IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COTTON GINS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COTTON
GINS." A communication from abroad by Enoch Osgood, of New York
City, United States of America.
Sealed tho 31st March 1864, and dated the 21st December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st December 1863.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
COTTON GINS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to that class of cotton gins which are called roller
gins. The improved machine combines an elastic nipping roller with a
concave adapted thereto and a reciprocating clearing plate, the whole
operating in such manner that the fibre is drawn in between the surfaces
of the concave and the roller, which latter being elastic maintains an equable
gripe upon the fibre, whether the quantity acted upon be large or small, while
the seeds which are drawn along with the fibre towards the entrance between
the surfaces of the concave and clastic roller are ejected by the edge of the
clearing plate, which strips them out of the mass of material as it is drawn

page_text: along. An endless travelling apron encircles the concave, so that the fibre is
seized at its opposite sides by two surfaces, both of which are in motion, and
one of which is elastic. The reciprocating clearing plate above mentioned
has a comb-toothed edge (the teeth being formed by grooving the plate), so
that the spaces between the teeth permit the fibre to pass while the seeds aro
rejected by the teeth.
The mode preferred of constructing the elastic roller is to provide a metal
core and cover it with a thick coating of vulcanized india-rubber, and to
overlay the india-rubber with a jacket of leather or other material which is
not rendered sticky by the friction to which it is subjected, so that all the
advantages which result from the use of india-rubber are retained while its
defect is obviated. The inner edge of this feeding board is fitted with teeth,
which project to the face of the concave and form a grating, which prevents
the passage of fibre, but permits the seeds to drop through when they are
cjected by the edge of the reciprocating clearing plate. The endless travelling
apron is kept to tension by two rollers, one of which is arranged behind the
concave and the other beneath it, rotary motion being communicated by
suitable gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COTTON GINS,"

page_text: being a communication to him from abroad by Enoch Osgood, of New York
City, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar nionths
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of a machine constructed according to
the Invention; Fig. 2 represents a transverse section of the same; Fig. 3
represents the inner side of a portion of the cleaning plate with the teeth of
one of the forms used, having a portion of the teeth hollowed out; Fig. 4 is.
a view of the inner side of a portion of the cleaning plate, with the teeth of
another of the forms used; and Fig. 5 represents a transverse section of the
cleaning plate at the line a, a, of Fig. 3.
This Invention relates to the class of gins known as "roller gins," and is
intended to increase the efficiency of such machines by the adoption of a novel
combination of parts. Thus an elastic roller acting the part of a licker-in
roller is combined with a concave bar, whose concave side is adapted to the
curvature of the elastic roller, so that the fibrous material is gripped between
the two for a considerable portion of its traverse through the machine. In
combination with the elastic roller and concave bar is an endless apron, which
encircles the concave bar, so that the fibrous material, while maintained in
contact with a considerable portion of the moving surface of the elastic roller,
is acted upon by two moving surfaces at opposite sides of the fibrous material.
While thus held the fibrous material is operated upon by a reciprocating.
cleaning plate of peculiar construction operating in such manner that the
elastic roller and concave draw the fibres through the machine while the
cleaning plate ejects the seeds.
The various moving parts of the machine are supported by a frame
composed of two standards L. L, connected by cross bars. The standards
contain the bearings or boxes, in which the journals of the elastic roller A
revolve, and also the bearings of such shafts as are required to impart motion
to the various acting members of the machine. The elastic roller A may bo
two and a half inches, more or less, in diameter, and eighteen inches long

page_text: between its journals. Its barrel is horizontal, and extends between the two
end standards of the frame, and one of its journals is extended through and
beyond the end standard of the frame to receive a wheel P fitted with a
crank Q, to which the power is applied to give the machine motion. The
elastic roller A is formed with a core of metal, which also forms its journals.
This core is surrounded with an elastic coat of vulcanized india-rubber similar
to that used for steam packing, or of other suitable substance that will produce
the same yielding effect, and around this is cemented a jacket of leather, or
any other substance that will prevent the rubber from becoming sticky by the
friction to which it is subjected; or the rubber may be covered with a powder
when it is sticky. The concave bar B is below the elastic roller, and may be
made of any metal that can be hardened and polished smooth, the polished
surface fitting the curvature of the elastic roller A, and its hard and smooth
surface reducing the friction. The concave bar B is held in place relatively
to the elastic roller A by means of two adjusting screws (7 and F) at each of
its ends. The concave B is of such shape that one of its faces lies in a plane,
which is nearly tangential to the surface of the elastic roller, whilst its
concave portion forms an acute angle with such face, and the reciprocating
cleaning plate E is arranged to move up and down in close proximity to the
tangential face of the concave and to the elastic roller, so that the lower edge
of the cleaning plate will pass and repass the line where the barrel of the
elastic roller meets the upper sharp edge of the concave.
The most convenient way of obtaining the reciprocating movement of the
cleaning plate is to connect its opposite ends by rods with a pair of cranks
secured to the same revolving shaft, so that as the shaft revolves the lower
toothed edge of the cleaning plate is cause to move up and down equally from
end to end, and past the bite of the elastic roller A and concave B. The
stroke of the cleaning plate may be six-eighths of an inch, more or less;
about three-eighths of it is above the edge of the concave, and the remainder
below that edge. The lower edge of the cleaning plate E is formed into a
row of teeth by grooving or fluting out the face of the plate which is nearest
the clastic roller into a continuous series of parallel grooves arranged per-
pendicularly to its lower edge, and by bevelling off the lower edge, as shown
at a. In order to afford a free passage for the fibre the ribs so formed by
grooving the plate may be partially removed by hollowing out a part of the
surface of them nearest the elastic roller, as shewn at in Fig. 5, to give
more room above the points for the fibre as it passes between them. The
cleaning plate is maintained in its position in front of the concave by its
guides K secured to the inner face of the standards L in proper positions to

page_text: receive the projections at each end of the cleaning plate E, and in place of
connecting the cleaning plate E directly with the cranks of a revolving shaft
it may be connected with the cranks G through the intervention of toggle-
jointed links H by rods N, so as to obtain two complete reciprocations of the
cleaner for one revolution of the cranks.
In order to feed the machine conveniently an inclined feed board J should
be placed before the concave and the elastic roller. The inner edge of the'
feed board is fitted with teeth, which project near the face of the concave and
form a grating, which prevents the passage of the fibre but permits the seeds
and other coarse substances to drop through when they are ejected by the'
teeth and edge of the reciprocating cleaning plate E, the teeth of the cleaning
plate striking through the fibre behind the seeds as they are ejected. The
machine is provided with two guide rollers 5 and 8, the roller 8 being
arranged behind the concave bar B, the roller 5 beneath it. An endless
apron C is placed over these rollers and over the concave bar, and the rollers
are caused to revolve by gearing or by the friction produced by the pressure
of the belt on the roller 8 against the elastic roller A, so that the belt or apron
will travel by friction up the tangential face of the concave and between it
and the elastic roller A at about the same surface speed as that of the elastic
roller. In order to hold the apron in its proper position it is provided with
corded edges, which are acted upon by guide wheels D carried by brackets
projecting from the frame of the machine. The roller 5 is a tightening roller,
adjusting screws I being provided for the purpose of adjusting the positions of
its boxes. The above-described gin may be used with or without the endless
apron C, as the case may require.
The dimensions of the elastic roller before mentioned are suitable for a hand
gin. In such gins the surface of the concave which fits the elastic roller may
be formed one half of an inch to one inch and a half in breadth, as the case
may require. In machines to be driven by other power, the elastic roller and
other parts may be increased in size, as deemed expedient. In the operation
of the machine the fibres are taken up by the elastic roller and drawn in
between it and the concave B, while the teeth of the cleaning plate E pass
down through the fibres and eject the seeds as fast as the fibres are drawn in.
As the cleaning plate rises, the fibre, which is drawn along continuously by the
operation of the elastic roller against the concave, follows the rising points of
the teeth of the cleaning plate, hence the speed of the cleaning plate relatively to
that of the roller should be such as to enable its teeth to rise to their highest
position and redescend as far as the edge of the concave B by the time that the
part of the fibre upon which the cleaning plate last acted is drawn up just past

page_text: the edge of the concave. A faster speed than this is not necessary, and requires
a greater expenditure of power. In order that the concave B may not
become unduly heated by the friction of the endless apron C, or of the
material (in case the apron be not used) it may be made hollow, and fitted
with pipes or other means of introducing water into the cavity within it.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "improvements in the
construction of cotton gins, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I
claim the novel construction of cotton gin above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)