The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-10-27
oorrON.PICK1NG MACHINES
on EXHIBITION AT THE ATLANTA EXPO
sITIoN-THEIR RELATIVE MERITS.

ON EXHIBITION AT THE ATLANTA EAEO-
sITIoN-THEIR RELATIVE MERITS.
New York Times: As OF a special
interest in connection with the
Atlanta exhibition, the Scientific
AmeTtcdR has Illustrated a group
of ten machines invented for
cotton picking. The first is not
a picker, but a device for assist
ing the is. '-haid by partly support
ing the WelA tOf his body when he
stoops; it cons IS of two poles, one
on each side, to which is attached a
broad belt encircling the body, as a
bag also hanging from the belt. No.
2 is a light wagon, provided with
transverse stats of wire across the
top. One man cuts the plant as if it
were grain the other takes it up in
the hand and detacises the cotton by
striking the plant on these wires, tho
wagon being driven slo gly along.
However efiicacious this mode Of de-
tacliing the lint, it's success il OBJ
viousiy destroyed by the fact that the
leaves, stems, pods, and all which goes
by the name OF s'trash," must jar of
and fall in with the lint No. 3, 4, 5,
o and are worked by gearing oper-
ated by the wheels Of the vehicle,
somewhat as a reaper is. In one q
cylinder studded with bristles like a
carpet-sWeepcr, scratches the lint from
the bolls, which are bent down toward
It by reel running, and detaches 1t
by contact with toOthed cylinder be
hind. This machine was patented IN
Ohio in 1871, and another one, patent
ed IN Louisiana last year, works sim
/ ilarly, having on either side of the row
oV plants, two pairs of vertical re-
Oflving brushes. Another, patented
in North Carolina in 1877, has num-
| Der of barbed flexible rods which are
alternately pushed up and down they
detach the lint from one another by
their motion, and it is taken up by re-
volying hands. A New Jersey ma
/ Chine, patented III 1877, creates
! d vacuum by fan, and at
tempts to draw thus the lint
| into a wire-gauze chamber, after
| having lOosened it from the bolls.
! a machine, patented in Brooklyn
| in 1870 has two broad endless rubber
belts travelling vertically, which are
! excited electrically by friction, and
| thus attract and carry the lint, loosen
ed by reel. A hand-picker patented
in Massachusetts in 1867, worked by
! turning a crank, has a prickly re-
/ ciprOcating tongue, which picks out
the lint and delivers it into a sack
carried by the operator. A very
simple tool, patented in Louisiana in
1876, consists of a long glove armed
| with iron hooks pointing toward the
wrist, the user freeing it from the cot
ton by drawing his baud across q
brush which is fastened to his waist
just above the mouth Of his sack. A
Texas device, patented in 1879, thrusts
into the cotton continuously moisten-
ed spindles, which are rotated, and
| thus catch the lint and wind it OF
| themselves like a cocoon of silk. a
complicatcd-loo continuance, pat
ented in Kentucky IN 1876, places
cups over each boil and attempts tC
suck the cotton into them and con.
Meeting tubes by an air-exhaust
These devices have all failed, anC
some of them have nearly or quite
run out the term of their patent
They work, undoubtedly, in theOrei
cal way, but not practically. Tn,
conditions of the problem are severe
The plant grows from two TO fou
feet high, and resembles a miniatur
apple-tree in the distribution of it
fruit. The hight and spacing of tia
plants vary the bolts mature irregu
larly; the plant must not be injured
in the early picking, and "trash mus
not be got into the fiber. The lrregu
larity of the work is the trouble, tn
picking requiring a special discrimi
nation and selection Cor an equivalen
to this) for every boil. If apple
grew on low tree, ripening irregu
, larly, and must be picked withOu
taking anything but the fruit, tn
problem of mechanical picking woul'
resemble that of picking cottOl
mechanically. Moreover, as the labo
to be superseded is very cheap labor
sim sIlicity and cheapness are essentia
conditions to be realized. Thedifficult,
of the problem seems hardly less thai
t, the reward awaiting its practice
solution.