The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-07-31
Bill Arp Visits Sumter, South Caro-
lima. and Sees the Cotton Picker.

have seen the cotton picker. Conf
dence is plant Of slow growth. re
member that when the newspapers frs
began to tell us abouta sewing machine
that Elias Howe had invented that would
do as much work in day as hundred
women with their needles I was incredu
lous and I was indignant. I dident be-
lieve that a machine could initiate the
nimble, delicate hands, and I felt like
dident want it to do it nohow. My good
mother had been sewing for me years
and years, and when she finished for hel
darling son, nice pleated bosom shirt
I was proud of her and proud of the
shirt too. But time rolled on and the
Grover & Baker machine got to circulat'
ing around, and I found out that it was
good thing and would save power oi
work, and so I bought one for my wife
without any premonition. What beau
tiful seamstress she was
How nicely did she manipulate the
needle and how dearly loved to sit by
and see her make stitch after stitch on
the muslin or calico or them other gar
ments and things that women and chill
dren and infants had to wear. We have
had infants at our house, various infants,
and it has been world of work to keep
'em agoing and stop 'em from squalling,
but still there has been pleasure in it.
NV good wife took it all naturally and
like maternal heroine as she is. l
thought it was right funny for while,
but the fun wore off and settled down
to business. We have raised children by
the pound and by the dozen and by the
cord but we have never had one come to
our house that waseDt welcome, for they
always come decently and in good order
and they have grown up to be good boys
and better girls and gladden. our hearts
with their presence. But have got OFT
the track of my thoughts. l have seen
the cotton picker and I want to tell you
about it.
Now dident believe that any machine
could take the place of human fingers in
sewing and just so I have been incredu'
lous about this cotton picking business.
The truth is I made sport of it and told
our folks that it was impossible, utterly
impossible, for no machine could see, it
dident have eyes and couldent find the
bells and some of the bolls were half
open aud some two-thirds and some hung
down and some stood up and some opened
east and some opened west and some one
way and some another and so | had no
faith, not bit.
While here at Sumter WAS invited to
walk out to Mr.. Masons workshop and |
went. Mr.. Mason is bright intelligent
man about thirty years old. He loves
company and loves to talk and will lay
down his tools and tell you everything
lie knows. I don't suppose he has any
secrets from anybody, no doors locked,
no private room, no hiding place for his
wonderful work. He shows you every.
thing and tells you what he thinks Of
doing that he has not done. He gave
me one of the little revolving tubes that
picks the cotton from the bolls. 1t is
seven inches long aud about II inches in
diameter. This little thing is the inyen-
ton. All the rest of the contrivaDce is
to put it in motion. Four dozen of them
will be working at once on cotton stock
and if there is any cotton open they will
find it. There are two upright cylinders
three feet high that straddle cotton row
like a sulky plow straddles a row of corn
and these little tubes reyolve horizontally
in the cylinders. They turn round and
round rapidly. The cylinders revolye
on their axis and these tubes revolve on
theirs as they follow the cylinders round
and round. They are sure to touch every
boil and if the cotton has opened and
swells out fraction of an inch the little
delicate points of the pickers get it and
roll it all out in an instant and by a re-
yersed motion unload it on platform
and from there it is carried up and put
iu a sack and packed until it is full.
Horse power pulls the machine along the
row. The machine weighs three hun
dred pounds. Some of them are made
for three feet cotton and some for four
and some for five. I saw the little
spindles set to work on cotton bolls half
opened and they left nothing, and yet
they will revolve in your hand and not
burt you or prick you. There are SoO
sharp points in each spindle. They are
lust under the surface and will catch the
lint but not your flesh or the leaves or
the stems. The imperfect machine of
last year picked 800 pounds an hour.
The perfect machine which he has now
is expected to pick 600 pounds an hour.
Mr.. Mason has his own machinery,
makes his own lathe and his dies and
stamps and wheels and everything. He
is backed by capital unlimited and has
refused million of dollars that was
offered him. He is making large ma:
chimes for Texas and Arkansas and
smaller ones for the Eastern States. His
plan is to charge royalty and let the
machines be made anywhere. 1t is
thing of life and sense and does just
what you tell it to do. When the cotton
is well open for the first picking it goes
along and picks it and then you wait for
the next picking. It takes in no trash
or dead leaves, nothing but cotton. Now
be has gin that operates on the same
principle. These little pickers have e1.
banded into a cylinder as long as the
shaft and as large round as a gin saw
and they catch the lint and an iron bar
keeps the seed from following the lint
and forces them back. The lint is not
cut or torn. He is using a Winship
frame, taking out the saws and putting
his cylinder in their place. 1t gins twice
as fast as the saws and there is no danger
to hands or arms, I put my open hand
on the cylinder while it was making q.
600 revolutions a minute. He dropped
a handful of shingle nails in the opening
and they we're carried through in an
instant and did no harm. Experts from
northern factories say the lint is worth
ten per cent more than lint cut by the
old method.
was Illuminating over this new mode
of picking cotton, and to my mind it is
going to work revolution in our farm.
Ing. In the first place poor man cant
buy one. In the next place ne can't
afford to give fifty cents a hundred tor
picking when his nabor, who has got q
a machine can pick his for ten cents q
hundred or less. Then again the ma
chine wont work well on rough or billy
land, and so that kind of land will have