IMPROVE- MENTS IN COTTON GINS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, of the City and State of
New York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COTTON GINS."
Sealed the 1st April 1859, and dated the 25th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th October 1858.
I, STEPHEN ROSSIN PARKHURST, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS," to be as follows:-
I provide a horizontal revolving cylinder, formed with a ginning surface that
is made by the use of metallic rings, or their equivalents, with intervening discs
of pasteboard, metal, or other material. The teeth that take the fibres of
cotton are not formed like a saw, as in the ordinary saw gin, but are cut into
the rings diagonally to the circumference, so that while the seeds lay on the
smooth or surface part of the rings, the cotton is taken by said under cut
teeth and pulled off the seeds without either injury to the cotton or seeds. I
use also a "stripper," formed as a ribbed roller, that revolves above the
cylinder, and keeps back the roll or mass of cotton that is contained in a
peculiar hopper.
The cotton is taken from the said revolving cylinder by a brush, blower, or
similar device, and the seeds fall away from the lower part of the hopper. On

page_text: the end of the shaft carrying the aforesaid stripper is a pinion, that is driven
by an internal gear on the shaft of said cylinder, which, setting over said
pinion, gives motion thereto in the required direction, prevents much wear on
said gears, ties the cylinder and stripper together, and possesses other im-
portant advantages as to simplicity and reliability in its application to cotton
gins.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
ROSSIN PARKHURST, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, Her special license that I, the said Stephen
Rossin Parkhurst, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, 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
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my cotton gin in use; Fig. 2 is a vertical
longitudinal section; and-Fig. 3 is an internal view of the gearing connecting

page_text: the cylinder and stripper. Similar marks of reference indicate the same
parts.
In roller and other cotton gins the cylinder of teeth travels in such a
manner that the cotton is carried over the top thereof back towards the brush,
and the roller or stripper, placed above said cylinder, rotates in the same
direction, so that its lower surface, near the said cylinder, travels in the reverse
direction to the motion of the cotton, to free the same and roll the mass over.
This cylinder and stripper have heretofore been connected to each other
by belts, which, under the strain and shortness of the belts, are apt to slip;
they have also been geared together by an intermediate pinion, but in this
case it becomes difficult to obtain the proper speed on the stripper; and also
the said gears are exposed to catching dirt, cotton, sticks, and other obstruc-
tions, and also to becoming entangled in the clothes of the attendants
(generally negroes) or inflict personal injury, independent of the cost of said
gears, and the trouble of fitting the same.
The nature of my said Invention consists in connecting the stripper and
ginning cylinder with what I term an internal gear, viz., a female gear wheel
surrounding and driving the pinion on the end of the stripper shaft, by which
means the proper motion is given to the stripper from the cylinder; the two
are always compelled to rotate simultaneously, and there is no chance for the
cotton to clog; there is no part of the gearing exposed so as to become injured
itself, or entangled in any surrounding or contiguous articles; the gearing is
kept clear, and the drum formed by the internal gear, gives opportunity for
applying power at this point, or taking off a belt to the blower. My gin is
thus compact, cheap, reliable in operation, safe for the attendants, and not
liable to injury.
In the Drawing, a, a, are the side frames of the gin, of any desired character,
carrying by journal boxes the shaft 1 of the surface tooth ginning cylinder b,
also the shaft 2 of the stripper c, and the shaft 14 of the brush blower d;
e, e, is the case of the blower, fitted so as to be opened at top for cleaning, if
necessary; f is a hopper, hinged at 3, 3, and provided with an adjustable
bottom edge 4, by which the mouth or opening for the escape of seed between
said hopper and the frame is adjusted so as not to allow any cotton to drop
out, only the seeds, sticks, &c. The cylinder, stripper, and blower are rotated
by competent power (applied to a pulley on the shaft 1) in the direction of
the arrows, and the parts operate on the cotton to separate the same from the
seeds and foreign matter. Motion is communicated to the stripper from the
shaft 1 of the cylinder b, through the internal gear h acting on the pinion i
on the shaft 2 of the stripper c, to drive the same as before specified; and k

page_text: is a belt from the outside of the internal gear wheel h, passing over the pulley
1 on the shaft 14 of the brush blower, to drive the same thence around the
tightening pulley m to the wheel h aforesaid.
The tightening pulley m is set in suitable slings n, and can be adjusted in
such a manner as to keep the belt tight to the pulley of the blower.
What I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by Letters
Patent, is the manner herein described of connecting a ginning or card
cylinder with a stripper, by combining with said cylinder and stripper the
internal gear (h) and pinion (i), substantially as and for the purposes specified.
I also claim the movable hopper provided with an adjustable opening at its
lower edge as and for the purposes specified.
And I claim the general arrangement of the cylinder, stripper, blower, and
internal gearing for the purposes, and as set forth.
In witnesses whereof, I, the said Stephen Rossin Parkhurst, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witnesses,
CHARLES L. BRIGGS.
THOMAS G. HAROLD, 289, Broadway.
New York City.)
S. R. PARKHURST. (L.S.)