The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-12-07
ANDERsON, s. c., THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER = 1889
4 C0TTGN PECKiSG aAii;iyr.
Is 'he Dream of Years to be KeaI,,sa a,
1.ast?

= CGTTGS PEChiNG MiCi;iSr
NE Dream of Iears to be KeaII,ea a,
Last?
from the Charleston Nc1r. and C,,,;c
,,,aa aa lhls age Of rapid progress, in all
lnat pertains to the industrial arts wber
.he puollc mind is educated up TO the
point OF being surprised 81 nothing the
announcement of a new invention or dis
coVery causes but passing ripple Of in.
terest, and in few weeks or months n,
The case may be, wonder ceases and III,
world enjoys the addition to its stock Of
usefulness Us complacen,ly as if it had
never been without it. An invention
has' however, just been completed bv a
mechanic OF this city, which gives great
promise OF attracting widespread alten,
!loh and OF awakening the deepest
interest among the cotton planters of the
oouthern States. The invention alluded
! TO is
MACHINE FOR PICKING COTTON.
1t is fact too widely acknowledge
| to need argument that the want of s1cl,
d machine IS the greatest agricultural
i%!cesSity vi Inc age. The existence OF
tnis want has induced hundreds of mind.
oi inventive turn to spend years Of though,
"nd labor III the hope OF producing an
aaPPiiance which would fill the want
Inc patent office contains scores Of plans
ana specifications Of proposed machines
OF this kind, and several machines have
oeen actually hnil!, but when put to q
practical test have Invariably failcd
| lhe many conditions 10 be met. the
almost human sagacity, as it were, re.
1uiIeo "i machine for this purpose has
well'n'gh satisfied the general pubic
.lat surcess IN such an undertaking "a
oeyohd the range of possibility, and the
announcement that machine has be,:;
quit and tested in the field with salts.
factory results is apt to be received with
some lack Of confidence in the achieve.
ment by those who have not personally
witnessed il.
THE INVENTOR
of the machine now alluded to is Mr.
Daniel b. Hasel,on, of this city. Mr..
Haselton, who is native of the State OF
New Hampshire, came to Charleston i'm
1906, and has resided here ever since.
he Is master machipist, and of late
years has been conducting the business
"f selling and repairing sewing machines.
After the war when the labor problem
was 80 suddenly thrust upon the people
OF the South Mr.. Hasclton realized that
the one great necessity of the Southern
cotton planter was the means to gather
his crop after he had made it indepen-
dent OF the very uncertain and expensive
mode of picking the cotton by hand.
he accordingly devoted his energies to.
wards the invention of q machine which
should take the place of the laborer as a
cotton picker and at less expense. In
1850, after long years OF thought and ex-
pertinent, Mr.. Haselton conceived the
plan of the machine which has been re y.
Gently tested. A patent was secured,
and in 1881, another patent covering an
improvement wac obtained. Being q
poor man, without the means of practi-
cally carrying Z, his idea, he made re.
peated efforts 10 obtain assistance in this
city 10 enable him to build a full sized
machine. 4 ANAL model was exhibited
at the Cotton Exchange and was ex
planned to nearly all the capitalists of
Charleston. The machine was acknowl-
edged 10 be remarkably ingenious but
there was doubt As to its practical
usefulness and
FINANCIAL AID WAS WITHHELD.
At the Cotton Exposition in Atlanta,
last year, iiF. Haselton exhibited his
model and explained it 10 thousands of
people. The belief, however, that a
practical cotton picking machine is m
impossibiiity was so deeply rooted that
the required assistance was still with.
held. The managers Of the Exposition
awarded Mr. Haselton the premium Of
fered for such a machine, although he
bad exhibited only small model in
competition with other full sized ma
chimes which we're tested and found i'm.
practicable. Discouraged by his repeat.
ed failures to satisfy the Southern public
of the value of his invention, Mr.. Hasel.
ton returned 10 Charleston determined to
make an effort at the North. Just before
leaving for the North last summer, how
ever, six gentlemen Of this city furnished
the required capital. An agreement De.
tween the parties was regularly drawn
up and signed and the work of construct
ing a full sized machine began.
THE HISTORY OF THE CONSTRUCTION
of the machine would be perhaps but q
repetition of the experience Of every in.
vention since the world began, and al.
though every effort was made to push
forward the work exasperating delays
and unlooke for difficulties presented
themselves aearly every day. Such
work IS it was necessary to have done at
the North WAS executed promptly
enough, but the Charleston machine
shops were 10 crowded with work tha,
they either fatty refused to do any Of the
work for the machine or took month
to do what they agreed to do in few
days. To make n long story ahort, the
result of all these trials was that Mr..
Haselton was compelled to do nearly all
the work on the machine with his own
hands assisted only by one of bis sons.
Not being supplied with improved tools
and appliances for heavy iron work, this
process consumed much valuable time,
and when it WAS seen that the cotton
crop was fast being gathered and tha,
the opportunity for testing the machine
in the field was slipping away Mr.. Ha.
selton succeeded in getting some Of the
heavy work done in Augusta. Time,
however, rolled relentlessly by aud il
was not until last week that the ma
chine in a comparatively unfinished con.
dition was taken INTO cotton field for
trial. Through the kindness of Mr Riv.
ers Lawton, who is planting cotton about
sixteen miles from this city, q small
patch of cotton on his place was left un.
picked for the purposes of the trial, and
the South Carolina Railway Company,
through the Influence Of Col. Pickens
transported the machine to Sineath's sta.
ti0n free of charge, From this point the