PREPARATION AND USE. 233 



Cutting. Cutting is the process by which the damped 

 leaves, whether stripped or not, are most extensively 

 prepared for smoking in pipes and cigarettes. The 

 tobacco-cutter which is in general use in -this country is 

 shown in Figs. 14 (side elevation), 15 (sectional eleva- 

 tion), 16 (front elevation), and 17 (plan). The main 

 frames a are united by stretcher-bolts 6; d is a wooden- 

 surface feeding-roller, on which the tobacco is pressed 

 and cut ; c are the upper compressing- and feeding-rollers, 

 mounted in e, carriage-plates extended backwards, forming 

 the sides of the feeding-trough, and hinged to the axle 

 m ; f are levers ; #, links by which the weight w presses 

 down the upper rollers ; h, a crank, and *, a connecting- 

 link for working ; j, the cross-head to which the knife k 

 is fixed ; Z, side-levers or radius-bars for guiding the knife, 

 hinged on the eccentric ends of the axle ; m, an axle held 

 in bearings at the back of the machine; on its middle 

 part, which is concentric with its own bearings, are hinged 

 the top roll carriage-plates e, whilst on its projecting 

 ends, which are slightly eccentric, the knife-levers I are 

 hinged; n is a worm-wheel segment; o, a worm; p, a 

 hand-wheel for turning the eccentric spindle m through 

 a part of a revolution in its bearings, for adjusting the 

 contact of the knife with the nose-plate q ; r, a worm ; 

 s, a worm-wheel ; t, a worm-pinion for giving simul- 

 taneous movement to all the rollers ; u, a spindle, " uni- 

 versal jointed " at both ends, for driving the upper rollers 

 in positions varying with the thickness of the feed ; v, a 

 saw-toothed ratchet-wheel, moved intermittently by a 

 catch x, link y, and stud-pin z, v being changeable, and 

 the eccentricity of z variable, for the purpose of regu- 



