Tobacco delivery system
First Claim
1. Apparatus for supplying tobacco, comprising a plurality of machines for making cigarettes, a discharger hopper and an adjacent supplemental hopper for each machine, each discharger hopper having an inlet to receive a flow of air and any entrained tobacco, having means for releasing said air while retaining said tobacco, and having means for subsequently discharging the retained tobacco into the adjacent supplemental tobacco hopper, a corresponding number of supply conduits each connected to one of the discharger hopper inlets, an exhaust fan for drawing air and any entrained tobacco through the supply conduits to the discharger hopper inlets, an exhaust conduit system for conveying to the exhaust fan the air released by the discharger hoppers, and a corresponding number of air values each connected to one of the supply conduits and to the exhaust conduit system by an indirect connection leading to the inlet of the corresponding discharger hopper and by a direct connection which bypasses all the discharger hoppers, each valve having means for shifting the valve between a first setting where a stream of air and any entrained tobacco received by the valve from the corresponding supply conduit passes to the corresponding discharger hopper inlet, and a second setting where a stream of air and any entrained tobacco received by the valve is diverted to the exhaust conduit system without passing through any of the discharger hopper inlets whereby shifting of the valves independently of each other in response to varying amounts of tobacco consumed by the machines does not substantially change the total air being drawn from the supply conduits by the exhaust fan.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An exhaust fan draws air and entrained tobacco through delivery pipes from a tobacco feeder to the respective dischargers of a group of cigarette making machines, where the tobacco is screened out and the air passes on through exhaust pipes. When a discharger is to release tobacco to its making machine the feeder stops delivery of tobacco to that discharger and, after a delay to clear the delivery pipe, a valve bypasses the air around the discharger so that a constant air flow is maintained. The feeder supplies tobacco in a separate and independently controlled stream to each discharger, and has oscillating vanes to separate and keep the tobacco moving.
29 Citations
7 Claims
- 1. Apparatus for supplying tobacco, comprising a plurality of machines for making cigarettes, a discharger hopper and an adjacent supplemental hopper for each machine, each discharger hopper having an inlet to receive a flow of air and any entrained tobacco, having means for releasing said air while retaining said tobacco, and having means for subsequently discharging the retained tobacco into the adjacent supplemental tobacco hopper, a corresponding number of supply conduits each connected to one of the discharger hopper inlets, an exhaust fan for drawing air and any entrained tobacco through the supply conduits to the discharger hopper inlets, an exhaust conduit system for conveying to the exhaust fan the air released by the discharger hoppers, and a corresponding number of air values each connected to one of the supply conduits and to the exhaust conduit system by an indirect connection leading to the inlet of the corresponding discharger hopper and by a direct connection which bypasses all the discharger hoppers, each valve having means for shifting the valve between a first setting where a stream of air and any entrained tobacco received by the valve from the corresponding supply conduit passes to the corresponding discharger hopper inlet, and a second setting where a stream of air and any entrained tobacco received by the valve is diverted to the exhaust conduit system without passing through any of the discharger hopper inlets whereby shifting of the valves independently of each other in response to varying amounts of tobacco consumed by the machines does not substantially change the total air being drawn from the supply conduits by the exhaust fan.
Specification