Device
Replaces Cotton Bale Ties
By Jim Core
February 25, 2004 Replacing damaged ties on cotton
bales on-site is now made simpler with a device invented by an
Agricultural Research Service scientist
in Stoneville, Miss.
Bale-restraining ties fail when they are defective, improperly connected or
when bales are compressed to the wrong density. Also, the straps or wire ties
fail when cotton is distributed unevenly in the bales or has low moisture
content. Improper storage and handling can cause tie failure, too. Bales
damaged by a lack of ties are rejected by mill customers because they are more
susceptible to contamination and less conforming to a mill's processing
machinery.
The new device's inventor, W. Stanley Anthony, is the research leader at the
ARS Cotton
Ginning Research Unit in Stoneville.
About 85 million bales of cotton are produced worldwide each year, including
18 to 20 million in the United States. It's estimated that on average about 4
percent of U.S-produced bales--as many as 800,000--experience tie failures each
year. Repair costs range from $10 to $45 a bale, an estimated $8 to $36 million
annually. Some storage facilities have even reported tie failures of more than
10 percent.
Warehouses where cotton bales are stored have to invest in expensive
large-scale bale presses to carry out bale tie replacement. Smaller gins and
warehouses must ship defective bales to facilities with the necessary equipment
to make them acceptable for market.
According to Anthony, an agricultural engineer, the patented device replaces
multiple failed bale ties by recompressing damaged bales only in the specific
area of the bale where one or more ties need to be replaced. There is no need
to move the bale to replace more than one tie because components of the device
move internally.
Parties interested in licensing this technology (U.S. Patent No. 6,363,844)
should contact the ARS Office of Technology
Transfer.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
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