US340180A - williams - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sh eet 1.

(No Model.)

J. R. WILLIAMS.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING CIGAR WRAPPERS. No. 340,180. Patented Apr. 20, 1886.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2..

(No Model.) I

' .J; R. WILLIAMS.

I MACHINE FOR CUTTING CIGAR WRAPPBRS. No. 340,180. I Patented Apr; 20,1886.

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UNITE STATES PATENT Quince.

JOHN E'. WILLIAMS, E NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING CIGAR=WRAPPERS.

faPEClIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,180, dated April 20, 1886. Application filed February 10, 1883. Serial No. 84,667. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Gigar-VVrappers, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The invention relates to improvements in cigar-wrapper cutters; and it consists in the elements hereinafter described, and particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a front View of awork-bench havinga cutter mounted thereon with a roller, a treadle, and suction apparatus, the cutter and gate-valve being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a plan of the cutter shown at A in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same with details omitted from Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan of the work-bench 0, showing the means used for operating the cutting-roller E used in connection with the cutter A, and showing one means of mounting and operating the movable suction-box. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 4, the parts connected with the movable suction-box being shown in The cutter is shown mounted with its cuttingsection toexhibit their construction more clearly. I Fig. 6 is a vertical section of such parts on line 3/ yin Fig. 5, showing the form of the guides and the passage for the strap through the bench. Fig. 7 is a diagram of the roller-arm V and alternative device for automatically moving the suction-box shown connected with a foot-treadle in Fig. 5; and Fig. 8 is a view of the perforated under surface of the said movable carrier, only the connecting-pipe being shown therewith.

A is the cutter; B, its bed; 0, the workbench, and D the floor underneath the same.

edges upward and a tobacco-leaf, L, lying thereon. For pressing such leaf upon the cutting-edges of the cutter, I have shown a roller, E, represented as carried in the end of a horizontal swinging arm, V, which is traversed to and fro over the cutter, as required, by straps F, connecting the swinging bar to a treadle, T. Abuckle, U, is shown attached to the bar V, and the straps are carried over pulleys \V, mounted upon the bench O, to convert the vertical pull of the treadle into the horizontal movement of the bar. The mountings of the bar are shown in Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings; but they are more fully shown in anotherpatent application filed by me, and other means for traversing the roller may be used, if required.

In Fig. 2 the cutter is shown shaped like the wrapper for a cigar-bunch, and the space inside the cutting-edges is represented as filled by a platen, P, guided by studs a, and pressed upward by springs 6. (Shown in Fig. 3-) The springs are shown as if adjusted to sustain the platen a little above the cutting-edge of the cutter, thereby protecting the fingers of the operator in applying the tobacco-leaf, while the pressure of the roller in forcing the leaf against the cutter easily depresses the platen during the cutting operation. The platen is shown perforated with holes 1), and the bed B is shown provided with an outletpipe, (1, by which the air is exhausted from the interior of the cutter and atmospheric pressure induced upon the leaf L.

In Fig. 1 the suction-pipeis shown atJconnected with the exhaust side of a blower, K, and a gate, M, isinserted in the pipe beneath the work-bench to regulate the pressure of the air upon the leaf L, as desired. The gate valve is shown hinged to a lever, N, arranged in such position beneath the bench that it may be operated by the workmans knee or hand, as preferred, the fulcrum O for the lever being secured to the bench in a suitable position.

The operation of the devices described is as follows: The operatorsits before the bench, and in applying the tobacco-leaf to the cutter exerts sufficient tension to stretch it smoothly while he lays it upon'the platen P, the gate having been previously opened to induce the atmospheric current. The effect of such current is to draw the leaf closely and smoothly over the surface of such platen,'so that it is held firmly in place while the operator moves the roller over the cutter by the application of his foot to the treadle T. The wrapper, when thus cut, may be removed from the platen by shutting off the suction from the cutter, or the cigar-bunch may be applied thereto without such removal, as claimed in another patent application filed herewith.

As stated above, this invention is applicable to the cutting of various fabrics and materials, but is especially valuablein its application to cigar manufacture, as no means heretofore used for cutting the leaf enabled the operator to subject the leaf to such tension as to entirely free it from wrinkles and folds during the cutting operation.

By the use of my apparatus the leaf may not only be spread over the cutter by the fingers of the operator, but is ironed out, as it were, by the continued pressure of the atmospliere. In other devices for cutting cigarwrappers the surface of the leaf is covered by the cutter or by the bed against which the cutter presses, and the leaf is thus concealed from view, and is generally cut in a more or less wrinkled condition. This causes the edge of the wrapper in many instances to be notched, wavy, or uneven, and necessitates frequent trimming and clipping on the part of the operator before the wrapper can be applied to the bunch. By my method no such defects are produced in the wrapper, and the leaf is furthermore stretched and flattened so perfectly during the cutting operation that more than ten per cent. of the stock is saved in the production of wrappers from average tobaccoleaves.

The cutter is shown attached to a movable bed, B, having a tubular thimble, (Z, fitted to its center, so that the cutter and bed can be readily removed from the benchG and cutters of other forms and sizes substituted. For this purpose the exhaust-pipe J is inserted in the bench and the thimbled inserted in it;to make the connection.

In Figs. 4 and 5 is shown the application of a carrier having a perforated surface to the moving of the material to or from the cutter, the drawing showing an arrangement for removing the blanks (cigar-wrappers cut from leaves) from the cutter as fast as they are severed. S is the suction-box shaped to cover the top of cutter A, and provided with a per forated under side, as shown in Fig. 8. R is a pipe attached thereto and connected by a sliding valve, plate, or connection, Q, with the suction-pipe J. O is a guide-rod for moving the box S, and Z Z are guides secured to the bench G behind the cutter A. A spring, m, is shown attached to the pipe Band to one of the guides to retract the box S, and n is a strap passed from the rodO over a pulley, n, to a treadle, 8, within reach of the operators foot. The top of the pipe J is provided with a plate, Q, which covers the mouth of the pipe-connection R attached to the box S, and an aperture, 1", is formed in the under side of the said connection and proportioned so as to coincide withthe mouth of the pipe J when the box is pushed forward to remove the blank from the cutter. By this construction the box operates to lift the blank from the cutter when over the same, and to sustain the blank in its return movement until over the place of deposit, when the aperture 1 passes off of the suction-pipe and the blank is dropped upon the pile of pieces, as shown at t.

The box S is shown at the forward end of its stroke over the cutter A in Fig. 5 and in the opposite position over the pile tin Fig. 4, and is shown provided with an automatic moving device in Fig. 7, whereby it is carried forward to pick up the blank by the surplus motion of the rollerarm V after the roller has passed off of the cutter.

Instead of the strap 11, a roller, u, is secured ena vertical stud in the top of the bar 0, and is pressed forward (in opposition to the tension of the spring 1%) after each movement of the roll E by a cross-bar, w, attached to the arm V in rear of the roller. By this construction the box S is moved only at the end of the rollers stroke, and the box may be retracted to deposit the blank at t by moving the arm partly toward the cutter A after the blank has been lifted.

From the above-it will be seen how the atmospheric pressure operates alternately in the cutter and in the carrier, and that the same may be altered in shape to any required degree without departing from the principle of my invention. The cutters may therefore be constructed and operated ditferently,and may be connected with the suction-pipe by other means than that shown. It is also immaterial whether the suction operates by means of a perforated plate or by an open-mouthed box, or one provided with any kind of grating to sustain the material under the atmospheric pressure generated.

I am aware that the cutter and roller have been patented heretofore, and thereforedisclaim such elements. I have also filed another application herewith, in which I have claimed the combination of an unperforated platen with a cutter; but my present invention in- Vests the platen with different functions from 1 those claimed in the application referred to, as the perforating and exhausting the air from the platen transform it from a mere support into a device for holding or clamping the material to be cut.

The platen shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is omitted from Fig. l on account of the smallness of the scale, and because my invention is not dependent upon the particular construction of platen shown. Thus the platen may be made without springs, to afford it a vertical adj ustment, as I find in practice that the operators fingers are not affected by the cutters edges, if the platen is permanently secured inside the cutter a little below the top edges. The platen may also be formed of a wire fabric, or of other perforated material adapted to permit the required passage of the air, or may be replaced by a grating or any suitable support to sustain the leaf or other substance to be out under the atmospheric pressure.

I do not in this application claim the com bination of the cutter, roller, carrier-arm,

treadle, and connecting means, as I have claimed the same in another application, No.

84,665, filed herewith and patented October 23, 1883, No. 287,073. 5 Any novel subject-matter which I have described and not claimed or attempted to claim herein I have claimed or attempted to claim in other patent applications, or have reserved to be claimed in future original applications.

I do not claim broadly herein the combination of a cutter conforming to the shape of a cigar wrapper or binder, a perforated platen, and a suction-pipe for exhausting the air from within the cutter, since said elements are shown in Letters Patent No. 315,408,issued to William Eggert, trustee, April 7, 1885.

I therefore claim my improvements as follows:

1. The combination, with a cutter having a 20 perforated holding-plate, as described, of a carrier having a perforated holding-plate, as set forth, and means, substantially as described, for exhausting the air alternately from the two perforated plates, so as to clamp or hold the material alternately to the cutter 25 and the carrier, as herein shown and described.

2. The combination, with the cutter A, roller E, and its swinging arm V, of a pneumatic carrier, S, mounted to move to and from the cutter, as described, and a connection to the arm Vfor moving the carrier automatical- 1y, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JNO. R. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

THos. S. CRANE, W. F. D. CRANE.

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