James Albert Bonsack

James Albert Bonsack (October 9 1859, [http://www.bohnsack.org/ezipaten.htm Ancestry of James Albert Bonsack] . URL last accessed 2006-10-11.] Roanoke, Virginia, [http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=0238640&idkey=NONE U.S. patent 238,640] , with diagrams. URL last accessed 2006-10-11.] U.S. – June 2 1924, Philadelphia) invented in 1880 the first cigarette rolling machine.

Until then cigarettes had been rolled by hand. Readymade cigarettes were a luxury item, but became increasingly popular.Bennett, W.: " [http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_m2/TI08961040.html The Cigarette Century] ", "Science 80", September/October 1980. URL last accessed 2006-10-11.] The slow manual fabrication process—a skilled cigarette roller could produce only about four cigarettes per minute on the average [http://www.wclynx.com/burntofferings/adscigmaker.html Bonsack's cigarette machine] . URL last accessed 2006-10-11.] —was insufficient to satisfy the demands in the 1870s. In 1875, the Allan & Ginter company in Richmond, Virginia offered a prize of US$ 75,000 for the invention of a machine able to roll cigarettes. Bonsack took up the challenge and left school to devote his time to build such a machine. In 1880, he had a first working prototype, which was unfortunately destroyed by a fire while in storage at Lynchburg, Virginia. Bonsack re-built it and filed a patent application on September 4, 1880. The patent was granted the following year (U.S. patents 238,640 from March 8 1881 and 247,795 [http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00247795&idkey=NONE U.S. patent 247,795] , with diagrams. URL last accessed 2006-10-11] from October 4 1881). Bonsack's machine was able to produce 120,000 cigarettes in ten hours, revolutionizing the cigarette industry.

Trivia

The census-designated place (CDP) of Bonsack, Virginia, located in Roanoke County, was name after James Bonsack, who lived in this town located along route 460 between Roanoke and Bedford." [http://www.fpehs.org/pewords.html Prince Edward County seal – wheat sheaf vs tobacco hand] ", "The Farmville Herald," Prince Edward County, September 24, 2004. URL last accessed 2007-06-26.]

References

Further reading

*Tilley, N. M.: "The bright-tobacco industry, 1860 - 1929"; Arno Press, 1972; ISBN 0-405-04728-2.

External links

* [http://weldgen.tripod.com/tobacco-trade/id2.html Bristol and the Tobacco Trade – Cigarettes and the Machine]