Apparatus for removing surplus from a stream of fibrous material

Abstract

A tobacco stream which contains a surplus of tobacco particles is conveyed in a channel past a trimming device which serves to remove the surplus and has two disc-shaped tobacco engaging members extending through openings in the sidewalls of the channel and into the stream in such a way that the surplus is located at one side and the remainder of the stream is located at the other side of the plane of the tobacco engaging members. These members are rotated in opposite directions, and their marginal portions come nearest to each other at a point normally midway between the sidewalls. A rotating tube is disposed at the one side of the tobacco engaging members and has a serrated or smooth cutting edge which removes the surplus only, or practically only, at the aforementioned point. Such surplus is evacuated by suction through the tube whose axis makes an oblique angle with the direction of advancement of the stream in the channel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.