As the bobbin is filled, it is removed, and replaced by an empty one. The rope is then unwound, and formed into rolls, by the aid of a spindle with flanges at the sides, worked by a treadle, under a cushioned weight which squeezes the coils closely together as they are wound. The completed rolls are subjected to great pressure in steam-jacketed presses, in the same way, and with the same object, as the cakes or plugs.
_Cigars._—Cigars are composed of two parts, a core formed of pieces of leaf placed longitudinally, known as “fillers,” and a covering formed of perfect leaf, called the “wrapper.” Probably all the best cigars are made by hand, the only tools required being a short-bladed sharp knife, a receptacle containing an emulsion of gum, and a square wooden disc or “cutting-board.” A portion of perfect leaf is first shaped to form the wrapper of the cigar; then a bunch of fillers is moulded in the hand, and rolled up tightly in the wrapper, the taper end being secured by gumming. Expert workmen make the cigars remarkably uniform in weight and shape. When made, they are sorted according to colour, deftly trimmed at the thick end, and placed in their boxes in cupboards heated by gas-stoves to finally dry or season before being stored for sale.
In America, machinery is introduced wherever possible. Moulds for shaping the cigars are made of hard wood, sometimes partially lined with tin, and of every possible size and form. A machine is made by Dubrul and Co., of Cincinnati, for working 3 sets of moulds at once, 2 being kept filled up under pressure while the 3rd is being filled, or the bunches are being rolled up. A handy little machine for rolling the fillers for cigars is that known as Henneman’s, made by Dubrul and Co. The demand for scrap-made cigars, or those manufactured with short fillers, has caused the introduction of machines for cutting and sifting scrap. One made by Dubrul and Co. is shown in Fig. 27. It consists essentially of a cylinder formed of hook-shaped, double-edged steel blades, revolving against 3 series of fixed but adjustable steel blades, thus permitting the size to be regulated at will.
_Cigarettes._—Cigarettes consist of paper tubes filled with cut tobacco, with or without an external wrapper of leaf tobacco. Preference is usually given to those made by hand, but machines have been introduced with some success for making the commoner kinds. A French machine for making cigarettes is shown in Fig. 28. Its work consists in making the paper tubes, and filling them with tobacco. The paper, previously prepared, in a band about 3 inches wide, is unrolled from the coil _a_ by means of the carriage _b_, and cut off in pieces about 1 inch long for presentation to the mandrel _c_, temporarily introduced into one of the tubes of the mould-carrier _d_. The mandrel has a clamp which grasps the paper and rolls it, and, at the moment when the latter escapes from the carriage, its free end is brought upon a rubber pad covered with gum, hidden in the illustration. The paper tube is left in the mould, the mandrel being extracted by means of the cam _e_; the mould-carrier is then turned ⅟<sub>9</sub> revolution by the cam _f_, a new tube comes into line, and the operation is repeated. When 6 paper tubes are completed, the first one is pushed by a small piston, actuated by the cam _g_, upon the end of the filling-tube; and immediately the rod _h_, actuated by the cam _e_, drives into this tube a portion of tobacco already prepared in the compressor _i_. In preparing the tobacco, a workman, occupying the seat _m_, is necessary to dispose the material in regular layers on a carrier, by which it is transported into the compressor. When the cigarette-envelope is filled, the mould-carrier again makes part of a revolution, and the finished cigarette is pushed out of the mould by the rod _k_, also actuated by the cam _e_; a device finally lodges the cigarettes in the box _l_. One workman is said to be able to turn out 9600 cigarettes in 10 hours by the aid of the machine.