US1965001A - Cotton gin - Google Patents

Description

T. A. PRATT July 3, @93

COTTON GIN Filed Feb. 25, 1952 T/mA m gg ATTORNEY Patented July 3, 1934- FIQE COTTON GIN Thomas A. Pratt, Wichita Falls, Tex, assignor of one-half to Anna Wooldridge, Wichita Falls,

Tex.

Application February 26, 1932, Serial No, 595,268

1 Claim.

This invention relates to cotton gins and it has particular reference to the so-called air blast type of cotton gin.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a gin of the character specified, in the construction of which are included dual sets of saws, attending each of which sets of saws is an air blast nozzle. The invention is designed to fill the demand for a superior grade of lint cotton through the medium of a reginning process made possible through the dual arrangement of elements aforesaid.

Another and important object of the invention resides in an adjustable air blast nozzle so arranged as to enable the same to be exteriorly operated to increase the passage of air through the nozzles to remove any obstruction therein which is likely to prevent free passage of air over one or more of the saws. Through this arrangement, positive uniformity of air pressure is insured throughout the entire length of the saw assembly without the necessity of interrupting the operation of the gin.

The present invention is designed primarily for low speed ginning and due to the presence of two sets of ginning elements, the upper set being comprised of saws of greater diameter than those of the lower set and due to the fact that the lower saws operate at a lower speed, the teeth of these saws are allowed to catch all of the lint one tooth can carry and consequently the lint is not broken when it is passed through the ribs, a longer staple is obtained than can be secured by the high speed A further object of the invention resides in the provision of an improved auxiliary roll box into which is discharged the seed from the upper roll box after the same has been subjected to the action of the upper ginning assembly. This roll box is of such construction as to enable the same to be readily opened and closed for cleaning and for other purposes.

With the foregoing objects as paramount, the invention has particular reference to its salient features of construction and arrangement of parts which will become manifest as the description proceeds, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view in vertical cross section.

Figure 2 is a detail view of the air blast nozzle adjusting device.

Figure 3 is a transverse section of the device shown in Figure 2.

Continuing with a more detailed description of the drawing, 1 designates the upper roll box of the gin into which the said cotton is initially deposited while the character 2 designates the huller breast. The saw shaft 3 carries a multiplicity of spaced saws 4, which conventionally operate between the ribs 5, stripping the lint off the seed in the roll box 1 and carrying it into the air duct 6.

After the lint has been extracted from the seed, the latter falls downwardly between the ribs 5 and 7 into the hopper 8 of the lower roll box or chamber 9 where the seed is again subjected to the action of the lower saw assembly 10. These saws, as apparent in Figure 1 extract the remaining lint from the seed carrying the same between the ribs 11 into the air duct 12 of the lower air A last assembly. In fact, the reginning operation is substantially the same as the first ginning operation except for the fact that the lower saws are smaller in diameter than the upper saws and are adapted to operate at a greater speed. lvloreover, the lower roll box or chamber 9 is provided with an agitator or beater 13 which is effective in bringing seed into more intimate contact with the saws in View of the fact that there is less density in the lower roll box than in the roll box 1. Accordingly, it is convenient if not necessary to provide some means, such as the beater 13, to insure maximum eificiency in removing all of the lint from the seed before the latter is discharged through the chute 14 below the lower roll box 9, to be conveyed to a point of disposal by some suitable means as shown.

In the operation of the air blast gin, some difficulties have been encountered by reason of obstructions forming in the nozzle 15, which consists simply of a narrow, elongated passage extending from one end of the saw assembly to the other and defined by vertical bafile plates 16, whose upper edges terminate short of the interior Walls of the fines 17.

Air under pressure entering the openings or passages 18 is blown through the nozzle 15 into the ducts 6 and 12 of the upper and lower air blast assemblies respectively. In so doing the lint cotton impaled upon the teeth of the saws 4 and 10 is disengaged and carried out of the gin through the ducts 6 and 12.

In the ordinary type of air blast gins, no provisions are made to eliminate obstructions forming in the nozzles and due to the fact that these nozzles are of fixed dimensions, the gin must be stopped in order that such obstructions might be removed manually. It frequently happens that these obstructions go unnoticed for some time which gives rise to difiiculties due to the balling up of lint on the saws to which the air does not have access due to the presence of obstructions.

The present invention proposes to overcome the foregoing conditions and disadvantages through the provision of a semi-cylindrical member 19 shown in detail in Figures 2 and 3. This member is simply a shaft which extends the full length of the saw assemblies 4 and 10 and is rotatably disposed adjacent the nozzles 15. A suitable means, such as the crank 20 in Figure 2 is provided to enable the operator to rotate the shaft and thereby move the fiat surface 0. thereof to a different position relative to the elongated nozzle 15.

The shaft 19 is shown in the upper portion of Figure l as being in such position as to allow maximum passage of air through the nozzle 15 While in the lower portion of Figure 1, the shaft is in such position as to reduce the area of the nozzle whereby to allow but a minimum passage of air. The last mentioned position of the shaft is the normal operating position, that is to say, in this position, the required amount of air is allowed to pass through the nozzle 15 and the shaft remains in this position until some obstruction, such as a burr or the lik becomes caught in the nozzle and prevents free passage of air. When this occurs, the operator simply moves the crank 20 and changes the flattened face a of the shaft 19 to a new position, the position shown in the upper part of Figure 1, whereupon the air pressure is increased throughout the full length of the nozzle 15. In so increasing the air pressure, such force is established as to dislodge the obstruction, whereupon the shaft 19 may be returned to normal position as shown in the lower portion of Figure 1. It requires only a momentary period to dislodge an obstruction in accordance with the foregoing and this may obviously be done without interrupting the normal operation of the gin.

With reference to the improved type of roll box or chamber 9 referred to in the foregoing, it is pointed out that this chamber is constructed in sections and hinged at 21, at the bottom of the lower ends of the two sections. Obviously, the outer section may be moved away from the saw assembly 10 so that ready access may be gained to the interior of the roll box whereby to clean the same.

It has been previously stated that normally, there is less density in the lower roll box 9 than in the upper roll box 1. This is due of course to the fact that most of the lint has been removed from the seed by the upper saw assembly. In the first place, the lower roll box has less capacity than the upper roll box and to further aid in bringing the seed into intimate contact with the saws 10, the beater or agitator 13 is provided. In addition to this, a gate 22 is hinged at b and supports the seed against the saws. An adjusting screw 23 may be actuated to bring greater pressure upon the seed within the lower box and to bring them more forcibly against the saws 10 so that no lint will be left remaining on the seed as they pass downwardy between the pins 24 projected between the saws in the manner shown in the lower portion of Figure 1.

It is clearly apparent from the foregoing that through the medium of the dual ginning operation, a maximum amount of lint is removed from the seed and further, by reason of the novel means of adjusting the nozzles, more efficient ginning is obtained. The foregoing taken together with the fact that the saw assemblies carry saws of unequal diameter makes for more effective results for a slow speed gin since the conventional type of high speed gin employs only a single gin assembly and the saws are not given a sufficient period of time to extract all of the lint from the seed. This condition is of no consequence in the present invention due to the fact that the seed, after having been subjected to the action of the large, low speed saws are subjected to the action of the lower saws operating at a higher rate of speed with the result that all of the lint is removed from the seed yet insuring a longer and consequently more desirable staple.

Manifestly, the construction shown is capable of considerable modification and such modification as is considered within the scope and meaning of the appended claim is also considered within the spirit and intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a cotton gin, the combination comprising upper and lower saw assemblies, the upper assembly comprising saws of greater diameter than the saws of the lower assembly, a roll box in attendance to each of said assemblies, means in the roll box of the lower assembly for urging cotton into more intimate contact with said saw assembly, an air blast flue adjacent each of said saw assemblies and having a longitudinal nozzle open to said saws, means for varying the width of said nozzles to thereby control the volume of air discharged therethrough, said means comprising a shaft disposed in each of said nozzles having a longitudinal flattened portion and means exteriorly of said gin for rotating said shaft to move the flattened portion of said shaft to the opening of said nozzle.

THOMAS A. PRATT.

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