Abstract:
This application discloses an improved dryer-cleaning apparatus for use in a cotton gin. It includes a dryer having rotating paddle cylinders for moving the cotton through the dryer and then discharging the cotton directly into the cleaner without compaction or entrapment of the trash within the raw cotton.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention is an improved dryer-cleaner apparatus and process having a primary use and benefit in cotton gins. The combination apparatus is intended to be positioned in a cotton gin adjacent the beginning of the ginning process for the purposes of enhancing the drying of the raw cotton and more efficiently removing trash. The ultimate goals are to increase output or “turnout” and to improve the quality or grade of the final cotton product. The invention also includes a new and novel design for grid fingers for the dryer that enhances the separation of trash from the cotton and minimizes the possibility of clogging of the dryer by the trash or cotton. 
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     Cotton gins are the physical facilities that receive raw field seed cotton, its burrs and seed as well as dirt, plant stems, leaves and other trash for processing into a clean cotton fiber which is then baled for shipment to a textile plant. The existing processes and equipment contained in modern cotton gins are well depicted in the  Cotton Ginners Handbook , Agricultural Handbook No. 503, of the United States Department of Agriculture, December 1994, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein in accord with the provisions of MPEP §608.01(p)[R-1]. 
     The conventional ginning process is summarily illustrated in FIG. 1 which is labeled “Prior Art.” It depicts a module  12  of field seed cotton bolls that were compacted in the field and brought to the cotton gin. A module feeder (not shown) fragments and disperses the compacted cotton  12  into the individual bolls and transmits them through a large diameter pipe and a rock and green boll trap (not shown) for delivery to a dryer  16 . Prior to reaching the dryer  16 , heated air from a fan and heater is also delivered to the cotton within the pipe. The purpose of the drying is to reduce the moisture content of the raw cotton to facilitate subsequent cleaning and removal of trash. This dried cotton is then drawn into another air duct for delivery to one (or, in many cases, two) cleaners  20  which remove a portion of the burrs, stems and other trash. As depicted, the cleaner  20  is an overhead, inclined cylinder type, although other types are used in various gins. These overhead cleaners  20  remove much of the trash from the cotton before it is passed to a stick or stick and burr extractor (not shown) that removes additional burrs, stems, and trash. From the extractor, additional heated air may be added to the system to dry the cotton down to a  6  or 7% moisture level before it reaches the gin stand  22  which separates the cotton fiber from the seed. From the gin stand  22 , the cotton fiber is drawn into a pneumatic conveyor for transfer to one or more lint cleaners  24  which have the job of removing the remaining pin trash from the cotton before it is baled in the press  26 . 
     In this typical gin process, it is well known that the lint cleaners, in removing the trash, break some of the fiber which becomes a fuzz like substance called motes that is removed with the trash. In addition, some of the broken fiber is not separated, but is carried to the bale press. The resulting known problems includes a fiber loss as well as a reduction in the grade of the cotton due to a shorter fiber length. Consequently, if more trash could be earlier removed so that the use of the lint cleaners could be reduced or minimized, both fiber output and cotton grade could be enhanced. 
     Another problem in this typical process results from the fact that after the drying step, the raw cotton is immediately transferred back into a high pressure, pnuematic conduit in which it is compacted. This compaction of the cotton results in further entrapment of the cotton trash within the fiber and renders the inclined cylinder cleaners less efficient thereby increasing the need for and use of the lint cleaners. The compaction also results is carrying trash through several additional steps to the lint clearer so as to increase the wear on the machinery and increase the horsepower requirements of the process. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     To solve or minimize the above identified problems, the present invention includes a combination dryer-cleaner that enhances the trash removal problem at the beginning of the ginning process and minimizes the need for or use of multiple saw-type lint cleaners. Specifically, the combination includes a single unit dryer-cleaner assembly that enables the cotton to be more efficiently dried and then transmitted from the dryer to the cleaner without the use of piping, conduits or conveyers which would entrap the trash and render the cleaning far more difficult. The dryer-cleaner unit also includes a novel design of T shaped grid bars that enhance the drying process and avoid clogging of the air passages so as to maximize air flow and drying. 
     Accordingly, the objectives of this invention are to provide a product and process that solves the above identified problems and achieves one or more of the following results: 
     1. avoids compacting the cotton and entrapping trash therein after it has been dried for ginning; 
     2. enhances moisture removal and increases the drying efficiency by breaking apart compressed wads of field cotton and exposing more surface area; 
     3. more efficiently removes trash from the cotton at the beginning of the ginning process; 
     4. reduces waste and increases the quantity of cotton fiber obtained from the raw cotton; 
     5. reduces and minimizes the need to use lint cleaners which damage fiber length and quality and impose higher power requirements upon the ginning process; 
     6. reduces the wear upon fans and conduits and reduces the power requirements for ginning cotton by early removal of trash in the ginning process; and 
     7. improves the quality and grade of the cotton processed by the cotton gin. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The manner in which these objectives and other desirable characteristics can be obtained from this invention is explained in the following specification and attached drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a process diagram illustrating the prior art process of ginning of cotton; 
     FIG. 2 is a process diagram illustrating the preferred process of our invention which is a modification of the process of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partially in section, of a preferred embodiment of the combination dryer-cleaner of our invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of our grid bar improvement to the dryer element of our invention; 
     FIG. 4 a  is an elevational view depicting the spacing of the T beams used to form the shelves within the dryer, and 
     FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the far or opposite side of the preferred embodiment of FIG. 3 depicting the pulleys and drive belts for driving the dryer and cleaner. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The preferred embodiment of this invention is depicted in a schematic diagram of FIG. 2 which has some similarities to that of FIG. 1 labeled “Prior Art.” As in the prior art, the ginning process of this embodiment begins with the module feeder  12  or suction shed in which the raw field seed cotton is delivered to piping for transfer to the dryer-cleaner unit  18  of our invention. As in the prior art standard practice, heated air is forced into the piping just ahead of the dryer which in this case is a combination  18  of a vertical dryer  40  mounted upon a horizontal cleaner  70 . This unit is best depicted in FIG.  3 . 
     The dryer  40  comprises a rectangular housing  42  that receives raw cotton from pneumatic piping at its top section and discharges it at the bottom into the horizontal cleaner  70 . The cotton comes into the housing  42  with a high volume and velocity of heated air and is dried as it passes downward to the cleaner  70  at the bottom of the dryer  40 . As the cotton is blown into the cleaner  70 , it engages a first rotating, wad busting elongated cylinder  44  which breaks up and disperses any remaining compacted wads of cotton into individual bolls and thrusts the cotton bolls against an adjacent inclined grid bar shelf  48  upon which it slides down to engage another wad busting cylinder  44  having paddles  46  formed of angle iron welded thereto. During this drying process, the cotton is repeatedly thrust against the upper end of each of the grid bar shelves  48  upon which it slides downward to be engaged by the next cylinder paddle  46  and is again thrust over and upward towards the top of the next shelf  48  as depicted in FIG.  3 . The resulting circuitous route of the descending cotton assists in the removal of moisture and in dislodging embedded trash. As the cotton slides down the shelves  48  towards the cylinders  44 , air is permitted to pass through the cotton bolls and through elongated spaces  51  formed in the shelves  48 . This enhances the drying of the cotton. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the details of a preferred embodiment of the shelves  48  that facilitates this drying function. Each shelf  48  is comprised of a plurality of parallel, spaced apart T beam grids  50 . They depend downwardly at an angle of about 60 degrees from the interior wall of the housing  42  of the dryer and are cut so as to terminate just above an associated paddle cylinder  44 . Preferably, these T beams  50  are economically formed of extruded aluminum and have a substantial resistance to bending deflection by virtue of the web section  50   a  depending from the flange or deck top  50   b  above the web. 
     The T bars are economically and simplistically mounted to the wall of the housing  42  by a primary bracket  52  and spacer brackets  54 . The primary bracket  52  has a flange  52   a  that is affixed to the walls of the housing  42  by bolts as shown in FIG.  4 . From the wall, the bracket extends inwardly and then downwardly at a 60 degree angle. This downward support section  52   b  provides an elongated support for the bottom surfaces of the flange  50   b  of the T beams  50 . At the lower end of the downward support section  52   b , the bracket is bent back towards the wall of the housing  42  and then terminates in another flange  52   d . A plurality of lower spacer brackets  54  support the flange  52   d  away from the wall to maintain the 60 degree angle of the support section  52   b  with respect to the wall of the housing  42 . 
     The primary bracket  52  is provided with elongated slots  56  which receive the web  50   a  of the T bars and permit the bottom surfaces of the deck or flange  50   b  to engage and rest against the support section  52   b  of the bracket  52 . A notch  58  on the web  50   a  of the T beam engages the end of the elongated slot  56  to restrain the T bar against sliding movement down the surface. Finally, a locking plate  60  with apertures is used to lock the top end of the T beams  50  against pivotal movement about notch  58  and to maintain them in place. To facilitate attachment of the locking plate  60 , the apertures  62  may be threaded. Alternatively, locking nuts  64  may be used as shown in FIG.  4 . 
     As shown in FIG. 4 a , the flanges  50   b  have squared edges  50   c  and are spaced apart to permit the air to freely flow there through. We have found that the squared edges  50   c  minimize clogging of the spaces  51  between the T beams by either cotton or trash—a fact that results in better air flow through the cotton and the spaces and results in improved drying. 
     By the time the cotton has reached the bottom of the dryer, its moisture has been reduced and the trash has, at this point in the process, the least tendency to cling to the cotton. Consequently, we have discovered that much of the trash can be best removed from the cotton by directly running it through a cleaner  70  and without re-compacting the cotton and trash by transferring it to a distant cleaner through piping. To that end, and as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaner  70  of our invention is positioned directly below the dryer  40 . Other than positioning and having a large access opening to the dryer  40  within the system, the cleaner  70  may be a conventional multi-cylinder horizontal line cleaner having a plurality of spike cylinders  74  that extend to the outside of the housing where they are rotatably driven by a belt and pulley system. 
     Preferably, the access opening between the dryer  40  and the cleaner  70  extends for the entire width of the dryer  40  and across at least one third of its length. As shown in FIG. 3, the cotton and any associated trash flows downward past the left side of the bottom paddle cylinder and into the cleaner  70  in an unobstructed manner and without compaction. 
     Upon reaching the cleaner  70 , the cotton is picked up by the spikes  72  on a conventional rotating spike cylinder  74  and is dragged across a plurality of spaced apart elongated cylinder grid bars  76  which are preferably arranged to define semi-circular pattern of a radius just greater than that of the spikes  72  of the cylinders  74 . The cotton is dragged across the grid bars  76  so that any trash associated with the cotton then drops through the spaced apart bars  76  and falls downward into a hopper  78 . As is customary in the art of cylinder cleaners, a plurality of cylinders  74  are provided. Preferably, the hopper  78  terminates in an auger type conveyer  80  that carries the trash to a rotary airlock  82 . This rotary air lock  82  passes the accumulated trash out of the hopper. 
     The side of the dryer-cleaner opposite to that of FIG. 3 is depicted in FIG.  5 . It illustrates one concept for supplying power to the dryer  40  and cleaner  70 . That power is supplied through a motor  86  which is connected by belt  90  to a pulley  88  that is constrained for rotation with the shaft (unnumbered) of the first spike cylinder  74 . A first, single pulley wheel  97  is also constrained for rotation with this shaft and, through a series of short belts  100  and a plurality of double pulley wheels  98 , drives each of the spike cylinders  74  of the cleaner  70 . The last spike cylinder  74  is driven by a single pulley  97  and a single belt because further transmission of the rotational motion is not needed. 
     The rotary motion of the first spike cylinder  74  of the cleaner also carries a pulley wheel on the opposite side which is tied to a first pulley wheel  92  of the lower wad busting cylinder  44 . This belt is not shown because the pertinent portion of FIG. 3 was broken away to depict the internal portion of the cylinders. As earlier mentioned, however, the lower wad busting cylinder  44  carries a single belt  94  that is serpentined through pulley wheels  92  of each of the other wad busting cylinders  44  and an idler pulley which is unnumbered. Thus, a single motor  86  supplies rotary power to the entire dryer-cleaner unit  18 . 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this invention may take many forms. For example, instead of using the inclined shelf cleaner of FIG. 4, one could use a horizontal shelf cleaner—and still meet the invention&#39;s objective of avoiding compaction and entrapment of the trash in the cotton. In addition, the dryer and cleaner could be separated by a distance as long as an enlarged, preferably rectangular ducting were used to convey the cotton from the dryer to the cleaner without compaction or further entrapment of trash. Similarly, the dryer&#39;s T-beam shelves could be supported with different brackets and at different angles other than that disclosed in the preferred embodiment. Finally, other types of cleaners could be used below the dryer as a substitute for the horizontal cleaner disclosed. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the width of the dryer-cleaner, the number of cylinders as well as the rotary speed of the unit are design variables that, at least in part, will be dependent upon the anticipated capacity of the entire gin equipment.