Title of Invention

A COMPACTING MACHINE FOR COTTON STALK

Abstract

HAND-CUM-POWER OPERATED COTTON STALK COMPACTING MACHINE A machine has been fabricated from mild steel sheets for compacting cotton plant stalks. The machine consists of a sturdy platform (150 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm) housed at the bottom with side doors opening from top. The stalks as such can be stacked horizontally. There is a sturdy pressing plate (144 cm x 42 cm x 1 cm)held by two fixed screw system (pitch, 1.27 cm) joined by a common shaft. A 5 HP motor with 1440 rpm is provided, the power of which is transmitted to the screws by two worm wheels with a teeth ratio of 1/10. The rpm of motor is reduced to half by introducing Reduction Gear System. Limiting switches are provided, to control the motion of the screw after compaction and also after attaining the original position of the pressing plate. Vertical slits are provided to introduce ropes in the beginning and to tie the compacted stalks after pressing. Provision is also there to operate the machine manually. It is possible to prepare about 200 bales cotton stalks of weighting 10 kg each in a day of 6 hours employing two persons.

Full Text

FORM - 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (SECTION-10) A COMPACTING MACHINE FOR COTTON STALK THE CENTRAL INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON COTTON TECHNOLOGY, ADENWALA ROAD, MATUNGA, MUMBAI-400 019, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. INDIAN COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH. GOVT. OF INDIA The following specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed TECHNICAL FIELD: This invention relates generally to a compacting machine for cotton stalk, particularly to a hand cum power operated compacting machine for cotton stalk and more particularly to a movable hand cum power operated compacting machine for cotton stalk. BACKGROUND ART Cotton, the king of natural fibres is mainly cultivated for its lint which is the most sought after textile fibre till date due to its inherent eco friendly and comfort characteristics. It is also one of the important cash crops of many of the Afro-Asian countries like India, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, etc. and plays a major role in their economic development. However, of late, cotton cultivation in general and especially in these countries is becoming non-remunerative on account of higher cost of inputs by way of plant protection measures, low productivity in rain fed cultivation, etc. As a result, the cultivators are not able to get adequate returns commensurate with their inputs. Hence, there is an urgent need to explore alternative means of increasing the returns from cotton farming. While efficient use of available resources, good quality seeds, organic cultivation, transgenic cotton etc. could reduce the cost of cultivation and enhance productivity, a judicious approach to promote the use of by-products from cotton cultivation through value addition route offers an attractive proposition to generate additional income to the farming community. At the same time, cotton stalks being a renewable and naturally available lignocellulosic material, its promotion as a substitute for forest timber is likely to have significant impact in arresting the environmental degradation caused by the fast depletion of forest resources in developing countries. Utilisation of Cotton Plant Stalks Cotton is one of the important cash crops popularly know as "White Gold". In India, all the four cultivated species, viz., G. arboreum, G. herbaceum. G. hirsutum and G. barbadense are grown on a commercial scale apart from hybrids. The current total area under cotton cultivation during 2003-04 was about 7.6 million hectares with the production of around 16.8 million bales of 170 kg each. In India cotton is cultivated during the period July to December and the crop is harvested from January to March. Following table gives information about the area and production of cotton and availability of stalks in various parts of the country. Table 1: Area Under Cultivation, Production of Indian Cotton & Availability of Cotton Stalks (State-wise) 2002-2003* States Area Cotton Availability.(M. ha) production of Stalks (M. bales) (M. tonnes) 1. AndhraPradesh 0.900 2.00 2.70 2. 2. Gujarat 1.498 3.050 4.49 3. Haryana 0.535 0.85 1.61 4. Karnataka 0.362 0.600 1.09 5. Madhya Pradesh 0.55 1.800 1.65 6. Maharashtra 2.800 2.400 8.40 7. Punjab 0.425 0.800 1.28 8. Rajasthan 0.335 0.450 1.01 9. Tamil Nadu 0.115 0.400 0.35 10. Others 0.053 0.100 0.16 Total 7.573 12.45 22.74 .CAB estimate excluding loose cotton of 1.15 million bales The yield of biomass varies from species to species; it is highest in the case of hybrids and lowest in the case of G. arboreum species. However, on an average about 3 tonnes of cotton plant stalks are available in one hectare of land. Depending upon the variety and the crop condition the sticks are 1 to 1.75 meter long and their diameter just above the ground may vary from 1 to 2.5 cm. The specific weight of short chopped stick is about 160 kg/m3. The calorific value of cotton stalks is equivalent to poor quality wood and is about 17.40 (Ml/kg). About 23 million tonnes of cotton stalks are generated in India with an average production of 3 tonnes per hectare of land. Most of the stalk produced is treated as waste though a small part of it is used as domestic fuel. The bulk of the stalk is burnt off in the fields after the harvest of cotton crop. On an average cotton plant stalk contains about 68 % holocellulose, 26% lignin and 7% ash. It is interesting to note that in contrast to other agricultural crop residues, cotton stalks possess fibre dimension comparable to most commonly available species of hardwood. It can therefore be used for the manufacture of particle boards, preparation of pulp and paper, hard board, corrugated boards and boxes, as a source of cellulose for the manufacture of micro-crystalline cellulose and cellulose derivatives, etc. Cotton stalks can also be used to grow edible -oyster mushrooms. Presently, boards are mainly made from wood particles. The increase in demand for sawn wood and panel materials in the country cannot be met from the existing forest resources. The regeneration of forest takes considerable time and therefore it is unlikely that timber alone can serve as the raw material required by the wood product industries. Cotton stalk is light, bulky and occupies more space. In order to enthuse prospective entrepreneurs to use cotton plant stalks in addition to already available biomass viz., bagasse, a knowledge on logistics of collection, methodology for compaction and transportation becomes very important. Presently, in India no particle board or binderless board factory is using cotton stalks for the simple reason that no agency has taken up on a systematised way to collect, compact and transport cotton stalks to the factory gate. In this direction an effort has been made in Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology to collect stalks, compact them and transport the compacted bales to a factory where chipping facility is there or chip them in a decentralised place and then transport to the factory. It has already been observed that baled cotton stalks produce uniform chips in view of near parellelisation of stalks during compacting. A number of baling machines for bagasse, straw, cattle feed etc. are available in the market all of which mostly work on hydraulic principle in which case some times bale breakers are needed before using them as raw materials. The aim of compacting cotton stalks is to reduce its volume, increase the bulk density by retaining the original structure and near parellelising the branchy nature of the plant. This enables transportation of more material in unit space and aids in obtaining uniform chips when fed to chippers of appropriate type. The objective of the present invention is to provide a movable hand cum power operated compacting machine for cotton stalk. The present invention describes the engineering details of a Hand-cum Power Driven Cotton Stalk Compacting Machine and it"s functioning. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: According to the present invention there is provided a compacting machine for cotton stalk.The compacting machine comprises a main body, a sturdy platform being fixed t6 said main body, doors being hingedly fixed to major sides of said platform, door locks being provided on the main body to lock the doors in the closed condition, vertical slits being provided on said doors for introduction of ropes for tying of stack after compacting, a movable sturdy pressing plate, plurality of fixed screws holding the said movable sturdy pressing plate, a common shaft coupled to all the fixed screws, a motor ,a reduction gear system connected to said motor, a belt and pulley drive connecting said common shaft to said reduction gear system, worm wheels for transmitting the power from said motor to said screws, limiting switches for controlling the operation, a wheel being attached to said common shaft at one end to operate the machine manually in case of non availability of power and a plurality of castors being attached to the main body below said platform for easy transport. The main body of compacting machine is made of mild steel. the sturdy platform is made of mild steel, the sturdy platform has a dimension of 150 cm x 45cmx45 cm. The sturdy pressing plate is made of mild steel, the sturdy pressing plate has a dimension 144cmx 45cmx1cm. In an embodiment the no. of screws are two. the fixed screw has a pitch of 1,27cm. The power from the motor is transmitted to the screws by worm wheels having a teeth ratio of 1:10. A reduction gear system reduced the speed of the motor to half. The motor is typically a 5 hp motor and the rpm of which is 1140. The limiting switches are provided both on top and bottom of the pressing chamber for controlling the upward and downward motion of the pressing plate. The number of castors are generally four and those castor include fibre wheels. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS: The invention will now be described with respect to the figures in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig.1: - shows front view of the compacting machine according to this invention , Fig.2: - shows the side view of the compacting machine; Fig.3: - shows the top view of the compacting machine; Different numerals used in drawings 1 Main Body 2 Doors 3 Door Locks 4 Pressing Plate 5 Guide Rods 6 Screw 7 Worm Wheels As shown in figure 1,2 and 3 the Compacting Machine 22 has been fabricated from mild steel sheets. The machine has got a sturdy platform of dimension (150 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm) with side doors 2 opening from top. There is a sturdy pressing plate 4 of dimension 144 cm x 42 cm x 1 cm held by two fixed screws 6, each of pitch 1.27 cm. A common shaft 9 coupled to both the shafts through worms. A 5 HP motor 19 having a rpm of 1440 is provided, the power of which is transmitted to the screws by worm wheels 7 having a.teeth ratio of 1/10. The rpm of motor is reduced to half by introducing a Reduction Gear System 20. Limiting switches 14 and 15 are provided one on top and one at the bottom to control the motion of the screw after compaction to the set level and after reaching the top position of the side door. In the event of electricity failure the machine can also be operated manually by rotating a wheel 21, which brings down and up the pressing plate. Vertical slits 23 are provided on the doors on either side to introduce ropes before placing cotton stalks and for tying after compaction. The door locks 3 close the doors. Operating Procedure Cotton stalks are kept horizontally in the space after opening one side door to a height of 12" followed by closing the door. Once the unit is switched on, the top plate starts moving down and compresses to the desired level and stops at which stage the bales are manually tied and by switching on the unit again, the pressing plate is made to move up. The process is repeated. It takes about 30 seconds to come down and another 30 second to go up. In order to utilise the idle time of another 30 seconds, provision has been made to fill up trays with cotton stalks which can be pushed inside, pressed, tied and can be taken out from the side opening. It is possible to make about 200 bales of 10 kg each in a day of 6 hours employing 2 persons. Salient Features of Cotton Stalk Compact Machine a) Body of machine -is made out of mild steel b) Compacting platform -150 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm c) Pressing plate -144 cm x 42 cm x 1 cm d) Screw systems -2 nos (pitch of screw -1.25 cm) e) Screw systems -connected by a pommon shaft f) Power transmission -Through worm wheels with a teeth ratio of g) Motor -5 HP with 1440 rpm h) Reduction gear box -Reduces the rpm of motor to 720 i) Common shaft -attached to gear box with belt and pulley drive j) Limiting switches -Two, one on top and one at the bottom of the pressing chamber which control the motion of the screw. k) Wheel attached to the shaft -Hand operated wheel is provided to operate the machine in the event of power failure I) Castors -Four sturdy castors provided at the bottom of the machine for easy transport. When we have described and illustrated particular embodiment of my present invention I do not wish to limit myself to the exact form shown which is indeed to illustrate our invention rather than to limit to it. It is to be expressly understood that the invention is susceptible to such improvements and modifications, which may be made by any person skilled in the art to suit individual job requirement and any such improvements and modifications so made in the seal here in before described and illustrated shall be considered to be falling within the ambit and scope of this invention and the appended claims. 9 We claim: 1 .A compacting machine for cotton stalk comprising a main body, a sturdy platform being fixed to said main body, doors being hingedly fixed to major sides of said platform, door locks being provided on the main body to lock the doors in the closed condition, vertical slits being provided on said doors for introduction of ropes for tying of stack after compacting, a movable sturdy pressing plate, plurality of fixed screws holding the said movable sturdy pressing plate, a common shaft coupled to all the fixed screws, a motor ,a reduction gear system connected to said motor, a belt and pulley drive connecting said common shaft to said reduction gear system, worm wheels for transmitting the power from said motor to said screws, limiting switches for controlling the operation, a wheel being attached to said common shaft at one end to operate the machine manually in case of non availability of power and a plurality of castors being attached to the main body below said platform for easy transport. 2. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body is made of mild steel. 3. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sturdy platform is made of mild steel. 4. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sturdy platform has a dimension of 15&cm x 45cmx45 cm. 5. An improved seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sturdy pressing plate is made of mild steel. 6. An improved seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sturdy pressing plate has a dimension 144cmx 45cmx1cm. 7. An improved seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the no. of fixed screws is two. 8. An improved seal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fixed screw has a pitch of 1.27cm. 9. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power from said motor transmitted to the screws by worm wheels having a teeth ratio of 1:10. 10 10. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reduction gear system reduced the speed of the motor to half. 11. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motor is a 5 hp motor and the rpm is 1140. 12. A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the limiting switches are provided both on top and bottom of the pressing chamber for controlling the upward and downward motion of the pressing plate. 13.A compacting machine for cotton stalk as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of castors are four and those castor include fibre wheels. 14. A compacting machine for cotton stalks substantially as described here in with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 22 nd day of June, 2004

Documents:

677-mum-2004-abstract(20-9-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-abstract-(03-01-2005).doc

677-mum-2004-cancelled page(20-9-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-claims(granted)-(3-1-2005).pdf

677-mum-2004-claims-(granted)-(03-01-2005).doc

677-mum-2004-correspondence(20-8-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-correspondence-ipo-(24-12-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-drawing(3-1-2005).pdf

677-mum-2004-form 1(20-9-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-form 1(22-6-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-form 19(20-9-2004).pdf

677-mum-2004-form 2(granted)-(03-01-2005).doc

677-mum-2004-form 2(granted)-(3-1-2005).pdf

677-mum-2004-form 3(20-9-2004).pdf