The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 01, 2017
Filed:
Oct. 08, 2013
Quantitative Engineering Solutions, Llc, Farragut, TN (US);
Joe Mansfield, Knoxville, TN (US);
Ken Campbell, Farragut, TN (US);
Clark A. Roberts, Maryville, TN (US);
Quantitative Engineering Solutions, LLC, Knoxville, TN (US);
Abstract
Apparatus for a cotton sample acquisition and tracking system. The system includes a loading station in which a pair of primary sample halves are loaded in a carrier. The primary samples are identified and transported to a sub-sample station that extracts a sub-sample from the primary sample. The sub-samples are conditioned and transported to various testing stations. The primary samples are transported via a conveyor system. The sub-samples are transported through a pneumatic system. The sub-sample station advances the primary sample against a pick drum that pulls tufts from the primary sample. The tufts flow through a cotton containment system into an indexer that collects, conditions, and routes the tufts as a sub-sample. The sub-samples are staged in a carousel for continued conditioning and storage until the test equipment is ready to process the sub-sample.