High density cotton picker bar and spindle assembly therefor

In a cotton picker drum having an upright spindle bar, the spindle bar supporting a plurality of vertically spaced spindles having spindle gears, and a drive shaft supported for rotation about a shaft axis by the bar, a plurality of spindle drive gears mounted for rotation with the drive shaft, wherein at least two spindle gears are driven from a single spindle drive gear.

A cotton picker spindle bar including a plurality of vertically spaced spindles having driven spindle gears, a drive shaft supported for rotation about a shaft axis by the bar, a plurality of spindle drive gears mounted for rotation with the drive shaft, and spindle mount structure supporting the spindles in driving contact with the spindle drive gears, the driven spindle gears spaced on opposite sides of the shaft axis to facilitate close spacing of the spindles along the spindle bar.

A spindle support for a cotton picker spindle bar comprising:

• a base portion selectively attachable to the spindle bar and supporting a single drive gear for rotation in the base;
• and
• first and second spindles having drive ends, the spindles mounted in the support and driven by the single drive gear.

A spindle adapted for mounting on a cotton picker spindle bar, the spindle including a picking end and a driven gear end, and wherein the driven gear end includes a driven gear comprising one of the following:

• a cross helical gear, a spur gear, and a hypoid gear.

A cotton harvester row unit including picker spindle bar structure having first and second sets of spindles, the sets of spindles being offset from each other, and a doffer column with first and second sets of doffer pads mounted for rotation adjacent the first and second sets of spindles, respectively, wherein the doffer pads of the first set of doffer pads have a diameter less than that of the doffer pads of the second set of doffer pads.