Tobacco leaf-stripping machine

A leaf-stripping machine for stripping tobacco leaves off a stalk of a tobacco plant, comprising:

• a pair of leaf-stripping rollers having substantially the same length as the stalk of the tobacco plant, the rollers extending longitudinally parallel to each other, the rollers being supported in such a manner that they are rotatable in rolling contact with each other;
• a holding frame which is so located above the paired leaf-stripping rollers as to be spaced therefrom by a predetermined distance, the holding frame allowing the tobacco stalk to be held in parallel to the leaf-stripping rollers, and permitting the tobacco leaves on the stalk to hang down to be stripped off by the leaf-stripping rollers;
• drive means for rotating the paired leaf-stripping rollers in opposite directions, so as to draw the tobacco leaves therebetween, whereby the tobacco leaves are drawn in further, by the rotation of the leaf-stripping rollers and are finally stripped off the stalk;
• and
• means for receiving the leaves stripped off the stalk, said means being disposed below the pair leaf-stripping rollers and partitioned in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the leaf-stripping rollers to provide a plurality of receiving sections, the leaves stripped off the stalk being distributed to the receiving sections depending on the positions on the stalk from which the leaves have been stripped.