US1697647A - Cotton condenser - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 1, 1929. 1,697,641

W. L. HANCOCK El'AL COTTON CONDENSER 7 Filed April 19., 1928 2 sheets sheet 1 B L /A/VA/70/?S Mammal/Kauai; J l/UA IZ B), 7 y 114 wadmwr'faq- I flrroR/ym.

Jan; 1, 1929. 1,697,647

w. L. HANCOCK ETAL COTTON CONDENSER Filed April 19, 1928 sheets-sheet 2 M ZZz amL/ a izcoc/i I Join fi'Zeu/eZZ g hautzgrzdmafi wa Patented Jan. 1, 1929.

ICE-if WILLIAM L. HANcocK AND JOHN BLnwETT, or DALLAS, TEXAS, ssrenons To THE MURRAY COMPANY, or DALLAs, TEXAS, A CORPORATION or TEXAS.

COTTON CONDENSER.

Application filed April- 19, 1928. Serial No. 271,177.

Our invention is an improved cotton condenser, of all metal construction, the elements of which are so designed and combined that the utmost economy of assembly andreplacementand repair, is accomplished, while the machine as a whole is more eflicient in opera tion than prior machines for the same general purpose. A

In the drawings I Figure 1 is a perspective View of our machine taken from the rear or cotton entry side;

Figure 2 is a Figure .1; 1 w

' F "gure 3 is a front elevation, broken away in parts to show interior mechanism;

Figure 4 is a detail, in section, of part of a dofiing roller;

cross section on line 22 of of the 'dofier roller mounting; Figure 6 is a detall on an enlarged scale,

1 of the doffer roll shaft. openings in the inner heads; V

Figure 7 is a detail, of the dotfer gears. As is commonly known, the lint cotton, taken by the gin saws from the seedcotton .roll, in the roll boX of the gin, is removed from the saws either by an air blast or by rapidly rotating brushes, in either case a current of air being created which is utilized to carry the lint cotton from the saws,'through a lint pipe, to the cotton condenser, in which the lint is screened from the air current, and formed into a bat, which passes from the condenser down a lint slide to a baling press. There are several forms of screens employed in various condensers,and the type of condenser to which ourimprovements are particularly applicable is that in which a rotating screen drum is employed, enclosed-in a suitable casing. I V

f In the drawings, illustrating our improved condenser, the casing, within which the screen drum is mounted. is divided into three com-f drum is, as usual, made up of several spi ders, 31, mounted upon a shaft 32, and covered with wire mesh, 3,'the shaft 32 being carried in bearings, 33, in the'end walls of I outer air.

the uptakes 22.. 'into the'hopper andv sofind the casin so that it may be rotated by a sprocket gear 35'mounted upon one projectneath the three chambers, 1 and 2 is a hopper r or trough 21, into which dirt or trash fromthe cotton lint,if any, may fall and-be evac-' V uated from the-machine; Above each cham- Figure 5 is a detail on an enlarged scale,

her 2 is an air uptake 22, extending to the It is obvious that for the bestresults, the chambers 1 and 2, should be isolated from each other as thoroughly as possible, except through the screen drum and the apertures 12. It is tobe noted that the air current relied upon to; convey the lint from the gins to the condenser is not a suction current, but ismerely produced by the air' blast of the gins. As it iscustomary to raise the condenser on suitable,standardsor legs, in order that it may be in a position to deliver the lint into the baling chamber ofa press, the lint pipe from the gins is slanted upward to connect. with the inlet 131and the course of the air current,'is for best results, changed as little as may be. The air current entering the inlet 13, may pass'through the screen 3 of the the lint and passes through the screen 3 and as the air current. i's not rapid, some of this matter may be too heavy to pass out through This matter will gravitate its way out ofthe-machine.

In order to keep the air current intact, sealing strips or flashings are provided, to contact with the moving screen drum. One of theseis shown in Figure 2, lying across the i Y of rotation of the drum surface, to prevent the I air current from passing at this po nt. This flexible strip is preferably secured to a board 71, which may be fastened in place by a bolt at either end, which bolt is readily reached by the attendant, in case of need, by entering the end chambers 2 and unfastening a single bolt at each end of the board.

The most difficult gap to seal is that be-. tween the peripheral ends of the screen drum and the adjacent partitions, separating chamber'l from chambers 2. The ends of the screen drum are open and opposed to the circular openings 12 in the partitions 11, the opening being somewhat larger than the diameter of the screen drum and the edges of the opening are hentinwardly toward the drum (see Figure Around the face of the screen drum, at each end a smooth metallic band 34 is mounted and around the openings' 12 at intervals are set a series of bolts, projecting on the outer-side of the partitions 11. These bolts, 121, are formed with screw threaded shanks and with thin flat heads. The purpose of the peculiarly thin shape of the bolt heads is to enable the several bolt-heads, whenthe bolts have been placed in the apertures in partitions 11, to be spot welded to the'partition 11 and thus the bolts become an integral element with the partition, free from loosening or maladjustment, the heads hardly projecting fro-m the inner surface of the partition. The flashings or gaskets 122 are preferablysegments of a' circle, divided, for example, into arcs of requiring eight strips of material, suitably shaped, to complete the sealing at each end, and these segmental gaskets are pierced to permit them to pass upon the outwardly projecting bolts 121. The gaskets after being mounted uponthe bolts 121v and upon the outerside of partitions 11 are clamped in place by a clamp member 123 and the free edge of the gaskets 122 is flexed inward to contact with a band 3e. It will be noted thatthe flexing of the gasket 122 involves no contact with any sharp angular edge, but on the contrary the inwardly bent edge of the opening 12 inpartitions .11 sustains the gasket however it may be flexed, without presenting any angular surface. Furthermore, when it becomes necessary to replace a gasket strip, which occurs when the constant flexing, which occurs in use, has caused the fabric to crack, the strip, being clamped to theontside of the" partiton 11 is easily accessible and easily removable. The operator may enter chamber 2 and by unscrewing the nuts on bolts 121 may remove a clamping segment 123and the defective gasket segment, which may be instantly replaced by a new segment, accurately cut and shaped to fit, and the clamping segment replaced, the bolts 121bei'ng integral with thepartition, receiving the segment 123.

It will now be apparent that the cotton laden air current, entering through inlet 13 is confined at the topby the wall 131 and at the bottom by the flashing or gasket 7 and at the sides by the flashings or gaskets 122, so that the air must pass through the screen 3 leaving the lint on the screen, which,

operates with the doifer 5 to compress the bat. This roller 53 is carried at each end in a yoke bearing 531 pivoted on the shaft 51 of doii'er 5, so that the roller 53 may swing about shaft 51 to and fro the drum, and at the same time the roller 53 can move to and fro the doffer '5, due to the fact that the swinging yoke carries the bearing of roller in a slot along which it may move. A spring 532'urges the roller 53 toward the doifer 5 and a spring 533 urges the slotted bearing 531 toward the drun1.-The result is that roller 53 in its relation to doffer 5 has a substantially universal capacity of movement, to and fro the do-tferroller and to and fro the screen drum. In order that this capacity may be made effective, the spur gears 53 1, 535 by which rollers'5 and 53 are connected are designed with extra long teeth so that a considerable separation of the cooperating rollers may be effected without disengagement of their respective driving gears and the walls 11 are also provided with an arcuate slot. 112 so that 53 may swing about theshaft 51 of the doii'er roll 5.

The dofi'er roller shaft 51 is mounted in bearings 111 on walls 11 and has in addition a bearing 24 at each end in the outer walls of the casing. At one end shaft 51 carries I a driving gear 25 meshing with a gear 26 on 32 of drum 3. The shaftable plug 512 being provided inithe surface walls of roller 5 so that the shaft may be freed at any time and withdrawn without removing the roller itself. This is ause'ful feature inasmuch as it enables the driving.

leaner? equipment, gearing and countershaft to be changed from right to left hand to suit the arrangement of the gin plant, without removing the rollers from the condenser-a slow and laborious operation.

l/Ve claim 'f 1. In a cotton condenser, a casing divided into a central drum chamber and end chambers by apertured partitions; a screen drum within the central drum chamber, its hollow interior opposed at each end to the partition apertures; smooth metallic bands around the periphery of the screen drum'at each end; flexible, arcuate flashings secured upon'the out-erside of the partitions and flexed through the partition apertures to engage the metallic I band; an air and lint'inlet into the central chamber; a pair of dofli'er rolls to remove the bat from the surface of the drum, one roller f provided with flexible wipers, the other swinging about the wiper roller shaft to and fro the drum and movable also to and fro April, 1928.

the Wiper roller; an air outlet from each end I interior opposed ateach end tothe partition apertures p a multiplicity of outwardly proecting bolts about the partition apertures; flexible arcuateflashings mounted upon the tures to engage the peripheral end surfaces of the drum; segmental clampingmembers to pass upon the bolts and clamp the flashing to the outer'surtace of the partitions; a dofler roll to remove the bat from the surface of the drum an air outlet from each endcham-' bel. 7' p I" Signed at Dallas, Texas, this 13th day of JOHN BLEWETT. WM. 1 HANCOCK.

bolts and flexed'through the partition aper-

Images