US3057361A - Cigar shaping method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

R. D. RESPESS Oct. 9, 1962 CIGAR SHAPING METHOD AND APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 28, 1961 INVENTOR.

RICHARD D. RESPESS BY f g u ATTO RN EY Oct. 9, 1962 RESPESS 3,057,361

CIGAR SHAPING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. RICHARD D. RESPESS 1 M MW ATTORNEY United. Stas 3,057,361 CIGAR SHAPENG MET H01) AND APPARATUS Richard I). Respess, Jacksonville, Fla, assignor to Jno. H. Swisher & Son, Inc, a corporation of Ohio Filed Aug. 28, 19M, Ser. No. 134,469 4 Claims. (Cl. 131-79) This invention relates to a method and apparatus for shaping cigars and, more particularly, to the use of high frequency electro-magnetic energy in conjunction with the pressing and shaping of originally round cigars.

During the manufacture of cigars, the components are relatively moist so that they can be manipulated Without cracking. Moisture is also present in the paste used to hold the wrapper in place. After issuing from the machines on which they are made, the cigars, then damp and moderately soft to the touch, particularly around the heads, are preliminarily aged for a period to permit the moisture to distribute uniformly through the cigar, which has the effect of setting the paste, and the cigar assumes a normal firmness. The total moisture content of the cigars is closely controlled during manufacture and, while a slight loss of total moisture occurs during the preliminary aging, it is not desired that the moisture loss during this or subsequent shaping and packaging operations be great, since otherwise the cigars would seem dry, brittle and unfresh to the smoker. As an example, when cigars are manufactured, the moisture content of the wrapper is about 26%, the binder 22% to 24%, and the filler, which constitutes the bulk of the cigar, about 15% to 16%. It is desired to have an overall moisture content of about 16%, distributed evenly throughout the cigars. The preliminary aging, immediately after manufacture, permits the moisture contained in a cigar to distribute substantially evenly throughout the cigars, most of the excess moisture in the wrapper and binder being absorbed in the filler.

After the cigars are banded and wrapped by automatic machinery, they generally are packed in boxes with the brand or large portion of the band upright. In order to facilitate placement of the cigars in the box so that the brand sides of the bands are uppermost and uniformly displayed, the cigars are generally squared or shaped with somewhat flattened sides following the preliminary aging process, and prior to feeding to the automatic banding and wrapping machines. The brand sides of the bands may thus be always applied to a flattened side of the cigars, and it is easy for a packer to place rows of the wrapped and banded cigars uniformly in a box so that the brand sides of the wrappers all face upwardly.

Heretofore, the preliminarily aged cigars were squared by fitting rows of them in open-top dummy boxes, and then forcing down and clamping a box lid so that the cigars were compressed downwardly. This provided the cigars with flattened upper and lower surfaces, and the lateral thrust resulting from the tendency to squash out sidewise against one another provided flattened side surfaces. After being compressed for about twenty-four hours in the dummy boxes, the corners of the cigars remain somewhat rounded, but the shape was near enough to a square or rectangular, in cross-section, so that the cigars would feed, without rolling around, on walking or reciprocating conveyors to and from the banding and wrapping machines, and the orientation recited above was facilitated. Pressing the cigars enhances their appearance, and many customers prefer the square shape.

Increasing labor costs have prompted critical examination of the dummy box method of squaring and, in addition, it, being essentially a batch method of materials handling, is incompatible with the prior and subsequent straight-line conveyor techniques which characterize the manufacturing and packaging procedures.

Patented Oct. 9, 1962 ice Previous approaches to the solving of this, a major manufacturing problem, have generally entailed the use of heat, in one form or another, in conjunction with ironing, pressing or molding the cigars. When hot pressure plates, hot belt presses or molds were tried, however, it was found that moisture was driven from the cigar in intolerable quantities, and the Wrapper sweated and cooked. Attempts at shaping with steam irons or presses resulted in discoloration of the wrapper. Drying of tobacco products by the use of a high frequency dielectric heater was also known (Riegger US. Patent 2,737,955).

According to this invention, cigars are quickly shaped in a press between the plates of a highfrequency dielectrio machine without the production of appreciable overall heat within the cigars, Without appreciable loss of moisture, and with no sweating or cooking of the wrapper. While the phenomena occurring within the cigars are not completely understood, it appears that the high frequency energy, acting on the tobacco fibers, gives them a new set. The theory believed to explain the process is that originally the fibers were oriented predominantly in the planes of the leaves or sheets in which they grew or were formed; when the bunch was compressed and the binder wrapper applied, the fibers were bent, but they, in aggregate, lay under tension. A feature of this invention is to apply sufficient energy to the tobacco fibers to relieve the tension under which they would otherwise be maintained, and permit them to assume a new set in the position or bend to which they are forced by mechanical pressure simultaneously applied.

A more specific object is the provision of a continuously operating press including parallel belt runs through which the cigars are fed and compressed, and a pair of spaced plates or electrodes of a dielectric high frequency generator respectively disposed above and below the belt runs. With this arrangement, it is intended to apply enough mechanical compression by means of the belts to produce the desired flatness of the upper and lower surfaces of the cigars, but with not so much pressure that the cigars will be cracked or split. By feeding the cigars consecutively so that they lie close to one another as they pass between the belt runs, it is intended to ultilize an observed squash-out effect to produce somewhat flattened opposite side surfaces as the result of the lateral thrusts of the cigars against one another. In order to obtain this result with the former dummy box" method, it was necessary to confine the cigars laterally between the opposite sides of the box, whereas, following the present technique, it has been found that no lateral confinement, other than that produced by the cigars themselves, is necessary.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal cross section along the line 1-1 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 2 is a vertical transverse cross-section along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

PEG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal cross-section, diagrammatic and fragmentary, illustrating the lateral expansion of cigars which forces adjacent sides thereof against one another.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote similar elements, the press 2 is of the well-known endless belt type, and comprises a frame 4 with legs 6, spaced uprights 8 and 10 connected at their tops by cross-members 12. Lower cross pieces 14 and 16 are provided at suitable locations for transversely bracing and tying the frame together, and for supporting back-up members described below. Rollers 18 and 20 having shafts 22 and 24 supported in 3 pillow blocks 26 are disposed at each end of frame 4 f an endless belt 28 whose upper run 30 is horizontal. The belts are formed of flexible material having reasonably good insulating properties.

Vertically adjustable supports 32 suspend a chassis 34 in the upper portion of frame 4. A chassis and suspension, generally similar to those shown in the patent to Dalrimple 1,503,034 have been selected for purposes of illustration, there being a pair of vertical rectangles 36 and a horizontal rectangle 38 rigidly connected together. A pair of pillow blocks 42 at each end of the chassis support shafts 44 and 46 of rollers 48 which, in turn, support an endless belt 50 whose lower run 52 is parallel to the upper run 30 of belt 28. Common drive gearing and a motor, diagrammatically indicated at 54 and 56 are provided for roller shafts 18 and 44 so that rollers 18 and 48 are both driven in the directions indicated by arrows in FIG. 1. The press as thus far described is conventional, and may partake of various forms consistent with the following features believed to be novel.

Beneath the upper run 30 of belt 28 and above the lower run 52 of belt 50 are disposed back-up plates 58, 58, respectively, of insulating material. The ends of back-up plate 58 are mounted on the lower cross members 60 of chassis 34, whose upper cross members 40 are suspended from the upper portion of frame 4. The entire chassis 34, including back-up plate 58, rollers 48 and belt 50 may thus be vertically adjusted with respect to the lower back-up plate 58 and, of course, belt run 30 which slides thereon. Mounted within recesses 62 in the back-up plates, so as to prevent contact by operating personnel, are electrodes 64, 64' of a high frequency generator 66 whose leads 68, 70 are respectively connected to electrodes 64, 64'.

In operation, initially round cigars 76 are fed onto belt run 30 from a feeder, diagrammatically indicated at 78. Chassis 3'4 is adjusted so that belt runs 30 and 52 are spaced from one another a distance somewhat less than the initial diameters of the cigars so that flattened top and bottom surfaces 82 and 84 form against the belt runs. When the cigars are compressed vertically, they expand laterally so that the sides 84 of adjacent cigars are pressed and somewhat flattened against one another, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3. Suitable auxiliary back-up members, such as plate 86, may be provided to ensure that the cigars will be engaged and held between the belt runs.

As the cigars, compressed to the desired shape by the belt runs, pass between electrodes 64, 64, they pass through the high frequency field created therebetween. It has been found that a generated frequency of about 27 megacycles produces the optimum results. In earlier experiments using lower frequencies, such as megacycles and below, the cigars tended to scorch and, in some instances, sweat excessively. In experimental runs with a machine of "the type herein described, using a 27 megacycle generator, it was found that relatively little power (in the range of 0.55 to 0.6 amp.) was consumed, and exposure of the cigars to high-frequency field for only a comparatively short length of time was required for the cigars to achieve a fixed set in the shape in which they were held during exposure, i.e., with flattened tops, bottoms and sides. The heat generated within the cigars was used as an index of exposure to the high frequency field. Measurements made immediately after passing cigars through the press denoted internal temperatures of F. to F.

Cigars run through the press when the RR generator was off came out with squared shapes, but they quickly resumed their initial roundness after a few minutes, whereas cigars run through with the generator on remained squares.

The invention is not limited to the details of the apparatus and method disclosed herein, but is intended to cover all substitutions, modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A process for forming four flattened sides on cigars, which comprises: transporting a series of said cigars in close side-by-side relationship between two substantially flat parallel surfaces moving in the same direction and spaced apart a distance less than the initial diameters of the cigars so as to compress the cigars in a direction transverse to the lengths thereof and normal to the planes of said surfaces and thereby causing said cigars to expand transversely to said direction and compress adjacent sides of said cigars against one another; passing a high frequency dielectric field transversely through said cigars; and maintaining said cigars under said compression and in said field until the cigars attain a new set.

2. A process for forming four flattened sides on initially round cigars, which comprises: transporting a series of said cigars in close side-by-side relationship between two substantally flat parallel surfaces moving in the same direction and spaced apart a distance less than the initial diameters of the cigars, so as to compress the cigars in a direction transverse to the lengths thereof and normal to the planes of said surfaces and thereby causing said cigars to expand transversely to said direction and to compress adjacent sides of said cigars against one another; passing a high frequency dielectric field transversely through the cigars; and maintaining said cigars under said compression and in said field until the interiors of the cigars are characterized by a temperature of the order of 90 F. to 115 -F.

3. In an apparatus for flattening normally round cigars, a press having a pair of substantially flat parallel belt runs each having a working face on one side and a nonworking face on the other side, means for maintaining the working faces of said belt runs spaced apart from one another a distance less than the initial diameters of the cigars, said means including back-up members respectively engaging the non-working faces of the belt runs, said back-up members being formed of insulating material, a high frequency electronic generator, and a pair of electrodes respectively supported on the back-up members and respectively engaging the non-working faces of the belt runs.

4. The combination claimed in claim 3, said backup members comprising substantially flat plates, said electrodes being substantially fiat plates having marginal edges disposed inwardly of the marginal edges of said back-up members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Images