anticipated expiration: 1983-12-13
Also published as: MY6400125A; GB914821A; NL106921C; CH364446A; DE1292567B; NL235280A; CH369396A; DE1782715A1; BE574915A

Description

Dec. 13, 1966 F. A. M. LABBE TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINERY 5 Sheets-$heet 1 Original Filed Jan. 20, 1959 wish-J2. ATTORNEY5 Dec. 13, 1966 LABBE 3,291,137

TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINERY Original Filed Jan. 20, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 /z/4%K, M

Dec. 13, 1966 F. A. M. LABBE 3,291,137

TOBACCO MANIPULATING MACHINERY Original Filed Jan. 20, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 BY J i/ o'an 07e, am/: vi/$2 501 ATTORNEY:

United States Patent 3,291,137 TUBAQQG MANIPULATING MAEI-IINERY Francis Auguste Maurice Labbe, Paris, France, assignor to The Molins @rganisatiou Limited, a British com- Continuation of application Ser. No. 89,554, Feb. 15, 1961, which is a division of application Ser. No. 787,954, Jan. 20, 1959, now Patent No. 3,088,468, dated May '7, 1963. This application Apr. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 456,020

Claims priority, application Great Britain, .Ian. 21, 1958,

2,019/58 2 Claims. (Cl. 131-84) This application is a continuation of my copending application, Serial No. 89,554, filed February 15, 1961,

and now abandoned, which was filed as a division of my prior copending application, Serial No. 787,954, filed January 20, 1959, and now Patent No. 3,088,468, issued May 7, 1963.

This invention relates to improvements in continuous rod cigarette-making machinery in which a continuous tobacco filler is formed and is more particularly concerned with improvements in apparatus for feeding cut tobacco to form a continuous tobacco filler.

The continuous tobacco filler formed in continuous rod cigarette-making machinery may be produced by directing an air stream carrying out tobacco towards an air-pervious conveyor band continuously moving along a path generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the air stream. The cut tobacco particles are entrapped by conveyor and build up to form a filler thereon. A detailed description of a continuous rod cigarette-making machine of this type may be found in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent No. 3,088,468.

The cut tobacco particles invariably include quite small particles called tobacco dust which are not entrapped on the porous conveyor band but are carried through it by the air stream and are discarded. Tobacco dust is itself a smokable product and therefore the discarding of the dust involves an appreciable economic loss to the cigarette manufacturer.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for reducing or eliminating the loss of tobacco dust from the filler as produced on the continuously moving band.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means for readily incorporating the tobacco dust into the filler in such a manner as to prevent its segregation in the course of forming the completed cigarette rod.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent in the following description and drawings which form a part of the specification. Like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows, in side elevation and with parts broken away, means for forming a continuous tobacco filler in a continuous rod cigarette-making machine;

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line IIII, FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 shows diagrammatically, and with parts broken away, an end view as seen from the right-hand side of FIGURE 1 of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1, together with a diagrammatic representation of air supply means; and

FIGURE 4 shows, with certain parts broken away, a

3,29Ll3? Patented Dec. 13, 1966 it has passed through the tair-pervious conveyor band and returning the extracted dust to the filler as it is being conveyed on the band on which it is formed or built up. The previously formed tobacco filler on the conveyor band has been found to act as a filter, the dust particles adhering to the tobacco shreds as the air passes through the filler, whereby the dust is uniformly distributed throughout the filler and is unlikely to be dislodged during subsequent processing to form the cigarette rod.

Referring to FIGURE 1, a perforated endless metal conveyor band 1 passes over pulleys 2 and 3 and over a shoe 4 which is adjustably mounted to take up slack in the band. The pulley 2 is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The lower course of band 1 extends directly beneath a suction chamber 5, the edges of the band, as shown in FIGURE 2, engaging shoulders formed on opposed members 6 which form a conduit communicating with the suction chamber. Extending downwardly from the band 1 are opposed walls 7, the opposed surfaces of which have parts 7a which are arranged to converge for a short distance in a direction away from the band. These converging surfaces 7a form with the band a channel 60 along which a stream of tobacco is conveyed by the band 1.

The portions of the opposed walls 7 to the right, as viewed in FIGURE 1, with extensions thereof extend downwardly to form side walls of a long narrow passage 8 which is provided with end walls 9 and 10. At its lower extremity, as shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 3, the passage 8 is open to allow a current of air carrying tobacco particles to enter and flow upwardly through it.

The conveyor band 1, suction chamber 5, and channel 61} extend beyond the passage 8 in the direction of movement of band 1 and about midway between the end wall 9 and the pulley 2 there is located a trimming device comprising a pair of discs 11 arranged side by side a short distance beneath the band 1. The discs 11, only one of which is visible in FIGURE 1, are arranged to be rotated so that their opposed edges cooperate to trim the tobacco filler carried past them by the band 1 by removing surplus tobacco. Preferably the discs are arranged for bodily movement up and down in response to measurements effected on the tobacco filler or on the wrapped cigarette rod, or on both, by measuring devices, not shown, in the manner disclosed in Us. Patent No. 3,089,497, issued May 14, 1963, to Molins et a1. Down stream and beyond the trimming device the band 1 and suction chamber 5 extend over a cigarette-paper web 12 carried by a tape 13, the arrangement being such that the trimmed tobacco filler is led onto the paper web while still suctionally held by the band 1, so that the filler is continuously controlled and has little or no opportunity of loosing lateral compression imparted to it by suction.

As seen in FIGURE 1 a pivoted flap 14 is mounted just to the left of the down stream end of passage 8 in order to close the gap between the channel 60 along which the tobacco filler is conveyed out of the passage, and the top edge of the end wall 9. The flap 14 is urged upwardly into channel 60 by the pressure of air flowing from atmosphere towards the band 1. Its purpose is to prevent atmospheric air from flowing over the wall 9 into the passage 8 which might cause turbulence in the region of the tobacco filler and consequent disturbance of the cut tobacco in the filler.

One of the side Walls of the passage 8 is apertured by the provision of a grill 15, FIGURES 1, 2 and 4, formed of expanded rnetal having numerous small apertures constituting louvres. These apertures communicate with a duct 16, FIGURE 3, from which air is drawn by suction means to be referred to later.

FIGURE 4 shows a modification wherein the apertures communicate with a manifold 16'. The purpose of this arrangement is to draw off some of the air from the passage 8 and thus provide a greater flow of air through the passage than would be practical if the whole of the air were drawn through the conveyor band 1. The presence of this grill near the top of the passage may be in part responsible for the tendency for air to flow into the passage over the end wall 9, as explained above, if not prevented from doing so by the flap 14.

The means for causing air to flow through the passage 8, and for feeding tobacco particles into the passage, will now be briefly described with reference to FIGURE 3. A carded conveyor drum 21 receives tobacco in bulk on the upper part of its surface and carries it past a carded refuser roller 22, and the tobacco is picked from the drum 21 by the picker roller 23 and impelled across a guide plate 24. Beyond the plate is an air duct 25 having an entrance comprising a rotating foraminous cylinder 26, and the passage 8 is located alongside the duct.

The suction chamber 5 communicates by way of a conduit 27 with a suction fan 28 by which air is drawn through the passage 8 and the band 1. The duct 25 is connected by a conduit 29 with a further suction fan 30. The duct 16 connects the passage 8 to the conduit 29 so that air is drawn from the passage through the louvred grill 15. Within the conduit 29 is a dust separating device 31 by which dust is extracted and passed with some air through a conduit 32 into the conduit 27. The outlet of the fan communicates with a conduit 33 which conducts air to an air manifold 34, through which the air is discharged to a diffuser 35 comprising a curved plate 36, a sheet 37 of expanded metal, and a chamber 38 to receive short particles of tobacco which may be contained in the air. Air flows over the right-hand edge of the plate 36 into the chamber 38, and flows out of the chamber through a central aperture 36a in the plate 36. The air then flows upwardly through the expanded metal sheet 37 to be drawn into the passage 8 and the duct 25. Accordingly the air drawn into the passage 8 and duct 25 consists of air from the diffuser 35 mixed with atmospheric air.

The air discharged by the fan 28 passes through a conduit 39 to a multi-unit cyclone 40 by which, after removal of dust, the air is discharged to atmosphere through the pipes 40a.

A further dust-separating device 41 is provided in the conduit 39 and is connected by a pipe 42 to the open side of channel 60 at a position down stream from passage 8 to convey extracted dust to the filler which is being continuously conveyed on the air-pervious band 1 through the channel 60. The amount of dust conveyed from the dust-separating device 41 to the tobacco filler may be controlled by a valve 43 in the conduit 42.

The air drawn into the passage 8 and duct 25 passes through an apertured plate 44. The air flowing through the left-hand end of plate 44, as viewed in FIGURE 3, can be controlled to a certain extent by the movement of a pivoted plate 53 which can be used to blank olT a portion of the plate 44. The plate 53 is carried by a member 52 pivotally mounted at 52a. The air drawn through the foraminous cylinder 26 into the duct 25 deflects the tobacco impelled over the plate 24 so that the tobacco particles move in a curved path into the entrance to the passage 8 in which they are accelerated by reason of the high-velocity air current flowing upwardly through the passage. Due to the rotation of the cylinder 26 tobacco which comes into contact with its surface is thrown off or removed by scrapers which are not shown.

Vanes 45 direct the air entering the passage 8 in a direction at a slight angle with respect to the length of the band 1. To the left of the vanes 45, as viewed in FIGURE 3, is a plate 51 which forms with the plate 44 a duct leading to a chamber 54 into which portions of stalk or stem are projected by the picker 23. is provided at each end of the plate 51.

In operation of the apparatus, tobacco particles are impelled up the passage 8 by the high-velocity air current and build up on the continuously moving band 1 to form a filler thereon. The air drawn through the rotating perforated cylinder 26 draws tobacco dust from the tobacco entering the lower end of the passage 8. This tobacco dust is drawn through the cylinder 26 and up the duct 25 and through the duct 29. The action of the air drawn through the conveyor band 1 into the suction chamber 5 draws with it some of the dust not entrapped on the conveyor band and this dust is drawn through duct 27 and fan 28.

Dust is extracted from the air passing through duct 29 by the dust-separating device 31, and this dust is added to the air-dust mixture in duct 27 by means of conduit 32. The How in conduit 32 may be controlled by valve 62. After passing through the fan 28 the dust suspended in the air from

ducts

27 and 29 and the con-, duit 32 is extracted by the dust-separating device 41 and passes with air along pipe 42 to channel 60 at a point downstream from passage 8 where the dust from pipe 42 is drawn by the atmospheric air passing into chamber 5 into the tobacco filler. The amount of dust extracted by dust-separating device 41 and fed to the filler may be controlled by operation of valve 43 which controls the air flow through pipe 42 and thus the amount of dust conveyed. The control of the percentage of dust in the tobacco filler is necessary to assure that the continuous cigarette rod will have a desired proportion of tobacco filler to dust. If necessary valve 43 may be completely closed and all of the dust in duct 39 will then pass to the cyclones 40.

It has been found that though much of the tobacco dust in a mixture of tobacco filler and dust when fed onto the pervious conveyor band 1 by an air stream will pass through the conveyor band, when dust is fed onto the conveyor band having tobacco filler thereon little if any dust will pass through the conveyor band. The tobacco filler acts as a filter with the dust particles adhering to the larger tobacco shreds as the air passes through the filler. The tobacco dust is thus distributed throughout the filler giving reasonably good uniformity to the filler in the formed cigarette rod.

The apparatus herein above described may be varied in construction. The device disclosed above is selected to illustrate the invention and is substantially one embodiment thereof. The invention is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure as disclosed.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In a continuous rod cigarette-making machine having apparatus for forming a tobacco filler, comprising an elongated air-pervious conveyor on which the filler is progressively built up and which is arranged to move lengthwise, passage means leading to the conveyor and extending along a substantial length of said conveyor, the conveyor conveying a built-up filler away from said passage, means defining an inlet to said passage, a first pump, a first conduit communicating with the first pump and the conveyor and through which the first pump draws air through the conveyor and the passage, means to feed tobacco particles into the inlet to said passage, suction means outside said passage and adjacent said inlet, a second pump, a second conduit communicating with the second pump and the suction means and through which the second pump draws air through said suction means across the path of the tobacco entering said passage, the improvement comprising first dust-extracting means in communication with the first pump to extract tobacco dust from air which has passed through the passage and the conveyor, second dust-extracting means in communication with the second pump to extract tobacco dust from air after it has been drawn into the suction means and A web 50 across the path of the tobacco entering the passage, a third conduit to convey dust-laden air from the second dust-extracting means to the first dust-extracting means, a pipe to receive dust-laden air from the first dust-extracting means and to convey the dust-laden air to the conveyor outside of the passage at a position where the conveyor conveys the built-up filler away from the passage, whereby the extracted tobacco dust is conveyed into and incorporated in the built-up filler.

2. In a continuous rod cigarette-making machine having apparatus for forming an elongated tobacco filler, comprising an air-pervious conveyor on which the filler is progressively built up and which is arranged to move in a linear direction, means providing a filler supply passage communicating with said conveyor and extending along a substantial length of said conveyor to build up a filler on said conveyor, said conveyor conveying the built-up filler away from said passage, channel means extending along a further length of said conveyor beyond said supply passage, means defining an inlet to said supply passage, a first pump to draw air through said airpervious conveyor and said supply passage, means to feed tobacco particles in a predetermined path toward and into said inlet, suction means outside said supply passage and adjacent said inlet, a second pump to draw air through said suction means across said path of the tobacco entering said supply passage, the improvement comprising first dust-extracting means to extract tobacco dust from air passing through said suction means, second dust-extracting means to extract tobacco dust from air which has passed through said supply passage and said conveyor, a firs-t conduit to convey the extracted dust from said first dust-extracting meansto said second dust-extracting means, and a second conduit to receive the extracted tobacco dust from said second dust-extracting means, said second conduit terminating in said channel beyond said supply passage, whereby the extracted tobacco dust is conveyed into and incorporated in the built-up filler.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,808,795 6/ 1931 Stelzer. 2,467,248 4/1949 Arelt 13 1-109 2,617,426 11/ 1952 Patterson 13184 2,932,300 4/1960 Dearsley 131--1 10 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,179,992 12/195 8 France.

764,551 12/ 1956 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH S. REICH, Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A CONTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE-MAKING MACHINE HAVING APPARATUS FOR FORMING A TOBACCO FILLER, COMPRISING AN ELONGATED AIR-PERVIOUS CONVEYOR ON WHICH THE FILLER IS PROGRESSIVELY BUILD UP AND WHICH IS ARRANGED TO MOVE LENGTHWISE, PASSAGE MEANS LEADING TO THE CONVEYOR AND EXTENDING ALONG A SUBSTANTIAL LENGTH OF SAID CONVEYOR, THE CONVEYOR CONVEYING A BUILT-UP FILLER AWAY FROM SAID PASSAGE, MEANS DEFINING AN INLET TO SAID PASSAGE, A FIRST PUMP, A FIRST CONDUIT COMMUNICATING WITH THE FIRST PUMP AND THE CONVEYOR AND THROUGH WHICH THE FIRST PUMP DRAWS AIR THROUGH THE CONVEYOR AND THE PASSAGE, MEANS TO FEED TOBACCO PARTICLES INTO THE INLET TO SAID PASSAGE, SUCTION MEANS OUTSIDE SAID PASSAGE AND ADJACENT SAID INLET, A SECOND PUMP, A SECOND CONDUIT COMMUNICATING WITH THE SECOND PUMP AND THE SUCTION MEANS AND THROUGH WHICH THE SECOND PUMP DRAWS AIR THROUGH SAID SUCTION MEANS ACROSS THE PATH OF THE TOBACCO ENTERING SAID PASSAGE, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING FIRST DUST-EXTRACTING MEANS IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE FIRST PUMP TO EXTRACT TOBACCO DUST FROM AIR WHICH HAS PASSED THROUGH THE PASSAGE AND THE CONVEYOR, SECOND DUST-EXTRACTING MEANS IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE SECOND PUMP TO EXTRACT TOBACCO DUST FROM AIR AFTER IT HAS BEEN DRAWN INTO THE SUCTION MEANS AND ACROSS THE PATH OF THE TOBACCO ENTERING THE PASSAGE, A THIRD CONDUIT TO CONVEY DUST-LADEN AIR FROM THE SECOND DUST-EXTRACTING MEANS TO THE FIRST DUST-EXTRACTING MEANS, A PIPE TO RECEIVE DUST-LADEN AIR FROM THE FIRST DUST-EXTRACTING MEANS AND TO CONVEY THE DUST-LADEN AIR TO THE CONVEYOR OUTSIDE OF THE PASSAGE AT A POSITION WHERE THE CONVEYOR CONVEYS THE BUILT-UP FILTER AWAY FROM THE PASSAGE, WHEREBY THE EXTRACTED TOBACCO DUST IS CONVEYED INTO AND INCORPORATED IN THE BUILT-UP FILLER.