Controlled-Batt Saw-Type Lint Cleaner Fiber Effects Related to Fiber Length

Lint cleaners have been used in gins for many years, but they became common after machine harvest, which left more non-lint in the cotton, became common. In 1953 Continental produced the first controlled-batt saw-type lint cleaner and similar designs are used in nearly every saw-gin plant today. At that time the cotton lint classers staple length was about 34 but today improved genetics have resulted in staple lengths of 38-40 for commercial cotton cultivars. Several researchers have shown that these lint cleaners damage some fibers. This project examined the relatinship between the fiber damage and fiber length with the possibility that the original design for the lint cleaner was aimed at shorter fiber than is being grown today and because of details of the design longer fibers are more likely to be damaged. Data were collected by ginning cottons of different length, cleaning them with a lint cleaner with traditional feedworks and one with no mechanical feedworks and then examining the fiber lengths and length distributions based on AFIS and Peyer measurements.