Every good cotton grower knows that even when the last acre of cotton is harvested and baled up, the work isn’t done—the harvester and baler will need to be properly tended to and maintained before they can be put away for the season. Now, this isn’t nearly as simple as driving it into an agriculture building and hosing it off—it takes a clear-cut approach to cleaning all of the picker and baler parts thoroughly, so they’re ready to function properly for next year’s harvest.
Take a look at a few of the most effective methods of cleaning individual picker and baler parts, to make sure you’re giving the vital components of these machines a reprieve from the wear and tear of being put away dirty:
General cleaning: Before you get down and dirty in cleaning the smaller, more refined components of a harvester or baler, you’ll want to give it a more general onceover—to dislodge and remove any larger particulates or loose cotton residuals. The best way to do this is was compressed air—use a heavy duty blower to blast debris from your machine from the top down and be sure to get into all of the nooks and crannies where debris might be hiding. Don’t forget cloves, a face mask, goggles and a hat!
Row units and moisture columns: There’s no easy way around this area of your picker—you’ll have to handpick debris out in lumps! Because debris accumulated here is often wet or has been wet and now has dried in place, compressed air isn’t always going to be powerful enough to remove it. Pick through with your hands first to remove most of the debris, then try and blast out any leftovers with your air compressor afterwards. This will likely be the most time-intensive single aspect of cleaning individual cotton picker parts.
Header: This section is going to be a bit more manual-intensive than most, but it goes by quickly enough. You’ll need to detach the covers from stripping units to reveal any large debris trapped within them—go ahead and pull these out manually. Then, blast everything clean with compressed air and you should be good to go! Reattach everything and make sure it’s secure.
Engine compartment: Having buildups in your engine compartment for extended periods of time is a recipe for disaster! Make sure all access panels are open, dig out any larger debris you can find and then blast everything thoroughly with compressed air. When you’re done, shut everything up tight.
Now, for the most part, blasting your cotton harvester or baler with compressed air will get the job done while you pick out larger debris with your hands. When all is said and done—if you’re done for the season—it’s also a good idea to give your equipment a good wipe-down. Use commercial agricultural machine cleaner for the façade of the equipment, taking care to gently address areas that are of a delicate nature.
When you’re done, make sure everything is in top working order before stowing your equipment—that way, you’ll be ready for next year!
Cotton has long been one of the staple commodities of the United States and it could be argued that our burgeoning commerce today is a product of the prolific cotton industry from centuries past. Cotton has breathed life into numerous facets of industry and driven innovation in a way that’s matched only by natural resources in historical impact. Today, it’s easy to forget that the many machines and techniques we use for harvesting cotton were once just prospects, driven to fruition by the sheer demand of the cotton trade.
History of Cotton Picker Machines
Take a look at a brief history of cotton picking technologies and all of the effort it took to bring this industry to the high level of cotton harvester parts and components we utilize today:
When Did Cotton Picking End?
Prior to the 1930s, cotton harvesting was done entirely by picking cotton by hand end—it wasn’t until a man named John Rust came up with a “harvesting locomotive” in the late 1930s that any semblance of harvesting innovation became a reality. Unfortunately, Rust’s prototype was expensive, unreliable and prone to breaking down, which kept it from any real commercial exposure. Only a few models were produced and those quickly faded into obscurity as a pipe dream… until the mid 1940s!
When Was the Cotton Picker Invented?
Starting in the early 1940s, improvements were made to Rust’s ideas and a comprehensive redesign of the harvesting locomotive was undertaken. The product was a new and improved harvester—the first to feature cotton picker spindles and what would one day become doffers. But, while this invention did work to reduce labor dramatically, it also slightly degraded the cotton and soon, the need for more improvement came to light.
Emerging Ideas for Cotton Harvesting
In the 1950s, the cotton harvester entered a phase that’s closer to what we see now than what we saw at the start. With a reinforced steel frame and multiple rows of cotton picker spindles, the harvester also featured a basket to catch and store cotton! In just ten short years, an operator’s cabin would be added to the design and material reinforcements would become a focus of improving the harvester.
Fast forward to 1980 and along comes John Deere: this is where tremendous improvements became to take form and cotton harvesters would quickly become the focus of mass production. Deere’s new and improved models featured a comprehensive overhaul of key cotton harvester parts, with an emphasis on quality, with the result being an increase in picking production by 85-95 percent! Thus, the four-row picker was born.
The New Age of Cotton Pickers
Today, John Deere remains an innovator in the world of cotton harvesting. With the six-row picker introduced in the mid 1990s and later, in 2009, the capability to bail cotton as it’s being picked, manual labor has been almost entirely eliminated from the harvesting of cotton. With state of the art parts and components, today’s cotton harvesters are the pinnacle of innovation, driven so far from modest beginnings just a century ago.
What’s next in the world of cotton harvester parts? It’s hard to tell, but it’s a safe bet to say that whatever the next innovation is, it’ll be one that makes harvesting cotton even easier on the hardworking farmers who continue to abide by this longstanding commodity.
When it comes to separating precious cotton fibers from the stalks they grow on, nothing beats the simplicity and effectiveness of a cotton harvester. But, in order to make sure you’re getting maximum harvest levels and quality cotton, it begs attention to invest in the right type of harvester. There are two schools of thought here: cotton strippers and cotton picker spindles. And while both are effective in aiding with cotton harvesting, they go about it with different technologies.
The stripper
Named for the manner in which it literally strips cotton bolls from the stalk, a stripper is best utilized in situations where cotton crops are shorter, with shorter fibers.
Generally, a cotton stripper consists of two cylinders, each with alternating rows of hard rubberized bats and stiff wire brushes, which rotate to grab cotton stalks. As stalks pass between these cylinders, the entire cotton boll is separated from the stalk and harvested, whether it’s open or green!
Once removed, bolls are blown by a fan into a receiving basket—however because green bolls are heavier and contain more moisture, they’re segregated and relegated to be deposited on the underside of the harvester, since they’re not desirable.
The picker
Equipped with barbed spindles that literally detach bolls from the stalk, a cotton picker is also aptly named. In conjunction with a constantly moisturized pad, a picker is able to grab lint and remove it from the boll itself. The cycle is completed when the rotating spindle passes over the doffer—a device that wipes it clean and returns it to the front where it will pick another boll. From there, it’s all the same as the lint is blown into the basket, leaving behind the burr and the unused parts of the boll.
In general, pickers are preferred and ultimately work better when cotton has taller stalks and longer fibers, since the many rotating spindles will work to harvest at a quicker and more efficient rate.
Modern technology
So, the question becomes: which harvesting technology is appropriate for you? As mentioned, strippers and pickers tend to work better as the crop is taller or shorter, but aside from these variables there are a few factors to consider as well:
Due to the way they operate, debris can play a roll in how effective a stripper or picker is. It takes proper cleaning and maintenance to ensure maximum picking efficiency.
Spindles require replacement often, as they break and bend with constant harvesting; strippers require more cleaning than their counterpart, simply because of the wire brushing and the boll debris.
It’s left to the eye of the beholder, but often pickers create quicker harvest times, since there’s less stoppage and more efficient harvesting for average stalk sizes.
When it all comes down to its, both strippers and pickers have their own place in the realm of modern cotton picking equipment—it’s up to the farmer to understand which will best serve their needs.
When you’re harvesting cotton season after season, it can be easy to lose track of regular maintenance items that aren’t an every-season priority. Cotton picker spindles tend to fall into this category, since spindles are generally maintained on an as-needed basis and usually individually based on their condition.
But how do you know for sure that your spindles actually need to be replaced? Or, more importantly, how can you tell if a spindle is going to function properly and without fault so that you can maintain high harvest rates when it comes time to gather your crop?
Take a look at a few of the telltale signs that can spring up when you’re in need of replacement cotton picker spindles and how these conditions come about:
Broken spindles: After years of heavy wear and tear, spindles can snap off at any point, leaving a void where the barb once was. If enough spindles snap off in a local area, the picker is going to miss larger and larger clumps of cotton flower, lessening the potential of the yield. Inspect your picker before the season for any broken spindles and replace them as needed.
Rusted spindles: Spindles are made of metal, which makes them prone to rusting if exposed to moisture. Especially if the spindles are older and have been exposed to wear and tear, moisture can infiltrate the metal to create rust decay quite quickly. And, as we all know, rust spreads, making it important to identify and replace rusted spindles quickly. To prevent rust, store your picker in a facility that has low humidity and is immune to rain.
Dull spindles: Spindles that manage to stay on through the years and avoid breaking will often become dull. This occurs because acre upon acre of cotton plants being collected cause wear and tear, slowly smoothing out the notches and grooves on a spindle. To check the dullness of your spindles, simply compare a new spindle to a dulled one and replace when the spindle is smooth to the touch.
Missing spindles: If a spindle is missing entirely, with no sign of breakage or damage, it generally means that the spindle itself was torn off. This could be the sign of an improper initial installation, but it could also indicate damage to the threading where the spindle screws in. Check the socket and if it appears to have solid threading, be sure to replace the spindle, securing it as tightly as possible to prevent looseness.
Whatever ailment may have befallen your spindles, it’s important to see that it’s taken care of before you begin your harvest, or your yield is going to suffer. Furthermore, inspecting and assessing the condition of your spindles periodically throughout the year is going to alert you to any issues that may require attention before the harvest season comes about—saving you time and money.
For the very best in cotton picker spindles and other picker parts, contact Certi-Pik, USA today!
When it comes to complex machinery, there’s not much on a farm that tops a cotton harvester. The sheer size of these behemoths and all of the mechanical parts that power them can be overwhelming when it comes to understanding, but when you look at the whole by the sum of its parts, it becomes a little easier to discern exactly how a cotton harvester is able to get the job done.
Take a look at some of the individual cotton harvester parts that help to facilitate a clean harvest and see which ones you’re intimately familiar with:
Row unit: Row units are perhaps the most identifiable part of your cotton harvester—they’re the claw-like fixtures that stick out of the front, through which the cotton plants are funneled. Within the depths of each row unit you’ll find the cotton spindle bushings and the spindles themselves. Cotton harvesters come in all different sizes, but perhaps the most popular are six and ten row units.
Spindles and bushings: Bushings are the rotating cylinders that have spindles sticking out of them—they serve to snatch the cotton plant that’s funneled into the row unit and separate the cotton flower from the stalk.
Doffers: Doffers are used to snatch the freshly removed cotton flower from the spindle. Doffers spin about three times faster than spindles, allowing them to quickly strip away cotton and other debris from the spindles so that they can continue to function unimpeded.
Moistening system: As spindles pass in cycles, picking cotton and being swiped by the doffers, they also require cleaning. The spindle moistening system is one of the most underrated cotton harvester parts but it’s tremendously essential for facilitating clean picking and depositing. Without being cleaned, spindles can become gummed up with plant matter, cockleburs or other debris that hinders their ability to properly pick cotton.
Picker ribs: The picker ribs are located vertically in the row unit and separate spindles as they spin. Picker ribs are essential for clearing the spindles of twigs, dried leaves and other items that might clog up doffers or moistening systems.
Plant lifters: Plant lifters are located at the bottom of row units and help to funnel plants into the row units themselves. These important pieces are located only about an inch off the ground, so as to snag as much of the plant as possible and gently feed it into the harvester so that cotton harvesting is maximized.
Now that you’re familiar with some of the more important and essential parts of your cotton harvester, its time to take care of them! Make sure to inspect and assess the integrity of these parts often and thoroughly, so that your harvester does the best possible job for you year in and year out. And, if you need cotton harvester parts, make sure you’re calling Certi-Pik, USA today for the very best in new and replacement parts!
