US2755512A

US2755512A - Bat type lint cleaner with resiliently mounted feed plate

Info

Publication number: US2755512A
Application number: US515290A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ennis E Moss
Original assignee: ENNIS E MOSS JR; HOYLE G MOSS
Current assignee: ENNIS E MOSS JR; HOYLE G MOSS; JAMES P MOSS
Priority date: 1955-06-14
Filing date: 1955-06-14
Publication date: 1956-07-24
Anticipated expiration: 1973-07-24

Description

y 1956 E. E. Moss 2,755,512

BAT TYPE LINT CLEANER WITH RESILIENTLY MOUNTED PLATE Filed June 14, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l x i/l, a

July 24, 1956 E. E. Moss 2,755,512

BAT TYPE LINT CLEANER WITH RESILIENTLY MOUNTED FEED PLATE Filed June 14, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 Uzi if J7 20 ll! O 7 Jig 5.

INVENTOR fifllm's'lfflkss ATTORNEYS BAT TYPE LINT CLEANER WITH RE'SILIENTLY MOUNTED FEED PLATE Ennis E. Moss, Lubbock, Tex, assignor of one-fourth to Ennis E. Moss, Jr., one-fourth to James P. Moss, and one-fourth to Hoyle G. Moss, Lubbock, Tex.

Application June 14, 1955, Serial No. 515,290

6 Claims. (Cl. 19-67) This invention relates to lint cleaners for ginned cotton, of that type in which the lint in the form of a bat passes sequentially between cooperating feed rolls by which it is drawn and thereby thinned, and passes between the face of a feed plate and a cooperating driven roll so as to be pulled out into a fringe by said driven roll, the fringed end of said bat being continuously fed into the bite of an adjacent toothed licker-in roll which carries the lint past suitable cleaning instrumentalities.

In apparatus of this type it is customary to mount resiliently the roll which is complementary to the face of the feed plate so that it will yield to let pass thick spots in the bat, otherwise the thick spots might hold the bat, causing it to be broken through the pull of the licker-in roll.

However, the said complementary roll also cooperates with at least one of the anterior feed rolls so that the self adjustment of the resiliently mounted complementary roll with respect to the adjacent face of the feed plate, is also accompanied by variation of the spacing between the complementary roll and the anterior feed roll, which variation may not be desirable.

The object of the present invention is to make the feed plate resiliently yieldable and not the complementary roll, for since the feed plate does not cooperate directly with the anterior feed rolls, adjustment of the feed plate does not afiect the positional relationship of the said complementary roll to the adjacent feed roll.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practical embodiment thereof appears.

the following specification, and throughout the figures of which the same reference characters have been employed to denote identical parts:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a lint cleaner embodying the principles of the invention, taken in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the lickerin roll, parts of the lint cleaner being omitted;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view, partly in section, showing the resilient mounting and adjusting mechanism at one end of the feed plate;

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of Figure 5 1s a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, showing the sliding support of the feed plate.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1 represents one side of the casing of a lint cleaner, in which casing the licker-in cylinder 2 is mounted, and above this the pair of cooperating feed rolls 3 and 4. While only one pair of feed rolls is shown, this may be the terminal member of a series of feed rolls leading from a hopper, not shown, or other cotton inlet, to which the lint is supplied without vehicle air. The function of the feed rolls is to form the cotton into a thin bat by compression and drawing and through the drawing opera- Patented July 24, 1956 tion, to an extent to comb the lint. The licker-in cylinder is clothed with oblique teeth 5, the points of which are directed in the direction of rotation of said cylinder.

Between the pair of rolls 3 and 4 and the licker-in cylinder, a unit is located that prepares the end of the bat into a fringe and feeds it into the bite of the lickeriu cylinder, the teeth of which snatch cotton fibers from the fringe of the bat and carry it in operative proximity to cleaning instrumentalities arranged adjacent the periphery of the licker-in cylinder, and then to dofling means. The cleaning instrumentalities are exemplified by the spaced mote bars 6, against which the cotton fibers carry it by the teeth, and standing out centrifugally, are brushed.

The fringe preparing unit consists of a feed plate 7 and a complementary feed roll 8. The feed plate has a smoothed curved face 9 which is substantially coaxial with the surface of the roll 8, excepting at the top where it flares with respect to the surface of said roll. The surface of the roll is preferably corrugated. The feed plate 7 is spaced a minimum distance from the complementary roll 8. The bat from the feed rolls 3 and 4 is fed into this space, one side of the bat being in sliding contact with the smooth face 9, while the other side which is in effect geared to the surface of the complementary roll, is positively drawn downward. This action results in the lower end of the bat being drawn extremely thin into what may be properly called a fringe, and it is this progressively formed fringe which is presented to the rapidly passing teeth of the licker-in cylinder. As a general rule, the speed of presentation of the fringe, the thinness of the fringe, the number of teeth and the peripheral speed of the licker-in cylinder are so correlated that each tooth carries only a few cotton fibers, this being in the interest of thorough cleaning. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the licker-in cylinder rotates toward the plate 7, the latter being formed with an under face 10 lying close to the licker-in cylinder for holding the cotton fibers down against their centrifugal tendency to fly out, until they become firmly attached to the teeth of the licker-in cylinder. In some cleaners the direction of rotation of the licker-in cylinder is away from the feed plate, in which case a diverting board (not shown) is arranged close to the teeth at the side of the complementary roll opposite to the feed plate, for accomplishing the same purpose.

It is essential that one of the walls of the passage between the feed plate and complementary roll be yieldable, for the bat is not of uniform thickness throughout, but affected with lumps which would create undue resistance to the progress of the bat through a passage of inflexible width, and cause the teeth to pull chunks from the fringe end of the bat. It is customary to provide this yield by resiliently mounting the complementary roll. Inasmuch as the latter roll also cooperates with at least one of the feed rolls anterior to it in feeding cotton to the plate 7, and adjustment of the roll 8 with respect to feed plate 7 also adjusts it with respect to the feed roll 4, or rather relative to the space between the rolls 3 and 4, which may not be desirable.

The present invention contemplates leaving the complementary roll on a fixed axis and providing for bat responsive variation in the width of the passage between the feed plate and complementary roll by resiliently mounting the feed plate.

Insofar as the feed plate and the means for mounting and adjusting it are concerned, identical structure is duplicated at both sides of the casing of the lint cleaner and at both ends of the feed plate, so that it has been necessary only to illustrate the structure at one side of the cleaner.

The opposite sides of the casing are provided with slots 11 at the same level on both sides, and extending inward so as to approach the axis of the complementary roll 8, being shown slightly below a horizontal plane embracing said axis. The opposite ends of the feed plate 7 have flat lugs 12 which project freely through said slots so that the feed plate is capable of being moved slidably toward or away from the complenetary roll 8. The outer ends of the lugs 12 have downwardly extending flanges i3 at their outer ends. Guide blocks 14 are rigidly mounted against the outside of the opposite walls of the casing by means of bolts 15 which screw into said casing. Each of the bolts, one of which is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, passes through a countersunk bore 16 opening on the inner face of the guide block, and containing a spring under compression which presses the casing and acts in the manner of a lock nut in keeping the bolt from becoming loose under vibration. The guide blocks 14 are located adjacent the closed or inner end of the slots 11. Each has its inner upper face substantially flush with the lowe. face of the corresponding lugs 12, and with its outer face which embraces the outer end of said lug extending to a higher level. A longitudinal channel 17 is formed in the upper face of each guide block, for the purpose of receiving the flange 13. The outer end wall 18 of the guide block is formed with a slot 1h therethrough, through which the flange 13 moves when the feed plate is moved forward. T he channel 17 is somewhat deeper than the slot 19, so that the end wall 18 closes the lower part of said channel. A ball 24) occupies the bottom portion of said channel, being of such size as to extend slightly above the level of the bottom of the slot 19, but being imprisoned in said channel by the end wall 18, the flange 13 of the lug 12 rides upon this ball. The rearward wall 21 of the guide block is or" suilicient height to embrace the lug 12. An adjusting stud 22 passes through the upper portion of said rear wall so as to be in abutment with the rear face of the lug 12 when the feed plate is moved inward, forming a limit stop to determine the minimum spacing between the feed plate and the complementary roll 8.

A pair of supporting plates 23 are adjustably secured on the inside of the opposite walls of the casing, being fastened by bolts 24 passing through vertical slots in the supporting plates and being secured into the casing on opposite sides of the slots 11. Said supporting plates have inwardly extending upper and lower rms 25, each of which is bored to receive a guide rod 26, said guide rods being pinned rigidly within said arms by the pins or screws 27. The guide rods freely extend within bores 28 in the feed plate, but terminate short of the bottoms of said bores so as to allow reciprocable movement in both directions between said guide rods and the feed plate. The feed plate is provided with connterbores Z9 coaxial with the bores 23 and opening in the outer face of said feed plate. Coil springs 3 surround the guide rods and extend within said counterbores. They are in compression between the shoulders 31 at the bottoms of said counterbores. and the arms 25, and their expansion is resisted by the adiusting studs 22.

The bolt and slot connections between the supporting plates 23 and the walls of the casing, permit the feed plate to be adjust-ed vertically, this adjustment increasing or decreasing the width of the space between the teeth of the liclrer-in cylinder and the under face of the feed plate and at the same time narrowing progressively the width of the space between the feed plate the complementary roll 8 in a downward direction. This adiustment is extremely useful in determining the narrowing of the bat in its final stage of completion, and in consequence, the degree of thinness of the fringe. The stud screw controls the minimum width of the space between the feed plate and the complementary roll. The feed plate floats upon the springs 3%, so that when a lump in the bat begins to squeeze in the space between the feed plate and complementary roll, the feed plate recedes, widening the space, and preventing the lump from momentarily immobilizing the bat so that its lower end would be torn oil by the teeth of the licker-in cylinder. The ballbearing mounting of the feed plate on the outside of the casing prevents the bearing from becoming clogged with lint or dust, and makes the feed plate freely responsive to relatively slight pressure exerted by inequalities in the thickness of the bat.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a specific means for resiliently mounting and adjusting the feed plate with respect to the complementary roll, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the details of construction and the arrangement of parts are by way of example and not to be construed as limiting the scopeof the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a lint cleaner for ginned cotton of the type comprising a toothed cylinder, means for feeding a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint cleaning means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, in such a lint cleaner, means for presenting the bat to said cylinder comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll, positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, spaced apart to form a bat passage, said complementary feed roll being on a fixed axis and means yieldably mounting said feed plate to vary the width of the said bat passage responsive to pressure exerted betwen the walls of said passage.

2. In a lint cleaner for ginned cotton of the type comprising a toothed cylinder, means for feeding a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint cleaning means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, in such a lint cleaner, means for presenting the bat to said cylinder comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, spaced apart to form a bat passage, a feed roll anterior to said bat presenting means cooperating with said complementary roll in spaced relation thereto forming therewith an anterior bat passage, said complementary roll being on a fixed axis, and means yieldably mounting said feed plate to vary the Width of the bat passage between said plate and complementary roll responsive to pressure exerted between the walls of said last named passage.

3. In a lint cleaner for ginned cotton of the type comprising a toothed cylinder, means for feeding a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint clea hmg means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, in such a lint cleaner, means for presenting the bat to said cylinder comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll, positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, said plate having a smooth face confronting said complementary roll throughout a substantial arcuate area of the latter, spaced therefrom to form a bat passage, a feed roll anterior to said bat presenting means cooperating with said complementary roll in spaced relation thereto forming therewith an anterior bat passage, said complementary roll being on a fixed axis, and means yieldably mounting said feed plate to vary the width of the bat passage between said plate and complementary roll responsive to pressure exerted between the walls of said last named passage.

4. Lint cleaner comprising a casing having opposite side walls, a toothed cylinder within said casing between said side walls, means for presenting a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint cleaning means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, said bat presenting means comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll, positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, said plate having a face confronting said complementary roll throughout a substantial arcuate area of the latter, spaced therefrom to form a bat passage, said complementary roll being on a fixed axis, said feed plate having end extensions passing through slots in said side walls, said extensions having downwardly directed flanges at their ends forming slides, guide blocks on said casing having guide channels receiving said slides, antifriction bearings within said channels upon which said flanges rest, supporting said feed plate, spring supports on said side walls, springs carried thereby in compression between said supports and said feed plate biasing it toward said complementary roll, and stop means on said lint cleaner engaged by said feed plate for establishing a minimum width of bat passage between said plate and complementary roll.

5. Lint cleaner comprising a casing having opposite side walls, a toothed cylinder within said casing between said side walls, means for presenting a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint cleaning means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, said bat presenting means comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll, positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, said plate having a face confronting said complementary roll throughout a substantial arcuate area of the latter, spaced therefrom to form a bat passage, said complementary roll being on a fixed axis, said feed plate having end extensions passing through slots in said side walls so directed as to allow translation of said feed plate toward or away from said complementary roll, spring supports on said side walls, springs carried thereby in compression between said supports and said feed plate biasing it toward said complementary roll, and stop means on said lint cleaner engaged by said feed plate for establishing a minimum width of bat passage between said plate and complementary roll.

6. Lint cleaner comprising a casing having opposite side walls, a toothed cylinder within said casing between said side walls, means for presenting a thin bat of cotton endwise to the bite of said toothed cylinder whereby the bat is progressively disintegrated through the abstraction of fibers by said cylinder, and lint cleaning means in operative proximity to the periphery of said cylinder, said bat presenting means comprising a feed plate and a complementary feed roll, positioned adjacent the periphery of said cylinder in the upper arc of its path of rotation, said plate having a face confronting said complementary roll throughout a substantial arcuate area of the latter, spaced therefrom to form a bat passage, said complementary roll being on a fixed axis, said feed plate having end extensions passing through slots in said side walls so directed as to allow translation of said feed plate toward or away from said complementary roll, spring supports on said side walls, guide rods carried thereby, said feed plate on the side remote from said complementary roll being formed with bores registering with said guide rods, springs about said guide rods extending within said bores in compression between said spring supports and said feed plate biasing said feed plate toward said complementary roll, and stop means on said lint cleaner engaged by said feed plate for establishing a minimum width of bat passage between said plate and complementary roll.

References (Iited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,128,130 Farrar Aug, 23, 1938 2,667,665 Gray Feb. 2, 1954 2,704,862 Moss Mar. 29, 1955