IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th August 1872.-A communication from abroad by Jules
Alfred Chaufourier, of Paris, France.
-
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COTTON GINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved machinery for ginning cotton,
and consists more especially in the general arrangement and mode of
imparting motion to the various parts of the machine.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1
of which shows a longitudinal elevation of the machine, and Figure 2 a
section of same, while Figure 3 shows details of the methods of trans-
mitting motion to some of the parts. The same reference letters serve
for all three Figures.
a, framing of the machine on which are fixed the bearings b, c,
carrying the various parts of the machine; d, driving shaft, on one end
of which and outside the framing are keyed a large toothed wheel e and

page_text: fast and loose pulleys f, or winch handle, by which motion is imparted to
the machine. On the opposite end of shaft d is a fly wheel g, indicated
by a dotted circle in Figure 1, and also a pulley h. i, hopper placed
at the front of the machine which is supplied with the raw cotton to be
ginned; j, endless apron passing round rollers k, l, and provided with
card teeth for feeding the raw cotton from the hopper to the ginning
rollers m, m, which turn in opposite directions. n, drum, having small
blades o around its periphery, which drum (being rotated in the reverse
direction to the motion of the endless apron j, as indicated by the arrow
in Figure 2,) serves to regulate the supply of material from the hopper
to the ginning rollers and prevents their becoming choked. The
shafts p, q, of drum n and roller l, are mounted in slotted bearings r, r,
bolted on either side of frame c, whereby the tension of the endless
apron and the action of the blades o of drum n thereon may be regulated
as desired. On shaft p is keyed a pulleys which receives rotary motion
from the driving shaft by a cord or band & from pulley h. The
diameters of these pulleys may be varied according to the speed desired.
u, v, upper and lower drawing rollers rotating in the direction of the
arrows in Figure 2 and placed immediately behind the ginning
rollers m, m, their object being to draw out the lap of cotton after
it has been deprived of the seeds. The upper roller u is of the larger
diameter and is provided with a flexible ribbed covering of moleskin, for
example, which serves for clearing both the upper ginning roller and
the lower drawing roller. By the application of this flexible covering
on the upper drawing roller all extraneous matters are prevented from
lodging between it and the upper ginning roller, which might other-
wise become heated so as to injuriously affect the working of the
machine. The ginning and drawing rollers are rotated in the desired
direction by a series of toothed pinions, one of which, x, Figure 3,
carried on the axis of the lower ginning roller gears with the large toothed
wheel e.
On the shaft of the lower drawing roller at the right hand
side of the machine is keyed a double grooved pulley y, Figures 3 and 4,
herein-after referred to. z, fan blower revolved at a high speed for
directing a blast of cold air on the working rollers to cool the same and
prevent the cotton becoming heated. On the fan shaft a¹ is keyed a
grooved pulley b¹ receiving motion from pulley 9 by a cord or band c¹.
d', comb or beater mounted on a rocking shaft e¹ carried in sliding
bearings on frame c, and to which oscillatory motion is imparted in
order to loosen the cotton from the card teeth of the apron, and so

page_text: facilitating its delivery to the ginning rollers m, m. The oscillating
motion of beater d' is imparted by a crank pin on a pulley h¹ operating
a forked arm mounted on one end of the rock shaft d³, pulley h¹ being
driven from pulley y by a band ; j', Figure 2, division plate, on one
side of which the ginned cotton falls from the drawing rollers while the
seeds fall at the other side on to a grating or screen k¹, through. which
the seeds which have been entirely stripped of cotton alone can pass,
while any to which filaments of cotton still adhere will be retained and
are returned to the hopper i to be again passed through the machine.
The screen is hinged at land may be shaken if desired to improve its
action. The division plate j¹ may also be placed in a line with the
vertical axis of the lower drawing roller, instead of at one side of the
same as shown, and its upper end may be provided with a flexible blade
to prevent any fibres being carried round by the rotation of said drawing
roller.