IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Macmillan Dunlop, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COTTON GINS."
Sealed the 23rd December 1862, and dated the 1st July 1862..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Macmillan Dunlop.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1862.
I, JOHN MACMILLAN DUNLOP, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COTTON GINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cotton gins. The cotton
gin known as Macarthy's consists of a roller with leather lapped round it in a
spiral direction, and having a metal blade or doctor pressed up against it; with
these are combined a feed roller table, on which the seed cotton lays, and
from which it is taken by the workman who applies it to the roller so that it
may become nipped between it and the doctor. There is also a vibrating
blade or beater plate, the edge of which passes rapidly to and fro in front of and
close up to the line of nip, between the roller and the doctor, and which so serves
to knock the seed out of the .sced cotton there nipped and held, the seed-

page_text: falls off, and the fibre passes round with the roller and is removed at the
back.
I have found that cotton gins of this description are improved by the ad-
dition of another roller and doctor; the second roller is placed parallel to the
first, and close to it, the rollers revolve in opposite directions and away from
each other, at the front they have a single beater plate between them, one
edge of which serves to beat for one roller and the other for the other. The
length of the beater arms is made adjustable as is usual to set it up to one of
the rollers, and the bearings of the additional roller are so arranged that they
can be set up by screws or otherwise to adjust it to the beater blade after this
has been set to the first roller; or the bearings of each roller may be made
adjustable, and then no adjustment is requisite in the arms which carry the
beater plate. In place of making the rollers revolve away from each other
at the front they may be made to revolve towards each other, and have one
doctor between the two; in this case two beater plates are employed, but they
are carried and actuated by the same arms and parts.
In order to feed Macarthy gins either of the ordinary description, or
improved as above described, I prefer to employ in place of the ordinary table.
a grated rack or racks attached to the beater plate or plates, the seed cotton is
placed in the grated rack, the motion of the beater plate keeps the seed
cotton in constant movement, and this enables the roller and doctor easily
to get hold of the fibre, and it also causes the dirt and stripped seed to fall
through the bars of the rack. The rack may be kept supplied with seed
cotton by means of an endless apron moving at a slow speed, on this the
seed cotton is spread from time to time, and it conveys the same continuously
to the grated rack.
Although it is convenient to mount the grated rack on the beater blade
it is not essential, as a vibratory movement may be otherwise communicated
to it; the vibrating rack also need not necessarily be grated although it is
very convenient to make it so to avoid the accumulation of stripped seed
within it.
In order in Macarthy gins to separate the cleansed fibre from the roller
after it has passed the point of nip, and prevent it lapping round, and accu-
mulating on the roller, I combine therewith a scraper, which detaches it,
and causes it to fall of. A vibrating feeding rack. may usefully be combined
with roller gins, it is applied so as to supply the seed cotton to the nip. of the
rollers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed,
by the said John Macmillan Dunlop in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th December. 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
MACMILLAN DUNLOP, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
>
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One.
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Macmillan Dunlop, Her special licence, that I, the said John Mac-
millan Dunlop, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Macmillan Dunlop, 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 COTTON GINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Macmillan Dunlop, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Macmillan Dunlop, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cotton gins. The cotton
ġin known has Macarthy's consists of a roller with, leather lapped round it in a
spiral direction, and having a metal blade or doctor pressed up against it; with
these are combined a feed table, on which the seed cotton lays, and from
which it is taken by the workman who applies it to the roller so that it may
become nipped between it and the doctor. There is also a vibrating blade or
beater plate the edge of which passes rapidly to and fro in front of, and
close up to the line of nip between the roller and the doctor, and which so
serves to knock the seed out of the seed cotton there nipped and held, the

page_text: seed falls off, and the fibre passes round with the roller, and is removed at
the back.
I have found that cotton gins of this description are improved by the addi-
tion of another roller and doctor; the second roller is placed parallel to the
first and close to it, the rollers revolve in opposite directions, and away from
each other at the front, they have a single beater plate between them,
one edge of which serves to beat for one roller and the other for the
other. The length of the beater arms is made adjustable as is usual to
set it up to one of the rollers, and the bearings of the additional roller are
so arranged that they can be set up
the beater blade after this has been
of each roller may be made adjustable,
the arms which carry the beater plate. In place of making the rollers revolve
away from each other at the front they may be made to revolve towards
each other, and have one doctor between the two, in this case two beater
plates are employed, but they are carried, and actuated by the same arms
and parts.
"
by screws or otherwise to adjust it to
set to the first roller; or the bearings
and then no adjustment is requisite in
In order to feed Macarthy gins, either of the ordinary description or
improved as above described, I prefer to employ in place of the ordinary table
a grated rack or racks attached to the beater plate or plates, the seed cotton
is placed in the grated rack, the motion of the beater plate keeps the seed
cotton in constant movement, and this enables the roller and doctor easily
to get hold of the fibre, and it also causes the dirt and stripped seed to fall
through the bars of the rack. The rack may be kept supplied with seed
cotton by means of an endless apron moving at a slow speed, on this the seed
cotton is spread from time to time, and it conveys the same continuously to
the grated rack.
Although it is convenient to mount the grated rack on the beater blade it
is not essential, as a vibrating movement may be otherwise communicated.to
it. The vibrating rack also need not necessarily be grated although it is
very convenient to make it so to avoid the accumulation of stripped seed
within it.
In order in Macarthy gins to separate the cleaned fibre from the roller
after it has passed the point of nip, and prevent it lapping round, and accu-
mulating on the roller, I combine therewith a scraper, which detaches it,
and causes it to fall off. A vibrating feeding rack may usefully be combined
with roller gins, it is applied so as to supply the seed cotton to the nip of the
rollers.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of the ordinary Macarthy gin with the
improved self-acting feeding grated rack or trough attached to it.
.A, A, is the framing of the machine; B is the roller covered with leather;
C, the beater plate; D is the table on which the seed cotton is placed so as to
be ready for the workman to feed it into the gin; E is the crank shaft and
crank for moving the beater plate; F is one of the connecting rods; G is one
of the radius rods; H is the fixed knife or doctor, all these parts exist in the
ordinary Macarthy gin; K is the grated trough or rack into which the seed
cotton is placed by the workman for self-acting feeding or ginning, it is made
conveniently of wire work and has two ends, L, L, which are screwed to the
beater plate C, one at each end of the trough or rack. These are also seen in
Figure 2, which is a plan of the trough or rack, they have holes in them to
allow seeds and dirt to drop through, and are fixed to the beater plate C by
screws or rivets; there is a top rail L' which passes from one end plate to the
other and supports the upper edge of the grated trough or rack. As the
beater plate C receives its motion from the crank E the same motion is com-
municated to the grated rack or trough which holds the seed cotton which is
thereby kept in constant movement, thus continually presenting the fibres of
the seed cotton to be taken by the roller and doctor, and thereby greatly
facilitating the work and increasing the production. The seeds and dirt as
they are separated from the cotton by the action of the gin fall through the
bars of the grated rack or trough and the passage thereof through the spaces
in the grated rack is greatly facilitated by the rapid up and down movement
of the grated rack. Figure 3 is a cross section of a similar gin to that shewn
at Figure 1, but with an endless apron or grid applied to it to supply the
grated trough or rack. The seed cotton is from time to time spread by the
workman upon the endless apron or grid which has a slow motion, say about
one foot per minute, given to it, the seed cotton is thus carried forward and
dropped into the grated rack or trough when the gin immediately operates
upon it as already described. Figure 4 is a cross section of an improved
Macarthy gin having two rollers B, B¹, in place of one as in the ordinary
Macarthy gin, the rollers are geared together by the spur wheels R, R¹, and
therefore revolve in opposite directions, they are supplied with seed cotton by

page_text: means of two grated racks or troughs K and K. Each roller has its own
"doctor" or fixed knife H and H¹, but one beater plate M with two beating
edges operates for both the upper and the lower rollers. The upper edge of the
beater plate M beats the seed cotton as in the ordinary gin, and the lower edge
of the same beater plate M beats the seed cotton for the lower roller. The
beater plate M receives its motion in the same manner as the ordinary beater
plate C, seen in Figure 1, and it will be understood from the above description
that it strikes the seed cotton both in its upward and in its downward
inovement. The grated racks or feed troughs K and K³, are supplied by
hand with the seed cotton or one or both may be supplied by seed cotton
spread on a travelling apron or grid as already described.
The grated
rack or trough K which holds the seed cotton for the upper roller is similar
to that shewn at Figure 2; that for the lower roller is shewn at Figure 5 as
it would appear if spread or flattened out. It is attached to the beater plate
M by ends similar to L, L, already described and by screws or rivets passing
through the holes N, N, at the extremities of the extended wires 0, 0, 0.
The bar P is for the purpose of preventing the cleaned cotton lapping round
either of the leather-covered rollers as before mentioned; the bearings of the
lower roller B¹ are made adjustable to and from the beater plate M, and the
radius rods are also made adjustable as is usual, or else there are means of
adjustment applied to the bearings of both the rollers B, B¹ also, as before
mentioned, the rollers B, B¹, may be so geared together as to revolve towards
in place of away from each other, and then one doctor and two beater plates
(carried however by the same radius rods) are employed; or two rollers may
be used and geared together so that they may run or revolve in the same
direction (either up or down), each roller having its own doctor and also its
own beater plate, but the two beater plates are to be combined together and they
are to be carried by the same radius rods and actuated by the same crank
shaft; the arrangement shewn is however that which is preferred. In cotton
gins of this description where two beater plates are employed with one roller,
as is sometimes the practice, a grated rack or trough may be applied according
to my Invention, such rack or trough being attached to and working with one
of the beater plates and by preference with the outer beater plate. In all
these arrangements instead of having the grated racks or feed troughs fixed
entirely to the beater plates as described and receiving an agitating motion
therefrom, a similar feed motion may be obtained by connecting the feed table
or tables with or without grids or wires to the beater plate or to a crank
motion by one side only, and by the opposite or outer side of the feed

page_text: table resting on pivots, the table being a little inclined towards the roller or
rollers the agitation would carry the cotton to the action of the gin; this
may be done, but I prefer the grated rack or trough fixed to the beater
plate. Figures 6 and 7 shew the application of the grated rack or feed
trough to the "roller churka" or "roller gin," it may either be applied with
a beater plate for loosening the seed, as shewn in Figure 6, or without as
shewn in Figure 7. The grated rack or trough is moved in the same manner
by a crank as in the Macarthy gin, and it may be supplied with seed cotton
either by hand or by an endless travelling apron or grid as described for the
Macarthy gin. In the arrangement shewn at Figure 6 the beater plate strikes
the seed cotton the fibre of which has become nipped and so detaches the
seed; in Figure 7 a similar plate is used but it serves only to carry the trough
or rack containing the seed cotton, and by their combined action the seed
cotton is presented to the operation of the ginning rollers.
In conclusion I would state that I make no claim to any of the mechanical
parts separately, but only their combination with Macarthy and roller gins
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Macmillan Dunlop, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of December in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN M. DUNLOP. (L.S.)