Abstract: A rigid cage cotton gin includes a feeder that delivers seed cotton locks to be ginned. A doffing cylinder at the discharge of the feeder casts seed cotton locks into a bonnet housing, with air inlet vents in the bonnet housing deflecting the seed cotton locks onto a revolving rigid cage having a series of sifting bars that are fixedly mounted thereto. The sifting bars are spaced-apart to define a series of slots. The rigid cage is rotated for seed cotton locks to be drawn to the slots between the sifting bars, and the fibers will be drawn through the slots by air currents flowing through the slots. A fiber-engaging cylinder is mounted within the rigid cage, with the outer surface of the fiber-engaging cylinder abutting the interior surfaces of the sifting bars. The sifting bars are contoured to restrain the cotton seed from moving closer than a predetermined distance from the surface of the fiber-engaging cylinder to control the minimum fiber length removed.

Abstract: An apparatus for separating foreign matter from fiber tufts includes an air duct in which fiber tufts are pneumatically conveyed into the system via a high speed air stream. The air duct provides an air stream that conveys the fiber tufts with trash on to a revolving cleaning cylinder having teeth to engage the fiber tufts at a velocity that is sufficient to prevent agglomeration of the fiber tufts on a cylinder. The fiber tufts and trash thereby engage a separating means without agglomeration of the fiber tufts. The fiber tufts and trash further engage a streamer plate and grid bars to separate the trash from the fiber tufts such that the clean fiber tufts are distributed to a lint flue. The apparatus may further include a perforated cylinder in close proximity with the revolving cleaning cylinder that allows air to flow there-through, but that prevents penetration of the perforated cylinder surface by the desired fiber tufts.

Abstract: Maximum separation of the seed cotton locks delivered to a cage roller gin is achieved by a ballistic trajectory that carries the locks over the top of the cage roller to a landing area. In the preferred embodiment, the flight of the locks over the cage roller is induced by a pair of oppositely driven rollers which expel the cotton from between their adjacent surfaces along a common tangential plane offset at an angle above the top of the cage roller. Ambient air is admitted to the relatively large volume plenum from beneath the rollers and a primary flow of air about the cage roller is promoted as the seed cotton overlies the rotating cage such that the air and injected seed cotton locks flow in co-current direction above the cage roller.

Abstract: A bale tying apparatus for use with a baling press distinguished from the prior art mechanisms in that the articulated arms which shape wire ties about a bale also incorporate elements on the ends thereof to effect the tying of the wires without engagement of the wires with positioning surfaces in the follow block of the press. Thus the tying function is made more reliable and is independent of the follow block precise positioning. A wire loop on at least one end of the wire tie remains in contact with the arm mechanism until the wire knot is made up. The apparatus may use wire loop holding devices at the ends of both arms or may use a housing carried on the end of one arm with an opening for insertion of the other end by the other arm.