US902227A - Cotton-picking finger. - Google Patents

Description

T. J. GRAY.

COTTON PIGKING FINGER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6,1908.

902,227., Patented Oct. 27, 1908 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

T. J. GRAY. COTTON PIGKING FINGER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE-6,1908.

- Patented Oct. 27, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

THOMAS J. GRAY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY E. BULLOCK AND JAMES E. BULLOCK, BOTH OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

COTTON-PICKING FINGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 27, 1908.

Application filed June 6, 1908. Serial No. 437,136.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Cotton-Picking Fingers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in cotton picking fingers and is fully described and explained in the specification and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is an elevation of my improved cotton-picking finger; Fig. 2 is a similar elevation showing the outer shell in a different position; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the outer shell removed; Fig. 4: is a vertical diametrical section through the outer shell; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section in the line 5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical diametrical section through the lower portion of the finger; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the barb member is constructed; and Fig. 8 is an elevation of the completed barb member.

Referring to the drawings, A is a shaft preferably of smaller diameter at its lower end than at its upper end, a shoulder a being formed at the upper end of the reduced lower portion of the shaft. A circular block B is driven up from the lower end of the shaft tothe shoulder a, the said block being fast upon the shaft and being hollowed out on its lower face to form a ball-race b. A barrel C surrounds the lower end of the shaft A and the said barrel carries a cone 0 at its upper end, confining between itself and the ball-race Z) a series of balls and the barrel carries at its lower end a ball-race which cooperates with a cone 0 screwed upon the shaft A to confine a second series of balls. It will be obvious that by this construction the barrel may be fixed in position in a cotton-picker column, and that the shaft A and the block B thereto secured will be very freely rotatable. It will alsobe evident that the bearing construction is such that the balls are substantially protected from the access of dirt and dust, with the result that the moving parts are given unusual freedom from wear. When the barrel is thus fixed in position, the shaft may be rotated by any desired means such as are in common use in cotton-picking machines. These devices are of such common andvarious construction that I have not seen fit to illustrate any particular construction in the drawings, it being understood merely that in practice the barrel C is fixed in position in the column and the shaft is rotated either continuously or intermittently, usually in termittently, in the ordinary way.

A barb member D surrounds the upper portion of the shaft A. The barb member is stamped from sheet metal, the blank from which it is constructed being shown in Fig. 7. The barb member comprises a series of oppositely-stamped, centrally-disposed, semicylindrical yokes d which fit and surround the upper portion of the shaft A. From these yokes project radial webs d at the outer ends of which are other webs extending in opposite directions from the two radial webs, said webs being indicated in the drawings by (Z and being in cross-section arc-shaped. The arc-shaped webs d are provided with sharp barbs d along their edges, these barbs extending in opposite directions with respect to the radial webs and consequently in the same rotary direction with respect to the circle of the shaft A. The barb member D is prevented from rotation with respect to the shaft A by means of gears 03 at its lower end, which engage with a groove cut transversely of the upper surface of the block B.

A sleeve E is slipped over the upper end of the shaft A and the barb member D, the lower end of said sleeve fitting a slightly reduced portion at the upper end of the block B to make a substantially dust-proof joint. The sleeve E is of larger diameter than the greatest width of the barb member and it is provided with two diametricallyopposite grooves e stamped inward, the inner portions of the grooves being closer together than the greatest width of the barb member. The grooves c are longitudinally slotted on their corresponding faces for the passage of the barbs d as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5. The sleeve E is capable of a limited oscillation about its axis and is held against longitudinal movement by a cap F slipped over the end of the shaft A and riveted in place, said cap having a reduced end f entering the end of the sleeve to center the same.

The operation of my improved finger is as follows: Under normal conditions, while engaged in picking the cotton, the shaft is rotated in such a directionas to keep the barbs (Z moving forward. The sleeve E will naturally engage with the material upon which the picker is working and its rotation will be retarded so that the barbs will pass through their respective slots, the parts taking the position shown in Fig. 1. The points of the barbs will thus be exposed and will operate to engage the cotton and pick it in the ordinary way. After the finger has moved out of the bush and the rotation of the shaft has been stopped for the stripping process, the upward movement of the cotton along the finger will cause a working action to take place between the barbs and the opposing face of the grooves 0 so as to rotate the sleeve forward positively. This rotation of the sleeve will strip the cotton automatically from all the barbs, leaving it free to be moved longitudinally of the finger readily and simply. Thus, the first longitudinal movement of any of the cotton engaged by the finger will disengage the remainder of the cotton from the barbs, so as to make its stripping extremely simple and easy. The moment the finger is set in rotation in the usual way and introduced again into the bush for picking purposes, the friction upon the sleeve will return it, causing the barbs to project in position to perform another picking operation.

It will thus be observed that I have a finger which lends itself particularly to the stripping action, which is simple, which can be very cheaply constructed after the necessary' tools are made in the first instance, which has a substantially dust-proof antifriction bearing and which in every way fulfils the practical requirements of a successful and practicable cotton-picking finger.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of construction of my improved device, without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not intend therefore, to limit myself to the specific formv herein shown and described.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a rotatable shaft having barbs to engage the cotton, of a sleeve perforated for the passage of the barbs and surrounding the shaft, said sleeve having a surface opposed to the barbs between which and the barbs the cotton will wedge when moved longitudinally, whereby a longitudinal strain exerted upon the cotton will rotate the sleeve to positively strip the cotton from the barbs.

2. The combination with a rotatable shaft having barbs to engage the cotton, of a sleeve surrounding the shaft, said sleeve having a groove perforated along one side for passage of the barbs, said sleeve being rotatable with respect to said shaft, whereby, when the cotton is moved longitudinally with respect to the shaft, it will wedge against the opposite side of the groove from the barbs and rotate the sleeve to positively strip the cotton from the barbs.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a rotatable shaft, of a sheet-metal web extending longitudinally of the shaft, oppositely-stamped yokes formed from the body of said web and surrounding the shaft, barbs turned at an angle to said web, and a sleeve surrounding the shaft and having a groove oneside of which is perforated for the passage of the barbs.

l. The combination with a rotatable shaft, of a sheet-metal web having oppositelystamped yokes surrounding the shaft and non-rotatable with respect thereto, oppositely-turned barbs along the edges of the web, and a sheet-metal sleeve having inwardly-stamped grooves on its opposite side,

the corresponding faces of the grooves being perforated for the passage of the barbs.

5. The combination with a rotatable shaft, of a sheet-metal. web extending longitudinally thereof and provided with barbs, of a block rigid upon the shaft near one end, locking means between said web and block to cause the web to rotate with the block as motion is imparted to the latter, and a sleeve surrounding the shaft and body-portion of the web.

6. The combination with a rotatable shaft, of a barb-carrying member, a block provided with a reduced portion and rigid upon said shaft near one of its ends, a sleeve surrounding the shaft and provided with perforations to receive the barbs, one of the ends of the sleeve surrounding said reduced portion, and a cap provided with a reduced portion and surrounding the shaft at one end, the re duced portion being adapted to enter the sleeve at one end and the cap adapted to be held in position by the shaft.

7. The combination with a rotatable shaft, of a tapered sheet-metal web extending longitudinally thereof and provided with barbs and with oppositely stamped .yokes surrounding the shaft, and provided also with projections at one end thereof, of a block, rigidly fixed upon the shaft near one end and provided with slots adapted to receive saidprojections, said block having also a re duced portion, of a tapered sleeve surrounding the shaft and web and provided with perforations to' receive said barbs, and a cap onone end of the shaft having a reduced portion, said sleeve being adapted to surround the reduced portions of the block and cap at its large and small ends respectively.

. THOMAS J. GRAY.

In presence of H. D. HAMMOND, A. H. BROWN.

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