Method and apparatus for processing tobacco
First Claim
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1. A method for processing tobacco comprising:
- threshing tobacco leaves in a thresher to form a mixture of free lamina, clean stem pieces from which lamina have been completely or substantially completely removed and unclean stem pieces which have useful pieces of lamina attached thereto;
removing the free lamina from the mixture;
sifting the mixture of clean stem pieces and unclean stem pieces to separate the clean stem pieces from the unclean stem pieces; and
subjecting the unclean stem pieces to further threshing by recycling the unclean stem pieces to the thresher.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for processing tobacco, in which tobacco leaves are threshed to form a mixture of free lamina, clean stem pieces from which lamina has been completely or substantially completely removed and uncleaned stem pieces which have useful pieces of lamina attached thereto. This mixture is sifted to separate the clean stem pieces from the unclean stem pieces. The unclean stem pieces are subjected to additional threshing by recycling the unclean stem pieces to the thresher. A sieve may be used to carry out the method and as a part of the apparatus.
20 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for processing tobacco comprising:
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threshing tobacco leaves in a thresher to form a mixture of free lamina, clean stem pieces from which lamina have been completely or substantially completely removed and unclean stem pieces which have useful pieces of lamina attached thereto;
removing the free lamina from the mixture;
sifting the mixture of clean stem pieces and unclean stem pieces to separate the clean stem pieces from the unclean stem pieces; and
subjecting the unclean stem pieces to further threshing by recycling the unclean stem pieces to the thresher. - View Dependent Claims (2, 6)
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3. A method for processing tobacco comprising:
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threshing tobacco leaves in a thresher to form a mixture of free lamina, clean stem pieces from which lamina have been completely or substantially completely removed and unclean stem pieces which have useful pieces of lamina attached thereto;
sifting to separate the clean stem pieces from the unclean stem pieces; and
subjecting the unclean stem pieces to further threshing by recycling the unclean stem pieces to the thresher, wherein the threshing and the sifting are carried out in a single step. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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7. An apparatus for processing tobacco comprising:
- threshing means for threshing tobacco leaves to form a mixture of free lamina, clean stem pieces from which lamina has been completely or substantially completely removed and unclean stem pieces which have useful pieces of lamina attached thereto, the apparatus further comprising means for sifting to separate the clean stem pieces from the unclean stem pieces and means for returning the sifted unclean stem pieces back to the threshing means, wherein threshing and sifting are carried out in a single device.
- View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
Specification