An Improved Process and Apparatus for Ginning Cotton.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 19th June, 1890
Complete Specification Lelt, 25th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 19th Sept., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for Ginning Cotton.
I ROBERT SCOTT BURN Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
of Oak Lea Edgeley Road near Stockport Cheshire do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
My improvements in the process known generally by the name of "ginning"
more particularly referred to in the accompanying Specification have for their
object the treatment of the fibres contained in the holls or fruit as they may be
termed of the cotton plants in a way more consistent with the natural charac-
teristics or staple of the fibres, than is obtained by the system or mode of treatment
as carried out almost universally at present. This improved treatment I propose
to obtain either by a direct application of my principle or system of treating
cotton by the use of blasts or currents of air or of aeriform fluids at pressure as
fully explained and illustrated in the Complete Specification and its accompanying
sheet of drawings of my Patent No. 9904 under date of 17th June 1889 or by
combination of this system-which I term the pneumatic method of treating
cotton and other fibres with a mechanical arrangement of rollers and brushes;
those being used to prepare the bolls or masses of fibres for the action of the blast
or currents of air or of acriform fluids as applied in the appropriate chamber or
receptacle; the details of which will be fully illustrated and described in the
following Specification and drawings.
a
In the preamble to the Specification of the Patent No. 9904 dated June 17th 1889
which was granted me for "An improved method of treating cotton fibres or of
masses of cotton fibres preparatory to being worked up or made into yarn for
weaving or manufacturing purposes applicable also to fibres animal or vegetable
other than cotton" I stated as the basis of my system the principle that in the
ordinary method of opening up and cleaning cotton as taken from the bale, by
means of appliances the main characteristic of the operation of which was subjecting
the cotton fibres to a series of blows or shocks by substances harder than the cotton
itself was quite antagonistic to the treatment which the cotton fibres demanded
where the retention of the valuable qualities of the fibre-its staple was an object
o interest as it is or should be in the treatment of the fibres. And holding this
view I enunciated the principle of my improved system as being that in which the
cotton fibres in the act of being opened up from the lumps or masses in which they
are taken from the bale, and cleaned or freed from leaf, dust, and other substances
foreign to the cotton should not be subjected to the influence of bodies harder than
the cotton fibres themselves and this in so far as the mechanical necessities of such
apparatus as might be employed in the treatment of the cotton fibres. This
principle I carried out in my improved system of treating cotton and other fibres
by applying atmospheric air at pressure and subjecting the masses or lumps of fibre
to the action of the same in appropriate receptacles or chambers provided with the
This method of
appliances and parts necessary to the application of my system.
treating cotton fibres applicable also to fibres other than cotton 1 proposed to apply
to the first of the processes or machines which are known to spinners as those of
preparation this the first of those processes being what is known as cotton.
opening and cleaning the machines generally used in the trade for this purpose
being known as blowing, scutching machines cotton openers &c. and which have
generally for their principle of operation one in my opinion quite antagonistic to
the method in which cotton fibres should be treated.
"
But believing that the principle enunciated in my Patent Specification herein
before referred to is sound and wholly in keeping with and not antagonistic to the

page_text: natural characteristics of cotton fibre, and that my method of treating it with air
at pressure in the manner described and claimed in my Patent Specification above
referred to, as applied to the opening and cleaning of masses or lumps of cotton
fibres the first of the processes of " preparation" as carried out by spinners in this
country would in my opinion prove a highly beneficial and be an economical
method; propose to apply my improved method to a stage preceding any as
carried on in this country, namely to the first of all the processes through which
cotton fibres are carried namely that known in the countries where the cotton
plants are grown and cultivated for the fibre they yield as ginning" that is the
process in which the bolls from the cotton plants taken from the fields in which the
plants are grown are passed through a machine known as a " cotton gin which
breaks up or crushes the outer husks or covering in which the fibres are enclosed
and frees the cotton fibres from the same and from extraneous matter which may
further be attached or adhering to them.
<<
Now in the process of " ginning" of cotton by the machines as generally
employed the cotton fibres are subjected to a tearing up and separating process
through the agency of hard substances as saw-like edges or knives more or less
sharp and active which from my point of view of considering the fibre is wholly
antagonistic to the natural characteristics of the fibre. In place therefore of
treating the cotton as it comes from the field by subjecting it to the action of
mechanical parts made of materials more or less sharp and tearing in their action
and which are also much harder than the cotton fibres themselves, I propose so to
treat the cotton bolls as they are taken from or gathered in the fields in a way
much more in consonance with what I deem the principles should be in which cotton
fibres should be treated and which in my view of the subject I consider is dictated
so to say, or suggested by a proper consideration and examination of the natural
characteristics of the fibre.
This principle of treatment of cotton fibre which I advocate I have followed up
in my method of treating cotton in the opening up and cleaning process as carried
on in factories in our own country are as fully explained and illustrated in the
Specification of my Patent No. 9904 under date June 17th 1889. And in applying
my principle of cotton fibre treatment as there explained to the opening up and at
the same time more or less complete cleaning of the cotton fibres contained in the
bolls or natural masses, I propose in certain conditions of the bolls or natural
masses of cotton as gathered in, or taken from the fields in which they are grown
to subject them at once to the action of blasts or currents of air at pressure in
appliances identical with in point of arrangement and construction although
differing in dimensions with these described in the Specification of my Patent
herein before named and more or less fully illustrated in the sheet of drawings
accompanying the same. Or in such certain conditions of the bolls or natural
masses I might by preference use a receptacle, casing, or chamber of comparatively
small dimensions such as illustrated in Fig. 10 in the sheet of drawings accompany-
ing this present Specification of which Fig. 11 is plan. The bolls or natural
masses of cotton would be supplied to the interior of this by a hopper connected
with or joined to the mouth-piece a the valve in the delivery funnel c would then
be closed, and the stop valves on the air pressure pipes d d opened and air at a high
pressure varying according to circumstances delivered to the interior of the
chamber this acting upon the bolls would break up their vegetable sheath,
husk, or covering enclosing more or less completely the cotton fibres within, and
setting those free in a loose and more or less completely cleaned condition. The
pressure of the air passing into the interior of chamber ee by the pipes d d would
then be greatly reduced and the valve opened, when with the less powerful and
properly adjusted blast or current of air the loose fibres would be blown out and
deposited on the floor the leaf, vegetable and extraneous foreign matter being
deposited on the floor ff of the chamber e e, from which it would be taken through
an appropriate opening closed by a door or trap when necessary. Or the cotto
fibres after being opened up and more or less completely cleaned from all foreig

page_text: matter, in place of being blown out by delivery funnel and deposited on the
floor, might be led away to any more convenient space by a tube or channel
attached to the funnel c. In some cases and under certain conditions of the cotton
fibres, I would subject the cotton treated as just described to a second action of the
blasts or currents of air at high pressure within the interior of the chamber e e,
and in some particular instances to a number of actions of the blasts or currents of
air at pressure greater than two.
But under other conditions of the bolls or natural masses of cotton as taken from,
or gathered in the fields in which it was grown, I would deem it necessary to
subject them to a process preliminary to that in which the blasts or currents of air
at pressure constitute the feature. This preliminary process being the subjecting
of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres to the action of rollers of certain
definite outlines or forms which are made to revolve at certain properly adjusted
speeds by appropriate geering set in motion and worked by the power of a fly
wheel actuated by hand or manual power, or by a pulley driven by the power of a
steam engine or other motor. This process through which I would pass the cotton
bolls or natural masses preliminary to the action of the blast or current of air at
pressure within the chamber e e, would have for its object the more or less complete
breaking up of the woody husk or shell forming part of the boll; and the more or
less complete separation of this woody part, portions of which constitute the foreign
matter known to spinners as the leaf-from the cotton fibres of the boll or
natural mass. This preliminary process is gone through in conjunction with the
air at pressure process-the appliances for the two processes formning one general
or complete apparatus or mechanical arrangement as shown in Fig. 1 in accom-
panying sheet of drawings. In this aa aa represents the framing which supports
or carries the pedestals or plummet blocks b cd which support the shafts or spindles
carrying the rollers and the necessary geering by which they are put in motion by
the action of the fly wheel ee worked by hand, or set in motion by belt and fast and
loose pulley geering driven by a steam engine or other motor. The bolls or natural
masses of cotton are passed into the hopper which leads them to the operation
or action of two rollers hung on the shafts or spindles carried by or running in the
brasses or bushes of the pedestals and c-between which rollers the bolls pass,
and are led by the delivery spout g g to the mouth piece of the air pressure
chamber where it is subjected to the action of blasts or currents of air supplied to
it by the blast pipes as d d in Fig. 10.
But in accordance with my principle of treatment of cotton fibres I avoid as
much as possible the bringing of them into violent contact with bodies or substances
harder than themselves and therefore deprecate strongly all action on the fibres of
heavy and hard bodies striking the fibres violently as in the case of the "beater"
of the well known scutching or blowing machine so familiar to cotton spinners, and
deprecating also with equal force the subjecting of cotton fibres to such a harsh
treatment as that given by the serrated or saw like metal discs or parts so much
used in the ordinary forms of the machines known as
"cotton gins." I propose to
employ rollers made of vulcanized india rubber, or of hard and fine grained woods
with certain forms of exterior surfaces or peripheries-or while | employ cast-iron
or steel as the material of which the rollers are made I would drive or run them at
a slower speed or velocity of revolution than that at which I should drive or run
the rollers made of india rubber or of hard and fine grained wood. But in all
cases whether the rollers are made of india rubber, hard wood, or of cast iron or of
steel, I consider the form and the exterior surfaces or the peripheries of the
rollers as a point of importance. My object being the subjecting of the bolls or
natural masses of cotton fibres as they are taken from or gathered in the field to
an action somewhat resembling the method of rubbing a boll between the hands
and breaking up the woody husk or covering and separating more or less com-
pletely the cotton fibres setting them in a condition more or less free from the
husk. This action I propose to obtain by the forms I give to the rollers used in
the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1. Those forms present various outlines as shown

page_text: in accompanying sheet of drawings as at a a in Figs. 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, & 14, one
form or outline being found more applicable to the object in view than another,
according to the condition in which the cotton bolls or natural masses are or happen
to be at the time when they are passed through the process.
In some cases the
exterior surface or periphery of the roller is plain or smooth in others ribbed or
corrugated in some cases the ribs will run parallel to the axis or central shaft on
which the roller is hung or supported in others the ribs will be placed obliquely to
the axis or shaft of the roller. Of these two methods I prefer that in which the
ribs are placed obliquely to the axis or shaft; as when a roller so furnished runs in
connection with another as the roller.a with the roller Fig. 15 the diagonal run
or set of the ribs induces a species of differential action in some measure resembling
the action of rubbing or rolling a husk or boll between the hands a differential
motion being given according to the difference between the speed or rapidity of
motion of the hands or of the relation the motion of one hand has to that of the
other.
In one form of roller which I propose to employ the roller is made cylindrical
with parallel faces as a, b, c d in Fig. 9. And the roller I propose to clothe
or provide with hemispherial buttons or studs as at a a a in Fig. 8, the tails
of which are screwed into the face of roller as shown, these studs or buttons
are placed on the two rollers which run in conjunction with parallel axes or shafts
so that they intersect as the buttons & Fig. 8 of one roller run between the spaces
of the buttons a a of the other or neighbour roller. In a modification of this
method as illustrated also in Fig. 9, in place of having the buttons g which project
from the surface of the roller 4, arranged in parallel rows as is the case in the
method illustrated in Fig. 8, I propose to dispose them in lines as oblique to
the axis or central line of shaft of the cylinder or roller a bed. But in place of
having the two rollers which in work revolve near each other the shafts
being parallel to each other as in Figs. 2, 3 and 6, with the buttons pro-
jecting from the surface in the same direction of oblique lines as e fone
roller is provided with lines or rows of buttons running in one direction as į j,
the other cylinder has its buttons projecting from its surface in the opposite
direction as e f-thus one has its lines of buttons running from right to left as i j
the other with the buttons running from left to right as at e. By this arrange-
ment a differential and angular or oblique motion or movement is obtained which
will facilitate the desired action on the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres
which are passed between and subjected to the action of the two rollers the shafts
of which are arranged parallel to and placed at certain distances apart from
each other.
Figs. 1 and 24 illustrate another method of constructing the rollers designed to
act upon the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres in the manner hereinbefore
described. In this the rollers of hard and close grained wood, or of cast iron are
clothed with webs or sheets of vulcanized india rubber, the surfaces of which are
provided with rows parallel to each other of projecting parts. In one form these
projections take, one of hemispherial knobs-or of segments of a sphere smaller
than a hemi or half sphere-a a Fig. 14 in section, being plan. In another
form the projections take the shape of angular knobs or parts as c e in section d d
in plan. When two cylinders each clothed with one of these sheets-which may he
called corrugated-of vulcanized india rubber are made to revolve with their
shafts parallel to and at a certain pre-determined distance from each other, and the
bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres passed between them, the action induced
will be of a gentle kind yet strong enough to produce the desired effect aimed at ;
while the elastic nature of the knobs, projections, or corrugations, will enable them
to give and take while the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres are passing
through between them, thus producing the action somewhat similar to that of the
rubbing of the palms of the hand while pressing upon and manipulating soft or
yielding substances. In place of rounded projections as at a abbin Fig. 1ª or
angular as in section d d in plan same figure, 1 propose in somie instances to
G

page_text: make the projection of the vulcanized india rubber sheets of the form shown at a
in Fig. 11. These teeth or claw like projections of india rubber while taking a
firm hold of the bolls or natural masses of cotton will do so gently in so far that
they are of soft and yielding material. In order to increase their crushing and
opening up effect, the projections as a Fig. 11 are placed obliquely to the length
of sheet so that when the sheet is nailed to wood rollers or secured by appropriate
arrangement of parts such as are illustrated in Fig. 24 and already described-in
the case of iron rollers, the claw like projections will be as at Fig. 11ª obliquely
to the axis as ce.
Still keeping in view the principle upon which I believe cotton fibres should be
treated, propose in some conditions of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres,
or as forming part of a system of working in which more than one kind or class
of rollers will be used-to subject the cotton fibres before passing them to the
action of the air at pressure process to that of revolving brushes as illustrated in
Figs. 3 and 44. In these the "bristles so called formed of hair. vegetable
fibre or of steel wire of varying fineness and flexibility will in some instances be
fitted continuously to the body or core of the roller forming the core as a Cl
Fig. 3 of the brush, so that the whole surface will present a continuous mass as
at 6 of "bristle" points, or as in other instances the "bristles" will be fixed into
the core or central roller a a of the brush in bunches as at with spaces between
them as shown in the diagram which is not drawn to any definite scale. In place
of fixing the rows of brushes to the surfaces of the rollers in lines parallel to the
axes of these they may be placed in lines oblique to the axes or may be disposed
spirally of these three methods here named prefer the oblique disposition of the
bristles or brushes. The relation the revolving brushes will bear to each other
when in action is illustrated in Fig. 4 which is merely a diagram not drawn to any
definite scale-the bristles" of the two brushes a and do not work in contact
but have a certain distance between them, and in the space between the cotton bolls
or natural masses of fibres and passed in the direction of arrow c.
In certain
conditions of the cotton it may be advisable to set the brushes so that the
bristles shall work in contact or nearly so.
6:
";
The rollers either of wood or of iron are of different forms or outlines in
profile as shown at a a Fig. 5- in Fig. 3a a and b in Figs. 6, 12, 13 and 14
and may be made in two pieces or halves as shown in Figs. 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, & 14.
or in one piece and are hung on or carried by appropriate shafts driven by appropriate.
geering. In all cases two rollers work in conjunction as shown in the figures
above named the forms varying as shown. Thus in Fig. 6, the double cone
roller revolves between the flanges of the roller a a. In the majority of
instances a space such as ee Fig. 6 is left between the two rollers which space is
determined upon by the average size or diameter of the bells or natural masses
of cotton fibres, the space as e Fig. 6 being in all cases considerably less than the
diameter so to call it of the bolls. If the space as Fig. 6 was too wide the
bolls would simply fall through between the rollers & not be acted upon by
them at all. The object is to crush the vegetable fibre covering of the bolls but
this with the minimum of crushing power. To maintain the method of treatment
of the fibres which I deem the best, the distance between the rollers will
be regulated by the condition of the cotton at time of being submitted to
the operation of my system, sets of "change wheels" being employed to suit the
different adjustments and speeds of the rollers desired. Fig. 15 illustrates the
general relation of the crushing rollers, in which one roller as a revolves between
the flanges cc of the second roller which has its conical face ribbed or corrugated
the space de between the peripheries of the two rollers a and being adjusted
in its width according to the class or kind and condition of the bolls or natural
masses of cotton fibres. In some cases and in certain conditions of the cotton
bolls or masses of fibres I propose to use what some machinists would call a
double decker" arrangement of the rollers that is with one or a secondary pair
revolving above the primary pair, and this in order to break up or separate or to

page_text: partially separate the outer husk or covering of vegetable fibre of the bolls or
natural masses of cotton fibres from the fibres themselves, and this in a more
complete yet gentle or comparatively gentle manner, than in some instances could
be effected by the use of one pair of rollers only. This duplex arrangement of
rollers is illustrated in Fig. 4-this being a diagram sketch only and not drawn to
scale in which a bare the upper pair of rollers which I should prefer to be plain
surfaced, either of wood or of metal and if the latter clothed with a sheet of plain
surfaced vulcanized india rubber c d are the lower pair of rollers having their
surfaces finished or furnished in one or other of the methods herein before described
in the diagram Fig. 4, different widths of spaces between the rollers are shown
as at ef. In some cases I might find it advisable to substitute for rollers a b, a
set of revolving brush rollers or brushes as illustrated in Figs. 3ª and 4ª.
Having now described in greater or less but in sufficient detail for the purposes
of this Specification the various rollers and appliances which propose to use in
my system of treating cotton fibre at this the primary stage of the many stages
of processes through which it is passed in being converted or manufactured into
yarn or into woven fabrics in which combine the operation or action of revolving
rollers with the action of blasts or currents of air at pressure a modification or
adaptation of the method described and illustrated in my Patent Specification
Number 9904 dated June 17th 1889; I now proceed to explain one of the methods
by which effect the combination of crushing and opening up rollers with the
receptacles, chambers, or casing to the interior of which the crushed and partially
or wholly opened up bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres are passed and therein
subjected to the action of the blasts or currents of air at pressure. Commencing
my description of this combination of mechanical parts by stating that I do not
give the arrangements of parts as shown in Fig. 1 of the accompanying sheet of
drawings as the one which I might ultimately adopt, nor in the arrangement
illustrated are the party given in correct proportions the object of the drawings
in Fig. 1, being more that it shall act as a diagramatic sketch than a completed
drawing to scale, and which sketch will show all that is required for the purposes
of this Specification, in the way of making clear my combinations of rollers, the
details of which have already been described-and the air pressure chamber of my
system of opening up cotton fibres or masses of cotton fibres. In Fig. 1a a
shows one side of the framing or frame which supports the rollers, the shafts or
journals of which revolve in the bushes or brasses of the pedestals b c d and which
carry the toothed wheels or geering represented by the dotted circles these rollers
are driven or worked by or from the fly wheel ee ee worked by hand, or may be
driven by steam or other motive power, the fly wheel shaft in this case being
provided with fast and loose pulley belt driving geer. The bolls or natural
masses of cotton fibres are supplied to the hopper-and being passed from this
to the action of the rollers, the passed or opened up condition to the shoot g
which conveys them to the shoot attached to or connected with the air
pressure chamber ij-corresponding to ee in Fig. 10 and from thence passed to
the interior ii of chamber in which it is subjected to the opening up and cleaning
action of the blasts or currents of air at pressure supplied as by the pipes dd in
Fig. 10 and acting as in the manner hereinbefore described in connection with
Figs. 10 and 11 and as still more fully illustrated in the Specification of my
Patent Number 9904 and dated June 17th 1889.
As witness my hand this Seventeenth day of June Eighteen hundred and

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process and Apparatus for Ginning Cotton.
ROBERT SCOTT BURN Engineer Member of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers Oak Lea Edgeley Road near Stockport Cheshire. do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :---
In this improved method of treating cotton I propose to employ the pneumatic
system in which currents of air at pressure are used for which a Patent was granted
me under number and date 9904 June 17th 1889 in combination with certain
mechanical arrangements of rollers or of revolving circular brushes as hereafter
fully explained in following Specification and as illustrated in the sheet of
drawings left with Provisional Specification. Previous to passing the cotton bolls
or masses of cotton as taken from the fields in which they are grown to the action
of the currents of air in the chamber of the pneumatic apparatus above referred
to cause them to be subjected to the action of revolving rollers or to that of
revolving brushes the character or form of which will depend upon the condition
of the bolls for the time being. The rollers I propose to use are constructed in
different forms or sections so as to present different squeezing or crushing or
rubbing influences upon the cotton bolls as they are subjected to these operations
the rollers being fitted up or arranged in one or other of the methods known to
machinists and of which an example is given in the sheet of drawings left with
Provisional Specification. In some forms the rollers are composed wholly of
metal, in others wholly of hard close grained wood or of a combination of the two
materials. In certain forms the rollers are covered or provided with a covering
or wrapper of an elastic material such as vulcanized india rubber this having on
its surface a series of projecting knobs or parts of different forms or sections so as
to give external crushing squeezing or rubbing protuberances designed to act
upon the cotton bolls. These are shown in detail in the sheet of drawings left
with Provisional Specification. In certain conditions of the coiton bolls I propose
to subject them to the action of revolving circular brushes before passing them
to the action of the currents of air in the pneumatic apparatus herein before
named.
In the preamble to the Specification of the Patent No. 9904 dated June 17th
1889 which was granted me for "An improved method of treating cotton fibres or
of masses of cotton fibres preparatory to being worked up or made into yarn for
weaving or manufacturing purposes applicable also to fibres animal or vegetable
other than cotton," I stated as the basis of my system the principle that in the
ordinary method of opening up and cleaning cotton as taken from the bale, by
means of appliances the main characteristic of the operation of which was subjecting
the cotton fibres to a series of blows or shocks by substances harder than the cotton
itself; was quite antagonistic to the treatment which the cotton fibres demanded
where the relation of the valuable qualities of the fibre-its staple-was an object
of interest as it is or should be in the treatment of the fibres. And holding this
view enunciated the principle of my improved system as being that in which
the cotton fibres in the act of being opened up from the lumps or masses in which
they are taken from the bale, and cleaned or freed from leaf, dust and other
substances foreign to the cotton should not be subjected to the influence of bodies
harder than the cotton fibres themselves and this in so far as the mechanical
necessities of such apparatus as might be employed in the treatment of the cotton
fibres admitted of. This principle I carried out in my improved system of treating
cotton and other fibres by applying atmospheric air at pressure and subjecting the
masses or lumps of fibre to the action of the same in appropriate receptacles or
chambers provided with the appliances and parts necessary to the application of
my system. This method of treating cotton fibres applicable also to fibres other

page_text: than cotton, I proposed to apply to the first of the processes or machines which
are known to spinners as those of "preparation" this the first of those processes
being what is known as cotton opening and cleaning, the machines generally used
in the trade for this purpose being known as blowing, seutching machines, cotton
openers &c. and which have generally for their principle of operation one in
my opinion quite antagonistic to the method in which cotton fibres should be
treated.
But believing that the principle I enunciated in my Patent Specification herein-
before referred to is sound and wholly in keeping with and not antagonistic to the
natural characteristics of cotton fibre and that my method of treating it with air
in the manner described and claimed in my Patent Specification above referred to,
as applied to the opening and cleaning of masses or lumps of cotton fibres the first
of the processes of "preparation" as carried out by spinners in this country would
in my opinion prove a highly beneficial and economical method; I
propose to
apply my improved method to a stage preceding any as carried on in this country
namely to the first of all the processes through which cotton fibres are carried
namely that known in the countries where the cotton plants are grown & cultivated
for the fibre they yield as "ginning" that is the process in which the bolls from
the cotton plants taken from the fields in which the plants are grown are passed
through a machine-known as a "cotton gin" which breaks up or crushes the
outer husks or covering in which the fibres are enclosed and frees the cotton fibres
from the same and from extraneous matter which may further be attached or
adhering to them.
Now in the process of "ginning" of cotton by the machines as generally
employed, the cotton fibres are subjected to a tearing up and separating process
through the agency of hard substances as saw-like edges or knives more or less
sharp and active-which from my point of view of considering the fibre is wholly
antagonistic to the natural characteristics of the fibre. In place therefore of
treating the cotton as it comes from the field by subjecting it to the action of
mechanical parts made of materials more or less sharp and tearing in their action
and which are also much harder than the cotton fibres themselves, I propose so
to treat the cotton bolls as they are taken from er gathered in the field in a way
much more in consonance with what I deem the principles should be in which
cotton fibres should be treated, and which in my view of the subject I consider as
dictated so to say or suggested by a proper consideration and examination of the
natural characteristics of the fibre.
The principle of treatment of cotton fibre which I deem sound I have followed
up in my method of treating cotton in the opening up & cleaning process as carried
on in factories in our own country are as fully explained and illustrated in the
Specification of my Patent No. 9904 under date June 17th 1889. And in applying
my principle of cotton fibre treatment as there explained to the opening up and at
the same time more or less complete cleaning of the cotton fibres contained in the
bolls or natural masses I propose in certain conditions of the bolls or natural
masses of cotton as gathered in, or taken from the fields in which they are grown
to subject them at once to the action of blasts or currents of air at pressure in
appliances identical with in point of arrangement and construction although
differing in dimensions with those described in the Specification of my Patent
herein before named and more or less fully illustrated in the sheet of drawings
accompanying the same. Or in such certain conditions of the bolls or natural
masses I might by preference use a receptacle, casing, or chamber of comparatively
small dimensions such as illustrated in Fig. 10 in the sheet of drawings left with
the Provisional Specification-of which Fig. 11 is plan. The bolls or natural
masses of cotton would be supplied to the interior of this by a hopper connected
with or joined to the mouth-piece a-the valve in the delivery funnel c would
then be closed, & the stop-valves on the air pressed pipes d d opened and air at
high pressure varying according to circumstances delivered to the interior of the
chamber e e this acting upon the bolls would break up their vegetable sheath, husk

page_text: or covering enclosing more or less completely the cotton fibres within, and setting
those free in a loose and more or less completely cleaned condition. The pressure
of the air passing into the interior of chamber e e by the pipes d d would then be
greatly reduced, and the valve 6 opened, when with the less powerful and properly
adjusted blast or current of air the loose fibres would be blown out, and deposited
on the floor the leaf-vegetable and extraneous foreign matter being deposited on
the floor of the chamber e e from which it would be taken through an
appropriate opening closed by a door or trap when necessary. Or the cotton fibres
after being opened up and more or less completely cleaned from all foreign
matter, in place of being blown out by delivery funnel e and deposited on the
floor, might be led away to any more convenient space by a tube or channel
attached to the funnel e. In some cases and under certain conditions of the cotton
fibres, I would subject the cotton treated as just described to a second action of
the blasts or currents of air at high pressure within the interior of the chamber e e
and in some particular instances to a number of actions of the blasts or currents
of air at pressure greater than two.
But under other conditions of the bolls or natural masses of cotton as taken
from, or gathered in the fields in which it was grown, I would deem it necessary
to subject them to a process preliminary to that in which the blasts or currents of
air at pressure constitute the feature. This preliminary process being the subjecting
of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres to the action of rollers of certain
definite outlines or form which are made to revolve at certain properly adjusted
speeds by appropriate geering set in motion and worked by the power of a
fly wheel actuated by hand or manual power, or by pulley driven by the power
of a steam engine or other motor. This process through which I would pass the
cotton bolls or natural masses preliminary to the action of the blast or current of
air at pressure within the chamber ee Fig. 10, would have for its object the more
or less complete breaking up of the woody husk or shell forming part of the
boll; and the more or less complete separation of this woody part portions of
which constitute the foreign matter known to spinners as the "leaf" from the
cotton fibres of the boll or natural mass. This preliminary process is gone through
in conjunction with the air at pressure process, the appliances for the two processes
forming one general or complete apparatus or mechanical arrangement as shown
in Fig. 1 in drawings left with Provisional Specification. In this aa aa represents
the framing which supports or carries the pedestals or plummet blocks b c d which
support the shafts or spindles carrying the rollers and the necessary geering by
which they are put in motion by the action of the fly wheel ee worked by hand,
or set in motion by belt and fast and loose pulley geering driven by a steam engine
or other motor. The bolls or natural masses of cotton are passed into the
hopper which leads them to the operation or action of two rollers hung on the
shafts or spindles carried by or running in the brasses or bushes of the pedestals b
and C, between which rollers the bolls pass, and are led by the delivery spout gg
to the mouth piece of the air pressure chamber ii into the interior of the chamber
where it is subjected to the action of blasts or currents of air supplied to it by the
blast pipes as d d in Fig. 10.
"
But in accordance with my principle of treatment of cotton fibres I avoid as
much as possible the bringing of it into violent contact with bodies or substances
harder than themselves and would deprecate strongly all action on the fibres of
heavy and hard bodies striking the fibres violently as in the case of the "beater
of the well known scutching or blowing machine so familiar to cotton spinners-and
deprecate with equal force the subjecting of cotton fibres to such a harsh treatment
as that given by the serrated or saw like metal discs or parts so much used in the
ordinary forins of the machines known as cotton gins." I propose to employ
rollers made of vulcanized india rubber, or of hard and fine grained wood, with
certain forms of exterior surfaces or peripheries or where I employ cast-iron or
steel as the material of which the rollers are made I would drive or run them at a
slower speed or velocity of revolution than that at which I should drive or run the
B

page_text: rollers made of india rubber or of hard & fine grained wood. But in all cases
whether the rollers are made of india rubber, hard wood or of cast iron or of steel,
I consider the form and the exterior surfaces or the peripheries of the roller as a
point of importance, my object being the subjecting of the bolls or natural masses of
cotton fibres as they are taken from or gathered in the field to an action somewhat
resembling the method of rubbing a boll between the hands and breaking up the
woody husk or covering and separating more or less completely the cotton fibres
setting them in a condition more or less free from the husk. This action I propose
to obtain by the forms give to the rollers used in the mechanism illustrated
in Fig. 1. Those forms present various outlines as shown in drawings left with
Provisional Specification as at a a in Figs. 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, & 14, one form or
outline being found more applicable to the object in view than another, according
to the condition in which the cotton bolls or natural masses are or happen to be
at the time when they are passed through the process. In some cases the exterior
surface or periphery of the roller is plain or smooth in others ribbed or corrugated
in some cases the ribs will run parallel to the axis or central shafts on which the
roller is hung or supported in others the ribs will be placed obliquely to the axis or
shaft of the roller. Of those two methods I prefer that in which the ribs are
placed obliquely to the axis or shaft, as when a roller so furnished runs in con-
nection with another as the roller a with the roller Fig. 15 the diagonal run or
set of the ribs induces a species of differential action in some measure resembling
the action of rubbing or rolling a husk or boll between the hands a differential
motion being given according to the difference between the speed or rapidity of
motion of the hands or of the relation the motion of one hand has to that of the other.
In one form of roller which propose to employ the roller is made cylindrical
with parallel faces as a, b, c, d, in Fig. 9. And the roller I propose to clothe or
provide with hemispherial buttons or studs as a aa aa in Fig. 8, the tails of which
are screwed into the face of roller as shown-these studs or buttons are placed in
the two rollers which run in conjunction with parallel axis or shafts so that they
intersect as the buttons bone roller run between the spaces of the buttons aa
of the other or neighbour roller. In a modification of this method, as illustrated
also in Fig. 9 in place of having the buttons which project from the surface
of the roller, arranged in parallel rows as is the case in the method illustrated
in Fig. 8 propose to dispose them, in lines as ij oblique to the axis or central
line or shaft of the cylinder or roller a b c d. But in place of having the two
rollers which in work revolve near each other the shafts being parallel to each
other as in Figs. 2, 3, & 6, with the buttons projecting from the surface in the
same direction of oblique lines as ef, one roller is provided with lines or rows
of buttons running in one direction as ij, the other cylinder has its buttons
projecting from its surface in the opposite direction as e, thus one has its lines
of buttons running from right to left as i j the other with the buttons running
from left to right as at e. f. By this arrangement a differential and angular or
oblique motion or movement is obtained which will facilitate the desired action
on the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres which are passed between and
subjected to the action of the two rollers the shafts of which are arranged.
parallel to and placed at certain distances apart from each other.
Figs. 1 and 2A illustrate another method of constructing the rollers designed
to act upon the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres in the manner herein-
before described. In this the roller of hard and close grained wood, or of cast
iron are clothed with webs or sheets of vulcanized india rubber the surfaces of
which are provided with rows parallel to each other of projecting parts. In one
form these projections take the form of hemispherial knobs--or of segments of a
sphere smaller than a hemi- or half sphere-a a Fig. 1A in section bb being
plan. In another form the projections take the shape of angular knobs or parts
as c c in section d d in plan. When two cylinders each clothed with one of those
sheets which may be called corrugated-of vulcanized india rubber are made
to revolve with their shafts parallel to and at a certain pre-determined distance

page_text: from each other and the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres passed between
them; the action induced will be of a gentle kind yet strong enough to produce
the desired effect aimed at; while the elastic nature of the knobs, projections, or
corrugations will enable them to give and take while the bolls or natural masses
of cotton fibres are passing through between them, thus producing an action some-
what similar to that of the rubbing of the palms of the hands while pressing upon
and manipulating soft or yielding substances. In place of rounded projections as
at a a, bb, in Fig. 1A or angular as cc in section d d in plan same figure I propose
in some instances to make the projection of the vulcanized india-rubber sheets of
the form shown at a in Fig. 114. Those teeth or claw like projections of india
rubber while taking firm hold of the bolls or natural masses of cotton will do
so gently in so far that they are of soft and yielding material. In order to
increase their crushing and opening up effect, the projections as a Fig. 11 are
placed obliquely to the length of sheet so that when the sheet is nailed to wood
rollers or secured by appropriate arrangement of parts such as are illustrated
in Fig. 2 in the case of iron rollers the claw like projections will lie as at b
Fig. 1 obliquely to the axis c c. There are more methods than one of securing
the elastic covering to the peripheries of cast-iron rollers Fig. 24 illustrates the
leading parts of the method. In this a. a is part of the cast-iron roller which
may be cast hollow-round this the sheet of elastic material with projecting parts as
at or as at ce in Fig. 1A is wrapped meeting at the edges with a butt joint. The
ends of the roller are passed into the hollow part o of the drum which is secured to
the shaft by the pinching screw e the elastic material band roller a a being kept
in connection with the driving drum c by means of the pinching screws which may
be four in number distributed at equal distances over the neck of the drum. The
comparatively loose way in which the elastic material is fitted on the periphery
of roller a a will favour rather than operate against the way in which it acts
upon the cotton bolls but any required degree of tightness of the covering of
elastic material may be obtained by tapping hose bored at intervals in the
periphery of roller a a and cutting holes at corresponding points in the clastic
material and fastening it down with flat headed screws the tails of which pass into
the screw tapped holes in the roller a a.
Still keeping in view the principle upon which I maintain cotton fibres should
be treated propose in some conditions of the bolls or natural masses of cotton
fibres or as forming part of a system of working in which more than one kind or
class of rollers will be used, to subject the cotton fibres before passing them to the
action of the air at pressure process to that of revolving brushes as illustrated
in Figs. 34 and 4ª. In these the bristles 50 called formed of hair, vegetable fibre,
or of steel wire of varying fineness and flexibility will in some instances be fitted
continuously to the body or core of the roller forming the core as a Fig. 3 of the
brush so that the whole surface will present a continuous máss as at 6 of "bristle"
points, or as in other instances the "bristles will be fixed into the core or central
roller a of the brush in bunches as at c with spaces between them as shown in the
diagram which is not drawn to any definite scale. The relation the revolving
brushes will bear to each other when in action is illustrated in Fig. 44 which is
merely a diagram not drawn to any definite scale, the "bristles "of the two brushes a
and do not work in contact but have a certain distance between them, and in the
space between the cotton bolls or natural masses of fibres are passed in the
direction of arrow c. In certain conditions of the cotton it may be advisable to set
the brushes so that the "bristles" shall work in contact or nearly so.
The rollers either of wood or of iron are of different forms or outlines in profile
as shown at a a Fig. 5, a b in Fig. 3, a a and b in Figs. 6, 12, 13 and 14, and may be
made in two pieces or halves as shown in Figs. 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, & 14, or in one piece
and are hung on or carried by appropriate shafts driven by appropriate geering.
In all cases two rollers work in conjunction as shown in the figures above named,
the forms varying as shown. Thus in Fig. 6, the double cone roller b b revolves
between the flanges of the roller a a. In the majority of instances a space such

page_text: as C C
Fig. 6 is left between the two rollers which space is determined upon by the
average size or diameter of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres-the space
as e Fig. 6 being in all cases considerably less than the diameter so to call it of
the bolls. If the space as c Fig. 6 was too wide the bolls would simply fall
through between the rollers and not be acted upon by them at all. The object
is to crush the vegetable fibre covering of the bolls but this with the minimum of
crushing power. To maintain the method of treatment of the fibres which I deem
the best, the distance between the roller will be regulated by the condition of the
cotton at time of being submitted to the operation of my system sets of "change
wheels" being employed to suit the different adjustments and speeds of the rollers
desired. Fig. 15 illustrates the general relation of the crushing rollers in which
one roller as a revolves between the flanges cc of the second roller which has
its conical face ribbed or corrugated, the space def between the peripheries of the
two rollers a and being regulated in its width according to the class or kind
and condition of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres. In some cases and
in certain conditions of the cotton bolls or masses of fibres, 1 propose to use what
some machinists would call a "double decker" arrangement of the rollers that is
with one or a secondary pair revolving above the primary pair, and this in order
to break up or separate or to partially separate the outer husk or covering of
vegetable fibre of the bolls or natural masses of cotton fibres, from the fibres
themselves and this in a more complete yet gentle or comparatively gentle manner,
than in some instances could be effected by the use of one pair of rollers only.
This duplex arrangement of rollers is illustrated in Fig. 4 this being a diagram
sketch only and not drawn to scale-in which a bare the upper pair of rollers which
I should prefer to be plain surfaced, either of wood or of metal and if the latter
clothed with a sheet of plain surfaced vulcanized india rubber. cd are the lower
pair of rollers having their surfaces finished or furnished in one or other of the
methods hereinbefore described in the diagram Fig. 4, different widths of spaces
between the rollers are shown as at ef. In some cases I might find it advisable
to substitute for the upper set of rollers a b, a set of revolving brushes as illustrated
in Figs. 3 and 4^.
Having now described in greater or less but in sufficient detail for the purposes
of this Specification the various rollers and appliances which I propose to use in
my system of treating cotton fibre at this the primary stage of the many stages of
processes through it is passed in being converted or manufactured into yarn or into
woven fabrics in which I combine the operation or action of revolving rollers with
the action of blasts or currents of air at pressure a modification or adaptation of
the method described and illustrated in my Patent Specification Number 9904 dated
June 17th 1889, I now proceed to explain one of the methods by which effect
the combination of crushing and opening up rollers with the receptacle chamber or
casing to the interior of which the crushed and partially or wholly opened up. bolls
or natural masses of cotton fibres are passed and therein subjected to the action of
the blasts or currents of air at pressure; premising my description of this com
bination of mechanical parts by stating that the arrangement of parts as shown in
Fig. 1 of the drawings left with Provisional Specification is not the combination
which I might afterwards and ultimately adopt, nor in the arrangement illustrated
are the parts given in correct proportions. My object in the drawing in Fig. 1,
being more that it shall act as a diagramatic sketch than a completed drawing to
scale, and which sketch will show all that is required for the purpose of this
Specification, in the way of making clear my combination of rollers-the details of
which have already been described-and the air pressure chamber of my system of
opening up cotton fibres or masses of cotton fibres. In Fig. 1aa shows one side
of the framing or frame which supports the rollers the shafts or journals of which
revolve in the bushes or brasses of the pedestals bcd-and which carry the toothed
wheels or geering represented by the dotted circles. These rollers are driven or
worked by or from the fly wheel ee ee worked by hand; or may be driven by
steam or other motive power; the fly wheel shaft in this case being provided

page_text: with fast and loose pulley belt driving geer. The bolls or natural masses of
cotton fibres are supplied to the hopper, and being passed from this to the
action of the rollers, then passed in an opened up condition to the shoot gy
which conveys them to the shoot attached to or connected with the air
pressure chamber jj corresponding to ee in Fig. 10 and from thence passed to
the interior ii of chamber in which it is subjected to the opening up and cleaning
either of the blasts or currents of air at pressure supplied as by the pipes d d in
Fig. 10, and acting as in the manner hereinbefore described in connection with
Figs. 10 and 11 & as still more fully illustrated in the Specification of my l'atent
Number 9904 and dated June 17th 1889.
I do not make any claim for the particular arrangement of mechanical parts as
shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings left with the Provisional Specification by which
the mechanism for breaking up and acting upon the bolls or husks or shells which
cover or enclose the fibres of cotton, and the pneumatic apparatus for further
opening up and cleaning the fibres are combined so as to form one apparatus or
machine considered as a whole and which may be designated as cotton ginning and
cleaning apparatus or machine.
The arrangement of parts I have indicated in the elevated sketch in Fig. 1 of
the sheet of drawings left with the Provisional Specification, is given more by way
of indicating the general arrangements of the apparatus considered as a whole
than as showing the form and arrangement which would be ultimately adopted as
the best which could be employed in practice.
There are so many methods of eflecting the mechanical combination of parts by
which the work to be done can be secured, that mere arrangements as a whole may
be made to suit such varying conditions of working as may be found to arise in
practice I do not therefore make my claim for the arrangement of the apparatus
as a whole as illustrated in Fig. 1 of sheet of drawings left with the Provisional
Specification.
."
Neither do I make any claim for the particular method of constructing the
"rollers which form part of my system of operating on the cotton bolls and fibres
those rollers may be constructed and fitted to their respective shafts or spindles in
more ways than one.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed; I declare that what I
claim is as follows:
First. I claim the use of certain movable parts which I generally designate as
"rollers" in combination with the pneumatic system which forms the subject of
my Patent No. 9904 under date June the 17th Eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.
This combination may be made in one or other or more of several methods of
mechanical arrangement; but whatever may be the mechanical form which the
combination I clain may take the essential feature of such combination is that so
soon as the work proposed to be done by the movable parts which generally
designate as rollers is completed, the materials or substances passing from their
action is to be led at once and as directly as possible to that part of the general
arrangement or combination in which the pneumatic apparatus patented as already
detailed is carried out which when finished completes the process of cotton ginning
or cleaning which constitutes my improvements in this department of cotton fibre
treatment.
Second. I claim the peculiar forms of the movable parts of my system or method
of cotton ginning and cleaning to which I give the general name of rollers and as
illustrated in Figs. 1^, 24, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 114, 12, 13, 14, and 15, on the sheet
of drawings left with the Provisional Specification.
Third. I claim in the construction of certain forms of the rollers, the combination
of external coverings with wooden or metal bodies or cores, which coverings are
made of vulcanized india rubber or other elastic substances or material; and which
coverings of elastic material are formed so as to present when they are fixed or are

page_text: secured to the peripheries of the wooden or metal bodies or cores, a series of external
pr jections of a section as shown in the drawings left with Provisional Specification
on Figs. 14, 24, and S.
Fourth.
claim the use of revolving brushes either working together of equal
or unequal diameter or in combination with one or other of the other forms of rollers
illustrated in sheet of drawings left with Provisional Specification. But I do not
claim any particular method of forming and constructing such brush rollers nor
any particular material which may be used.
Fifth and finally I claim the method of working two or more of the rollers either
of the same external form or section or of a combination of different forms or
sections in -connection with or in relation to each other; the rollers so working
together being driven, or set or kept in motion by suitable geering-the most
convenient prime motor obtainable being used as the primary source of power for
obtaining the necessary motion of the rollers. The distance between the rollers
thus working in combination being regulated according to circumstances, as the
condition of the bolts of the cotton plant at the time being operated upon.
As witness my hand this Nineteenth day of February One thousand eight
hundred and ninety-one.
ROBERT SCOTT BURN.