Cotton gin

Cotton Bale Presses At Gins, 1960 - 2004
Gino J. Mangialardi, Jr. and W. Stanley Anthony Published by The National Cotton Ginners Association Memphis, TN

Mangialardi and Anthony 1 COTTON BALE PRESSES AT GINS, 1960 - 20041 Gino J. Mangialardi, Jr. and W. Stanley Anthony2 ABSTRACT This paper reviews and compiles most of the significant developments and research conducted on bale presses forcotton gins since about 1960. It describes the design and operation of various types and models of bale presses, and gives an appraisal of press designs and adjustments that may be most useful at current cotton gins. The compiled information and recommendations should prove useful to ginners, scientists planning future ginning studies, and engineer’s selecting cotton bale press designs and types forcommercial gins. INTRODUCTION Increased production of Upland cottons with the advent of the Whitney and Holmes tooth gin stands in 1792 created a major problem in packaging the ginned lint. Until 1810, ginneries usually had only one gin stand and packaged the ginned lint in bags that varied from 125 to 350 lb in weight. The bags were hooked on frames constructed around holes in the floor and tiedout in the basement. Workers tramped lint down into the bags with their feet or wooden pestles (Bennett, 1962). Wooden and iron screw cotton presses were tried by 1799. After 1810, wooden screw presses gained favor and were used extensively. Some still operated in 1903. Animal sweeps provided power for the pressing. These presses were usually placed outdoors and were often provided with smallsheltering roofs. A few of the old gins employed a pit beneath the press, where the bale was tied out. Other early gins with outdoor presses did not use a pit and tied out at ground level (Figure 1). After 1854, when the use of steam power at cotton gins became prevalent, animal power was seldom used. After about 1860, many gins used steam engines and moved the presses into ginning buildings. Someearly presses retained the iron and steel screws. Others began to employ steam plungers. By 1878 these plungers were being used above the cotton boxes for mechanical tramping and packing (Figure 2). These presses required an operator to rake the ginned lint from the lint slide into the box and then to manually operate the steam piston tramper by means of a rod-controlled valve. Cotton bales ofvarious densities and weights were used. Square bales came to 500 lb average and round bales came to a standard of 250 lb weight. From 1940-1960, standard and high-density presses at gins began to be widely used. These bales weighed about 500 lb and were packaged at densities of about 24 and 32 lb/ft³, respectively.
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For publication by The Cotton Foundation, Memphis, TN, and The Cotton Gin andOil Mill Press. Agricultural Engineer (Retired) and Supervisory Agricultural Engineer (Retired), respectively, U. S. Cotton Ginning Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Stoneville, MS 38776.

Mangialardi and Anthony 2 A detailed history of packaging ginned lint (1795-1961) is described by Charles A. Bennett in a journal “Cotton Ginning Systems & Auxiliary Developments” (Bennett,1962). Bale Packaging System Bale packaging is the final step in processing cotton at the gin. The packaging system consists of a battery condenser, lint slide, lint feeder, tramper, bale press, and bale tying mechanism. This system may be supplemented with systems for bale conveying, weighing, and wrapping. The bale press consists of a frame, one or more hydraulic rams, and a hydraulic powersystem. Tying subsystems may be entirely manual, semi-automated, or fully automated. Bale presses are described primarily by the density of the bale that they produce, such as low density (flat or modified flat) or universal density (gin or compress). Other descriptions include up-packing, down-packing, fixed box, and doorless. Regardless of description, they all package lint cotton so that it can be...