Making Cigars by Machinery 



Mechanism detracts somewhat from the picturesqueness of 

 the manufacture but not from the flavor of the product 



The tobacco leaves are laid evenly in trays 

 having screen bottoms, and are conducted 

 on an endless chain to the cutting machine 



THE old method of making cigars by 

 hand, which involved much that 

 recent investigations have revealed 

 as unsanitary, is being supplanted by 

 machinery. Albert A. Heyman, the inven- 

 tor of the device which cuts and rolls the 

 tobacco to form cigars in quantity, guaran- 

 tees that the pipe-dreams ordinarily accom- 

 panying a "good smoke" will not lose in 

 quality, even though the increased produc- 

 tion and diminished labor attending it may 

 reduce the price of the product. He also 

 asserts that it will be possible to open a box 

 of the machine-made cigars with perfect 

 confidence that every one of them will be 

 identical in blend, quality and strength. 



In the manufacture of the cigars by 

 machinery, the first step is the drying of the 

 tobacco in trays. Then a frame fitted with 

 knives is used to cut the edges, the trays 

 being conducted to the cutting machine on 

 a chain-conveyor, 3; each tray has a box 

 cover, 5, provided with a rubber tube 6. 

 (See illustration be- 

 low). As the tray 

 reaches the machine 

 the suction applied 

 above holds the layer 

 of leaves up against 

 a wire screening on 

 the under side of the 

 cover. The leaves 

 are then released di- 

 rectly above the se- 

 ries of narrow com- 

 partments shown in 



The trays, with cover (5) and suction tube 

 (6) on the endless chain conveyor (3). The 

 suction holds the leaves against the cover 



The assembled machine, showing the 

 knives placed in series, with narrow 

 compartments between for the leaf trays 



the illustration of the assembled machine. 

 If a blend is desired, each tray may contain 

 a different kind of tobacco, a thick layer of 

 the leaves being deposited on the machine 

 preparatory to the cutting. 



The knives on the cutting frame are 

 attached in series, being separated by 

 blocks which press the leaves down into the 

 narrow channels. At the ends of these 

 channels are rollers attached to an endless 

 belt. After the tobacco has been cut and 

 pressed down tightly into these channels, 

 the belts are set in motion, each moving in 

 an opposite direction to the one adjoining, 

 so that the leaves will be forced outward. 

 As the tobacco leaves this part of the ma- 

 chine, a knife located at right angles to the 

 other knives (see 10, of detail drawing on 

 next page) cuts it into the required lengths. 



Thus a rectangu- 

 lar bunch of leaves 

 is projected into a 

 space, on either side 

 of which is a roller 

 (11 and 12, of detail 

 drawing). Similar 

 rollers, 13, I4,aread- 

 justed above and be- 

 low in such a way 

 that they can be 

 moved horizontally 

 into position. The 



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