US311097A - Cotton-opener - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. .T. ATHERTON.

COTTON. OPENER.

No. 311.097. Patented Jan. 20, 1885.

Wit, esJ' e a N. FETER$ Phblo-Lilhogruphor. Washinglon. 01 c.

'NETED STATES A'IENT Fries.

COTTON-OPENER.

ZEPESIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,097 dated January 20, 1885.

Application filed May 7, 1884. (No model.)

invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gotton-Openers,of which the following is a specification.

What I have in view is a machine which shall be adapted to bring that kind of cotton waste known as roving waste and card waste back into condition to be worked over again, as ordinary cotton is. The conditions essential to the attainment of this result are that the waste shall be thoroughly opened,and that the fiber or staple shall not be injured or broken. These conditions are not fulfilled in any machine heretofore in use of which I have knowledge. The ordinary opener-as, for instance, the Vhitehead & Atherton whipperbeater-while it does not break orinjure the cotton fiber or staple,does not thoroughly and efficiently open the waste above referred to, which in its original state is more or less matted, and in the case of roving waste is twisted and in the shape of strands. On the other hand,what are known as scratchers or shoddy-pickers? open waste, but at the same time break and injure the fiber or staple to such an extent as to unfit it to be worked over as ordinary cotton staple; consequently the machines last named are, so far as I am aware, in practice used only for operating on tightly-twisted waste, such as thread or cop waste, and cotton rags and the like,which are to be made up into batting and similar products in which length and strength of staple are not essential.

In other cotton opening machines it has been proposed to employ teeth of conical or frusto'conical shape 5 but of such teeth the conical have had a length of about six times their diameter at the base, thus making them long, sharp, and slim,with a taper so gradual as to unfit them for use for the purpose which I have in view, and the frusto-conical ones have tapered so very little as to be in effect I merely ordinary shoddy-picker teeth of somewhat exaggerated size. Moreover, in any case within my knowledge in which it has been proposed to use such teeth, they have been employed in conj unetion with stationary teeth of like character fixed to the interior of the der. D is the apron in which is placed the waste case in which the toothed cylinder revolved, the effect of which would be to break and tear the staple, besides clogging the machine and causing the accumulation on the stationary teeth, as well as the revolving cylinder, of hardened masses, by the striking together of which frictional heat would be generated sufficient at times to set the machine on fire.

I have found by careful and long-continued experiment that I can attain the object I have in view by the employment, in conjunction 'staple, for the comparatively abrupt taper of the teeth permits the waste to slip off from them as they meet it at the feed-rolls. Their action is not a tearing action but a combing'ac ti0n,and they combine in themselves the good qualities of both the scratcher and the ordinary opener, without the defects inherent in either.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented a cotton-opener embodying my invention'in its preferred form.

Figure l is a side elevation of the opener. Fig. 2 'is a perspective view of a portion of one of the toothed plates with which the cylinder is armed. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the plate.

A is the frame or casing, provided at the delivery end, as customary,with collecting-cyL inders E, (indicated by dotted lines,) which form the cotton into a sheet as it comes from the beater. B is the opener or beater-cylin- O are the fluted or ribbed feed-rolls, and

which is to be supplied to the feed-rolls. The cylindrical casing A, in which the beater-cylinder B revolves, is on its inner face free from any teeth to co-operate with those inthe cylinder, and, indeed, from any other obstruction the effect of which would be to afford the U of spiders secured to the axle 00.

staple opportunity to lodge and accumulate in masses or bunches.

The cylinder is revolved by power applied in any usual manner to its axle 00, and the feed-rolls are driven at proper speed from the aXle of the cylinder through the intermediary of gearing which, as its arrangement is well known to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, I have omitted from the drawings. One convenient form is shown in United States Patent No. 11,826. Other known forms can be used with equally good effect.

The teeth with which the rotating openingcylinder is armed are lettered a. They are of conical form, and have bases which are broad as compared with their height, so that they taper uniformly, but somewhat abruptly, from base to point. In practice I make them about an inch in height and seven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter at the base, and this shape I find productive, on the whole, of the best result, although I'do not desire to be understood as restricting myself to the precise proportions above stated.

The teeth, which are steel, are not held in lagging, as are the ordinary slim and comparatively-sharp teeth of scratchers or shoddypickers; but I prefer to cast them in one with a base-plate, b, as shown. In practice I put about three rows of teeth on each plate, arranging the teeth in quineunX order and put ting them about as near together as their bases will permit. The cylinder itself is composed The toothed plates are secured in place on the spiders at suitable distance apart from one another, and, together with intervening sheet-iron plates, 0, which fill up the interval between the plates and have their edges fitted into grooves in the adjoining edges of the plates, constitute the periphery of the cylinder. The sheet iron plates are employed so as to cover the spaces between the toothed plates, and thus prevent cotton from entering and gathering in the interior of the cylinder. I here remark that I do not claim this feature, inasmuch as it is the subject of Letters Patent No. 146,795, dated January 27, 1874. The ends or heads of the opening-cylinder are also closed.

The arrangement of parts is such that when the opening-cylinder is in revolution the teeth a pass in closs proximity to the feed-rolls, coming in contact with the cotton waste as it is fed along between the rolls.

The action of the teeth has been above eX- plained, and need not be further described here. It is sufficicnt to say that the teeth, by reason of their shape, do not catch hold of and drag along with them the strands, nor tear nor break the fiber or staple, but they comb off from the mass presented to them by the feed-rolls the fiber or staple without injuring or breaking it, and thus bring it to condition in which it can readily be worked over again, just as ordinary cotton is worked.

An advantage arising from the fact that the Waste will not stick to the teeth of my opener is that danger from fire, due to accumulation of waste on the teeth, is obviated. This is a serious diificulty encountered in the use of scratchers or shoddy-pickers. In these lastnamed machines the waste catches on and sticks to the sharp teeth, and gradually accumulates into amass, whichis carried around with the rapidly-revolving cylinder, and in the end frequently takes fire by reason of the frictional heat generated by its continually striking against the feed-rolls,and the absence of teeth or other obstructions on the interior of the casing in which the cylinder revolves prevents any accumulation therein of masses of staple and the danger of fire or of injury to the staple consequent thereon.

Having now described my improvement and the best way known to me of carrying the same into effect, what I claim as'new and of my own invention is In a machine for opening cotton waste, the combination, with the feed-rolls and the easing for the opening-cylinder, having its interior free from teeth or other obstructions, as described, of a rotary opening-cylinder armed with broad based abruptly tapering teeth having substantially the shape and characteristics hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of March, A. D. 1884.

. ABEL T. ATHERTON. 'Witnesses:

FRANK CoBURN, A. F. CALL.

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