Storing mechanism for tobacco-gathering machine

Claim 2

A mechanism for storing tobacco stalks gathered by an automatic machine of the type having means for individually catching successive tobacco stalks, cutting said stalks, turning them upside down and presenting them to the rear of the gathering machine, said storing mechanism comprising a sloping surface adapted to carry a plurality of horizontal tubes in parallelism; two movable collapsible sloping supports situated at the lower extremity of said sloping surface, the ends of said supports being adapted to hold one tube in an operative position; feeding means adapted to slide successive tobacco stalks along said tube; means for collapsing said supports when said tube is loaded with a predetermined number of stalks, such collapse releasing said loaded tube; means for allowing only one of the tubes carried in parallelism on said sloping surface to slide on said movable supports upon collapsing of said supports; horizontal storing slideways, and means for urging said loaded tube on said storing slideways when released.

Claim 3

A mechanism for storing tobacco stalks gathered by an automatic machine of the type having means for individually catching successive tobacco stalks, cutting said stalks, turning them upside down and presenting them to the rear of the gathering machine, said storing mechanism comprising a sloping surface adapted to carry a plurality of horizontal tubes in parallelism; two movable collapsible sloping supports situated at the lower extremity of said sloping surface, the ends of said supports being adapted to hold one tube in an operative position; means controlling the shifting of the tubes in succession over said surface into said position upon collapsing of the supports anD release of the foremost tube; horizontal storing slideways and means for urging each successive foremost tube when released onto said storing slideways, the feeding means being adapted to make the successive cut tobacco stalks slide along the foremost tube; the mechanism further including means collapsing the supports when a predetermined number of stalks has entered said lowermost tube.

Claim 4

A mechanism for storing tobacco stalks gathered by an automatic machine of the type having means for individually catching successive tobacco stalks, cutting said stalks, turning them upside down and presenting them to the rear of the gathering machine, said storing mechanism comprising a sloping surface adapted to carry a plurality of horizontal tubes in parallelism; two movable collapsible sloping supports situated at the lower extremity of said sloping surface, the ends of said supports being adapted to hold one tube in an operative position; means controlling the shifting of the tubes in succession over said surface into said position upon collapsing of the supports anD release of the foremost tube; horizontal storing slideways and means for urging each successive foremost tube when released onto said storing slideways, the feeding means being adapted to make the successive cut tobacco stalks slide along the foremost tube; the mechanism further including means collapsing the supports when a predetermined number of stalks has entered said lowermost tube.

Claim 5

A mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the feeding means include nailing means adapted to push a pin obliquely through each successive tobacco stalk, two parallel rails extending along half-circles, fed by the cutting means, means guiding the stalk-carrying pins along the half circular paths afforded by said nails, a plurality of pusher members adapted to execute each one revolution to thereby shift in succession the successive stalks over overlapping paths along a horizontal tube set in an operative position.

Claim 6

A mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the feeding means include nailing means adapted to push a pin obliquely through each successive tobacco stalk, two parallel rails extending along half-circles, fed by the cutting means, means guiding the stalk-carrying pins along the half-circular paths afforded by said nails, a plurality of pusher members adapted to execute each one revolution to thereby shift in succession the successive stalks over overlapping paths along a horizontal tube set in an operative position, said mechanism including furthermore a shaft adapted to execute one revolution each time the pusher members have executed a number of revolutions equal to their number, two plates carried by said shaft, an arm rigid with each plate, and means whereby said arms cause said supports to collapse when the operative tube has been filled with tobacco stalks, and a collecting slideway onto which the tube released upon collapse of its support drops.

Claim 7

A mechanism as claimed in claim 4, wherein the feeding means further include two levers normally engaging the tube adjacent the operative tube and released upon collapsing of the supports to allow said adjacent tube to enter in its turn the operative position.

Claim 8

A mechanism as claimed in claim 4, comprising a jack urging a loaded slideways rearwardly to allow the tubes to drop and be removed.