Improvements in or relating to the Treatment of Cotton Seed.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 11th May, 1895
Improvements in or relating to the Treatment of Cotton Seed.
A communication from GEORGE WASHINGTON WASHBURN, of 214, Carroll
Avenue, City of Memphis, County of Shelby, State of Tennessee, United
States of America, Manufacturer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 :-
This invention relates to the methods and means for cleaning and delinting cotton
seed and collecting the lint. Its object is to obviate the necessity of handling the
seed after it has undergone the rough delinting process in the customary gins used
for the purpose in cotton seed oil mills, and to thoroughly delint the seed, collect
the lint and deliver the delinted seed to the hullers.
It is well known that it is easier to hull and separate the hulls from the meats of
the delinted seed than it is from the seeds covered with the short lint as they leave
the gins, and it is also well known that the undelinted seeds absorb a considerable
amount of oil and the hulls are not so well adapted for feeding stock as are the
delinted hulls. In the processes now in common use for treating cotton seed for the
manufacture of cotton seed oil, the process, as carried on, is practically continuous
from the time the seed is passed to the rough cleaner until it is hulled and the meat
separated from the hulls and passed to the crushing rolls. In this process as used,
the undelinted seed passes directly from the gins to the hullers; but when it was
found desirable to delint the seed, it was collected from the gins, fed in the ordinary
way to separate delinters, which required considerable labor and constant attention
to feed the seed to the delinter through the customary hoppers. It was also found
that the seed when leaving the gins was not in condition to be fed to an abrading
delinting cylinder, as there were no means known of freeing the seed from hard
foreign substances that might get into it, which substances would injure or destroy
the delinting cylinder. The means by which the objects aimed at are accomplished,
consist in interposing between the gins and hullers, mechanism to free the seeds
from all impurities, automatically feed the seeds, when so freed, to the delinters,
automatically deliver the seeds from the delinters to the hullers and collect the lint
from the delinters and convey it to the lint room.
The accompanying drawing represents the mechanism for accomplishing this
result, arranged in what is termed the delinting room, of which,
Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken through the upper portion of the room,
and through the spiral conveyer in the upper part of the room, and the spiral
conveyer leading from the cleaner. The delinters, which may be of any approved
construction, are shown in plan view.
Figure 2 is a vertical section through the room, showing the mechanism in
elevation.
Figure 3 is a vertical section taken at right angles to the view shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the shaker or cleaner.
Referring to the parts, which are indicated by similar reference letters in the
different views, A represents the side walls, A' the floor and A' the ceiling of
B is the end of the discharge spout leading from the gins in the
the room.

page_text: room.
adjoining room and discharging on to the shaker or cleaner C in the delinting
The shaker consists of an inclined trough, hung upon yokes c, which yokes
are hung in bearings c¹ secured to the ceiling, or other permanent part of the
building. At the rear end it has journalled to it a pitman c², which is journalled to
the crank shaft c³, the shaft being fitted with a pulley c¹ to receive a belt
which imparts a rapid shaking motion to the trough. The bottom of the
trough is fitted with transverse slats, lapped one over the other, so as to
form transverse troughs, which arrest and turn the seed while passing through
it. The trough is also, as clearly seen in Figure 4, provided with three
pockets c, closed by a sliding plate at the bottom. The object of these troughs is
to collect any heavy substances that may be fed from the gins on the trough, and
detain them to be removed by pulling out the bottom of the pockets, or by hand if
desired. The constant shaking of the trough will cause the heavier portions to
drop to the pocket, while the lighter portions pass over to the discharge end;
pebbles and small, smooth, hard substances will be collected in the troughs, but
nails, wire and other metallic substances are liable to be retained by the lint upon
the seeds and carried along with them and discharged over the lower inclined end
of the trough. These metallic substances, if allowed to pass to the delinters, which
have abrading emery cylinders to strip the seeds clean of lint, would greatly injure or
ruin the abrading cylinder. Means are provided to forcibly separate the iron
from the lint bearing seed before it reaches the delinters; by forcibly, is meant a
positive separation of the iron from the liut bearing seed by means of magnetic
attraction, in contradistinction to such separation as may be caused by the action
of gravity; this separation is accomplished by placing below the discharge end of
the shaker, a number of horseshoe magnets, enclosed in a suitable box and having
a soft iron plate ce secured over their opposite poles. The seed must pass over
these magnets and any nails, wire, or other metallic substances carried along with
the seed, will be attracted and held upon the inclined plate, and can be readily
removed by the attendant. The seed discharged over the magnetic plate c³ drops
into the spiral conveyer D, which is arranged near the floor of the building and
is carried and discharged into the bucket elevator E. The elevator E carries up
and delivers the seed into the receiving end of the spiral conveyer F, running
transversely across the room. From this conveyer it is delivered into another
spiral conveyer G, which is arranged longitudinally of the room and parallel with
the delinters H, which are arranged preferably in pairs, as shown in Figure 1.
From the conveyer G the seed is delivered to the head or receiving ends of the
delinters H, through inclined delivery chutes g. The seeds, in passing from the
head to the tail of the machines, are delinted and passed from the delinters through
discharge spouts h, which deliver the delinted seed into the spiral conveyer I, from
which they are carried and delivered through the spout J, which leads to the
hullers in the room beneath the delinting room.
The lint is drawn up from the machines through spouts k, which connect with the
pipe K, which pipe is carried through the wall of the delinting room and into
the lint room. The pipe K is exhausted by a fan, (not shown), arranged in the
lint room, and the lint thrown against a condenser in the usual manner. The
end of the pipe K in the delinting room is closed and the draft is drawn through
the delinters, which are open underneath for the purpose of admitting.air.
The particular form of shaker and delinter herein shown, is not. claimed, as other
devices for similar purposes may be substituted.
It is obvious that the relative position of the parts may be changed, and other
features added without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.
•
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :
1. The described method of cleaning and. delinting cotton seed which consists.
first, in shaking the seed to take out and separate the hard, smooth substances ;

page_text: second, forcibly removing such metallic substances as adhere to the lint; third,
delinting the cotton seed; fourth, separating the detached lint from the seed.
2. The combination of the vibrating cleaner provided with pockets to receive
the heavy substances separated from the seed by the vibratory action of the
cleaner, a series of magnets at the discharge end of the cleaner to attract and
separate metallic substances from the seed, an elevator to convey the cleaned seed
to the overhead conveyer, the delinters arranged underneath said conveyer, the
overhead conveyer having discharge spouts connecting it with each delinter, a
common air exhaust trunk for all the delinters, separate spouts connecting the
several delinters with the said exhaust trunk, the common seed conveyer for all
the delinters and discharge spouts connecting each delinter with the common seed
conveyer, whereby the seed is automatically cleaned, delinted and the seed separated
from the lint, and the lint and seed conveyed from the delinters separately from
each other, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 12th day of March 1895
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.