Apparatus for producing a continuous tobacco stream

Abstract

A distributor for use in cigarette makers wherein an upright duct receives loose tobacco shreds and discharges the thus formed tobacco column into a compacting device therebelow. The compacting device has two endless belts whose inner reaches are located opposite each other and engage and compact the descending column of tobacco shreds. The belts receive constant torque from a motor by way of an electric clutch wherein the driving and driven elements are out of contact with each other. The densified column of tobacco shreds is fed into the space between two additional belts which are driven by the prime mover of the cigarette maker through the medium of a variable-speed transmission which is controlled by a density measuring device. The additional belts feed the column into the range of needles on a wheel which feeds tobacco shreds into several discrete pneumatic conveyor pipes or into a single pipe. The outlets of several pipes discharge discrete streamlets of loose tobacco shreds onto the upper reach of a foraminous belt conveyor in the stream building zone. The laminated stream which is formed on the foraminous belt is sufficiently uniform to be ready for wrapping without any or with negligible trimming. If the wheel delivers tobacco shreds to a single pipe, the shreds are caused to travel upwardly against the underside of a foraminous belt conveyor in the stream building zone.