The present invention relates to an apparatus for slicing leaf tobacco bales.
Leaf tobacco bales are typically maintained in a highly compressed state which has many advantages over other methods of packing tobacco. One advantage is that the compressed leaves retain moisture longer than they would in a non-compressed state which makes conditioning and separating the tobacco leaves easier. After tobacco is picked, it is cured in an environment in which the humidity, temperature and other environmental variables are tightly controlled which allows the tobacco to cure without excessive desiccation. Once the proper curing and moisture content is established, the leaves are packed for shipment from the farm or baling site to a processing site. Packing the leaves in leaf bale assemblies maintains the moisture content in a manner superior to wrapping the leaves in sheets so the leaves can be conditioned and separated without undergoing the conventional vacuum conditioning step, the advantages of which will be described hereinbelow. Another advantage to compressing the leaves is that compressed leaves take up less storage space than do non-compressed leaves which results in substantial savings in storage and transportation costs when the tobacco is shipped for later processing. The bale assemblies can also be easily loaded into and out of a vehicle using a forklift and can be stacked, thus requiring less storage space.
This method of packaging tobacco leaves is an improvement over the traditional methods of packing leaves for processing including the conventionally used method of transporting the tobacco leaves wrapped in sheets of material. According to this method, approximately 300 tobacco leaves are placed on a burlap sheet, the sheet is wrapped around the tobacco to form a loose bundle and the bundle is tied. Tobacco packaged in this manner is sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9csheeted tobaccoxe2x80x9d. This loose method of packing the tobacco exposes the leaf surfaces to the ambient atmosphere which allows water vapor to escape from the leaf at a rate faster than that for compressed leaves and this is a reason why the conventional method of conditioning sheeted tobacco includes a vacuum conditioning step. This loose method of packing in sheets also increases handling and transportation costs and requires greater storage volume prior to processing.
Although this method for packing tobacco in tobacco bale assemblies enables the tobacco producer or processor to reduce transportation costs and better protect the leaves and maintain the moisture content thereof, the tobacco arrives at the processing site for conditioning in a highly compressed state. To make the processing easier, it is often desirable to split the bales into slices before the tobacco is processed. To make the baled leaves more amenable to conditioning, a tobacco bale splitter assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention can be used for splitting these dense bales into a plurality of slices.
Bale splitter assemblies have been conventionally used for separating bales of xe2x80x9cstripxe2x80x9d tobacco into smaller slices for processing. Strip tobacco is processed tobacco broken down into small particles with the stems removed. Typical bale splitters use a plurality of prongs which penetrate the strip tobacco bale and separate a slice therefrom. Separating a bale slice from a strip tobacco bale is relatively easy because the tobacco has already been processed and the stems removed. In fact, oftentimes the bale will tend to split along xe2x80x9cgrainsxe2x80x9d defined by the compressed tobacco within the bale.
In contrast, conventional bale splitters are not readily adapted to split bales of leaf tobacco in an effective manner. The presence of stems in leaf tobacco bales presents certain difficulties to conventional bale splitters. Bale splitters which penetrate the bale with only one set of prongs and lift off the slice are unsatisfactory because the nature of the leaves and stems will result in an unclean separation. In fact, as the splitter nears the bottom of the bale, the entire remainder of the bale may be lifted instead of separating a slice because of the strength of the stems extending between the slice to be cut and the portion remaining.
Conventional bale splitters which use a pair of cooperating sets of prongs are also unsatisfactory because the two sets penetrate the bale on the same plane. The idea of this type of arrangement is to hold one set of prongs stationary while the other set separates the slice, thereby providing a cleaner separation than would be realized with one set of prongs. However, because the sets of prongs penetrate the bale on the same plane, the stems will intertwine with the two sets and make separation difficult. Due to the intertwining, more power is needed to sever the stems to effect full separation of the slice. In fact, experimentation has shown that the prongs can even bend if enough stems become intertwined.
One method for splitting tobacco leaf bales is to sever a slice from the bale in the vertical direction using a guillotine-like blade. One problem with such an arrangement is that the blade must be kept sharpened for proper use. If the blade is not kept sharpened, the blade will compress and deform the bale on its cutting stroke rather than cut through the bale. This compression and deformation can damage the tobacco and create difficulties in handling the bale. Also, the costs and maintenance associated with such an arrangement is also rather high.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bale slicing apparatus which can effectively separate slices from bales of leaf tobacco. In order to achieve such an object, there is provided a tobacco bale slicing apparatus for slicing a bale of compressed tobacco having a plurality of generally parallel tobacco leaves having stems. The apparatus comprises first bale penetrating structure having a plurality of prongs constructed and arranged to penetrate the bale generally parallel to the flattened tobacco leaves. Second bale penetrating structure has a plurality of prongs constructed and arranged to penetrate the bale generally parallel to the flattened tobacco leaves.
A penetrating structure moving assembly has structure constructed and arranged to (1) move the first penetrating structure generally perpendicularly relative to the flattened tobacco leaves to a first pre-penetrating position wherein the prongs thereof are disposed outside of the bale and at a first level spaced generally perpendicularly to the tobacco leaves from an edge of the bale and corresponding to a desired thickness of a bale slice to be separated from the bale and (2) move the second penetrating structure generally perpendicularly to the flattened tobacco leaves to a second pre-penetrating position wherein the prongs thereof are disposed outside of the bale and at a second level offset relative to the first level in a direction extending generally perpendicularly to the tobacco leaves. The penetrating structure moving assembly has structure constructed and arranged to move the bale penetrating structures from the respective first and second pre-penetrating positions generally parallel to the flattened tobacco leaves to respective first and second penetrated positions wherein the first and second penetrating structure prongs penetrate the bale at the first and second levels so as to define the aforesaid bale slice of the desired thickness and a remaining portion of the bale.
The penetrating structure moving assembly having structure constructed and arranged to move the first and second bale penetrating structures relatively away from one another generally perpendicularly to the flattened tobacco leaves so as to separate the bale slice from the remaining portion of the bale after the first and second penetrating structure prongs have penetrated the bale. A bale slice moving assembly has structure constructed and arranged to move the separated bale slice away from the remaining portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for slicing a tobacco bale having a plurality of generally parallel flattened tobacco leaves. The method comprises the steps of providing a first bale penetrating structure having a plurality of prongs and a second bale penetrating structure having a plurality of prongs. The first penetrating structure is moved generally parallel to the flattened tobacco leaves so that the prongs thereof penetrate the bale at a first level spaced generally perpendicularly to the tobacco leaves from an edge of the bale and corresponding to a slice of desired thickness to be separated from the bale. The second penetrating structure is moved generally parallel to the flattened tobacco leaves so that the prongs thereof penetrate the bale at a second level offset relative to the first level in a direction extending generally perpendicular to the flattened tobacco leaves. The first bale penetrating structure is moved relatively away from the second bale penetrating structure generally perpendicularly to the flattened tobacco leaves so as to separate the slice of desired thickness from the bale. Then, the slice is moved away from the bale.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing a compressed tobacco bale having a plurality of substantially whole, generally parallel flattened tobacco leaves with stems. The method comprises the following steps. Successive portions are removed from the bale to be conditioned. The removed portions are successively supplied in substantially the form removed from the bale to an interior of a rotatable direct conditioning cylinder. The cylinder has a plurality of tobacco separating structures on the interior thereof. The direct conditioning cylinder is continuously rotated so that the tobacco separating structures break up the successively supplied portions by lifting and separating the leaves of the successively supplied portions from one another. The leaves of the successively supplied portions are continuously conditioned in the direct conditioning cylinder by supplying heat and moisture to the leaves while the cylinder rotates. Conditioned leaves are continuously discharged from the direct conditioning cylinder. The method according the present aspect of the invention is not limited to the apparatus described in the following detailed description and it is contemplated that the above-mentioned guillotine-like vertical blade may be used to remove portions from the bale.
Other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.