Safety bar cutoff and brake

An emergency actuator bar extends across an opening in the housing of a lint cleaner in a cotton gin. Actuator arms which hold the bar also normally hold a trip plate in the run position. However, a workman striking the emergency bar will remove a sear on one of the actuator arms from the trip plate to permit a spring to snap the trip plate into a stop position. When the trip plate moves to the stop position, it disconnects electrical power to a motor driving the machine. The trip plate movement also applies a brake which stops the machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
(1) Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to lint cleaners and more particularly to an 
emergency safety bar and brake for a lint cleaner. 
(2) Description of the Prior Art 
Lint cleaners are well-known machines for cotton gins. For example, see 
JAMES L. HORN'S U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,111 for a lint cleaner. 
Typically, these machines will have a large diameter condenser drum upon 
which lint cotton in an air stream is impinged. A batt is formed upon the 
drum which is doffed by doffing rollers. From the doffing rollers, the 
batt is fed through directional rollers to a saw cylinder where the 
cleaning process occurs. 
It is customary to have an opening for inspection and maintenance 
operations at the point where the batt moves from the doffing rollers to 
the directional rollers. Because of the nature of the process, workmen 
will often open an access door over the opening to inspect, maintain, and 
clean the machine while the machine is in full operation. Obviously, it is 
possible to get the hand engaged with the rollers, which can result in 
serious injury. The initial engagement is normally not serious, but if the 
hand is drawn with the batt deep into the machine, serious injury will 
result. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
(1) New and Different Function 
I have invented an emergency safety bar and brake to stop the machine 
quickly upon tripping the stop. Interviews with persons who have been 
caught in this type machinery say that normally the placement of the 
safety bar is not critical inasmuch as people, caught in machinery will be 
pushing against everything on the front of the machine trying to pull away 
from it. This is an instinctive action and not a pre-planned action. With 
this particular machinery, there is time between the instant that a 
workman is caught and before serious injury occurs to stop the machine, if 
it is stopped very quickly. Therefore, my invention does two things: (1) 
immediately cuts the power to the motor driving the rolls, and (2) applies 
a brake to transmission elements which transmit the power from the motor 
to the feed rolls, inasmuch as there is considerable momentum to the 
moving elements. Therefore, it is possible to stop the machine before 
serious injury is done to the workman. 
Thus, it may be seen that the total function of the safety stop and brake 
far exceeds the sum of the function of the individual elements such as 
springs, pitmans, levers, etc. 
(2) Objects of this Invention 
An object of this invention is to prevent injuries to workmen. 
Further objects are to achieve the above with a device that is sturdy, 
compact, durable, lightweight, simple, safe, efficient, versatile, 
ecologically compatible, energy conserving, and reliable, yet inexpensive 
and easy to manufacture, install, adjust, operate and maintain. 
Other objects are to achieve the above with a method that is versatile, 
ecologically compatible, energy conserving, rapid, efficient, and 
inexpensive, and does not require highly skilled people to install, 
adjust, operate, and maintain. 
The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects, uses, and 
advantages thereof, will clearly appear from the following description and 
from the accompanying drawing, the different views of which are not scale 
drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring particularly to the drawing there may be seen illustrated a lint 
cleaner 10. The lint cleaner has frame 12 having two sides. The frame 
supports the various bearings which in turn supports feed rollers 14 as 
well as doffing roller 16. Also supported by the frame is the saw cylinder 
which is not shown in the drawing. The feed roller 14, doffing roller 16, 
and saw cylinder are all journaled by bearings for rotation. The cylinders 
or rollers extend from one side of the frame to the other with each roller 
being journaled to a bearing mounted on one side of the frame and 
journaled in another bearing mounted on the other side of the frame. 
Generally the lint cleaner 10 would be found in a cotton gin. However, it 
is of the general category of textile equipment. Textile mills have 
equipment having feed rollers quite similar to feed rollers 14. 
Housing 18 covers the rotating rollers within the machine. Opening 20 in 
the housing 18 is adjacent to the feed rollers 14 and doffing roller 16. 
Access door 22 partially covers the opening 20, when closed. 
Electric motor 24 is mounted upon the frame 12 at one end. It is connected 
by transmission means 26 to the rollers for revolving the rollers. 
Those having ordinary skill in the textile machinery arts will recognize 
that the specific description of the lint cleaner to this point, is 
conventional and commercially available on the market. 
According to my invention actuator arm 30 is pivoted to the frame 12 on 
each side of the frame. At least one actuator bar 32 extends from the 
actuator arm 30 on one side of the machine to the actuator arm 30 on the 
other side of the machine. As may be seen in the drawing, actually two 
actuator bars are used, however, according to the particular design, 
either one bar could be used particularly if it were much wider than the 
circular bar as shown. According to the present design and drawings, the 
bars are shown in front of the opening 20. However, as discussed above, it 
is not necessary that they be directly in front of the opening 20, but 
merely at the opening. 
Trip plate 34 is pivoted to the one side of the frame 12. As a detail of 
construction, the trip plate 34 is pivoted by shaft 76 to mounting plate 
29 which depends from angle member 28. The axis of the pivot (shaft 76) of 
the trip plate 34 is parallel to the axis of the pivot 44 of the arms 30. 
The trip plate 34 will have two positions. One being a run position and 
the other being a stop position. Helical tension trip spring 36 is 
attached between the trip plate 34 and frame 12. The trip spring 36 biases 
the trip plate 34 to the stop position. 
One of the actuator arms 30 extends downward to adjacent the trip plate 34 
and has sear 38 thereon. The sear 38 fits within notch 40 upon the trip 
plate 34 when the trip plate is in the run position. Helical tension 
actuator spring 42 is attached between the actuator arm 30 and the frame 
12. It holds or biases the sear 38 into the notch 40. It may be seen in 
the drawings according to present design that the pivot point 44 of the 
actuator arm 30 is between the actuator bar 32 and the sear 38. The pivot 
point 44 is between the arm 30 and angle member 28 which is attached, as 
by welding, to frame 12. Also, it may be seen that the sear 38 is outboard 
of the trip plate 34 and that the actuator bars 32 are outboard of the 
opening 20. Therefore, when the bars 32 are pushed inward toward the 
rollers 14 and 16 (as would be the normal reaction of a workman if his 
hand or clothing were caught within the rollers) the sear 38 will be 
removed from notch 40 allowing the trip spring 36 to rotate the trip plate 
34 to the stop position. 
It may be seen that the drawings are drawn with the trip plate 34 in the 
run position and that the trip plate will rotate clock-wise as seen in the 
drawings to the stop position. After the trip plate 34 is in the stop 
position, it can be reset by rotating it back to the run position by reset 
lever 46 attached to the trip plate 34. It may be seen that above the 
notch 40 there is located a reset finger 48 to catch the sear 38 when the 
trip plate 34 is being reset to the run position. 
Electric switch 50 having switch arm 52 thereon is attached to the frame 12 
adjacent to the trip plate 34. When the trip plate 34 is in run position, 
switch flange 54 upon the trip plate bears against the switch arm 52 which 
maintains the switch in run position. The switch 50 is connected by 
electric wires 55 to the electric motor 24 so that if the switch arm 52 is 
not depressed by the trip plate 34 through the flange 54 the motor is in 
an inoperative condition and will be stopped. I.e., when the trip plate 34 
rotates to the stop position, the electric motor 24 will be stopped. 
A brake assembly, including a caliper-type disc brake 56 is mounted upon 
the frame 12. As seen in the drawing, the actuator arms 30 and the trip 
plate 34 are pivoted to the frame 12 near the front of the frame while the 
disc brake 56 is located near the rear of the frame. The disc brake 56 
acts upon disc 58 which is attached to one of the rotatable portions of 
the transmission means 26 whereby the rollers 14 and 16 are rotated. The 
disc brake 56 includes brake arm 60 which actuates the brake. As seen in 
the drawing, when the brake arm 60 is rotated clockwise, it will apply the 
brake. Brake pitman 62 extends from the brake arm 60 to depending rocker 
arm 64 upon rocker shaft 66. Brake pitman 62, arm 64 and rocker shaft 66 
are all portions of the brake assembly as is upright rocker arm 68. 
Helical tension brake spring 70 extends from the depending rocker arm 64 to 
the frame 12. As may be seen in the drawing the brake spring 70 will bias 
the brake to the brake position. I.e., unless the depending rocker arm 64 
is not held in the run position, the brake spring 70 will pull the brake 
pitman 62 so as to rotate the brake arm 60 in a clockwise direction, thus 
applying the disc brake 56 to the transmission means 26. When the trip 
plate 24 is in the run poisition, trip pitman 72 extending from the trip 
plate 34 to the upright arm 68 will hold the rocker arm 64 and 68 in the 
run position. 
As a detail of construction, the reset lever 46 is not attached directly to 
the trip plate 34 but is attached to a to shaft 74 extending outward from 
the trip plate. The shaft 74 is mounted above trip plate pivot shaft 76. 
The trip pitman 72 is attached to ear 78 also mounted on this reset lever 
shaft 74. Also as a matter of construction, the depending arm 64 and 
upright arm 68 are not in the same plane but are spaced from one another 
along the rocker shaft 66 as to properly space these pitmans for proper 
actuation. 
It may be seen that this unit is adapted to be added to existing units. 
When angle member 28 is welded to frame 12, the trip plate assembly is 
attached to one side of the machine. The rocker shaft 66 together with the 
disc brake 56 and the disc 58 are readily attached to existing machines. 
Then the actuator arms 30 are pivoted on each side of the machine by the 
actuator pivot point or pivot shaft 44 on angle member 28. Difficulty has 
been experienced in some cases in getting the actuator pivot shafts 44 
precisely aligned so that the actuator arms 30 rotate smoothly and freely. 
It has been found that if a hinge is placed in the actuator arm above the 
actuator pivot point, or pivot shaft 44 and below the actuator bar 32 that 
it works more freely. Therefore, the actuator bar on one side has two 
parts: a lower part 80 having ears 82 welded thereto, and an upper 
actuator arm 84 having shaft 86 welded thereto. Therefore, by having this 
articulation in the arm, it is found that the arms pivot upon their pivot 
shafts 44 more freely, even if the angle 28 are not exactly aligned by 
highly skilled craftsmen. 
Thus it may be seen that in operation, a workman, who in natural reaction, 
pushes against the bars 32, will release the trip plate 34 which will stop 
the motor 24 and apply the brake to the transmission means 26. This will 
stop the rotation of the feed rollers 14 before his hand can be pulled by 
the feed rollers deeply into the machine, thus preventing major, serious 
injury to the workman. The saw cylinder and doffing brush of the lint 
cleaner rotate at a much higher velocity than the feed rollers and have 
much greater momentum. However, the saw and brush are driven by a separate 
motor and not braked. Therefore, the brake 56 stops only the rollers, a 
portion of the moving elements of the machine. The saw cylinder motor is 
also electrically disconnected by switch 50 to indicate trouble and can be 
reset to start again only by the lever 46 at the machine. 
The embodiment shown and described above is only exemplary. I do not claim 
to have invented all the parts, elements or steps described. Various 
modifications can be made in the construction, material, arrangement, and 
operation, and still be within the scope of my invention. 
The limits of the invention and the bounds of the patent protection are 
measured by and defined in the following claims. The restrictive 
description and drawing of the specific example above do not point out 
what an infringement of this patent would be, but are to enable the reader 
to make and use the invention. 
As an aid to correlating the terms of the claims to the exemplary drawing, 
the following catalog of elements is provided. 
______________________________________ 
10 lint cleaner 50 electric switch 
12 frame 52 switch arm 
14 feed roller 54 switch flange 
16 doffing roller 55 electric wires 
18 housing 56 disc brake 
20 opening 58 disc 
22 access door 60 brake arm 
24 electric motor 62 brake pitman 
26 transmission means 
64 depending rocker arm 
28 angle member 66 rocker shaft 
29 mounting plate 68 upright rocker arm 
30 actuator arm 70 brake spring 
32 actuator bar 72 trip pitman 
34 trip plate 74 shaft, reset lever 
36 trip spring 76 trip plate pivot shaft 
38 sear 78 ear 
40 notch 80 lower actuator arm 
42 actuator spring 
82 ears 
44 actuator pivot point 
84 upper actuator arm 
46 reset lever 86 shaft 
48 reset finger 
______________________________________