US754285A - Tobacco-clamp. - Google Patents

Description

PATBNTED MAR. 8, 1904 R. 0. DICK. v TOBACCO CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2. 1903.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented. March 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT C. DICK, OF WHITSETT, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO A. BEAMS, OF DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA,

TO BACCO-C LAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,285, dated March 8, 1904.

Application filerl June 2, 1903. Serial No- 159,777. (No model.)

T0 0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT C. DICK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Whitsett, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Tobacco-Olamp, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in supporting-clamps, and has for its principal object to provide a novel form of clamp especially adapted for the support of leaf-tobacco in a drying-house during curing.

In the curing of tobacco the leaves are tied together in small bundles and secured by twine to supporting racks or beams in a dryinghouse, the bundles being slightly spaced from each other to permit free circulation of air. As a rule the bundles are secured to the beams in continuous rows, each row being secured to the beam by a single piece of twine, which is passed alternately on the opposite sides of the beam, and in the event of the sagging of the line at any one point the whole row is likely to fall.

The operation as at present practiced requires much time, is expensive, and is not wholly reliable unless great care is exercised by the workman.

In carrying out the present invention it is proposed to dispense entirely with the strings or twine and to employ small clamps formed of spring-wire, each clamp being provided with a suspension-loop and having springjaws for engaging any desired number of leaves which are to be secured together and suspended in position.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter de' scribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tobacco-clamp constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same in open position. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the clamp-jaws closed on a quantity of tobacco.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The clamp is preferably formed of a section of spring-wire coiled to form a suspending loop 1, which may be hung on a nail or other support, the wire being bent to form two arms 2 3, disposed respectively on opposite sides of the loop. The arm 2 is curved in semicircular form to form a clamping-jaw 4:, while the opposite arm is curved in similar manner to form a cooperative jaw 5, extending under the jaw 4, while the under portion of the arm 2 is thence bent in semicircular form above the jaw 4 to form an auxiliary jaw member 7 The two jaw members 5 and 7 are disposed, respectively, below and abovethe jaw member 4 and serve as guides to maintain the intermediate jaw in proper relative position as well as to afford clamping-surfaces at points both above and below the intermediate jaw, and thus allow the tobacco to hang in a vertical line.

It will be noted that both of the clampingjaws are approximately semicircular in form, so that their outer ends are free to move toward and away from the vertical plane of the suspension-loop, thus permitting the jaws to more readily accommodate themselves to the tobacco, permitting the necessary expansion if a large quantity is to be introduced, and as the jaw members form direct continuations of the arms 1 and 2 the strain will be thrown more directly on said arms, the jaws being held firmly in engagement with the tobacco by the inherent spreading tendency of the arms and the suspension-loop;

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A tobacco-clamp formed of a piece of wire bent to form a pair of spring-arms having an inherent spreading tendency, the ends of the arms being curved to form a pair of overlapping jaws that exert their clamping force on the separating movement of the arms, one of said jaws being bent to form a pair of clamping members disposed one above and one below the clamping member formed by the opposite jaw.

2. A tobacco-clamp formed of a section of spring-Wire centrally bent to form a suspension-loop and thence bent to form a pair of arms having an inherent spreading tendency, the lower end of one of the arms being curved to form a semicircular clamping-jaw and the end of the opposite arm being bent outward and thence inward to form a jaw having clamping members disposed one above and one below the clamping member formed by the opposite jaw, both of said jaws being arranged approximately at a right angle to the plane 0f 5 ROBERT C. DICK.

Witnesses:

' ERNEST CLAPP,

A. G. KIRKMAN.

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