Total fiber recovery method and apparatus

A method of recovering fiber comprising the steps of:

• opening and cleaning an input feed of material in at least one location to remove a first quantity of trash and motes from the input feed, and to retain the remaining input feed;
• subjecting the remaining input feed to a plurality of abrupt deflections and accelerations to remove a second quantity of trash and motes;
• collecting the first and the second quantities of trash and motes to form a third quantity of trash and motes;
• cleaning the third quantity of trash and motes to remove a substantial quantity of the heavy trash and to retain the motes and lighter trash;
• subjecting the motes and lighter trash to a plurality of abrupt deflections and accelerations to open the motes to obtain a short fiber fraction and break up the lighter trash.

A continuous, interconnected system for recovering fiber comprising:

• means for opening and cleaning an input feed of fiber containing material in at least one location to remove a first quantity of trash and motes from the input feed, and to retain the remaining input feed;
• means for subjecting the remaining input feed at a second location to a plurality of abrupt deflections and accelerations in a circular travel direction to remove a second quantity of trash and motes, and to retain a long fiber fraction of the input feed;
• means for collecting the first and second quantities of trash and motes to form a third quantity of trash and motes;
• means for cleaning the third quantity of trash and motes at a third location to remove a substantial quantity of the heavy trash and to retain the motes and lighter trash;
• and
• means for subjecting the motes and the lighter trash at a fourth location to a plurality of abrupt deflections and accelerations in a circular travel direction to open the motes and break up the lighter trash and recover a short fiber fraction from the motes.

A method of recovering usable fiber from an input feed of waste discarded by a ginning process or early textile mill process comprising a mass of randomly oriented mixed fibers, motes and trash comprising the steps of:

• (I) opening the input feed at a first opening and cleaning station, said station separating the input feed into a first portion of the input feed primarily comprising trash and motes and a second portion of the input feed primarily comprising fibers and relatively smaller trash;
• (II) cleaning and opening the second portion of the input feed to remove a third portion of the input feed primarily comprising motes and relatively smaller trash and a fourth portion of the input primarily comprising a long fiber fraction;
• (III) cleaning and carding the fourth portion of the input to obtain a sixth portion of the input comprising a long fiber fraction comprising the steps of:
• (A) subjecting the fibers of the fourth portion to an abrupt deflection at a first location to cause leading fibers to experience a deflecting motion generally transverse to a longitudinal travel direction and simultaneously subjecting the leading fibers to the fourth portion to a sudden accelerating force in a first circular direction of travel of the fibers, the deflecting in the transverse direction and accelerating force in the circular travel direction assisting in thinning and orienting the fibers of the fourth portion in the first travel direction and assisting in disentangling the fibers of the fourth portion and the deflecting and accelerating also causing trash and motes to be freed and separated from the fibers of the fourth portion;
• (B) at a second location downstream of the first location subjecting the fibers traveling in the first circular travel direction to a generally tangential accelerating force in a second circular travel direction while carding a first face portion of the fibers at the second junction, the combined effects of accelerating sinuously and carding on the first face portion tending to thin and draft apart individual fibers in the second travel direction and tending to separate and disentangle individual fibers laterally of the second travel direction and aiding in loosening of trash from the fibers;
• (C) at a third location downstream of the second location subjecting the fibers traveling in the second circular travel direction to another generally tangential accelerating force in a third circular travel direction sinuous to the second circular travel direction to cause the fibers to accelerate freely in the third circular travel direction while at the third location carding a second face portion on a side opposite the first face portion of the fibers, the combined effects of accelerating sinuously and carding on the second opposite face portion tending to thin and draft apart individual fibers in the third travel direction and tending to separate and disentangle individual fibers laterally of the third travel direction and aiding in further loosening trash from the fibers;
• and
• (D) collecting the trash and motes rejected at the first location, the second location, and the third location to form a fifth portion of the input;
• (IV) consolidating the first, the third, and the fifth portions of the input into a seventh portion of the input;
• (V) cleaning the seventh portion of the input in a drum screen cleaner comprising the steps of:
• (A) lifting and tumbling the seventh portion over a plurality of finger-shaped baffles to break up clusters of material and separate the trash;
• and
• (B) allowing the relatively heavy trash to drop through a screen to form an ninth portion of the input feed while retaining the motes and lighter trash to form an eighth portion of the input;
• (VI) carding and opening the eighth portion, particularly the motes, to obtain a tenth portion of the input primarily comprising a short fiber fraction and fine trash comprising the steps of:
• (A) subjecting the fibers of the eighth portion to an abrupt deflection at a first location to cause leading fibers to experience a deflecting motion generally transverse to a longitudinal travel direction and simultaneously subjecting the leading fibers of the eighth portion to a sudden accelerating force in a first circular direction of travel of the fibers, the deflecting in the transverse direction and accelerating force in the first circular travel direction assisting in thinning and opening the motes of the eighth portion and assisting in disentangling the fibers, and the deflecting and accelerating also causing the lighter trash to be broken up into fine particles and loosened;
• (B) at a second location downstream of the first location subjecting the fibes traveling in the first circular travel direction to a generally tangential accelerating force in a second circular travel direction to cause the fibers to accelerate freely in the second circular travel direction while carding a first face portion of the fibers at the second junction, the combined effects of accelerating sinuously and cardingd on the first face portion further tending to thin and open individual fibers and motes in the second travel direction and tending to separate and disentangle individual fibers laterally of the second travel direction and aiding in loosening and breaking up trash;
• (C) shrouding the fibers by at least the first and second locations in the first and the second circular travel directions to prevent the lighter trash broken up and loosened from the fibers from being thrown downwardly and outwardly from the circular travel directions;
• and
• (D) at a third location downstream of the second location subjecting the fibers traveling in the second circular travel direction to another generally tangential accelerating force in a third circular travel direction sinuous to the second circular travel direction to cause the fibers to accelerate freely in the third circular travel direction while at the third location carding a second face portion on a side opposite the first face portion of the fibers, the combined effects of accelerating sinuously and carding on the second opposite face portion tending to further thin and open individual fibers and motes in the third travel direction and tending to separate and disentangle individual fibers laterally of the third travel direction and aiding in further loosening and breaking up trash contained in the fibers;
• (VII) cleaning and carding the tenth portion to separate the tenth portion into a twelth portion of the input comprising a short fiber fraction and an eleventh portion of the input comprising fine trash, comprising the steps utilized in step (III).