Method and apparatus for manufacturing continuous strands of a pourable material such as shredded tobacco

Claim 2

In an apparatus for manufacturing a continuous strand of fibrous material, such as shredded tobacco, supply means for supplying the fibrous material, suction producing means, rotary suction wheel means having a perforated peripheral wall on which the strand is continuously formed, elongated suction conduit means having an inlet end situated at said supply means to receive the fibrous material therefrom and extending from said supply means up to the region of said rotary suction wheel means to a transfer location at which a stream of the material in the suction conduit means is transferred across a predetermined space to said suction wheel means, said suction conduit means including a plurality of subsidiary suction conduits separate from each other and dividing the stream of fibrous material into individual subsidiary streams which flow longitudinally along said suction conduit means, said suction conduit means flaring in the region of said supply means to diverge toward said supply means for changing the form of the stream as it flows from said supply means to a part of said suction conduit means where the latter is divided into said subsidiary suction conduits and said subsidiary suction conduits being situated in series one next to the other circumferentially of the rotary suction wheel means at a predetermined distance therefrom, a closed chamber receiving the stream from said suction conduit means at said transfer location and communicating with the outer periphery of said suction wheel means and extending between said transfer location and said suction wheel means, the subsidiary suction conduits terminating at said transfer location respectively and having centerlines which extend across the periphery of the rotary suction wheel means at an angle to provide a slip-free deposition of the material from the suction conduit means onto the periphery of said suction wheel means.

Claim 3

The combination of claim 3 and wherein a plurality of separator cell means respectively surround the plurality of subsidiary suction conduits in the region of the transfer location so that the plurality of subsidiary suction conduits respectively extend through said plurality of separator cell means, and said plurality of subsidiary suction conduits respectively having foraminous wall portions in said plurality of separator cell means through which suction air flows out of said plurality of subsidiary suction conduits in the region of said transfer location to stop the movement of the fibrous particles by suction air in said suction conduit means, a plurality of valve means respectively carried by said plurality of separator cell means for controlling individually the flow of suction air in the several subsidiary suction conduits, respectively, a collecting chamber common to and communicating with all of said separator cell means for receiving the suction air therefrom, cyclone means, conduit means leading from said common collection chamber to said cyclone means, and fans means communicating with the interior of said cyclone means for achieving the suction streams in said suction conduit means.

Claim 4

The combination of claim 4 wherein the cross section of each of said subsidiary suction conduits gradually diminishes to the width of the suction wheel means while the length of each of said subsidiary suction conduits is increased circumferentially of said suction wheel means to a length several times greater than its minimum width.