Electric “eye” sorts cigars

A cigar sorting machine has been perfected for use by cigar manufacturers, which has proved exceptionally accurate and speedy in its work. Cigars are sorted according to the shade of their coloring into no less than thirty separate grades, and to do this successfully requires, in a human, an exceptionally well trained eye. Recently an electrically operated machine has been developed for this purpose which will do this work with greater speed and accuracy. As this device automatically picks up each cigar and holds it up to its “eye,” a photoelectric cell, the various shades of brown cause varying reactions in the photoelectric cell, and relays actuated by these different currents select the compartment in which the cigar belongs. The machine grades sixty cigars every minute.