Abstract: A rotary tobacco treatment cylinder includes an elongate hollow cylinder arranged to rotate about its longitudinal axis and disposed substantially horizontally or inclined by a small angle to the horizontal, a series of elongate paddles extending longitudinally within the cylinder and extending generally towards the longitudinal axis from the inside surface of the cylinder, the paddles serving to convey material to be treated from a lower position within the conveyor and around one side to an upper discharge position. Each of the paddies has a proximal portion extending at a first angle being a right angle to the tangent at the root of the proximal portion or an angle less than a right angle at the loaded side of the paddle, and a distal portion which is inclined to the proximal portion at a second angle, which is less than the first angle, to form a tip. A major part of the tip considered longitudinally is of a length (viewed axially of the cylinder) less than half the length of the proximal portion.

Abstract: A method of conditioning tobacco including the steps of: a) vibrating tobacco particles by means of a vibratory conveyor to produce a continuous stream to be transferred along a predetermined path, the conveyor being vibrated in such a manner that the stream of tobacco particles remains in contact with the supporting surface of the conveyor during transportation; b) contacting substantially all of the particles of tobacco with steam by continuously passing steam upwardly through perforations in said conveyor; and c) maintaining said steam at a pressure sufficient to enable the steam to diffuse into the interstices between the particles without causing said stream of tobacco particles to be lifted out of contact with the supporting surface of the conveyor, wherein the steam passing by way of the perforations includes a component of flow parallel with the supporting surface of the conveyor.

Abstract: The invention relates to apparatus for the pneumatic separation of particulate material particularly but not solely for the separation of objectionable material such as stem from cut lamina or cut rolled stem tobacco (CRS). Apparatus for the pneumatic separation of particulate material comprises a substantially horizontal vibrating conveyor having a plurality of grooves having apertures (14) through which air passes to partially or wholly fluidize the material under treatment.

Abstract: A method of preparing a cigarette filling comprising tobacco and a partly fibrous herbal or spice additive, comprising processing the additive to form a sheet material thereof, cutting that sheet material into generally leaf sized portions, blending the cut sheet material with tobacco in the desired ratio of additive to tobacco, and subsequently cutting, drying or otherwise treating the blended material to form a cigarette filling. The invention is particularly but not exclusively concerned with the use of cloves as the additive.

Abstract: An apparatus for conditioning tobacco which includes a cylinder conditioner mounted for rotation about a generally horizontal axis, and an opening unit mounted at the inlet end of the cylinder for rotation therewith, and wherein the opening unit has pins projecting towards the axis of rotation for supporting portions of unopened layers of tobacco within the unit on initial entry thereof, and for effecting opening of the tobacco on rotation of the unit with the distal ends of the pins defining a frustoconical section which narrows in the direction of tobacco feed.

Abstract: The invention provides an apparatus for cutting or paring a slice of material from a block (17) of material which has a lamina or strata structure, comprising a reciprocable blade (11) having a cutting edge (20, 21) arranged to enter and traverse the block of material to remove a slice therefrom during a forward or cutting stroke of the blade, in which means is provided to move the cutting edge of the blade in a direction having a component transverse to the direction of reciprocation of the blade after the blade has penetrated a short distance into the block thus to pare the slice from the remainder of the block substantially following the path of a boundary between lamina or strata in the block. In a preferred form the blade is wider than the slice to be cut and is formed with inclined portions 11c, 11d) at its leading or cutting edge, which portions are arranged so that the cutting edge of the blade is in the form of wide angled "V".

Abstract: The invention provides a belt conveyor (34), particularly for feeding tobacco or similar material in a cutting machine, comprising a conveyor belt (10) formed of pivotally linked transverse slats and arranged around and between a drive roller (14) and an idler roller (15) to provide an upper and a lower run of the belt; further comprising a support plate (13) positioned immediately below and extending over substantially the whole area of the upper run of the belt, said plate having a series of apertures (16, 18) therein through which particulate material falling through the conveyor belt may fall or be swept, and means (20, 21) below the plate to collect such particulate material and remove it from the interior of the conveyor.

Abstract: An apparatus for transporting particulate material, such as cut tobacco, including a duct having an inlet for receiving material to be transported, an outlet for transported material, air inlet zones in the duct wall for the passage of air under pressure into the duct and air outlet zones in the duct wall wherein the inlet zones and outlet zones are positioned in the duct wall and are so dimensioned to cause an air velocity in the duct which has a first velocity component directed to urge the material transported away from the wall of the duct and a second velocity component directed to urge the material along the length of the duct.

Abstract: The present invention provides a rotary drum (22) cutting machine for cutting or shredding lamina material such as tobacco leaf, comprising a support frame (10), means for compressing and feeding material to be cut, as a plug, to a mouth (14) mounted on the support frame, a cutter carriage (20) movably mounted on a track (23) on the support frame, a cutter drum (22) mounted for rotation on said cutter carriage, and drive means (26,27,51,52,28) arranged to move the cutter carriage between an open inoperative position with the cutter drum away from the mouth to a closed operative position to cut or shred material as it issues from the mouth.

Abstract: The invention provides a rotary dryer for tobacco products comprising a cylinder arranged for rotation about an inclined axis and having means for feeding tobacco into one end of the drying cylinder and means for conveying dried tobacco from the other end of the drying cylinder, heating means arranged to heat the cylinder, a housing arranged to contain the drying cylinder and sealed to be substantially airtight, means for reducing pressure in the drying cylinder below atmospheric pressure; and preferably but not essentially, means for superheating steam, means for injecting steam adjacent the superheating means, for conveying steam leaving the injection means at one end of the cylinder to the superheating means, and ducting for conveying superheated steam for said superheating means to the other end of said cylinder.

Abstract: A rotary cut tobacco drier, comprising a heated rotary drier chamber having one or more inclined paddles arranged to lift and then drop material therein to be dried as the chamber rotates. The chamber is provided with an air inlet to which air is supplied by a blower through a heater and a duct. The chamber is also provided with an air outlet through which air is extracted from the chamber by means of an exhaust fan to pass to a cyclone duct separator. The air inlet and the air outlet are arranged so that there is a substantially constant flow of air between them. A pivoted damper flap is provided to control the humidity of the air entering or in the chamber, an increase in humidity decreasing the rate of drying in the chamber.

Abstract: A slicing machine comprises a frame having a support surface (10) onto which the block of material to be sliced is placed, a cutter assembly (14) for moving in a cutting plane transversely of said support surface, said cutter assembly being movable between upper and lower positions (K, K1) and a pusher (11) for moving the block of material in stepwise fashion towards said cutting plane, said pusher being movable from a rearmost position (A) in a forward direction during successive slicing operations to a forwardmost position (A1) close to the cutting plane. A pivoted retainer (22) is pivotally connected to the frame and movable between a non-retaining position and a retaining position for retaining and supporting the last slide of the block. The retainer is actuated by a pneumatic rotary actuator. The pusher moves toward its rearmost position as soon as the last slice is in a retained and supported situation.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding and conditioning tobacco which includes a housing into which steam is supplied to treat tobacco being uniformly conveyed therethrough and wherein the inlet and outlet to the housing include rotating vanes for allowing for the passage of tobacco while restricting the discharge of steam.

Abstract: Apparatus for the expansion of tobacco includes a substantially cylindrical container (10), conveyors for feeding tobacco into the container and jet nozzles or slits for introducing a heating medium in the form of steam and/or humid air into the container. The jet nozzles or slits (12) are arranged substantially longitudinally of the container axis serving to direct high pressure steam and/or humid air substantially tangentially to the interior surface of the container (10) to engage the tobacco being fed into the container causing a turbulent mixture of steam, and/or humid air, and tobacco to travel along a helical path and to be maintained by centrifugal force in close proximity to the interior surface of the container as the stream moves axially therein and to maintain the circulation and to provide a succession of repeated high relative velocity, highly turbulent and dispersive contacts between the heating medium and the tobacco.

Abstract: A foreign object separation apparatus which utilizes a camera which views a flow of material being conveyed in order to develop an electronic control signal indicative of the presence of foreign matter within one or more main or overlapping zones which are monitored across the flow of material to thereby control valves which actuate appropriate individual or adjacent fluid nozzles to expel the foreign matter from the material being conveyed.