Fig. 29.
Miscellaneous Appliances.—The customary ingenuity of the Americans has invented a profusion of admirable labour-saving machines for almost all the operations of the tobacco manufacturer. A few of these only can be noticed in the present article.
Fig. 29 shows a portable resweating-apparatus, intended for darkening the colour of tobacco to suit the dealer’s market. It measures 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 5 feet high, being just large enough for one case (400 lb.) of tobacco, including the case; it consists of a water-tank a, a pipe b for conducting the water into the metallic pan c, at the bottom of the apparatus, which is heated by gas-jets d. The tobacco is introduced by the door e, which is fitted with a thermometer. The roof is sloped so as to determine the flow of the water of condensation. The steaming occupies 3–5 days, and needs occasional watching. The apparatus is made by C. S. Philips and Co., 188 Pearl Street, New York.
Fig. 30.
Fig. 30 illustrates a complicated machine, introduced by C. C. Clawson and Co., of Raleigh, N. Carolina, for putting up large quantities of tobacco in parcels of 2 oz. upwards. It consists of a central table provided with automatic scales for weighing out the portion; four equidistant guides which determine the form of the package; a plunger for packing, and a follower for raising the package; a side-table carrying tongs for holding the empty bags; and another to receive the packages, and hold them during tying. The hopper being supplied with tobacco, and the machine put in motion, each form takes a bag from the tong-table, and the article having been weighed, is carried to the form by a shute, when it drops into the bag, is packed by the plunger, and transferred to the tying-table. With 2 girls or boys, it is said to weigh, pack, and tie 30 bags a minute.
The New York Tobacco Machine Co. make two forms of machines for granulating tobacco, chiefly for making “Killickinick” and cigarettes, their working capacity ranging from 200 to 2000 lb. a day. The cutting-rollers are covered with cross-millings at right angles to each other, those running lengthwise being deep; the fixed cutters are adjustable, so that the cutting may be either coarse or fine. When working, the action is like that of a pair of shears, except that the cross-millings reduce the strips to a granular state. Both stems and leaves may be worked up. The great advantage claimed for these machines is that, though the tobacco should be dry, the percentage of dust escaping is reduced to a nominal figure.
A cutting-machine made by the same Co. is shown in Fig. 31. It is adapted to cut leaf, stem, scrap, plug, or any form of tobacco, to any required degree of fineness, turning out 300–400 lb. a day. The action is almost precisely that of a chaff-cutter. The Co.’s sifting-machine consists of an adjustable cylindrical wire sieve, with a rattan-broom screw-roller revolving inside. The stems are stripped and worked out at one end, while the remainder is broken up, and passed through the sieve, falling upon a perforated tray, through which pass the finest particles for snuff-making. A machine largely used in America is the stem-roller, for crushing and flattening the stems so that they may be used like leaves for making cigars. Great benefit is anticipated in the United States from the adaptation of Ryerson’s “attrition mill” to snuff-grinding, owing to the fact that the pulverization is accomplished without the particles being heated in the least degree. Of cigarette-making machines, there are many kinds; the best are those which deal with the tobacco in a comparatively dry state, thus preventing shrinkage after packing.
Fig. 31.