US3251095A - Fiber handling method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

May l7, 1966 R. A. CADENHEAD FIBER HANDLING METHOD AND APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 6, 1965 IN VEN TOR. a 7. owls 40, BY 5.%

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May 17, 1966 R. A. CADENHEAD FIBER HANDLING METHOD AND APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 6, 1963 INVENTOR.

1966 R. A. CADENHEAD 3,251,095

FIBER HANDLING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed May 6, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VENTOR. ay 7. mom/ 1990,

3,251 095 FIBER HANDLING METIIOD AND APPARATUS Roy A. Cadenhead, La Grange, Ga., assignor to Callaway Mills Company, La Grange, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Filed May 6, 1963, Ser. No. 278,069 9 Claims. (Cl. 19-80) This invention relates to methods and apparatus for opening bales of cotton and the like. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus for the plucking and blending of the contents from such bales.

Cotton fibers normally are baled after they are removed from the cotton seeds by a ginning operation. In a typical installation, the fibers pass from the gin in an air stream to a rotating condenser located above the bailing apparatus. The condenser separates the fibers from the air stream and allows them to drop downwardly into the charging box of the bailing press. The charging box is rectangular in horizontal cross section and has a length substantially greater than its width. Tamping means usually are employed to compact successive layers of the fibers deposited in the charging box.

After the desired amount of cotton has been placed in the charging box, the box is moved from beneath the chute leading from the condenser,. and hydraulic pressing equipment acting either from the top or the bottom of the box compresses the cotton to a vertical dimension substantially less than the length of the charging box. When the cotton is fully compressed, bands are applied to completethe baling operation.

In a bale formed in this manner the cotton is disposed in a plurality of layers or strata extending lengthwise of the bale. These layers, formed as a result of the tamping operation, have some strength and integrity characteristics,-and in some respects they may be con:

sidered separate sheets of material. Moreover, the grade or quality of the cotton may vary from layer t layer within a bale.

When a bale of cotton reaches a textile mill, it is necessary to remove the cotton fibers for further proc essing. A conventional procedure is to remove the bands or ties from the bale and then strip off manually several layers of the fibers at a time for delivery to a bale breaker which serves to break up the layers to some extent and place the cotton in the form of small bunches of fibers.

This conventional procedure has two major disadvantages. On the one hand, the labor involved in manually transferring the layers of cotton from the bales to the bale breakers represents an unnecessary expense. On the other hand, the layer to layer variations in the grade or quality of the cotton from a given bale persists to a substantial degree in the output from the bale breaking apparatus.

The labor problem attributable to the conventional procedure has been recognized heretofore, and some proposals have been advanced for mechanically removing cotton fibers directly from cotton bales. However, ditficulties have been experienced particularly in connection with fiber damage due to rough handling.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for opening bales of cotton without injuring the fibers and for blending the fibers from the several layers or strata of the individual bales.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide apparatus for removing cotton from a longitudinal or.

butt end of a bale insuch manner as to achieve a desirable blending effect.

' United States Patent It is another object of the invention to provide bale plucking apparatus capable of being operated with a minimum expenditure of power.

Yet another object of theinvention is to provide apparatus for gently plucking fibers from a bale without tearing or curling the fiber According to a preferred embodiment of my invention, I provide an apparatus for supporting a longitudinal or butt end of a cotton bale whereby certain of the bale layers are caused to sag relative to other bale layers. These sagging, relatively free, layers are acted upon by plucker fingers of my inventive apparatus, which function to gently pluck small tufts of cotton from the sagging layers. The plucker fingers cooperate with doffing and conveyor means to deliver these cotton tufts for subsequent treatment.

This preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a left side elevation of a bale plucker of the present invention;

.FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the bale FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a right side elevation of the bale plucker of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken along line 4-4 in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view of the movement of cotton down through an operating zone of the bale plucker of FIGURE 1.

Referring in more detail to FIGURE 1, the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises an elongated housing 1 having bale retaining slats 2 and 3 (FIG. 2)

- and supporting legs 4. The housing 1 is adapted to receive in its open upper end a longitudinal or butt end 6 of a bale B having layers 8. The bale is supported in said housing 1 by bale supports or lifters generally designated as 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, and 10-5. Each bale lifter 10-1, etc., is rotatably mounted on side members 12 of the housing 1 by pillow blocks 14 connected thereto.

Asshown in FIGURE 3, a plurality of sprockets 16-1, 16-2, 16-3, 16-4, and 16-5 are mounted on end portions of the bale lifters 10-1, etc. The sprockets 16-1, 16-3, and 16-4 are fixedly attached by set screws or the like (not shown) to their respective bale lifters in driving relation thereto, but sprockets 16-2 and 16-5 are mounted on their respective bale lifters for rotary movement relative thereto so as to function merely as idlers. A drive chain 18 is trained over the various sprockets 16-1, etc., in a serpentine manner and is operatively connected to a sprocket 20 which is fixedly mounted on a shaft 21 supported on the housing 1 by pillow blocks 22.

The other end of the shaft 21 has fixed thereto a pulley 24 (FIGURE 1) which is connected by a belt 26 to a pulley 28 fixed on a shaft 30 supported on the housing legs 4 by pillow blocks 32. Fixedly mounted on the other end of shaft 30 is a drive pulley 34 which is connected by a belt 36 to a motor pulley 38 (FIGURE 2) operatively associated with a motor 40.

The ends of bale lifters 10-1, 10-2, 10-4, and 10-5 shown in FIGURE 1 have sprockets 40-1, 40-2, 40-4, and 40-5 fixed thereto. It will be noted that bale lifter 10-3 has no such sprocket. Two drive chains 42 drivingly connect'sprockets 40-1 to 40-2, and 40-4 to 40-5, respectively. In this manner, the bale lifter 10-1 is drivingly connected to the lifter 10-2, and the lifter 10-4 is connected to the lifter 10-5. Since the sprockets 16-2 and 16-5 are rotatably mounted on the lifters 10-2 and 10-5, they function merely as idlers. When the drive pulley is rotated ina clockwise direction, as shown in FIGURE 3, the illustrated driving arrangement causes Patented May 17, 1966v plucker of v the bale lifters -1, 10-2 and 10-3 to rotate in a clockwise direction and the bale lifters 10-4 and 10-5 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction. This alternate rotation of the bale lifters is of significance in that it helps in keeping the bale B centered in the housing 1 during the plucking operation.-

Mounted beneath the bale lifters 10-1, etc. are bale beaters or pluckers, generally designated as 50-1, 50-2, 50-3, 50-4 and 50-5. These pluckers are rotatably mounted on the side members 12 of the housing 1 by pillow blocks 51. Fixedly mounted on one end of the bale pluckers 50-1, etc. are sprockets 52-1, 52-2, 52-3, 52-4 and 52-5 which function to drive the respective pluckers on which they are mounted. A chain 54 is directed in a serpentine manner over sprocket 52-1, under sprocket 52-2, over sprocket 52-3, under sprocket 52-4 and around sprocket 52-5. Also fixedly mounted on bale plucker 50-5 adjacent to sprocket 52-5 is a second sprocket 56 connected by a chain 58 to a sprocket 60 mounted on the drive shaft 21. When the drive pulley 34 is rotated in a clockwise direction as shown in FIGURE 3, the bale pluckers'50-1, 50-3, and 50-5 will rotate in a clockwise direction, while the bale pluckers 50-2 and 50-4 will rotate in a counterclockwise direction.

The bale plucker drive chain 54 is also directed around a chain tension adjustment sprocket 62. Sprocket 62 is fixedly mounted on shaft 64 which is connected to the housing legs 4 by pillow blocks 66. Pillow blocks 66 are adjustably mounted on the housing legs 4 by threaded bolt means to facilitate adjustment of the chain tension.

Beneath the bale pluckers 50-1, etc. are doffer brushes generally designated as 70-1, 70-2, 70-3, 70-4, and 70-5. The doffer brushes 70-1, etc. are rotatably mounted on a side member 71 of the housing 1 by pillow blocks 72. Each doffer brush 70-1, etc. is provided with a sprocket 72-1, 72-2, 72-3, 72-4 (not shown), and 72-5 on one end thereof and a drive chain 74 is directed in a serpentine manner about said sprockets so that dofier brushes 70-1, 70-3, and 70-5,-as viewed in FIGURE 3, are caused to rotate in a counterclockwise direction while doffer brushes 70-2 and 70-4 are caused to rotate in a clockwise direction. It will be seen that each doffer brush 70-1, etc. rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the bale plucker 50-1, etc. immediately above it. Chain 74 is directed about a chain tension adjustment sprocket 76 which is mounted on a bracket 77 for vertical adjustment.

To provide a drive for the various doffer brushes 7 0-1, etc. in the above described manner, brush 7 0-4 is further provided with a sprocket 78 (FIGURE 2) fixedly mounted thereon adjacent sprocket 72-4. A chain 80 is directed about sprocket 78 and a sprocket 82 fixed on the shaft 30.

Referring to FIGURES l and 3, it will be seen that the bale B having layers 8 is supported by bale lifters 10-1, etc., so that the layers run vertically. It is assumed that, prior to the commencement of the plucking operation, all of the bale bands have been removed from the bale except those located at elevations not yet within the confines of the housing 1.

Referring to FIGURES 4 and 5 in detail, the bale lifters 10-1, etc. each comprise an elliptical portion 83 fixedly mounted on a shaft 84, said portion 83 having reduced bale contact surfaces 85 and flat surfaces 86. The bale lifters function to support the bale B and the various layers 8 thereof when the particular bale lifter 10-1, etc. is in the horizontal position presenting the fiat surface 86 in contacting relationship with the bale. However, upon rotation of the bale lifter so that reduced contact surface 85 contacts the bale, the adjacent layers 8 of the bale tend to separate and sag downwardly relative to the bale lifter under the influence of the weight of the bale. It will be appreciated that the magnitude of such layer sagging is a function of the lifter contact surface, the bale weight, the compressed state of the friction between the layers, and the unsupported distance between lifters.

The elliptical portions 83 of the adjacent ones of the bale lifters 10-1, etc. preferably are out of phase with each other. As shown in the drawings for example, the bale lifter 10-1 is about 90 out of phase with the bale lifter 10-2, so that a narrow contact surface of the bale lifter 10-1 and a wide contact surface 86 of the bale lifter 10-2 face upwardly at about the same time. As the elliptical portion 83 of one bale lifter 10-1 rotates to bring the long axis of the ellipse toward a vertical position, the surface area available for contacting the bale is reduced and the layers 8 in the bale B tend to separate and slip downwardly on opposite sides of the bale lifter 10-1. During the same time period, the long axis of the elliptical portion 83 of the adjacent bale lifter 10-2 will be swinging from a vertical position toward a horizontal position, so that the narrow face 85 thereof will be moving closer to the axis of rotation of the bale lifter 10-1. As the face 85 moves in this manner, it exerts a lateral pressing action on the layers 8 of material from the bale to control the downward feeding action. Thus, it will be seen that rapidly rotating the bale lifters in this manner causes an agitation or vibration of uniform amplitude of the lower surface of the bale and the sagging portion of the bale between the adjacent bale lifters 10-1 and 10-2 swings laterally somewhat, as suggested in FIGURE 4.

Each of the bale pluckers 50-1, etc. includes an elliptical portion 88 fixedly mounted on a shaft 89. The elliptical portion 88 is provided with plucker teeth or fingers 90 that are inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation of the bale plucker. As shown, the angle between the axis of each finger 90 and a radial line extending from the axis of rotation of the bale plucker on which it is mounted is about thirty degrees. As the layers 80f the bale B sag due to rotation of bale lifters 10-1, etc. into the path of a rotating plucker, fibers will be plucked therefrom by the plucker fingers 90. The inclination of the plucker fingers 90 so as to lead in the direction of rotation causes small tufts of cotton to be plucked, rather than torn, from the endof the bale with a minimum of curling or injury to the fibers. Since the relative size of each tuft is small, the efficiency of subsequently used cleaning equipment is enhanced. Moreover, the power requirements for the bale opening operations are minimized by reason of the fact that the fibers are plucked from a sagging, relatively free, end portion of the bale rather than from a face thereof.

The tufts impaled upon the fingers 90 are carried away from the bale as the bale pluckers rotate downwardly. The doffer brushes 70-1, etc., which include bristles 92 removably attached thereto by bolts 93, act to sweep the tufts off the fingers 90 onto a power driven conveyor 94. Due to the transmission arrangement, each doffer brush 70-1, etc. is rotated at three times the speed of the particular plucker 50-1, etc. immediately thereabove. This increased brush speed assures effective removal of the fibers and also serves to produce a fan effect.

It should be observed that the cotton falling onto the conveyor 94 during any given time interval will be cotton taken from different portions of the bale B. While the bale plucker 50-1 is removing fibers from a zone located near one face of the bale, the bale plucker 50-5 is removing fibers from a zone located near the opposite face of the bale. These fibers taken from different zones are deposited together on the conveyor 94 to provide a desirable blending effect.

In a typical commercial installation, the conveyor 94 will extend beneath a plurality of the bale plucking machines illustrated in the drawings and it will receive cotton from a number of bales. Hence, the present invention makes it possible not only to obtain a blending action with respect to fibers taken from different layers of a single bale, but also to obtain a blending action with respect to fibers from different bales.

As a bale is partially fed through the plucker another bale may be placed directly on top of the partially plucked first bale and the plucking operation maintained in a continuous manner. No interruption is required for introduction of a fresh bale to be plucked after a first bale has been opened.

Although a single embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, various modifications and alterations will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art. It is intended therefore that the foregoing be considered as exemplary only and that the scope of the invention be ascertained from the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bale plucker comprising an elongated housing adapted to receive and hold a bale with the longitudinal axis thereof in a vertical position, a plurality of elongated non-circular bale supporting and lifting means rotatably mounted in said housing for rotation about their longitudinal axes for supporting and lifting portions of the end of said bale, a plurality of plucker means rotatably mounted in said housing below said bale supporting and lifting means for rotation about axes parallel to the axes of said bale supporting and lifting means, and drive means for rotating said supporting and lifting means and said plucker means whereby the contents of said bale may be plucked from a longitudinal end thereof.

2. A bale plucker comprising an elongated housing adapted to receive and hold a bale .with the longitudinal axis thereof in a vertical position, a plurality of bale supporting and lifting means rotatably mounted in said housing for rotation about longitudinal axes and adapted to contact, support, and lift portions of the butt end of said bale, a plurality of bale plucker means rotatably mounted in said housing subjacent said supporting and lifting means, each of said supporting and lifting means having its longitudinal axis in the same vertical plane as one of said bale plucker means, and drive means for rotating said supporting and lifting means and said plucker means.

3. A bale plucker comprising an elongated housing, a plurality of elongated bale end supporting and lifting means each disposed parallel to each other and rotatably mounted in said housing and having an elliptical form in cross section, said plurality of supporting and lifting means being adapted to contact, support and lift portions of the butt end of a bale, a plurality of bale plucker means each disposed along parallel longitudinal axes and rotatably mounted in said housing subjacent said plurality of supporting and lifting means, plurality of said supporting and lifting means having their longitudinal axes disposed parallel to the longitudinal axes of said plurality of plucker means, drive means operatively connected to said supporting means and lifting means and to said plucker means to rotate certain of said plurality of supporting and lifting means in an opposite direction to the remainder of said plurality and to rotate adjacent ones of said plurality of plucker means in an opposite direction relative to each other.

4. A bale plucker according to claim 3 having a plurality of rotatably mounted dolfer brush means rotatably mounted in said housing subjacent said plurality of plucker means, said drive means also functioning to rotate adjacent ones of said plurality of said dofier brush means in opposite directions relative to each other whereby said doffer brush means doff fibers from said plucker means.

5. Apparatus for opening cotton bales of the type in which a plurality of compacted layers of cotton extend lengthwise of the bale, said apparatus comprising a frame, means on said frame forming a chamber for receiving an end portion of a bale and holding the bale in an upright position, a plurality of spaced apart supports having elongated portions of generally elliptic-a1 cross section extending across the bottom of said chamber in a direction generally parallel to said layers in the bale and being mounted and extending generally parallel to said supports, each of said pluckers having two rows of teeth projecting from .the opposite sides thereof with the free ends of said teeth being inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation of said pluckers, rotatable doffer means beneath said pluckers, a conveyor beneath said doffer means mounted for movement in a direction at right angles to the axis of said pluckers, and means for driving said supports, said pluckers, and said dolfer means.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein the elliptical portions of adjacent ones of said supports are out of phase with each other.

7. A method of plucking cotton from a bale of compressed fibres wherein the bale incidentally includes juxtaposed parallel layers comprising the steps of positioning said bale with said layers disposed substantially vertically and in longitudinal planes, supporting said bale from the bottom thereof at a plurality of spaced port-ions parallel to said layers, agitating the bottom of said bale to dislodge and move by gravity elongated longitudinal bottom portions of said bale between the supportedportions and plucking tufts of cotton from the dislodged elongated longitudinal bottom portions with a movement generally normal to said dislodged elongated longitudinal bottom portions.

8. A method of plucking fibres from a bale of compressed fibres wherein the bale incidentally includes juxtaposed parallel layers of fibres comprising the steps of positioning said bale with said layers disposed in substantially vertical longitudinal planes, supporting spaced longitudinal bottom portions of said bale, agitating said bale for causing a longitudinal bottom portion of said bale between the supported longitudinal portions of said bale to sag beneath the plane of the supported longitudinal portions, and thereafter engaging from below the plane of the supported longitudinal portions increments of the longitudinal side of the sagged portion from a direction transverse thereto for progressively plucking therefrom tufts of said fibres.

9. In a bale plucker of the type wherein a bale of fibres is supported in a chamber by a plurality of spaced supports disposed in a horizontal plane parallel to each other and extending in a given direction and wherein means is provided for vibrating said bale, the combination therewith of a plurality of plucker means moved in rotary paths about axes extending in said given direction and disposed parallel to and below said supports for respectively engaging from the sides of those portions of the bale which may sag between said supports for plucking therefrom tufts of fibres.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,040,387 6/1962 Jee 19--81 3,101,513 8/1963 Wildbolz 1980 FOREIGN PATENTS 838,793 6/1960 Great Britain. 121,365 4/1958 Russia.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

D. NEWTON, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A BALE PLUCKER COMPRISING AN ELONGATED HOUSING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AND HOLD A BALE WITH THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS THEREOF IN A VERTICAL POSITION, A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED NON-CIRCULAR BALE SUPPORTING AND LIFTING MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING FOR ROTATION ABOUT THEIR LONGITUDINAL AXES FOR SUPPORTING AND LIFTING PORTIONS OF THE END OF SAID BALE, A PLURALITY OF PLUCKER MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING BELOW SAID BALE SUPPORTING AND LIFTING MEANS FOR ROTATION ABOUT AXES PARALLEL TO THE AXES OF SAID BALE SUPPORTING AND LIFTING MEANS, AND DRIVE MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID SUPPORTING AND LIFTING MEANS AND SAID PLUCKER MEANS WHEREBY THE CONTENTS OF SAID BALE MAY BE PLUCKED FROM A LONGITUDINAL END THEREOF.

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