Abstract: A conveyor, particularly for feeding tobacco to a cutting drum, comprises a number of articulated slats passing around sprocket wheels. The slats are identical and each has extensions and recesses. The extensions of one slat enter the recesses of the next adjacent slat, and are retained by a pin passing through the extensions of adjacent slats. The underside of each extension has a flat surface for contacting a support plate and the top face of the sprocket teeth contact the slats so that the flat underside of each extension is not contacted by the sprocket wheel, in order to maintain a constant pitch as the band travels around the sprocket wheels. In this way the spacing between the conveyor and a dead plate positioned to remove tobacco from the band as it passes over a sprocket wheel remains constant.

Abstract: In a tobacco cutting machine where tobacco is cut by knives mounted on a rotating drum, the knives are advanced as they are worn away. In order to prevent the knives being advanced too far, and becoming damaged by contact with other machine parts, a safety device is provided. This includes a blade positioned near the path of the knife edges to be struck by a knife if the latter is advanced too far. The resultant movement of the blade is amplified by a lever system and is used to trigger a microswitch in the cutter drum drive circuit, whereby when a knife is advanced too far the cutter drum is stopped. The advancing mechanism for the knives includes a ratchet device driven by pulses of compressed air via a piston and cylinder device.

Abstract: An opening and closing mechanism for the casing of a machine, especially a tobacco cutting machine is provided, having a pair of meshing gears mounted on one machine part, which by way of a link-mechanism are adapted to rotate when the casing is opened. A shock absorber is mounted between the gears to enable the opening movement to have a first phase which is relatively unimpeded and a second phase is damped.