Abstract: Size reduction equipment is added at the feed end of a cigarette maker to take separated winnowers and other overages from a tobacco feed to the maker, cut or shred the overages to appropriate size and reintroduce the cut or shred overages into the lamina stream from a tobacco feed hopper for the cigarette maker. The winnowers may be pneumatically or mechanically conveyed back into the feed stream in the cigarette maker.

Abstract: A system for controlling the lamina size in a raw material treatment process for tobacco leaves comprising measuring means for measuring the production rate of the laminae larger than a given size in the raw material treatment process in which the tobacco leaves which have been provided with a water content and temperature by a humidity controller are stripped into laminae and ribs by means of rib removing machines capable of changing a mechanical impact force applied upon the tobacco leaves by changing the rotational number of grid or threshing gear and are then separated by means of separating machines, and operational control means for receiving measurement signals from said measuring means as a feedback signal for searching a water content, temperature and rotational number of grid or threshing gear which minimize the production rate of the laminae not larger than a given size by a hill-climb method using the water content and temperature provided by the humidity controller and the rotational number of gr

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for processing baled tobacco leaves to separate the lamina portions of the leaves from the stem portions. The bale is cut symmetrically, crosswise to its length, into three or preferably five separate sections, of different characteristic types. A center section is cut from the middle of the bale. On each side of the center section a second section is cut; and two end sections are preferably cut, one at each end of the bale. The different types of sections have different lamina-to-stem ratios, and are processed differently. The second sections are coarsely threshed, to dislodge the larger lamina portions of the leaves from the stem portions therein, and the coarsely threshed material is separated into a first light fraction (comprising mostly lamina) and a first heavy fraction (enriched in stem content). The center section can be combined with the light fraction and can be dried and packed without the necessity of further threshing.