Abstract: A shock absorber wherein a piston divides the internal space of a cylinder into two cylinder chambers and has a passage of variable cross-sectional area for the flow of damping fluid between the cylinder chambers. The piston has a first section which is connected with a piston rod and is in sliding engagement with the internal surface of the cylinder, and a second section which is reciprocable in the first section and has two sets of surfaces which are acted upon by damping fluid. The passage is defined by the two sections. One set of surfaces is acted upon by damping fluid which is pressurized as a result of axial movement of the piston in the cylinder, and the other set of surfaces is acted upon by damping fluid which fills a plenum chamber of the piston and is acted upon by a valving element forming part of an electrically operated fluid pressure regulating unit.

Abstract: A shock absorber with a variable damping characteristic has a piston which is reciprocable in a cylinder to divide the oil-filled internal space of the cylinder into two chambers. The chambers are connectable to each other by one or more passages so that oil can flow between the chambers in response to movement of the piston relative to the cylinder and/or vice versa. The piston has several bypasses each of which is controlled by an adjustable electrically operated regulating valve. In order to enhance the accuracy of regulation of flow of oil between the chambers by way of the bypasses, the piston is formed with channels which supply oil between the mobile valving elements and the seats of the valves to thus reduce or eliminate friction between such parts.

Abstract: A shock absorber with a variable damping characteristic has a piston which is reciprocable in a cylinder to divide the oil-filled interior of the cylinder into two chambers. The chambers are connectable to each other by way of several passages including a first set for permitting the flow of damping fluid from one chamber into the other chamber through a first one-way valve in response to movement of the piston rod into the cylinder, and a second set of passages which permit the fluid to flow from the other chamber into the one chamber in response to extraction of the piston rod from the cylinder. The piston is further formed with several bypass channels which are adjacent one another and wherein the flow of fluid between the two chambers (either directly or by way of selected passages) is regulated by cores which are movable axially in response to energization of inductance coils or in response to dissipation of energy by springs.

Abstract: The straight of undulate cutting edges of elongated knives on the rotary knife holder in a tobacco shredding machine are ground by a driven grinding wheel, whose axis makes a small acute angle with the axis of the holder, while the grinding wheel is rocked back and forth about an axis which is parallel to the axis of the grinding wheel and is located in a second plane parallel to a first plane which is tangential to the cylindrical path of the cutting edges. If the axial length of the grinding wheel is less than the length of the cutting edges, the grinding wheel is advanced stepwise in the axial direction of the holder.

Abstract: A tobacco shredding machine wherein the cutting edges of orbiting shredding knives are sharpened by the undulate annular surface of a grinding wheel which is reciprocated forwardly and backwards in parallelism with the axis of the holder for the knives and is retracted from the circular path of the cutting edges during each return stroke of its support. The speed of forward movement of the support while the grinding wheel sharpens the cutting edges is such that the support covers during each revolution of the holder a distance which equals or is a whole multiple of the width of an undulation on the grinding surface. The axes of the grinding wheel and of the holder for the knives are located in a common plane.

Abstract: Each tobacco compacting chain of a tobacco shredding machine has several rows of block-shaped synthetic plastic links which are articulately connected to each other by transversely extending metallic pins receiving motion directly from the teeth of several coaxial sprocket wheels. The links form several endless rows, one for each sprocket wheel, and the links of neighboring rows are staggered relative to each other. Each pin extends through a pair of coaxial annular bearing elements at the inner side of one link in each of the rows and the end portions of the pins carry caps which are held thereon by screws and serve to hold the links against movement in the longitudinal direction of the respective pins.

Abstract: The undulate cutting edges of knives on a rotary knife holder in a tobacco shredding machine are ground by a grinding wheel whose profile is complementary to that of the cutting edges and which is moved stepwise in parallelism with the axis of the holder and thereupon radially or tangentially of the holder toward and from engagement with successive portions of the knives so that the grinding wheel treats a portion of a previously treated section and an untreated section of each knife while it is held close to the path of orbital movement of the knives. An advancing mechanism is provided to shift the grinding wheel stepwise in parallelism with the axis of the holder, and a moving mechanism is provided to displace the grinding wheel toward and away from the path of orbital movement of the knives during each interval between successive advances.

Abstract: Apparatus for recovering tobacco particles from unsatisfactory filter cigarettes has a rotary centrifugal aligning device which converts randomly supplied unsatisfactory cigarettes into a single file and transports successive cigarettes of the file past the peripheral surfaces of two rotary disc-shaped wrapper-engaging implements serving to break the wrappers and thus expose the tobacco-containing fillers for segregation from the wrappers and filters. The marginal portions of the implements are monitored by discrete photocells which generate signals on detection of cracks, chipping and/or other defects of the implements, and such signals are used to arrest the drive for the aligning device and for the implements.

Abstract: A tobacco shredding machine wherein an upright duct delivers particles of tobacco to the rear portion of a channel wherein the particles are converted into a continuous cake whose front end is severed by a set of orbiting knives. The lower rear portion of the duct contains a deflecting conveyor which diverts the oncoming tobacco particles from a vertical path into a horizontal path and drives the oncoming particles at a speed which is a multiple of the speed of tobacco compacting conveyors flanking the channel. The speed of the deflecting conveyor is changed in response to changes in the height of the opening between the stationary and movable sections of a mouthpiece through which the cake passes on its way into the range of the oribiting knives. This ensures that the height of the opening reassumes its normal value without changing the speed of the compacting conveyors. The deflecting conveyor is installed in a support which is removably insertable between the side walls of the duct.

Abstract: Apparatus for supplying preselected numbers of superimposed prefabricated cardboard blanks of the type having alternating larger and smaller marginal flaps from an auxiliary magazine into the main magazine of a packing machine has a frame which carries the auxiliary magazine above the main magazine and is provided with several lugs which support the larger flaps of the lowermost blank in the auxiliary magazine. A photoelectronic detector monitors the height of the supply of blanks in the main magazine and transmits a signal when the height of the supply drops below a preselected value. This initiates pivotal movement of a pusher which is adjacent to one side of the pile of blanks in the auxiliary magazine whereby the pusher shifts a number of lowermost blanks relative to the lugs so that the lugs register with and can be bypassed by the shorter flaps of the thus released blanks which descend into the main magazine by gravity.

Abstract: Apparatus for moving the knives relative to their rotary holder in a tobacco cutting machine has a crankshaft which is rotatable and is rotated once during several successive revolutions of the holder. The crankshaft is the input element of a step-down transmission whose output element is a ring gear meshing with pinions for transmission of motion to discrete displacing units, one for each knife. The ring gear is rotated at intervals by a gear which is coaxial with a freewheel. The latter is rocked back and forth by a lever which is pivoted by the crank pin of the crankshaft by way of a rod-like connector. One end portion of the connector is coupled to the lever by an adjusting device which can change the extent of pivotal movement of the lever and hence the extent of rotation of the ring gear whenever the lever is pivoted in one of two directions.

Abstract: A machine for shredding tobacco wherein the rear portion of the upper reach of the lower chain conveyor of the conveyor system which converts a continuous stream of tobacco particles into a continuous cake is located below the open lower end of an upright duct serving to deliver tobacco to the conveyor system. The rear wall of the duct is oscillated by an orbiting eccentric pin through the medium of a rod, a lever and a link, the latter being rigidly connected with the upper portion of the rear wall and being pivotable about the axis of a horizontal shaft disposed substantially centrally and transversely of the upper end of the duct so that a vertical plane which includes such axis intersects the upper reach of the lower chain conveyor in front of the forwardly curved spade-like lower portion of the rear wall.

Abstract: A tobacco shredding apparatus wherein a relatively small upright duct receives tobacco from a large magazine. A system of tobacco compacting chains draws tobacco from the lower part of the duct and feeds the resulting cake into the path of orbiting shredding knives. The chains and the knives are driven by a first variable-speed motor. A conveyor which is driven by a second variable-speed motor transfers tobacco from the magazine into the duct. The volume of tobacco in the duct is monitored by a first set of photocells whose signals are used to regulate the speed of the second motor so as to maintain the volume of tobacco in the duct within a first range. The volume of tobacco in the magazine is monitored by a second set of photocells whose signals are utilized to regulate the speed of the first motor so as to maintain the volume of tobacco in the magazine within a second range. The capacity of the magazine is between five and ten times the capacity of the duct.

Abstract: A tobacco cutting machine wherein two endless chain conveyors define a horizontal channel of diminishing height for conversion of tobacco into a cake whose leader advances into the range of and is shredded by orbiting knives. The lower chain conveyor extends rearwardly beyond the upper chain conveyor and is located below the lower end of a vertical passage which is defined by an upright duct having several mobile walls which flank different portions of the passage and are pivotably mounted in the housing of the cutting machine. One of the mobile walls is located immediately above the rearwardly extending portion of the lower chain conveyor and is oscillated at a high frequency by an eccentric drive. Another mobile wall of the duct is located above the one mobile wall or directly above the rear end of the upper chain conveyor and is oscillated by a second eccentric drive at a lower frequency but through larger angles.

Abstract: A link chain which transports and compacts tobacco leaves in a tobacco shredding apparatus has a succession of neighboring metallic links each of which has a trailing end provided with a cylindrical male coupling portion extending into and turnable in a complementary socket at the leading end of the next-following link. The socket is formed at the inner side and the coupling portion is at the outer side of the respective link. Each outer side has a convex cylindrical surface at its front end, and such surface slides along a complementary concave cylindrical surface at the rear end of the outer side of the preceding link. Each link is further formed with a scraping edge which cleans the convex cylindrical surface of the next-following link. The convex cylindrical surface of each link bounds a portion of a recess which is formed in the outer side and is adjacent to the coupling portion of the respective link.