Claims
- 1. A method for forming a spool for storing wrappers of tobacco leaves for subsequent use in feeding cigar manufacturing machines, the spool comprising a support band wound on itself and having the wrappers interleaved therein, the wrappers being formed from left half leaves and right half leaves of tobacco as defined when looking at the tobacco leaf with its point upward and its ribs protruding behind, the method comprising the following steps:
- (a) cutting the maximum quantity of wrappers from one of said tobacco leaves, such cutting being carried out to the side of the leaf main rib which defines said left half leaves;
- (b) transferring the left wrappers to the support band successively while winding the support band on itself with interleaved left wrappers until said maximum quantity of left wrappers is wound into the support band;
- (c) turning the tobacco leaf from step (a) over face for face;
- (d) cutting the maximum quantity of right wrappers from tobacco leaves by cutting from the side of the leaf main rib which defines said right half leaves of turned leaf from step (c);
- (e) transferring the right wrappers from step (d) to the support band successively while winding the support band on itself with interleaved right wrappers until said maximum quantity of right wrappers is wound into the support band; and
- (f) unwinding the spool for feeding said cigar manufacturing machines,
- whereby the face of the tobacco leaf presented by the right wrappers is the reverse of the face of the tobacco leaf presented by the left wrappers.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said support band has a selvage portion, and step (b) further includes applying a mark in the selvage portion of the band opposite each of said left wrappers, whereby said marks indicate the origin of said left wrappers.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said support band has a selvage portion and step (e) includes applying a mark in the selvage portion of the band opposite each of said right wrappers, whereby said marks indicate the origin of said right wrappers.
- 4. The method of either claim 2 or 3, wherein said cigar manufacturing machines include rotatable wrapping cradle rollers, and step (f) includes adjusting the direction of rotation of the wrapping cradle rollers so that as said spool is unwound, those wrappers having a mark in the selvage portion of the support band are fed into the machine in the reverse direction from those wrappers not having a mark in the selvage portion of the support band.
- 5. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein said cigar manufacturing machines include an endless band for reversing wrappers in their plane, and step (f) includes feeding only those wrappers having a mark in the selvage portion of the support band to the endless band for reversing only those wrappers having a mark in the selvage portion adjacent thereto.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said support band is wound on itself in step (b) continuously, and wherein said support band is wound on itself in step (e) continuously.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said support band in step (b) is wound on itself step by step, and wherein said support band in step (e) is wound on itself step by step.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes marking the face of said left wrapper.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) includes marking the face of said right wrapper.
- 10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein said marking is made by perforating said wrapper with removal of material from the wrapper.
- 11. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein said mark results from applying a spot of an opaque substance on said wrapper, luminous radiation of said substance being different from that of said wrapper.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
77 11809 |
Apr 1977 |
FRX |
|
77 34680 |
Nov 1977 |
FRX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 897,672 filed Apr. 19, 1978, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3542038 |
Hooper et al. |
Nov 1970 |
|
3743090 |
Brown et al. |
Jul 1973 |
|
3955500 |
Mahoney et al. |
May 1976 |
|
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
897672 |
Apr 1978 |
|