US630022A - Grid-bar for cotton-openers. - Google Patents

Description

No. 630,022. Patented Aug. I, I899. A. T. ATHERTON.

GRID BAR FOR COTTON-OPENERS.

(Application filed May 5, 1899.)

- (No Model.)

Ira/ador- (JAM (I 4 m (71/ a JM QQWS @MI ABEL T. ATIIERTON, OF vVAItlVICK, RHODE ISLAND.

GRID-BAR FOR COTTON-OPENERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 630,022, dated August 1, 1899.

' Application filed May 5,1899. Serial No. 715,674. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, ABEL T. ATHERTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay Side, lVarwick, in the county of Kent and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grid-Bars for Cotton-Openers, 6150., of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved means of mounting and adjusting the grid-bars of cotton-openers and other like machines in order to meet the varied requirements of practice.

More in particular the aims of the invention are to provide a satisfactory and efficient means of enabling the distances between the respective grid-bars of a series to be varied independently of one another, the angle of the respective grid-bars to be altered independently with respect to the path of the beater, and the working edge of each of the respective grid-bars to be varied in its distance from the edge of the beater-blade. Various attempts have been made to provide suitable adjusting means for use in connection with the said grid-bars, and various arrangements have been tried in the endeavor to accomplish some of the ends above stated. The most of these, however, have been unsuccessful and have not gone into use, while so far as I am aware there is no satisfactory arrangement now in actual employment for adjusting the grid-bars of a cotton-opener or the like machine to secure the results which are mentioned above.

My invention consists in a simple and practical combination and construction which efficiently and conveniently attains the desired ends and has thus far given complete satisfaction.

The said invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated an embodiment of the same, after which the distinguishing features thereof will be particularly pointed out and distinctly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a sectional representation of part of a cotton-opener with the said embodiment of my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an isometric of one of the grid-bars detached with its blocks and ad justing-screws. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the parts which are represented in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 1 1 may designate devices for delivering the fibrous material to the opener, 2 the beater, and 3 3 the grid-bars. Any convenient manner of supporting the said grid-bars may be adopted in practice, so long as my invention, about to be described, is combined therewith. Herein I have shown a well-known form of support consisting of the slide 4:, the latter being applied and sustained in the machine in suitable and known manner, not needing to be shown or set forth herein. The said slide sustains the ends of the series of grid-bars at oneside of the machine, the arrangement of parts being duplicated at the other side of the machine. (Not shown.) The slide 4 is furnished with a flange at 5 to receive and support the end portions of the gridbars, the said end portions being suitably shaped. Sometimes in practice instead of shaping the integral ends of the grid-bars to fitthe flange 5 of the slide 4 and to receive the adjustingscrews, to which reference will shortly be made, as may be done if deemed advisable, I apply to the said ends the shaped blocks 6 (3, each resembling a short segment of a fiat annulus, as shown. Then these blocks are employed, they are fitted and secured in suitable manner upon reduced portions 7 7,formed at the ends of the grid-bars. (See more particularly Figs. 2 and 3.) By the term end portions, used in connection with the gridbars, I intend equally the said blocks 6 6, in case the same are employed, or the integral portions of the grid-bars, which are utilized for the same purposes when the said blocks are not employed. The outer curved surfaces 8 8 of the end portions of the grid-bars bear against the inner surface of the flange 5 of slide 4, the said inner surface being insubstantial concentricity with the axis of the beater 2. The lowest of the series of grid-bars usually has the lower surface 9 of its end portion arranged to rest against the shoulder 10 of the slide, the adjusting-screws which are applied to the other grid-bars of theseries usually being omitted from the said lowest grid-bar, although this is optional. Each of the remaining grid-bars of the series is spaced ICO from the one next below the same by means of the adjusting-screws which are applied to its own end portion. The said adjustingscrews are designated 11 12. There are two such adjusting-screws combined with each end portion of a grid-bar, the one, 11, being located near the outer edge of the grid-bar and the other, 12, being located near the inner edge thereof. In the drawings the said screws are shown located near the opposite ends of the block 6. The heads of the adjusting- .screws which are applied to the end portion end portions of the grid-bars, as at 1e 14, Fig.

3, are counterbored, as at 15 15, same figure,

" to receive the enlarged heads-of the adj usting- screws 11 and 12 when necessary in making adjustment.

As is understood by the practical cotton manufacturer, the spacing apart of the gridbars of a cotton-opener or the like machine requires to be varied to suit the character and qualities of the material being handled and to meet a considerable number of well-known circumstances and conditions. The distance between each grid-bar and the next adjoining one on either side requires to be adjusted to suit the particular conditions under which the work is being performed and varies with the position of the individual grid-bar in the series in use in a given machine. My invention enables the spacing to be adjusted to meet any and all of the usual requirements.

By separately adjusting the two screwsll and 12 as maybe found necessary each grid-bar may be set at any required angle with respect to the path of the beater. When by reason of occupying too acute an angle the grid-bars permit too much stock to escape through the spaces between them, my invention enables the grid-bars to be varied in their inclination by adjustment of the said two adjusting- screws 11 and 12 to render the angle of the respective grid-bars more obtuse until only leaf, seeds, and the like impurities shall pass off at the grid-bars. The leatier the stock that is being handled the nearer the edge of the grid-bar should be placed with reference to the path of the beater, so that the fiber may be more thoroughly cleaned; also, for short stock the edge of the grid-bar should be located nearer the path of the beater than for long stock. My invention enables the position ofthe inner edge of the grid-bars to be accommodated to the needs of the material being treated inthese latter respects, for it is obvious that the setting of either adjusting-screw to vary the angular or inclined position of the grid-bar causes the inner or working edge thereof to swing in the arc of a circle about the head of the other of the said adjusting-screws. This are will be secant to the circular path described by the beater-blade.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with the beater of a cotton-opener or the like machine, and a gridbar working in connection therewith, of the spacing and adjusting screws 11 and 12 applied to the end portion of the said grid-bar and projecting therefr01n,the heads of the said screws making contact with an adjacent object to position the grid-bar, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the beater of a cotton-opener or the like machine, and a series of grid-bars working in connection therewith, of pairs of adjusting- screws 11 and 12 applied to the end portions of the respective grid-bars and projecting therefrom, whereby to support and adjust the grid-bars relatively to one another and to the beater, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ABEL T. ATHERTON.

Witnesses:

OHAs. F. RANDALL, WM. A. MAcLEoD.

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