The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-01-09
CLEMENTs's GREAT INVENTION.
The Machine that will RevOlutiOniZe
the Southern Cotton Business.

The Machine that will RevolutiOnize
the Southern Cotton Business.
I From the Louisville Evening Post and
News.1
CoRINTH, MISS, Dec. l6, 1S79.-
Some five years since Bishop Paine of
Aberdeen, Miss, called at my Office in
this place, and casually remarked that
he had recently seen in Cincinnati
some yarns of superior strength and
sheen, which had been made directly
from seed cotton, by some Middle
Tennessean, whose name he could not
recollect. L became Immediately in
terested, for L had attempted such a
thing during the war, and failed for
lack of skilful machinists, who were
nearly all in the army or in Govern
ments machine shope. On the Bishops
return home he sent me the address of
Lewis Tresband Clements of Smyrna,
Tenn, as the man who had invented a
new process of converting seed cotton
directly into yarn.
Immediately wrote to him and
received prompt answer from DIR.
James A. Ridley, stating that Clements
had accidentally lost life some two
years previous !; that his machine was
at Pulaski, Tenn, were it was made,
and had remained since Clements's
decease.
found the machine as he had left
it. became third owner and general
agent for the other seventeen owners
of the patent which Clements and taken
out. I removed it to this place, and
on receipt of yarns from various fact
cries, both North and South, where 1
had sent slivers made by the attach
ments to be spun into yarns (all of
said Northern factories believed from
the strength and sheen of the silver
rove and thread that it was some new
kind of silk cotton of long, fine staple
lately introduced in the South, when
in reality it was made of dirty, short
staple cotton grown in the noun
tains around PulaskD. The yarns and
machine created great interest.
became alarmed lest the machine
should be improved on and patented
by some one to the detriment of its
owners, and had the card and attach
mcnt removed to Il small factory and
machine shop in the mountains of
North Alabama, where kept it twelve
months, experimenting and securing
other patents, so as to cover the whole
thing, Mt tho expiration of which time
the first mill was started at this place,
which was soon followed by mills in
Tennessee, South and North Carolina.
The Clements patent was for no new
invention, but for the combination of
the principles oftwo machines that
have been in use for thrcc-fOurths of n
century-nnmcly, the s'gin and card, ]"
for converting seed cotton, by one
operation, into slivers.
This machine consists of a thirty-siX-
inch top flat, selfstripping card the
attachment (Which is diminutive gin
1SX1SX36 inches) is substituted for the
licker-in and feed rollers of the card !;
its saws are seven inches in diameter,
with fourteen teeth to the inch, and
revolves from 100 to 200 times per
minute. The brush connected with
the saws is u cylinder covered with
bristles its periphery revolves little
faster than the saws, and has also
traverse or horizontal motion. The
periphery of the card travels little
faster than the brush n feed table is
placed above tho card and connected
with the attachment by n chute, and
gives Il regular supply of seed cotton to
the attachment. a stop motion is used
to save waste in case of accident.
These, with II small drawing roller be-
tween the doffer and calender rollers,