Cigarette making machine

Claim 1

IN A SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE RELATIVE DENSITY OF INDIVIDUAL CIGARETTES PRODUCED BY A CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE OF THE CONTINUOUS ROD TYPE, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING, A CONVEYOR, A MAIN TOBACCO FEED FOR FEEDING TOBACCO TO SAID CONVEYOR, A SUBSIDIARY FEED DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID CONVEYOR FOR SHOWERING TOBACCO THEREON TO FORM A COMPOSITE STREAM OF TOBACCO, FIRST DETECTING MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID MAIN AND SUBSIDIARY FEEDS FOR DETECTING SHORT TERM VARIATIONS IN THE DENSITY OF SUCCESSIVE INCREMENTS OF SAID TOBACCO SUPPLIED BY SAID MAIN FEED, MEANS ASSOCIATED WITHIN SAID FIRST DETECTING MEANS AND OPERATIVE IN RESPONSE TO SAID SHORT TERM VARIATIONS FOR VARYING THE RATE OF TOBACCO SHOWERED BY SAID SUBSIDIARY FEED TO COMPENSATE FOR SAID VARIATIONS IN THE DENSITY OF SAID TOBACCO STREAM DELIVERED BY SAID MAIN FEED, SECOND DETECTING MEANS OPERATIVE TO DETECT LONG TERM VARIATIONS IN THE DENSITY OF SAID COMPOSITE STREAM, EXTRACTING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SECOND DETECTING MEANS AND ASSOCIATED WITH SAID MAIN FEED FOR EXTRACTING A PORTION OF SAID TOBACCO BEING FED FROM SAID MAIN FEED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SAID DETECTED LONG TERM VARIATIONS, AND MEANS FOR CONVEYING SAID EXTRACTED PORTION TO SAID SUBSIDIARY FEED TO SUPPLY TOBACCO THERETO, SAID EXTRACTING MEANS BEING OPERATIVE TO REMOVE AN EXCESS AMOUNT OF TOBACCO FROM SAID MAIN FEED SO THAT THE QUANTITY OF TOBACCO FED FROM SAID MAIN FEED TO SAID CONVEYOR IS LESS THAN A PREDETERMINED NORM, SAID SUBSIDIARY FEED BEING OPERATIVE TO COMPENSATE FOR SAID DETECTED SHORT TERM DENSITY VARIATIONS AND ADD SELECTED AMOUNTS OF TOBACCO TO SAID UNDERFED STREAM, SAID ADDED AMOUNTS FORMING SAID COMPOSITE STREAM HAVING A UNIFORM DENSITY AND AN INCREMENTAL CROSS-SECTIONAL QUANTITY SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO SAID PREDETERMINED NORM.