Author: Certi-Pik, USA

John Deere vs Case IH – Which Cotton Picker is Best?

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Many people in the cotton-harvesting industry have definite preferences when it comes to which manufacturer makes the best harvester, and both John Deere and Case IH have legions of devoted followers. There’s no doubt that both machines have some tremendous benefits, and both offer great service to anyone purchasing either type of equipment.

As to which of the two is superior, there probably is no clear answer in concrete terms, because both will get the job done efficiently and smoothly, provided that the machine is in good working order. To help decide the debate, information about both types of harvesters is provided below, as well as some information about the specific preferences of many farmers.

This may help you make up your own mind about which cotton picker is the better machine, or it may just convince you that both types are excellent, and there’s no real need to pick a winner.

Strengths of John Deere CP690

The CP690 machine is incredibly productive, and it’s onboard module building system is so efficient that it completely eliminates boll buggy drivers, module-building workers, and all of the other equipment which traditionally supports a picker.

Because it has its own onboard component building apparatus, cotton can be harvested nonstop as it’s processed by a high-volume accumulator, the component builder itself, and the component handler.

The accumulator collects the material and a formed round component gets wrapped with a protective coating, and then gets forwarded to the machine’s handler. This handler places the completed round module at the end of the row, and since all this happens while the CP690 is still harvesting, it allows the operator to stay right in the row, rather than having to unload into boll buggies or other builders.

In a setup like this, all that’s necessary is to have a single operator for the machine and a tractor operator who is responsible for staging modules for transport. This allows for a much less labor-intensive harvesting process, which will streamline your operation and save you labor costs.

You also won’t need all the traditional support equipment required when your operation uses a basket-style picker, because you won’t need a boll buggy, a boll buggy tractor, a builder, or a builder tractor. The only support equipment you need for the CP690 is a row crop tractor and a material component handler.

Another great thing about the CP690 is that it’s only necessary to fill the machine up with diesel fuel one time each day because the huge 370-gallon fuel tank carries a sufficient reserve for all daily operations.

When you’re moving between fields, the machine can be put in transport mode in less than a minute, so that it can move along roads at an impressive 27 km/h.
The CP690 provides tremendous protection for the valuable material and seeds being harvested, by wicking away moisture which can interfere with crop quality.

Each module is wrapped three times by the onboard builder, and each wrap contains two segments of low-density polyethylene film, so as to maintain the round modules in a good uniform shape, while also providing superior protection against moisture.

The CP690 is equipped with a moisture sensor that provides real-time measurements of moisture as the round module is being formed. This is critical to the harvesting operation because it helps preserve material quality, and the sensor provides highly accurate readings that can be relied upon. Since moisture is tracked so accurately, it helps the ginning process achieve greater efficiency.

The CP690 also weighs each of the round modules as they’re formed, making it much easier to provide easier yield-monitored operation. This makes it easy during ginning to simply record the weights and load them into the system, and it also allows for gins without scales to be used during the ginning process.

Apart from the mechanical operation of the harvester, the CP690 also provides the ability to record all formation information, right as it’s happening in the field.
Each time a component is unloaded from the round chamber, all relevant data is sent to a controller where the data is compiled so producers can isolate each round component based on specific production areas.

All that data can then be used to review yield performance, to show you just how productive your CP690 harvester has been in the field.

John Deere Vs Case IH – Which Cotton Picker Is Best John Deere

Strengths of Case IH Module Express

At the heart of the Case Module Express 625 is its module-building chamber, which includes a whole array of sensors and augurs, which process the material and compress it into a rectangular component.

The modules produced in this process are able to withstand weather conditions very well, and they also make the ginning process much easier. Because they’re sized to allow for maximum gin-feeding rates without any alterations being necessary, they streamline the whole material processing operation considerably.

Modules are produced in 16-foot lengths, so they can be loaded onto a standard truck much more easily than the traditional 32-foot module. Since there is no plastic wrap or twine involved, finished bales are never contaminated, and there’s nothing to dispose of when they’re fed into the inner.

Another big advantage of the IH cotton harvester is the monitoring system included in the cab of the machine.

The AFS Pro 700 Monitor allows you to track bales per acre along with individual component weights, so that it’s easier to plan for drop-off points in the fields where your trucks can pick up finished bales. The monitor also provides operation status as well as the percent full.

A 7-inch flat screen color LCD monitor includes dual camera views, one of which displays the rear view from behind the machine, and the other displaying all action inside the chamber.

The Case IH harvester has been designed such that it has superior balance, weight distribution, and flotation. With powerful dual-drive tires upfront for maximum flotation, it has the perfect complement with the large steering tires situated on the rear axle.

The long chassis provides superior balance, and the all-wheel-drive allows you to harvest even in the most difficult conditions. When you have to get the harvest in before a big rain hits, this is the machine you want to be using.

The collector has a 200-gallon tank which allows you to fill it up once at the beginning of the day, and then stay in the field until the harvest has been brought in. It also has a standard automatic lube system which runs for 16 minutes each hour, so that you can save time from your daily servicing.

All components are automatically lubricated by a metering system which allocates appropriate lubrication to cam tracks, drum lift arms, rollers, drum gears, and fan bearings. This is a feature that many farmers love about Case’s machine, because it actually requires less maintenance than a traditional basket-style picker.

John Deere Vs Case IH – Which Cotton Picker Is Best Case Ih Module Express

Where are Most Farmers Siding?

For many farmers, the choice between the two brands boils down to what has been used in their family for generations. Both of these companies have been around since the early 19th century, and both have provided outstanding products ever since.

It’s also fair to say that both of these machines are considered the Cadillac of harvesters, meaning that both are fairly pricey, and are for the most part outside the budget of a small farming operation.

Both machines retain their retail value very well, so that if you find yourself in a position where you need to sell somewhere down the road, you’ll get a good price for your picker.

Most farmers will agree that it’s fairly easy to get parts for both John Deere and Case’s cotton harvesters, because they’re so well known, and because many manufacturers produce parts for them.

In terms of capabilities, both companies produce superior harvesters, and if there’s a single point of difference, it might be that a Case IH harvester carries a lower price tag than its John Deere counterpart as a rule.

However, it’s also fair to say that any farmer who can afford Case’s machine will probably also be able to afford a John Deere harvester, so price is not as big a factor as it might seem.

To actually find a difference between the two machines, you might have to look outside the capabilities of the two harvesters or the pricing scheme associated with each. Many farmers are now saying that while John Deere dealers used to provide superior support for their products, over the last two decades or so, it seems that Case IH has caught up and surpassed the boys in green.

In terms of dealer support alone, Case IH appears to be winning the battle at the present time.

Quality Aftermarket Parts, Regardless of Your Choice

The truth is, you really can’t go wrong no matter which of these two outstanding cotton harvesters you purchase. Since both provide outstanding benefits and advantages, and both companies incorporate all the latest technology into their machines, either one would be a terrific choice as a cotton collector.

It very often boils down to a preference that specific families have had over generations, and has simply become a matter of ongoing loyalty to the brand.

For someone with no vested interest in one or the other company, there are good reasons to buy either one, and you should get the same kind of quality and reliability from both machines. At Certi-Pik, USA, we provide high quality aftermarket parts for both manufacturing brands, so whichever one you prefer, we’ll be sure to have all replacement parts you need for your operation.

Contact us whenever you’re in need of superior replacement parts for either your John Deere harvester or your Case IH harvester.

When was the Cotton Gin Invented

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The cotton gin is a machine that was designed to streamline the separation of fibers from their seeds. It enabled higher productivity levels than the manual separation that had been used up until that time.

The effects of this invention extended far beyond the field and into the entire world, with surprising ramifications that still affect us today.

When Was the Cotton Gin Invented?

The earliest version of the cotton gin was a single-roller mechanism that extends as far back as the fifth century in western Indian. These early gins were difficult to use and required a great deal of skill.

The single-roller gins continued to be used for centuries, eventually being replaced by a two-roller version in India and China sometime between the 12th and 14th centuries.

The new and improved two-roller mechanism was known as the “wooden-worm-worked roller,” also called churka or charkha. This two-roller version was in common use throughout the Mediterranean trade by the 16th century, sometimes using water as its source of power. The churka is still used in the subcontinent of India to this day.

The Indian roller mechanism continued to thrive and was brought to the United States in the mid-18th century. It was quickly found to work well for cleaning long-staple varieties but not short-staple varieties, both of which are still grown in the South.

The American inventor Eli Whitney is responsible for inventing the machine that would successfully process short-staple material in 1793. His process, however, damaged extra-long-staple varieties. He was granted a patent for his invention, called the saw gin, the following year.

When Was The Cotton Gin Invented Original

Understanding the Challenges

Cotton could be easily grown, and its fibers could be stored for a long time, unlike food crops. So, in many ways, it was an ideal crop. The challenge came in separating the seeds from the soft fibers. This is not an easy process.

Fibers are produced in the seed pods, or “bolls”, of the plant where the fibers, otherwise known as “lint”, in the bolls are tightly interwoven with seeds. The seeds and fibers must first be separated to make the fibers usable.

Additionally, the short-staple version was more labor-intensive, as it had to be painstakingly hand-cleaned, one plant at a time. The average rate for removing seeds by hand was only about one pound per day.

The long-staple variety was easy to clean but only grew well along coastal areas, so that crop was necessarily limited in scope.

What Does It Do?

The cotton gin, the word “gin” being an abbreviation of “engine”, is a machine that is used to pull fibers from their seeds.

Those fibers can then be processed into various goods, while any undamaged material is used mostly for textiles like clothing.

Whitney’s machine worked like a sieve or strainer. The material was run through a wooden drum, which was embedded with a series of hooks. These hooks caught the fibers and dragged them through a mesh.

The mesh was too fine to let the seeds through, but the hooks pulled the fibers through easily. Smaller gins were cranked by hand. Larger ones were powered by a horse and, later, by a steam engine. Whitney’s hand-cranked machine could remove the seeds from 50 pounds of material in a single day.

The separated seeds can then be used to grow more or to produce cottonseed oil.

Growing a crop was very labor-intensive by itself. Separating the fiber from the cottonseed was even more difficult and time-consuming prior to the invention of the machine.

When Was The Cotton Gin Invvented What It Does

Continued Improvements

Further improvements and modifications were made to the mechanism over the years.
Fones McCarthy was granted a patent in 1840 for a roller version that was particularly effective at processing long-staple varieties. His mechanism was called a Smooth Cylinder Cotton-gin.
Additional improvements and features included:

Finally, with what has become known as The Munger System Ginning Outfit, or system gin, all the ginning operation machinery was able to be fully integrated. This system ensured that the material would flow through the machines easily while using air to move material from mechanism to mechanism. This resulted in decreased production costs, increased efficiency, and higher quality fiber.

By the 1960s, many other advances had been made in ginning machinery, but the way in which cottonseed flowed through the machinery continued to be based on the Munger system.
Modern automated gins use multiple powered cleaning cylinders and saws and offer far higher productivity than their hand-powered precursors.

When Did it Become Widely Used?

Due to the radically reduced time it now took to separate the seeds from the fiber, Southern planters could increase their crops. As a result, by the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export.

In fact, it has been estimated that the United States supplied three-quarters of the global supply by 1861. It was now a tremendously profitable crop and made the American South the first global agricultural powerhouse.

How Did it Revolutionize the World?

It naturally followed that due to the far greater efficiency of the new design more crops could be grown, which meant more workers were needed. It is argued that Southern planters used this as justification to expand the practice of slavery. Certainly, more workers were needed, and plantation owners wanted cheap labor.

Slavery

There is an ongoing debate about the direct effect the mechanism had on slavery. Some of the early Founders believed that slavery would fade away in this country due to social reasons, the end of slave importation by 1808, and the unprofitability of slave-produced crops prior to the invention of Whitney’s machine.

Regardless, it cannot be denied that slavery was a key component of the industry. The material still needed to be picked by hand. This meant that many more workers were needed due to the new and hugely expanded ability to process as much material as could be grown and harvested.

The number of slaves rose proportionately along with the increase in production. There were approximately 700,000 slaves in 1790 and about 3.2 million in 1850. By 1860, black slave labor from the American South provided two-thirds of the world’s supply and up to 80% of the critical British market.

And it had a domino effect. The South continued to develop and depend on its economy from plantation-based agriculture, which encouraged the growth of the textile industry in the North and throughout the world.

Because of all this, the invention has often been cited as one of the indirect causes of the American Civil War.

Machine Tools

In addition, the huge increase in the supply of materials created a strong demand for textile machinery and improved machine designs. Metal parts replaced wooden ones, which led to the invention of machine tools in the early 19th century.

When Was The Cotton Gin Invented Machine Tools

Mass Production

Eli Whitney was able to secure a contract in 1798 from the U.S. government to produce 10,000 muskets in two years. At the time, guns were still being crafted individually, so this was a huge leap.

Whitney promoted the idea of interchangeable parts, a novel idea at the time. He proposed manufacturing and using standardized or identical parts that could be assembled faster. This process would also make it easier to repair machines.

In this way, Whitney was instrumental in developing the American system of mass-production. And we know that mass production was one of the factors that helped usher in the age of the Industrial Revolution.

All this came from a better way to harvest material.

The Evolution

The development of the “gin” or harvester has come a long way.

Certi-Pik, USA has been providing the highest quality cotton harvester parts for today’s harvesters since 1988.

We offer a wide range of replacement parts to cover all your needs. We provide American and international customers with outstanding harvester parts for use with equipment manufactured by the industry’s leading makers of harvesters.

We also sell many specialty items and sheet metal parts to use in rebuilding your harvesting equipment.

As a member of the Better Business Bureau and with nearly a quarter of a century experience, you can be confident in buying from us. Call us at 712-752-8460 or visit us online to shop for your quality replacement parts.

How do Cotton Harvesting Machines Work?

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One of the most amazing things about cotton harvesting is how much it has changed in the past century. Since cotton harvesting is no longer done by hand (something that was the case until the turn of the 20th century), specialized cotton harvesting machines are used to separate the cotton fibers from the mature bolls. The machines used can be divided into a few different types for each stage of cotton preparation: namely, there are cotton pickers, cotton strippers, boll buggies, and finally module builders.

Cotton Pickers and Cotton Strippers

There are a few different types of cotton harvesting machines, with two general methods of removal of the fibers. 

A cotton picker removes the seed cotton from the burr by means of high-speed rotating spindles which extract the cotton from the open burrs of the plants which then wrap around moistened spindles. The spindles are then cleaned off by a specialized machine, known as a doffer, to extract the cotton that has been removed. This method is the cleanest method for extracting cotton, but it’s not the only one. 

In some cases, cotton strippers are used instead of cotton pickers, most commonly after the green vegetation has been killed off by frost. Cotton strippers use a roller method with bats and brushes which push the open bolls onto a conveyor belt, along with leaves and stems. In this case, the material has to be cleaned off by special devices at the cotton gin. 

In both cases, air is used to lift the seed cotton (which, by itself, is quite light) into a storage basket, to be transferred to a boll buggy. However, in the case of the cotton picker, the moist spindles are what hold the cotton in place. After the cotton is transferred to the boll buggy, the cotton picker or stripper is ready for more harvesting.  

Boll Buggies and Module Builders

Boll buggies are used to transport cotton to module builders once the harvesting is complete. Boll buggies come in a number of designs, and are designed to keep the harvesting machines effective by collecting what is being harvested, leaving the continued operation of the harvesting machines more efficient. 

A boll buggy has both the ability to collect cotton from the harvester as well as to carry the entire weight needed to be compacted on its side. Module builders are large machines that operate in a similar fashion to trash compactors. After the buggies load the cotton, the module builder then crushes the fibers to compact them into a cube. 

Module builders, first designed in 1972, are designed to carry loads of cotton weighing up to 10 tons. The history behind the module builder is itself surprising: after almost 100 years of mechanized cotton picking, the problem of cotton storage remained, as the dried material was prone to loose storage, making the dried cotton a cause of fires and losses for farmers, who had been storing the cotton in trailers up to that point. This virtually disappeared with the advent of the module builder.

After the cotton is compacted, the module builders take the cotton to a textile mill for processing or to a purification manufacturer. Cotton module builders presented a quantum leap in cotton transport, making even larger-scale cotton fiber production possible. A cotton module builder is up to 30 feet long and 12 feet wide! In some cases boll buggies themselves have built in compactors to make it even easier to collect and transport the extracted cotton, or to make for compact transport to the module builder.   

The Cotton Harvesting Process Today   

Cotton harvesting has undergone massive changes in the past 100 years thanks to the rise of technology. As cotton pickers and strippers were not in widespread use until the 1940’s, the first major quantum leap in the centuries-old practice of cotton harvesting is less than a century old, before which cotton had historically been harvested by hand. 

Just two generations ago, the problem of storage and fire which had plagued the cotton industry for hundreds of years ended with the advent of the module builder. Modern technology in the cotton industry, which started in the United States and is now used all over the world, has changed the world we live in, and these large, bulky machines are responsible for changing everything from the price to the accessibility of all the uses we make of cotton today, whether clothing or even the humble cotton swab. 

All of it started with a plant, and today, machines do all the work of bringing cotton from the field to the production facility.  

How Do You Know When to Harvest Cotton?

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Assuming that your cotton plants were introduced to the soil in mid-March or April, as they are south of the 36th parallel, most of those plants should be ready for harvesting by the end of July. Of course, this assumes that the weather has been relatively stable all summer and that the plants were not subjected to excessive amounts of rain. It matters a great deal where you live in the world when you ask, “When do you harvest cotton?”. In some areas of the world, the seasons are inverted from the way they are in the United States.

Some of the other factors which impact harvesting time are discussed below. Generally speaking, the time necessary for a cotton plant to reach full maturity, with no interruptions, is between 150 and 180 days, regardless of where you’re located. Of course, the specific months that the harvest will be ready is subject to the climate in whatever part of the world you live in. With a little cooperation from the weather and no severe disruption from pests, cotton can be harvested at the end of the 180 days and made into all the wonderful products that people love so much.

When Was the Cotton Planted?

Cotton is generally planted as a harvestable crop as soon as mid-March in the 13 American states, which are primary growers of cotton. By the time June rolls around, all plants have been started in the ground, and the staggered plant times will allow for continuous harvesting until the entire crop is in. Those states are mostly in the southern United States, where rainfall is somewhat plentiful in the springtime and is usually followed by a long period of hot and dry weather, which is also ideal for cotton growth.

In areas outside the U.S., the best time to plant the cotton seeds is right before a somewhat wet season so that the plants can get plenty of water. Then, of course, the plants will need the warmth that will allow the plants to develop and mature properly. If you’re planting cotton seeds indoors, the best time to plant is approximately four weeks prior to the last anticipated date of outdoor frost. As with outdoor planted cotton, the answer to when to harvest cotton will be somewhere around 180 days after planting.

Assess the Health of the Plant

The health of cotton plants can be affected by several factors, and many of these contribute significant stress to the plants. Some of the most common stressors are moisture, pest attacks, temperature, and nutrition. When summer temperatures soar past 95 degrees Fahrenheit, it begins to really affect the cotton plant, and leaf production suffers as well as the creation of carbohydrates. When carbohydrate levels drop, the plant has insufficient sugar levels to satisfy all its needs, and that generally leads to fewer bolls on the plant, as well as less fiber content in each of the seeds.

When night-time temperatures remain high instead of dropping off to a more appropriate 68 degrees, the temperature can have a double whammy on hurting the delicate plants. Moisture also comes into play, because when there is excessive humidity present, it does not allow for plant moisture to evaporate, and for cooling all the components of the plant. If there is too much rainfall present in the summertime, that can have the effect of drowning out the still immature root system of the cotton plants and hinder its growth.

There are two major pests that love to feast on cotton – the boll weevil and the pink bollworm. Boll weevils like to consume the cotton seeds, and its feces has a profoundly negative impact on cotton lint. It severely attacks bolls and flowers, and for that reason, there is a program of eradication underway in the major cotton-growing states. The bolls and flowers are also under siege by the pink bollworm, which generally appears on the plants as a brown and gray colored moth. Its eggs are laid under the calyx of bolls, which are in the developmental stage, and when they hatch, they immediately begin consuming the plant.

Know Your Climate

Cotton is a plant that is native to Central America and the region around the Caribbean. Still, it’s also considered a perennial by the US Department of Agriculture in zones eight through 11. When planted as a harvestable crop, cotton needs a long stretch of very warm weather with periodic irrigation. After that, it also needs relatively dry weather so that the fluffy white cotton balls can become adequately ripened.

When the temperature in any climatic area dips below 60°F, it will be necessary to provide additional heat somehow or to take the plants indoors where heating can be regulated. If you live in an area where springtime is long and autumn advances early, you may have to grow your cotton plants in pots, which can be taken indoors. If you start your plants indoors, you’ll have to wait until you have consistently warm weather before taking the young plants outdoors.

The Historical Significance of the Cotton Gin

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Today, the cotton industry is powered by lumbering machines running on ingenious cotton harvester parts. When the cotton industry first sprang to life, however, the process of picking and cleaning cotton was unbelievably difficult. From the moment it was discovered, more than 500 years before the Common Era, all the way through the 18th century, cotton was picked plant by plant and then cleared of its seeds by hand. In fact, in the early 1790s, a worker could be expected to pick and clean a pound of cotton every day.

Eli Whitney’s new machine

That all changed in 1794, however, when a young inventor named Eli Whitney visited his friend Catherine Greene. There, observing the workers she hired to pick her cotton, Whitney was struck with inspiration. Over the course of several weeks, he constructed a machine designed to clear the seed from the picked cotton lint at a lightning-quick pace.

Eli Whitney’s first hand-cranked cotton gin—gin was supposed to be a play on “engine”—as brilliant, but still simple. After picking cotton, the seed-filled lint was fed into a wooden barrel that had been outfitted with a series of small hooks. The hooks caught the cotton lint and pulled it through a mesh too fine for the seeds to fall through.

A new way to harvest cotton

Almost as soon as Whitney filed his patent, the cotton gin began to transform the domestic cotton industry. Soon, several different variations on Whitney’s cotton gin began to show up throughout the country. Smaller ones remained hand-cranked, while larger gins could be operated by a horse.

Even using Eli Whitney’s smaller, hand-cranked design, a worker could expect to de-seed approximately 50 pounds of cotton in a single day. This led to a considerable expansion of the industry, as more cotton could be picked and processed during a workday.

It’s interesting to note that a large portion of the cotton gins employed throughout the American South were actually pirated versions of Eli Whitney’s original design. As a result, Whitney himself failed to make much money off the cotton gin, even after years of litigation. However, he remains among history’s most well-known inventors, familiar to schoolchildren all over the country thanks to his contributions.

The modern world of cotton

Fortunately, in the 21st century, those labor-intensive methods of cotton picking have been exchanged in favor of state-of-the-art machines. As one of the global leaders in the manufacture of replacement cotton harvester parts, Certi-Pik, USA is proud to be a part of that technological revolution.

When you need first-rate replacements for your malfunctioning cotton harvester parts, our team of knowledgeable professionals is ready to help. From blown drumheads to cracked spindle nuts, you can rely on Certi-Pik, USA to make things right.

No matter where you are in the world, we’re ready and waiting to do business. Contact us today to receive up to 50 percent savings on quality replacement parts for your John Deere or Case IH Cotton Harvesters. We look forward to assisting you soon!