Abstract: One side of a running web of wrapping material of the tobacco processing industry is provided with adhesive by a nozzle which discharges a stream of minute droplets of liquid adhesive. The droplets are charged by a first electrode immediately after they issue from the orifice of the nozzle and the droplets of the stream are thereupon deflected relative to the running web by a pair of deflecting electrodes whose operation is controlled by an adjustable circuit so as to ensure that the application of adhesive can take place in accordance with variations of one or more parameters including the speed of the running web and/or the permeability of wrappers which are obtained from the adhesive-coated web.

Abstract: Apparatus for changing bobbins of wrapping material in a cigarette making or packing machine has a magazine for a supply of fresh bobbins and a receptacle in front of the magazine. The receptacle receives from the magazine the foremost fresh bobbin when the web of wrapping material on the expiring bobbin is nearly exhausted. The expiring bobbin is located in a pocket between endless belt conveyors which are driven to unwind the web from the expiring bobbin. The fresh bobbin in the receptacle can be prepared for splicing of the leader of its web to the trailing end of the web on the expiring bobbin, and such splicing is carried out as soon as the trailing end of the web is separated from the fully expired bobbin.

Abstract: A cigarette rod making machine wherein a garniture tape transports a web of cigarette paper and a stream of tobacco particles through a wrapping mechanism has a device which monitors the position of the tape in the wrapping mechanism and adjusts a pulley for the tape when the position of the tape relative to the adhesive applicator is unsatisfactory. The applicator delivers a film of adhesive against one marginal portion of the web on the tape before the web is converted into a tube which confines the particles of tobacco. The adjustments of the pulley are carried out with a view to move the tape sideways so as to maintain a predetermined part of the one marginal portion of the web in a position to receive the adhesive.

Abstract: A composite tobacco stream which contains different types of tobacco is formed by converting fibrous material of a first type into a first succession of discrete batches and by converting fibrous material of a second type into a second succession of discrete batches. The two types of batches are thereupon shuffled in such a way that the resulting stream contains alternating batches consisting of first and second fibrous materials. The stream is equalized, draped into a web of cigarette paper and subdivided into cigarettes of unit length or multiple unit length. The shuffling step can be carried out on a rotating wheel-shaped conveyor or on a foraminous belt conveyor.

Abstract: A composite tobacco stream is built at the underside of the lower reach of an air-permeable belt conveyor below a suction chamber by showering tobacco particles of a first type into the corner between one marginal portion of the lower reach and a first sidewall bounding a tobacco channel at the underside of the lower reach, by thereupon showering tobacco particles of the first type into the corner between the other marginal portion of the lower reach and a second sidewall so that the particles form a first tobacco layer having a concave underside, by thereupon depositing a relatively narrow core consisting of tobacco particles of a different second type on the underside of the first layer midway between and spaced apart from the two marginal portions of the lower reach, and by thereupon showering tobacco particles of the first type over the core as well as over the marginal portions of the first layer.

Abstract: A homogeneous tobacco stream is built upon an air-permeable conveyor in a channel which is adjacent to one side of the conveyor and is bounded by two sidewalls. Particles of tobacco are admitted against the concave side of an arcuate guide wall, whose discharge end is adjacent to the channel and remote from the one side of the conveyor, together with streams of compressed air which accelerate the particles of tobacco and transport them toward and beyond the discharge end of the guide wall. The concave side of the guide wall has three guide faces each of which directs a discrete partial stream of tobacco particles against a different portion of the one side of the conveyor whereon the particles are retained by suction.

Abstract: The device which splices the leaders of webs on successive fresh bobbins to the running webs of expiring bobbins in a cigarette maker receives fresh bobbins from a magazine which discharges fresh bobbins one after the other when the need arises. The discharged fresh bobbin rolls along a downwardly sloping ramp and is arrested by the holder for a blade which is thereupon caused to move in parallelism with the axis of the arrested fresh bobbin so as to sever the outermost layer or layers of convoluted flexible material on the core of such fresh bobbin. The outermost layer is a protective strip which surrounds the outermost convolution of the cigarette paper web. A foraminous belt conveyor is installed below the fresh bobbin which abuts against the holder for the blade and this conveyor cooperates with one or more suction chambers to attract the severed layer or layers as well as the freshly formed leader of the cigarette paper web.

Abstract: Apparatus for producing a narrow tobacco stream ready for trimming or immediate wrapping into a web of cigarette paper has a distributor from which a wide first belt or a plate transports a thin carpet of tobacco particles to a first transfer station where the carpet is transferred by suction and preferably also by compressed air onto a narrower foraminous second belt forming part of an intermediate conveyor with an independent drive. The second belt is inclined with respect to and narrower than the first belt or plate and accumulates a layer of tobacco particles which are attracted to the second belt by a suction chamber extending from the first transfer station to a second transfer station where the layer is transferred onto a foraminous third belt to form thereon a narrow stream.

Abstract: Cigarettes with composite fillers wherein the mouthpiece consists of first tobacco shreds having a low nicotine content and the major portion of the filler consists of second shreds having a higher nicotine content are manufactured by showering second shreds onto a narrow band conveyor to form a continuous stream, by depositing batches of first shreds on the band conveyor at regular intervals so that the batches overlie the adjacent portions of the first stream or vice versa, by trimming the thus obtained composite stream so as to remove second shreds in the region of the batches whereby the resulting filler contains batches of first shreds alternating with filler portions consisting of second shreds, wrapping the filler into a web of cigarette paper, and severing the resulting rod across or adjacent to the batches.