Tobacco-manipulating machines

Claim 1

IN A COMTINUOUS ROD CIGARETTE-MAKING MACHINE HAVING MEANS FOR FORMING AN ELONGATED CONTINUOUS FILLER STREAM CONTAINING TOBACCO IN RECESS OF THAT REQUIRED IN THE CIGARETTE ROD AND HAVING AT LEAST SOME VARIATIONS IN DENSITY AND IN MASS PER UNIT LENGTH THEREALONG, CONVEYOR MEANS FOR CONVEYING THE FILLER STREAM LENGTHWISE TOWARD CIGARETTE ROD-FORMING DEVICES, A TRIMMER LOCATED ALONG SAID FILLER STREAM TO REMOVE EXCESS TOBACCO THEREFROM, MEANS FOR ADJUSTABLY SUPPORTING SAID TRIMMER FOR MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID CONVEYOR TO VARY THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE STREAM TO COMPENSATE FOR VARIATIONS IN THE DENSITY OF THE STREAM BEFORE TRIMMING, MEANS UPSTREAM OF SAID TRIMMER FOR PASSING AIR GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY THROUGH SAID STREAM, AND PNEUMATIC DETECTION MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE AIR PASSING THROUGH SAID STREAM TO DETECT VARIATIONS, BOTH LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM, IN THE AIR PREMEABILITY OF THE TABACCO IN SAID STREAM AND TO PRODUCE A COMPOSITE SIGNAL VARYING THEREWITH, SAID AIR PERMEABILITY VARIATIONS HAVING A CORRELATION WITH AND PROVIDING AN INDICATION OF THE DENSITY VARIATIONS IN SAID UNTRIMMED STREAM, THE IMPROVEMENT OF A CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SAID TRIMMER SUPPORTING MEANS, SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING A FIRST CONTROL MEANS FOR RECEIVING SAID COMPOSITE SIGNAL FROM SAID DETECTION MEANS AND FOR PRODUCING AN OUTPUT INDICATION RESPONSIVE TO THE COMPOSITE SIGNAL, ADDITIONAL MEANS FOR RECEIVING THE COMPOSITE SIGNAL AND FOR SMOOTHING THE SAME TO MINIMIZE THE SHORT-TERM VARIATIONS AND LEAVE LONGER-TERM VARIATIONS THEREIN, A SECOND CONTROL MEANS FOR RECEIVING THE SMOOTHED SIGNAL AND PRODUCING AN OUTPUT INDICATION RESPONSIVE TO THE SMOOTHED SIGNAL, AND COUPLING MEANS FOR RECEIVING SAID OUTPUT INDICATION FROM BOTH SAID CONTROL MEANS, COMBINING SAID OUTPUT INDICATIONS AND TRANSMITTING THE SAME TO SAID TRIMMER SUPPORTING MEANS TO IMPART TO SAID TRIMMER A DISPLACEMENT VARYING WITH THE COMBINED OUTPUT INDICATIONS OF BOTH SAID CONTROL MEANS.