Hauni-Werke Korber & Co Kg.

Hans Forster

Willi Thiele

Uwe Leckband

Klaus Hagenah

Waldemar Wochnowski

Reinhard Hohm

Jurgen Koehn

Shredded tobacco is supplied from a storage reservoir to one or more cigarette making machines by way of discrete pneumatic conveying pipes. The reservoir receives fresh tobacco at regular or irregular intervals so that the quantity of tobacco in its interior is constant. The contents of the reservoir are maintained in suspension so that at least the major part of the supply of tobacco shreds forms a fluidized bed which is located directly below the intakes of the conveying pipes. When a machine requires a batch of tobacco shreds, the respective pipe is connected to a suction generating device so that it draws air from the region between the underside of the fluidized bed and the upper side of the bottom wall of the reservoir whereby the ascending current of air entrains tobacco particles directly from the fluidized bed. The supply of tobacco in the reservoir can be converted into a fluidized bed by mechanically agitating the reservoir so that the shreds move up and down and/or by causing a plurality of streamlets of compressed air to rise through perforations in the bottom wall of the reservoir. The latter may have a circular, semicircular or polygonal cross-sectional outline.

Method and apparatus for storing and transporting comminuted tobacco or

Apparatus for storing and transporting comminuted tobacco or the like

The moisture content of a stream of tobacco leaves is increased during travel through a rotary drum wherein the leaves are contacted by and exchange heat and moisture with a current of hot humid air which flows concurrent with the leaves. The moisture content of air is regulated in dependency on deviations of the final moisture content of tobacco leaves from a desired final moisture content by varying the temperature of a shower of water droplets across which the air current passes on its way into the inlet end of the drum. The temperature of air is normally constant but is changed when the initial moisture content of tobacco leaves exceeds the desired final moisture content. Tobacco leaves entering the inlet end of the drum are subjected to a preliminary moisturizing action of steam and/or atomized water, and such moisturizing action can be varied in dependency on fluctuations of initial and/or final moisture content of tobacco and/or in dependency on fluctuations in the rate of tobacco delivery into the drum. The preliminary moisturizing action requires no adjustment if the steam of tobacco leaves is equalized upstream of the drum.

Method and apparatus for changing the moisture content of tobacco

Growing community of inventors

Hamburg, Germany

Hans Forster