US2269085A - Cleaning condensable fiber - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 6, 1942.

e. CVMORGAN CLEANING CONDENSABLE FIBER s Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb, 16, 1940 INVENTOR v esomas c. MORGAN WV Z ATTORzEl s Jan. 6, 1942. G. c. MORGAN I CLEANING CONDENSABLE FIBER s Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 16, 1940 INVENTOR 6FOR6E c. MGR (an/v ATTORNEYS Jan. 6, 1942.

G; c. MCVJRGAN 2,269,085

CLEANING CONDENSABLE FIBER Filed Feb. 16, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ()VVENTOR EORGE C. MORGAN W ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STAT George 0. Morgan, Birmingham, Ala., assignor to Continental Gin Company, a corporation of Delaware Application February 16, 1940, Serial No. 319,193

7 11 Claims. ((119-156) My invention relates to an improved manner of cleaning and condensing fibrous material, such as cotton, by so depositing the lint, which term I hereinafter use as comprehensive of the various fibrous materials to which my invention is applicable, along with the dirt and foreign matter therein, that the latter will tend to free itself in an unusually eifective manner from the lint and pass off through the condenser screen while the cleaned lint is discharged in bat form.

My object therefore is to obtain an improved grade of clean high grade lint without undue increase in the cost of producing it'.

It is generally to be contemplated that the lint will be delivered to the condenser by an air-current which may be induced in the gin or linit preparing machine but which may be created by suction.

In the case of such air borne lint it has heretofore been considered necessary to deposit it gently of cleaning the lint, while in the process of being collected into bat form or otherwise; that I propose \to repeat the operation as many times as maybe needed by providing/one or more means, each adapted to strip the deposited lint bat from the drum and again'project it forcibly against the cleaned drum surface; until the cleaned product reaches the delivery rolls and passes off. A variety of means will be used to strip and redeposin; the lint andas all re-treatments will loosen up and disintegrate the bat so as to separate it into loose lint particles and the reverse of such general practice in that, as

one feature of my invention, I propose to so design the air duct, bearing the lint to the drum, that its cross sectional area decreases towards the drum, thereby accelerating the air flow until on reaching the drum the lint will be deposited at high velocity over a relatively narrow transverse zone or arc of its moving screen surface. It follows that the particles of dirt and foreign matter traveling with the lint and having less volume and more weight, will have greater inertia than the lint at the point of contact with the drum screen and will therefore tend tojforce v their way more readily through the screen and also through the accumulating layer or bat of lint on the drum. Thus by inducing a high velocity impact of the lint and dirt against the screen I obtain a definite and important cleaning action which improves the grade and1I do not find that this advantage is offset to any appreciable extent; byan increase in the per-. centage of lint in the waste.

I desire to cover this method of high velocity deposit of lint and dirt on the drum, whether by control of air currents or by any other agency, and when I refer to a drum I mean to include any screen or foraminous element having constant movement relative tothe lint delivery means.

-50 important do I consider-this novelmethod foreign matter before its redeposit, it will be apparent that I will obtain a very efficient cleaning of the lint and a marked improvement in its a m l l v The "lint stripping and redepositing agencies are preferably associated with the same collector drum upon which the lint is initially deposited, and due to reduced area ofdeposit required by my method, the required number of such retreating agencies can be assembled over no greater are of the drum surface than has heretofore been devoted to the collection of the lint by lowvelocity deposit thereof. I

' My invention contemplates that these retreatment agencies'may be purely mechanical or they may operate by means of air currents induced positively or by suction and if desired regulable with respect'to all or each of such agencies, or I may employ both mechanicaland pneumatic agencies for the retreatment of the lint bat, but in all cases I prefer to use means that will strip the bat cleanly from the moving-drum screen and forcibly propel the stripped lint back again on the cleanedscreen so that the heavier foreign matter will have repeated opportunities while suspended with the segregated lint to make its escape from the lint and pass off with the waste. V U" 'My present invention is not particularly concemed with thetype of moving screen used for the collection of the lint, nor With the manner of producing relaltivernovement between such screen andthe lint delivery and re-treating agencies, my full object being attained in its broader sense where the lint is deposited for c'ol lection on a screen surface having movement relative to theline' of approach to the lint so as constantly to present afresh and clean screen quality of fiber or lint is produced; 1

may be carried on in respect of lint as produced in any individual gin for cotton or other fibers; or it may be put into use in connection with what is termed a battery condenser into which the lint and foreign matter from the several gins.

is delivered through a manifold system by any suitable means or medium. In the latter case it is preferable that a manifold suction collection system is employed with a fan disposed in the suction line so that it functions in the manner well understood to break apart and open up the fiber. masses, as they reach it, so as to present the lint and its accompanying foreign matter in best condition for the cleaning and condensing treatment contemplated in my present invention.

Without therefore limiting myself to the details of construction shown, my invention will be found typically embodied in the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the specification that follows, but its scope will be commensurate with the language of the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates in plan view a portion of a battery of linter gins having a manifold lint collection system with a suction fan interposed to deliver the combined lint from the several linter gins of any type to a battery condenser from which, the cleaned lint passes in bath form to a tramper or like agency, while the foreign matter and such lint as may escape with it from the condenser passes to and is separated in a centrifugal separator.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1 through the battery condenserwith mechanical agencies ,4

associated with the pneumatic means for strippingand redepositing the lint on the moving surface of the condenser drum.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view corresponding to, Fig. 2, in which the mechanical agencies employed are rolls covered with card clothing and associated with dofiing brushes which propel the doffed fibers. again and again upon a clean surface of the traveling condenserscreen.

Fig, 4 is a perspective view showing also in cross section, similar to Figs. 2 and 3, a combination of mechanical and pneumatic agencies for dofiing and depositing by regulated air currents the stripped lint to carry out the cleaning operation contemplated in my present invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view corresponding to Figs. 2 and 3 in which pneumatic means are employed to strip and forcibly redeposit the lint bat initially collected on the drum screen to effect the l e-cleaning treatments, the stripper jets being arranged within the partition chambers in the drum.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the apparatus selected for a typical embodiment of my invention I show a battery of linter gins- 5 having individual condensers 6 comprising rotary screen drums upon which the lint is deposited in bat form l, the air and some entrained dirt and trash being carried off from each gin condenser by a lateral pipe 8 leading to a suction manifold 9 containing a suction fan ID, by means of which the air and entrained matter is delivered through the duct II tangentially into the centrifugal separator I2. The bat I is withdrawn from each drum screen by means of a suction pipe l3 entering a manifold suction line [4 containing a blower fan I5, by means of which the lint, masses are broken up and loosened so that the fiber and any entrained foreign matter is delivered through duct I6 and nozzle I-l into my improved type of battery condenser C.

The suction pipes l3 may remove the lint bat from the condensers in the manner described in apending application, Serial No. 239,182, filed in the name of Algernon L. Smith, or it is within the contemplation of my invention that the lint bat may be delivered by any suitable means from the gin condenser to the lint manifold pipe I4, or the individual gin condensers 6 may be entirely eliminated and the lint and accompanying foreign matter delivered directly from the gin into the lint manifold I l. The lint and accompanying foreign matter passes through the pipe I6 into the laterally widened and vertically contracted nozzle I! which is designed to accelerate the rate of air flow and to deposit the lint through narrow transverse inlet port i8 (Fig. 2) directly against the clean screen surface IQ of the battery condenser.

The screen surface l9 preferably forms the periphery of the condenser drum which, in the manner well understood in this art, is provided with internal tracks 20 which ride upon internal supporting rollers 2| and the internal gears 22, which latter mesh in internal toothed rack 23 mounted adjacent to each head 24 of they drum. The gears 22 are driven by any suitable means (not shown) so as to produce a continuous motion of the screen [9 across the path of the airand lint entering through the nozzle I1 and inlet port l8. The drum as a whole is suitably supported by a frame 25 and the drum heads are shaped, or designed to form end closures for a dirt and air collecting chamber within the drum.

While this dirt and air collecting chamber may,

take many different forms, I show it as comprising a central spiral chamber 26 formed in part by a baffle wall 21 merging tangentially into its under-surface and extending to the inner'surface drum where it carries a sealing wiper strip 28 disposed substantially in line with the bottom edge of the port l8 and which prevents the leakage of air within the drum into the chamber 26. A baffle 29 from the top of the curved wall 30 defining the chamber 26 carries a wiper strip 3| engaging theinner surface of the drum screen opposite the bat roller 32 which has its trunnions mounted for adjustment toward. and from the drum in the s10ts33-of the frame 24.

A housing 34 serves to enclose that are of the drum lying between the bottom of the port [8' and the left hand side of the bat roller 32, this housing'having wipers or other means to seal the side joints and prevent air leakage into oroutof the housing endwise of the drum.

As shown in Fig. 2, this housing is fluted so as to provide three successive treatment chambers, each containing a spiked or slatted doffer roll designated 35, 36 and 31 to distinguishthem. Both of these rolls and the screen drum turn clockwise, all being driven by any suitable mechanism, which for the purpose of simplicity is eliminated from the showing. The action of roll.35 is to, strip the lint that has been deposited in bat form on the drum by the. action of the screen drum depositing the lint thereon and nozzle H! which forces the lint bearing air current radially against the rising clean drum screen surface. This doffed lint is carried up and over and, due to the shape of the adjacent housing wall 38, it will be turned over, opened up and again forcibly deposited upon the surface of the drum screen that has been cleaned by the action of the roll 35, and thus the bat is reformed again on the screen drum and the same process is repeated by the rollers 36 and 31, thus causing the initial bat to be stripped, adjusted, agitated, opened up, inverted and forcibly impelled again against a clean screen surface. A wiper 39 seals the point between the casing and the bat roller 32, and the bat after its final redeposit on the drum by the roll 31 is compressed by the bat roller and discharged into the tramper or other point of use. i

. It will be noted that the chamber 26 is provided with an axially disposed outlet port 40 which, in the contemplation of my invention, will customarily be connected to the suction line 4| leading also tangentially into the centrifugal separator l2. Baflies are arranged between the walls 21 and 29 so as to provide the desired control of the suction action from chamber 26 upon the interior surface of the drum and to enable the air currents with entrained foreign matter, dirt and some lint that escapes through the screen to enter tangentially into the spiral chamber 26, wherein a vortex whirl is set up possessing sufiicient inertia to prevent the creation of eddy currents within the drum and to prevent short circuiting of the air from the drum toward the end outlet 40. This feature is not specifically claimed in my present application as it forms the subject matter of my companion application, Serial No. 239,182.

As shown, the initial baflie opposite the roll 35 has an under wall 42 which converges toward the baflie 21 and at its inner end coincident with the peripheral plane of the chamber 26 it is joined to a divergent bafile 43 which is connected at its outer end to an arcuate wall 44 which blanks off that segment of the drum lying between the lower level of the chamber for roll 35 and a point just beyond said roll, and said baflles extend the full length of the drum. A curved baffle 45 has its under edge spaced from the bafiie 43 so as to leave an air inlet port here, and at its upper end it joins a straight baflle wall 46 which is tangent to and forms a peripheral section of the wall of chamber 26. This leaves an inlet port 41 just beyond the roll 35 and a delivery nozzle 48 which opens tangentially into the chamber 26. Opposite the roll 31 I provide a curved baflle wall 49 terminating at its left hand end in a wall 50 leading inwardly and carrying a section of the peripheral wall of chamber 26. The walls 46 and 50 are spaced to provide a passage having an inlet port-52 and a contracted tangential nozzle 53. At the right hand end of the baffle 49 I provide an inturned short baffle 54 spaced so as to leave the drum screen unblanked between the rolls 3! and 32 and provides a relatively wide intake port 55 through which air enters tangentially along the baflle wall 29 and through the nozzle 56.

The apparatus as thus far described will cause the lint bearing air current to'impinge radially at high velocity against a contracted area or segment of the drum lying immediately opposite the relatively narrow inlet port l8, and the air current will tend in part to pass through the carrying with it a large percentage of the heavier more dense foreign matter which will have attained a. much higher inertia than that of the relatively light lint. This inertia of the fast moving particles will tend to enable them to force their way through the thin bat as it initially forms on the rising drum surface but of course as the bat thickens it acts somewhat in the nature of a filter to catch some of this dirt and foreign matter on its outer surface. The air that will not find its way freely through the screen drum into the chamber 26 will pass upwardly through the housing 34 and establish itself around the re-treatment rolls 35, 36 and 31 and over the exposed surfaces of the drum screen lying opposite the ports 41, 52 and 55. At the same time a negative pressure, due to the presence of suction in chamber 26, will be exerted through the tangential inlet passages 56, 46, and the main inlet passage lying between the walls 21 and 42. The first roller will strip the drum clean, breaking up the bat and carrying it over through an arc in excess of 180 and causing the air and lint to be impelled again forcibly and radially against the cleaned drum overlying the port 41, where the suction and velocity ofmovement will again act to remove much of the remaining heavier andhigh inertia foreign matter in the lint and thus further clean the hat. The same treatment occurs again by reason of the action of the roll 36 and of the roll 31 and all of the dirt and air and such portion of the lint that makes its escape through the unblanked surfaces of the drum will all be caused to flow at increased velocity and tangentially into the repeatedly opened up and forcibly redeposited in the presence of suction on the same drum screen will have been repeatedly cleaned and will reach the bat roller as a greatly improved high quality product.

In Fig. 3 I show the same general arrangement of parts with the exception that in place of the dofiing rolls 35, 36 and 31, I employ rollers 51, 58 and 59 which are covered with card clothing 60 and disposed and adapted to strip the lint bare from the drum and present it in position to be dofied by their respective dofiing rollers 6| which are arranged opposite outwardly arcuate portions 62 of the housing 34a which otherwise conforms tohousing 34 already described.

The action of the rollers 51, 58 and 59 and their respective doifing brushes 6| is substantially that as already described, except that here the bat is more completely broken up and opened out and the force of its impact. against the screen drum is determined by the peripheral speed of the dofiing brushes and the positive and negative air pressure on opposite sides of the drum screen.

In Fig. 4 I show diagrammatically a modification of the housing 342; in which it is shaped to form air ducts 63 opening through nozzles 64 formed in the housing so that the air currents will act to strip the lint in the manner well understood in this art from the adjacent rollers 65, 66 and 61. Valves 68 are provided on each of the pipes 63, supplying air to their respective nozzles 64, so that their air velocity can be controlled as well as its volumetric flow through these nozzles.

This permits the use of positive air pressure through the pipe 63 alone, or negative pressure within the screen drum alone, or the combined effect of positive and negative pressures on opposite sides of the screen drum.

With an apparatus as shown in Fig. 4, the lint can be initially deposited by a mechanical agency alone against the screen drum aheadof the roll 65, or. such agencies can work in conjunction with negative. pressure within the screen drum.

In Fig. I show apneumatic means for stripping and redepositing the lint bat on the drum in lieuof the mechanical agencies illustrated in the preceding views. As shown in Fig. 5 only two retreatments of the lint bat are contemplated. The

lintdeposited on the screen lilopposite the inlet port l8 will pass through a relatively restricted neck it into the housing 3% whichis provided withsubstantially semi-circular passages I I and I2 defined between the outer curved wall of the housing and an inner curved baffle 13'. This bafil'e for the passage ll sets closely over the screen surface with its lower edge lying in line with the upper edge of an air jet 15 leading from a pipe '15 within one of the bafiled chambers in the drum. This jetof air will strike and blow the lint batoif the drum surface, causing it to travel through the arcuate passage 7! and to be forcibly. redeposited upon the cleaned surface of the screen over the suction passage 11 which leads tangentially inwardly into the suction chamber 25. Within the baffle defining the upper wall of the passage llis a second pipe 78 delivering an air. jet by nozzle lil againstthe drum screen adjacent to the baffie l3'for the passage 12, and this air jet will again lift the bat, which has collected on the drum between the baffles 13, and

again redeposit it on the screen over the suction intake to the passage 89 leading tangentially into the suction chamber 23.

With this pneumatic apparatus the bat is first forcibly deposited on the screen, is then blown off by jet '15 while the screen traverses the passage H; is forcibly redeposited on the screen opposite the suction passage fl, is again blown off by the nozzle 19 and forcibly redeposited on the clean surface of the screen while making its traverse over the suction passage 86 to the bat roller 32 which condenses the bat in form for discharge.

It will of course be understood that while I have shown my apparatus designed to produce as many as three re-treatments of the lint bat initially deposited on a condenser drum, one or more of such treatments may be used as conditions require.

While I have shown my invention in several forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of var ous other changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An improvement in the art of cleaning and collecting fibrous material, which consists in alternately forcibly depositing the fibrous material and accompanying foreign matter upon a single moving clean foraminous collecting surface, stripping it therefrom and forcibly redepositing it thereon a plurality of times to clean the fiber before discharging it.

2. The herein described process for cleaning fibrous material while collecting it on a moving pervious surface, which consists in repeatedly propelling the fibrous material against a clean portion of said'surface, and repeatedly stripping itcleanly from said surface before finally removing'it.

3. The herein described process for cleaning andcondensing air-borne lint'containing foreign matter, which consists in initially. projecting the lint and foreign matter by means of a high velocity air current against a restricted area on a moving collecting surfacetopass the foreignmatter therethrough, stripping said surface of the collectedv lint, againforcibly projecting the stripped lint against a cleaned area of said collecting surface in the presence of an air current therethrough withdrawing the foreign matter passing through the collecting surface, and finally discharging the cleaned condensed lint in bat form.

4. The herein described process for cleaning fibers while collecting them into bat form, which consists in forcibly depositing the fibers on a moving pervious collecting surface to pass foreign matter mixed therewith through the collecting surface, and stripping and redepositing the fibers on the same collecting surface in the presencev of an air current traversing said collecting surface to pass through the collector any remaining foreign matter.

5. In combination, a pervious lint collector, means to deliver lint and accompanying foreign matter forcibly against said collector to pass the foreign matter therethrough; andmeans spaced about the collector to remove the lint from, and forcibly redeposit it upon said collector thereby to subject the lint to a plurality of cleaning operations.

6. In combination, a pervious lint collector, means to deliver lint and accompanying foreign matter forcibly against said collector to pass the foreign matter therethrough, means to clean the lint by causing its removal from, and its forcible redeposit upon, said collector, means to withdraw the foreign matter passing through the collector, and means to move the collector so as to present a clean collecting surface to receive several deposits of lint thereon.

7. In combination, a pervious lint collector, means to deliver lint and accompanying foreign matter forcibly-against said collector to pass the foreign matter therethrough, and mechanical means spaced about the collector to clean the lint by removing it from, and forcibly redepositing it upon, said collector.

8; In combination, a pervious lint collector, means to deliver lint and accompanying foreign matter forcibly againstsaid collector to pass the foreign matter therethrough, and pneumatic means to further clean the lint by removing it from, and forcibly redepositing it upon, said collector.

9. In combination, a pervious" lint collector, means to deliver lint and accompanying foreign matter forcibly against said collector to pass the foreign matter therethrough, and combined mechanical and pneumatic means to clean the lint by removing: it and any remaining foreign matter from, and forcibly redepositing them upon said collector.

10. In combination, a delivery duct for a lint bearing air current, a moving pervious lint collector which traverses said air current and collects the lint initially thereon, a sequence of agencies common to' said collector acting successively on the lint to strip it from, and forcibly to carry. off the dirt and foreign matter passingr 2,269,085 5 through the collector, and means to discharge cessively on thelint to strip it from, open it up,

the cleaned lint from the collector. and forcibly redeposit it on said collector to pass 11. In combination, a delivery duct for a lint foreign matter mixed therewith through the bearing air current, a moving pervious lint 001- collector, means to carry off the dirt and foreign lector which traverses said air current and 001- r matter passing through the collector, and means lects the lint initially thereon, a sequence of to discharge the cleaned lint from the collector.

agencies common to said collector acting suc- I GEORGE C. MORGAN.

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