US548686A - Cigar-bunching machine - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. R. WILLIAMS. CIGAR B UNGHING MACHINE.

No. 548,686 Patehted 'Oct. 29, 1895.

. WITNESSES Anon/var."

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I J. H. WILLIAMS; 4

GIGAR BUNCHING MACHINE.

No. 548,686. Patented Oct. 29,1895.

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'(No Model.)

J R WILLIAMS CIGAR BUNGHING MAGHIKE.

- 1 I ,5-4s,6s6. Patented Oct. 29, 1895.

) INVENTQH GENE).

fifib atbtzoiigom-ifimay concern:

Be. it knownthat I, J oHN R; WILLIAMS, a, citizen of the'United States, and a resident of rN6Wa1k, ll1 the county of Essex and'State of f New.;Iersey, have invented certain new and F useful Improvemer ts in Oigar-Bunching Machines, of which the-following is a specification. i w

The"'invention relates to improvements in I 1 5 scribed in Letters Patent of the United States No; 422,000, granted to me on the 25th day of i February, 1890, and in Letters Patent No. -442,;278,-grarntedto me December 9, 1820. In

:tho' lastm'entioned'patent will be found a "20 feed-trough in which by means'of conveyor-f .belts the leaf-tobacco is moved along toa series of yielding plungers, which drive definite charges-of the tobacco downward to a chargebox, which conveys them to the bun'ch-formz 5 iug mechanism, and in said patent, particularly-ji'n l igures 9 to 13, inclusive, is shown an arrangement of devices by which when an nndue quantity of the tobacco is fed to the trough an alarm will be sounded and the attendant thereby warned of the. excessive quantity oftobacco in the trough.

My present invention consists in automatic mechanism, particularly specified in the claims, by which the surplus quantity of tobacco fed to the trough will be removed and separated from the main body of tobacco in the trough, thusleaving the tobacco being fed to the plungers and bunch-rolling mechanism uniform in quantity. "F40 --The particular nature of the invention will be more fully understood from the detail description hereinafter presented, reference besaid feed-trough, and illustrating the applieation of the automatic regulator. Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section of same on the cigar-bunching machines; and it consists in,

the features hereinafter described, and par- "--t-icuiarly pointed'out'in the claims;

I have illustrated the invention asapplied to the cigar-bunching machine shown and" de- Jot- R, WILLIAMS, OF'NEWARK, New JERSEY.

q e em-Bu NCHING MACHINE.

srncmcertoniemg part of Letter Patent No. 548,68B, datec1 October29, 1895. t-hppii'cation and January 27,1892. Serial in. 4 Hamish dotted line3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4' is a like view of same, showing the tobacco in the trough and the operation of the regulator in removing the surplus quantity therefrom. Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section of same on the dotted line 5 50f Fig. 4;; and Fig. 6 is a plan view, partly broken away, 0f" 'cert'ain gearing by which motion is communicated to the shafts of the regulator carryiugthe knives for severing the surplus "tobacco from the main body thereof, moving along the trough to the plun'gers and bunch forming mech anism. j r 1 I In the drawings, Adesignates acigar-bunch- .ing machine of the character illustrated in my aforesaid Patents Nos. 422,000 and 442,278,

and in which B designates the series o'tyieid ing pressers,'and O,a verticallyvreciprocating charge-box by which the separate chargesof tobacco are carried downward to the bunchforming meehani'smD.

The tobacco for the bunches is fed into the right-hand end of the feed-trough E by hand, and is thence carried along said trough by means of the endless traveling belts F to a point at" which the yielding pressers B may act upon'it. i

The feed-trough, having the belts F F, is fully illustrated in my aforesaid Letters Patout No. 442,278, and is hence not sought to be independently claimed herein.

The feed-trough (lettered E) extends to the right asuflicient distance to enable the operator to convenientlyplace the leaves of toof the roller Ghmounted upon the shaft H, 5

having adjustable bearings, and the'revolving cutters I, which are horizontal and have their cutting-edges centrally over the longitudinal center of the trough E. Upon opposite sides of the main body of the trough E are provid d the standards J J, which are slotted. to receive and permit a vertical movement of the ends of the transverse shaft H, which carrice the roller at its center and at its ends is in IOO contact with the spindles K, extending upward through apertures in the ears L, formed upon the upper endsof the standards J. The spindles K are provided with the coiled springs M, which exert a downward tension upon the shaft II and roller G, thereby causing thelatter to have a bearing upon the upper surface of the bodyof tobacco moving along the trough E. The roller G is free to be moved upward by the body of tobacco passing beneath it when the quantity thereof is sufficient to overcome the tension of the springs M, and in practice it is intended that the body of to: 'bacco being fed along the trough shall completely fill the same up to the upper edges of the conveyor-belts F and that the tension of the springs M shall be sufiicient to permit the elevation of the roller G so that its lower edge will be on a line with the upper edge of the belts F F without said roller having an undue pressure on the body of tobacco. While the tobacco moving along the trough completely fills the same up to the upper edges of the belts F F, the knives I I will revolve, but perform no further function, since at such time there would not be an undue quantity of tobacco in the feed-trough and hence there would be no surplus to-be removed. Should,

however, an undue quantity of the tobacco be fed into the right-hand end of the trough E, so that the body thereofshould arise in the trough E above the belts F F, the roller G would be pressed upward beyond its normal position, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and that part of the tobacco above the upper edges of said belts would come into contact with and be severed by the knives I I. The knives I I are mounted upon the shafts N, and one of said shafts receives its revolving motion by means of the chain 0 and sprocket-wheel I, while the other of said shafts N receives its motion from the first-mentioned shaft through the chain of gear-wheels Q, (illustrated more particularly in Figs. 3 and 6,) and the knives I I have, therefore, a simultaneous motion, and this motion is communicated from the shaft N to the shaft II through the medium of the cord or belt R and wheel S, the latter being mounted upon the end of the shaft H.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the body of tobacco moved by means of the belts F Falong the trough E to the plunger-s Band bunch-forming mechanism is kept uniform by means of the knives I I and that it is intended that the proper quantity of tobacco constituting said body shall fill the trough E up-to the upper edges of the belts F. In order, however, that the quantity of tobacco moving along thetrough E between the belts F may be regulated in accordance with the sizeof the bunches to be formed,

there is provided inthe base of the said trough a vertically-adjustable bottom T, by which the depth of the trough may becontrolled to meet the requirements of the tobacco moving through it. The bottom '1 is more cl 'ztl'l seen in Figs. 2 and 3, and consists of a loll tudinal plate equal in width to the space between the belts F F and having at its lower side the lugs V, extending downward through the openings W in the main body of the trough and being provided with the inclined slots X, through which the set-screws Y pass,

said set-screws being carried by rigid lugs a, extending downward from the trough. The

position of the bottom Tin Fig. 3 is such as to allow the largest quantity-of tobacco to be carried by the belts F to the plungersB and bunch-forming mechanism; but when itis desired that a smaller quantity of tobacco shall be carried by said belts for the formation of bunches of smaller size the bottom T will be moved toward the left, thus causing the elongated slots S to ride upward on the set-screws Y- aud resulting in the uniform elevation of the bottom T above the bottom proper of the trough E and reducing the space below the upper edges of the belts F, through which the body of tobacco is carried. Prior to adjusting the bottom T upward between the belts tity of tobacco will be controlled and'deterte nprior tQits assageio theleft of..th'e

said knives. p

The belts F F move upon band-wheels b at opposite ends of the machine and receive their motion from the main driving-shaft th'ereofthrough intermediate gearing, as described in my aforesaid Letters Patent No. 442,278. 7

The gearing Q (illustrated more particularly in Fig. 6) will preferably beinclosed by abox e, of appropriate outline; but said boxe forms no part of the invention herein claimed.

In the operation of the invention, the machine being set in motion, the leaves of tobacco for the vcigar-bunches are placed with their ends lapping each other in the righthand end of the trough E anti between the belts F E, which, beiugin motion,'wil1convey the body of tobacco, constantly supplied by fresh additions at the right-hand end of the trough E, toward the plungers Band bunch It will be observed upon reference to Fig. 3

that the roller G when at rest extends downward a slight distance into the space between the belts F, and hence when the body of tobacco is moving along the trough E and cum pletely fills said space the roller G will be elevated'to a point at which-its lower edge. is in line with the upper edge of the bolts F, and thus the tension of the springs M will cause said roller to have a proper pressure upon the body of tobacco. When, however, owing to the irregularities of feeding additional quantities of tobacco into the righthand end of the trough E, the body thereof moving between the belts F is such as to elevate the roller G above the upper edges of the belts F, the knives II, revolving toward each other, will, as indicated in Fig. 4, sever the excessive quantity of tobacco, leaving the main portion thereof just filling the space between the belts F F. During the operation of the knives I I in severing the surplus quantity of tobacco from the main body thereof between the belts F the roller G will, through its increased pressure uppon the tobacco, owing to the extra compression of the springs M, firmly bind upon the tobacco in advance of the knives I I and thereby facilitate the operationof the latter in severing the upper strata of the same. In order that the tobacco rising above the upper edge of the belts F B may be kept in line, I have provided the plates '11 'i, which extend upward on the same vertical planes as the belts F F and form a channel through which such tobacco may move and be brought directly beneath the roller G and in contact with the cutting edges of the knives I. It is desirable that the surplus quantity of tobacco removed by means of the knives I I may be automatically directed from the machine, and to this end I have provided above said knives the box or trough j, into which the tobacco passes after being severed by the cuttingedges of the knives I I. I prefer that the box j shall be inclined or curved, so that the tobacco entering the same will move outward to one side of the knives I I in convenient position to be entirely withdrawn from the machine. After the main body of tobacco has passed beneath the knives I I it will continue to be carried by the belts F F on its passage to the plungers B, whereat, as fully described in my aforesaid Patent No. 442,278, it is subdivided into appropriate charges for the bunches to be formed.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a cigar machine, the feed trough having the conveyer belts for moving the body of tobacco to the machine proper, and the vertically adjustable bottom between said belts for regulating the depth of the trough; substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with a cigar machine, the feed trough having the conveyor belts, the adjustable bottom between said belts, and the revolving knives whose cutting edges meet over and in close relation to the upper edges of said belts; substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with a cigar machine, the feed trough having the conveyor belts, the adjustable bottom between said belts, the revolving knives whose cutting edges meet over and in close relation to the upper edges of said belts, and the pressure roller bearing upon the body of tobacco adjacent to said cutting edges, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with a cigar machine, the feed trough having the conveyor belts, and the adjustable bottom between said belts, said bottom having the lugs provided with the inclined elongated slots; substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 8th day of January, A. D. 1892.

JOHN R WILLIAMS. Witnesses:

CHAS. 0. GILL, ED. D. MILLER.

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