US2086517A - Picker and art of forming lap - Google Patents

Description

July 13, 1937. I A, P -ALDRlCl-iI JR 2,086,517

PICKER AND ART OF FORMING LAP Filed May 22, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 his www4/u.

July 13, 1937. A. P. ALDRxcH, JR

PICKER AND ART OF FORMING LAP Filed May 22, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L/J wu 0144397/ fred lid/drck, J7:

ffm/@M Patented July 13, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

The primary object in view is the distribution of nely divided ber, such as cotton, on the surfaces of collecting screens in a manner to cause the regular and continuous formation of a layer of fiber on such surfaces which is substantially uniform throughout the exposed areas of such surfaces; and, to this end, a further object is the avoidance and prevention of accumulation of fiber at any one point as distinguished from other points of the exposed screen surfaces.

A further and more detailed object is the utilization of an air current in a manner to insure such prevention of accumulation.

A still further object is the utilization of air currents for delivery of fiber to such screen surfaces and the treatment of the ber with a supplementing control air current for insuring continuous and effective uniformity of delivery to such surfaces.

In greater detail, it is a further object of the present invention to utilize the apparatus commonly employed in a picker for providing the requisite suction or difference in air pressure between the inner and outer surfaces of screening o drums as the source of the air current utilized to o like ber to accumulate at one place in approaching collecting screens.

The invention also includes apparatus for directing an air current against fiber as it approaches a point where its tendency is to -accumuvlate for lifting or otherwise moving the fiber and thereby preventing such accumulation.

In greater detail, the invention includes a port or passageway and a jet or opening communieatingy with the trunk of a picker at or near the terminus thereof beneath the place of natural deposit of gravity accumulating fiber, and connections for said passageway with the discharge blast from the suction apparatus of the screens of the picker.

The invention also includes in a picker so arranged and provided with said air jet or opening means of air distribution for directing an air current to the intake of the picker and to various places along the normal travel from the intake toward the said jet or opening for aiding in creating and preserving a loose and fluffy condition of the cotton or other fiber in approaching the place of said jet or opening.

A further and more detailed object is such an equalization of pressure in -a picker whose screening drums are subjected to the suction of a fan as to avoid such a difference in pressure in the dust chamber las at present occurs in the common commercial machines which manifest such difference in pressure by the leaking of air wherever a crack or crevice offers opportunity for such leakage.

It is at present standard practice in preparing cotton for carding to form the ber into a web or lap especially conditioned to be received by the carding machine, and to this end the lap is formed on a picker which rst beats the fiber into a finely divided condition and then pneumatically draws the fiber against screening surfaces which are usually in the form of rotating drums, and the drawing action is ordinarily accomplished by rarefying the air within the drums by the use of a blower or other fan connected to suck the air out through the ends of the drums. The cotton banks against the exposed surfaces of the screens and is moved with the moving surfaces between the screens to form a lap which is discharged from the picker; but as one of the screens is spaced `above the other, the iiber in approaching the screens acts under gravity to fall toward the lower screen and thereby tends to accumulate and collect in larger quantities on the lower screen and between the two screens than on the upper exposed portions of the upper screen. Also, at irregular intervals, cotton accumulated along the bottom of the trunk of standard machines now in use will fold up against the screens and thus produce a very uneven lap.

It has long been the custom to attempt to equalize the irregularities in the lap by subsequent treatment. The carding machine draws out the lap into a sliver in a ratio approximating one hundred inches in sliver to one inch of lap, but the sliver thus produced is very uneven. To equalize the irregularities in the sliver thus produced, numerous doublings of the sliver is required, and even the roving made from the sliver must be doubled in the attempt to produce uniformity and eliminate the unevenness. Even then the results are by no means uniform. Recent developments in the art of spinning cotton into yarn have led to a reduction in the number of doublings employed in the processing both of the sliver and of the roving. It has, therefore,

become increasingly important to present to the carding machine a web or lap of extreme uniformity of thickness throughout its area, and this result is effectively accomplished, by the prescnt invention.

The present invention accomplishes this result by distributing the fiber in a uniform manner over all exposed portions of the picker screens,

by preventing accumulation along the botof the trunk or at the approach to the lower lscreen. Of course, since no accumulation is perrctted there is -no opportunity for the folding up masses from the trunk at irregular intervals .inst the screens, and the result is a constant discharge of a highly uniform lap throughout its y length and breadth.

The invention also comprises certain other novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts as subsequently specified and claimed. f

In the accompanying drawings,-

Figure l is a vertical section through a picker of "modern and standard form to which an embodiment of the present yinvention has been applied. y l

Figure 2 is a transverse section taken on the plane indicated by line 2-2 of Figure l, parts,

being seen in elevation, and the parts Abeing shown on a reducedr scale.

Figure 3 is a frontelevation of, the apparatus seenin Figure l takenfrom the planes indicated by line 3 3 of Figure l, a part of the frame being seen in section.

Figure 4 is a detailed, fragmentary perspective view of the ogee plate detached.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary, ldetailed section of a part of a pickerprovidedwith a slightly modified embodiment of. the present invention wherein the air under pressure is kobtained from a source other than the fan apparatus of the machine itself.

It should be understood that the modifications of `the apparatus shown in the drawings from modern standardmachines refer to air distribution and circulation for modifying the action of the machine in the respects indicated above and hereinafterl more fully described, and it should also be understocdthat the source of the air streams provided for is that of the machine itself only as a matter of convenience and saving of expense, and that, therefore, air under pressure may be supplied from; any other source when desired without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Referring to the drawingsby numerals, I is the frame of the picker having the mote chamber 2 above which is arranged the beater 3 immediately in the reark of the feed rolls t, 4, and discharging into the trunk 5 which opens toscreen drums ii and l spaced one above the other and rotated inV a directionA forfeeding the received fiber between them and out through the discharge rolls 8, 8. The frame of the machine includes an appropriate hood 9 for the screens E and ll, and wipers or flaps I@ carried by appropriate parts of the frame cut off access from the trunk to upper, lower, and rear portions of the the ducts I 5, I 5, with the endsof the drums 61 and l, so that, when the machine isv in operation, the fan v l tmaintains va constant'suction on the interior of the drums and discharges usually into a dust room or other appropriate place of discharge.

A stripper i6 is provided for the beater 3 for clearing therefrom any adhering ber, and beneath the beater a discharge grid Il allows foreign substance to drop into the mote chamber 2. The bottom of the trunk 5 is provided with a dust grid I8 preferably spaced from the grid Il' with the customary ogee plate lil extending from the grid I 'I togrid I8and the usual dust box 2t beneath the grid i8 for receiving accumulations of foreign matter discharging through the grid I8. The box 20 is customarily closed by a hinged door,r 2tlwhich is adapted to be lowered or swung openA for discharging the contents at intervals into the mote chamber.

The ogee plate I9 is customarily slit and thus formed with spaced tongues that are alternately bent; in opposite directions for providing air passages 22 without injuriously weakening the plate.

The feed rolls 4 will receive cotton or like ber from any appropriate source fed ,in any acceptable manner, such as by an endless apron 23 receiving its supply from any appropriate hopper or other source 24.

It shouldl be understood that all of the parts thus far `described are present in the modern picker that also serves as a lapper for preparing a lap for the carding machine, and other details may or may not be present according to the particular construction of picker involved. `This picker is improved `by the. present invention by the provision of means for insuring uniformly spread fiber over thefentire area ofthe exposed surfacesof` the screening drums at all times, and the prevention of accumulation of fiber at any point between the'feed rolls i and the screening rolls or drums 6 and 7. To this end, streams of controlled and directed air act on the cotton to maintain it in a loose, uffy condition, and to prevent it from becoming accumulated or from otherwise approaching theA drums 6 and l in a manner interfering withuniformity of distribution on the surfaces of said drums. While, as plainly shown in Figure hereinafter described, thesource of air may be entirely independent of the picker fan, a convenient and inexpensive source of air under pressure is the said fan. To

that end, the dischargeA i3 of fan IIr instead of,

wall of the housings ofthe fan and the drums l. The upper end of the port lis closed by a flap valve 28 cooperating with an appropriate bar 29 of the frame I. The valve 2B extends for the;-

full width of the machine andl is carried by a rod 3G having any appropriate operating handle 3| outside the frame I in position toy be manually shifted to move the flap 28 to a more or less open position according. to the stream of air required. It should be understood that the rod.

3S is frictionally held byits bearings in the frame I sufficiently for retaining."tiret-flap'k 28:in any located position. Of course'gitlie friction may be increased by artificial means, or appropriate adjustable locking means will be provided for retaining theA ap- 28 positively. in any given' adjusted position; but the air current blowing up through the duct 21 is in no sense a violent blast but only a current of sufficient velocity to give the results desired in lifting the oncoming cotton and preventing it from collecting by gravity at the intake between the screen drums.

A port 32 also leads upwardly from the duct 25, and, for convenience, has its back wall formed of the front wall of the mote chamber 2 and its front wall formed of parts of the frame of the machine with such additional sheeting 33 as is required to complete the duct to its discharging upper end just beneath the lower feed roll 4. A flap valve 34 controls said discharge of duct 32 at its upper end and is carried by an operating rod 35 which extends across and is journaled in the frame I similarly to the rod 30, and is provided at one of its exposed ends with a hand operating handle 36 for varying the discharge opening at the upper end of duct 32. The said discharge opening is preferably usually comparatively narrow, but extends the full width of the machine and bears a relation usually to the opening or discharge of the duct 21 such that the latter is substantially greater than the former. For instance, if the opening for the upper end of duct 32 is adjusted by the valve 34 to be say approximately one-half inch, then the discharge opening at the upper end of duct 21 will usually be regulated by the valve 28 to be about two inches; but these are variable proportions and are to be controlled according to the speed of the machine, the velocity of the air flow, and the character of the fiber being treated with the object maintained of keeping the fiber in a loose, fluffy, uniformly advancing condition until it reaches the screens 6 and 1, and also with the object of causing portions of it to rise as they approach the screens so as to insure a uniform distribution of ber on the screens as a continuous operation. It should be borne in mind, of course, that the suction from within the screen will cause the fiber to build thereon at rates controlled by the resistance to inflow of air through the sheet or blanket of ber forming on the screens, so that if at any time some irregularities occur at one point lessening the resistance to the inow of air the tendency will be for a greater amount of ber to be deposited at that point than at other points, and on the other hand an irregularity increasing the resistance to the infiow of air will tend to reduce the amount of fiber deposited at the place of increased resistance. The uplift of fiber by the stream of air past valve 23 insures the proper location and proximity of loose, fluffy fiber to at all times respond effectively to such conditions, so that the layer of fiber on each screen is uniform as the surfaces pass adjacent each other in the rotation of the drums, and the lap thus produced is uniform to a very high degree.

It is desirable also to provide for air distribution upward beneath the beater and at the forward end of the trunk to insure the floating of the fiber and its freedom from tendency to be deposited or become collected on the bottom of the trunk. To this end, the front wall of the mote chamber 2 is provided with an intake opening 31 controlled by a flap valve 38 carried by an operating rod 39 similar in construction and arrangement to the rods 3E! and 35 and having an operatin-g handle 40 outward of the frame of the machine.

The mote chamber 2 is providedrwith the usual clean-out door 4| having any appropriate griding 42 to permit air equalization, and, in accordance with the usual operation of the machine, equipped with the present invention, a slight intake of air may occur at times, but an accumulation of air pressure within the mote chamber is not permitted and is insured against by the provision of a screen or grid 43 opening through the front wall of the machine into the port or passageway 32. This screening may consist of a fairly open mesh of Wire backed by an appropriate fabric which will allow air leakage to equalize air pressure without interfering with the air currents provided for as above set forth. The screen or grid 43 ispreferably arranged in the form of a door 44 appropriately hinged to the balance of the wall of the machine and designed to be opened for cleaning out purposes or other Work.

In the operation of a conventional picker, it frequently happens that the velocity of the air passing through the grid I1 incident to suction from drums 6 and 1 is sufficient to carry over a great deal of light foreign matter that ought to drop through the grid, and, to that end, the ogee plate I9 has heretofore been perforated to allow the entrance of a portion of the air and thereby reduce the velocity of the air passing between the grid bars I1; but in either instance or in both instances the air takes the path of least resistance to the screens, and as the entering cotton is, of course, subject to the force of gravity in the cus tomary operation of a conventional picker, the cotton tends to slide along over the bottom of the trunk 5. Such sliding movement is largely eliminated by the present invention.

Beater 3 in striking the incoming cotton between rolls 4 moves the same downward, and the air current past valve 34 moves the same upward the moment the beater has passed, so that there is a whipping action of the incoming cotton which is thereby reduced to a thin fringe from which the heavier matter, the foreign substance, is driven through the spaces between the grid bars l1, and only the light particles of cotton are driven on through the trunk 5. By having the valve 38 properly adjusted relative to the valves 34 and 28, air is introduced into the mote chamber under suflicient force to cause currents of air to move upward into the trunk both through the grid I1 and through the ogee plate I9, and to thereby lift the fiber and drive it into the path of the main current passing through the trunk incident to suction in the drums 6 and 1.

It should be understood that while the preferred location for the upper end of port 21 is shown, the air intake at this place may be located relative to the trunk and the screen drums at the point found lbest for any particular machine to insure the requisite uplift of the oncoming cotton or like fiber to prevent gravity deposit and collections thereof.

During the operation, as will be obvious from the drawings, all of the air discharged from the fan Il will find its way past the Valves 23, 34, and 38 except for a small quantity that may leak out of the system and that may escape through the grid 43. Therefore, by regulating the valves or dampers 28, 34, and 38 a very definite and positive control may be maintained over the air currents which convey the cotton from the point of release from the feed rolls to the screen drums, and a greater or less amount, as desired, may be passed through any of the various points at which air is introduced to the cotton.

It has heretofore been proposed to recirculate air within a picker, but in all previous applicaing dust with it and giving the machine the appearancefof leaking lint and clust.4 `There is al- Ways some leakagearound the flashings of the l screens and at other points of the picker, so that the fan will always discharge more air than it draws from the trunk, and, for that reason, in the proposed re-circulating systems the perforated clean-out door, like door 4l, has been covered and sealed in an effort to prevent leakage of dusty air, 4and seams have been caulked for the same purpose; but, according to the present invention, these precautions are not required. This difficulty is eliminated by virtue of the fact that the air discharged from the fan l l is confined wholly within substantially air-tight flues and can escape only into the mote chamber 2 as permitted by the damper or flap valve 38, which is regulated to prevent excess pressure in the said mote chamber'. To take care of the excess air which is drawn in by the fan from other sources than the trunk, the grid d3 is provided, and the said rid relieves excess pressure without affording such leakage as to cut down the pressure of the inflowing currents of air sufciently tointerfere with the e-ifective operation of the air in keeping the cotton flowing uniformly to and building in a uniform layer on the screen drums 6 and 1. lf the operator finds that pressure is building up in the picker above what is desired, it will mean that the grid i3 should be cleaned, which can be done by merely opening the door 44. It is; probable that the grid 43 normally will not release more than about two per cent. of the air pressure, but whatever the percentage may be, it is suiiicient to relieve excess pressure from the balance of the machine while assuring efficiency in the flow of the air streams required. It should be understood, of course, that the valve 38 may be closed sufficiently, when desired, to cut down on the intake from fan ll to the mote chamber 2, and this may be carried to the point where the suction from drums il and l will cause air to enter through the openings of clean-out door 4I. When that happens, the excess air escapes through the grid 43 and the requisite equalization or balance is maintained while preserving the action of the air streams in maintaining uniformity of deposit of fiber' on the drums. Of course, in an instance of that kind, the loss through the grid t3 is substantially greater than the two per cent. above mentioned; but, of course the operator has available the possibility of supplying the air beneath the grid I1 and ogee plate i9 either through the port 31 or through the ports in the clean-out door 4|, or any ratio from the two combined.

It will be obvious to those familiar with the art that the degree of evenness of the layer of ber collecting the rotatingl screen drums will be determinedby the fluffy condition of neness of the tufts'ofber being drawn against the screen and by the freedom of such tufts to find their way readily to the thinner-points of the layer on the screen. The instant that a portion of the screen is covered by a small quantity or thin layer o-fber, the suction or draft at that poi-nt is proportionally impeded, while those points not yet covered being open oer an accelerated draft. This tends to throw the fiber to the more exposed portions of the screen.' As the layer increases, the condition continues to obtain, and the velocity of air flow through the screen is always greatest where the layer is thinnest and less where it is thicker. Thus, a tendency to automatically evenly distribute over the screen occurs with the fiber, if the ber is free to respond to such tendency. The purpose, of course, can not be accomplished if the fiber is allowed to settle by gravity and collect at any one point or to be ,otherwise intercepted so as not to be entirely free to move to the place of greater suction. To accomplish this desirable movement, therefore, the fiber must be in a very finely divided condition and maintained constantly suspended in the air. Otherwise the tendency to accumulate by gravity into a mass creating a thick spot in the lap will result. The present invention makes it possible to keep the fiber perfectly suspended in the air and highly responsive to even very slight variations in the suction at different points so that the cotton ows readily in a perfect, continuous, uniform stream from the beater to the screen and ,I

does not accumulate on the bottom of the trunk o1' elsewhere, and does not create thick spots in the lap discharged between the rolls 8, 8.

f Also, it is well known to those familiar with the art that when a conventional picker not supplied with the present invention is stopped in its operation, the cotton fiber which has accumulated on the botto-m of the trunk gradually folds up against the screens and makes a thick streak across the lap which is followed by a. thin streak when the picker is started again. These thick and thin places of the lap are very objectionable and result in producing a certain amount of very light and a certain amount of very heavy card sliver. With the present invention, however, the

fiber is instantly spread on the screens and the stopping and starting of the picker has no observable or determinable effect on the thickness of the lap. This accomplishment is highly valuable and represents a useful improvement of substantial importance in the lapping of cotton for carding.

It will be plain from the foregoing that the source of compressed air for providing the streams of air past the valves 28 and 34, and even past the valve is in no sense a controlling factor, and

may be wholly independent of the machine, as, for example, a blower or compressor at some appropriate remote point supplying compressed air to a battery of machines. It will also be observed that the collection of ber on the screen drums S and "l is due to a difference in pressure between the interior and exterior of the drums, and this difference in pressure may be produced and maintained in any acceptable or appropriate manner otherwise than by the fan l l, though the use of that fan is controlled at present because it is a part of the organized mechanism already popularly in use. Where the source of compressed airy jet openingsorperforations 46 through which the 75,

air issues in streams that blend into a single stream of a velocity and size adapting it to accomplish the work according to its particular location. As seen in Figure 5, the pipe 45 is located adjacent the drum l. The other parts are identical with those above described and the same reference numerals have accordingly been applied. Oi course, the tube or pipe G5 is appropriately valved so as to vary and control the air supplied to give the required impulse and oating action to the ber to insure its uniform deposit on the screens.

What is claimed is:

1. In a lap-forming picker, the combination, with a beater, rotary screen drums, a mote cham'- ber, a housing for all of said parts including a trunk from the beater to the drum, of regulatable means for supplying independent air currents to the trunk from opposite sides of the mote chamber and to the inlet and discharge ends of the trunk.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 with means for equalizing the air pressure in the mote chamber.

3. In a lap-forming picker, the combination, with a beater, rotary screen drums spaced therefrom, a mote chamber beneath the beater, a housing enclosing the beater and drums, a foraminous partition between the beater and mote chamber, a suction fan communicating with the interior of the drums for rarefying the air therein, a passage adjacent the periphery of the drums at one side of the mote chamber for directing air from the fan across the space between the beater and the drums for floating ber approaching the drums and preventing gravity accumulation thereof, and a second passage at the other side of the mote chamber for leading the air streams to the intake of the beater and to the mote chamber and through the partition beneath the beater.

. 4. In a lap-forming picker, the combination with rotary screen drums, an elongated trunk leading to the drums, means for supplying brous material to the trunk, means for rarefying the air within the drums and blowing the fibrous material from the outlet end of the trunk toward the drums comprising a fan, a housing communieating with the drums for withdrawing air therefrom and including a passage leading to the intake end of the trunk and a separate passage means leading to the other end of the trunk adjacent to the periphery of the drums for blowing the fibrous material in a direction transversely of the trunk and tangent to the drums to prevent accumulation of the brous material as it approaches the drums.

ALFRED P. ALDRICH, JR.

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