Improvements in Dust or Cleaning Trunks for Cotton Openers and like Machinery.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dust or Cleaning Trunks for Cotton Openers and
like Machinery.
I, BENJAMIN WILLCOX of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of London,
Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been
communicated to me from abroad by James Charles Potter of Pawtucket Rhode
Island, United States of America, Manufacturer) and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The ordinary dust, or cleaning, trunk for cotton openers or like machinery
contains a grid which separates the cotton passage above, from the dirt and refuse
receiving space below. The main characteristic of this invention is that the space
below is filled with water, or other liquid, thus providing for the trunk, what may
be called a 66 water-bottom." Into this water-bottom the dirt and refuse falls, and
is carried off by a conveyer, which is immersed in the water or liquid and serves to
convey the dirt and refuse to the point of discharge.
The water space or chamber of the trunk is connected with a source of supply
of the water or liquid and it is provided with a valve, or cock controlled, discharge;
and it is convenient also to provide it with an overflow which prevents the water
or liquid from reaching too high a level. That level it is preferred should be a
little above the lower edges of the grid bars. Thus all intercommunication from
below between the spaces which separate the grid bars is prevented whilst at the
same time, the dirt and refuse can fall and be carried off with perfect freedom.
The trunk is air-tight and water-tight, as well as fireproof and is made preferably
of cast iron. By closing the overflow (which for this purpose may be provided
with a valve or cock) the trunking can be flooded so as to extinguish any fire which
may exist therein or to flood the machines with which it is connected, should they
take fire.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the way in
which this invention can be carried into practical effect in which-
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, representing the trunking and the machines
which it connects.
Figure 2 is a cross section of the trunk with a representation of the gearing by
which the conveyer is driven;
Figure 3 is a plan of a part of the trunk, with its top and one of the grid
sections removed;
Figure 4 is a view of the removed grid section part of it being broken away, so
as to shew more clearly its construction.
The dust or cleaning trunk A in the present instance is supposed to be interposed
between a cotton opener X and a breaker lapper Y. B is the passage for the
cotton, C is the water-bottom, and D are the grid bars which separate the two.
The water-bottom is approximately triangular in cross-section having at its lowest
point, a concavity for receiving the conveyer, which in this instance, is a worm E
which when in operation, is slowly rotated by any suitable means such for example
as gearing from the counter-shaft y of the breaker lapper Y as shewn in Figures 1
and 2. This worm extends the length of the water-bottom and is supported in end
and centre bearings e e'. At the middle point of the water-bottom is situated the
dirt and refuse receptacle c and valve controlled discharge d. The worm is made
right and left handed as shewn, so that it will feed from both ends to the centre
where the dirt and refuse carried by it is discharged into the receptacle c. The
discharge can of course, be situated at any desired point in the water-bottom but

page_text: the central position shewn is preferred as being on the whole, the most effective and
convenient. The water, or other liquid, is supplied through a valve-controlled
pipe dwhich is in communication with a source of supply. At any desired, or
predetermined, level the overflow pipefis situated it leading from the water-bottom
into the discharge, which for the purposes hereinbefore indicated, can be provided
with a valve or cock f. It is preferred that the water level should be above the
lower edges of the grid, or cleaning bars, D these edges as shewn in Figures 1 and 2
being immersed in the water-bottom for a depth sufficient to form an air-tight
joint thereby cutting off all communication from below, between the grid spaces,
and allowing the dirt and refuse from the cotton passing over the grid bars to fall
freely into the water or liquid. This dirt and refuse as it accumulates, will be
carried forward to the discharge point by the slowly revolving worm E which may
be run continuously or intermittently as desired. It will generally be sufficient to
draw off the water or liquid twice a day, say once at noon, and once on discon-
tinuing work at night. The water or liquid in passing off will create a draught
of air downward between the grid bars, thereby removing any lint which may have
accumulated thereon.
The grid or clearing bars may be of any ordinary or suitable construction but it
is preferred to make them as shewn in the drawings, and to construct the grid in
sections which are separately removable. The bars themselves, with a view to
lightness and durability are made preferably of sheet zinc bent into the shape
shewn in Figure 4 so as to form hollow sheet metal bars of approximately triangular
cross-section. These bars are brased or otherwise suitably secured to end strips or
stringers preferably of brass, which are inclined to conform to the inclination, or
slant, of the walls of the water bottom in which they are seated. The grid is
made up of short sections, consisting each of a suitable number of these bars,
together with their two end strips h as shewn in Figure 4. By taking off the top,
or cover, of the trunk, any of these sections can be readily got at for removal or
repair.
I have described what I believe to be the best way of carrying this invention
into effect, but I do not confine myself to the details of construction set forth. I
believe my foreign correspondent to be the first to provide a dust or cleaning
trunk with what I have termed a "water-bottom" as well as the first to have
carried the level of the water or liquid above the lower edges of the grid or
cleaning bars and I therefore lay claim broadly to each of these features.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. A dust, or cleaning trunk, having its cotton passage and grid, cleaning bars
combined with a 66
water-bottom" substantially as, and for the purposes, herein-
before described.
2. A dust, or cleaning trunk, having its cotton passage and grid, or cleaning
bars combined with 66
a water-bottom the water level being above the under
edges of the grid bars substantially as, and for the purposes, hereinbefore
described.
3. A dust, or cleaning trunk, comprising in combination, a cotton passage, grid
bars, and a water-chamber, or space provided with a water or liquid supply and
discharge pipes substantially as and for the purposes, hereinbefore described.
4. A dust, or cleaning trunk, comprising in combination a cotton passage, grid
bars, and a water chamber or space provided with a water or liquid supply and
discharge pipes, and an overflow, substantially as, and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
5. A dust, or cleaning trunk, comprising a cotton passage, grid bars and a water
chamber or space provided with a water or liquid supply, and discharge pipes
in combination with a conveyor mounted in the said chamber or space and
adapted to carry the dirt and refuse therein to the discharge point, and means

page_text: for actuating the said conveyer substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
6. The cleaning trunk having a chamber or space below the grid of triangular
cross-section approximately, in combination with separately removable grid sections
having slanting or inclined sides to fit against the sloping sides of the chamber
substantially as herein before described.
7. A dust, or cleaning trunk, (for cotton openers or like machinery) consisting
of the arrangement and combination of parts as herein before described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 18th day of September 1894.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Agents.