The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-05
CoMPREss1NG COTTON.
a Milledgevlle Man Invents New
Machine.

u h4IlSORbNllIS MAN AZ NGl4bS u @'C"
Machine.
From, the WRiedgeriiie Ca Union Recorder.
OF course the price of cotton in Liverpool
controls every market in the world, and 1t
matters not what the planter gets for his
cotton, it is as much less the price in Liver
pool as the freight and other expenses, there
fore, any invention which will lessen those
expenses adds correspondingly to the net
proceeds of the cotton crop.
America being the Oldest cotton produc-
ing country, started with primitive appli-
ances scattered over a large area ofterrltory.
Each planter erected his cotton press 10
suit his own notions and as there was no
authority TO enforce a uniform sized pack
age, the result is that in any lot of 1000
bales to-day can be found packages II all
sizes from "a inches to - inches in length,
and from "a 10 80 inches in width, while the
thickness varies in proportion TO the
power Of the press which packed
the bale. India, on the contrary where
they commenced putting up cotton
for export, adopted nearly uniform sized
bales 50 as TO deliver less surface TO the
force of the compress, and as a consequence
n vessel loaded at an Indian port, Will carry
40 per cent. more cargo than she can take
on board at an American port. Yet our
congresses are equal or superior 70 those
used in India and fully capable of putting
as many pounds to the cubic foot as theirs,
with the same sized package. tits estimated
that it requires $25, 900 to freight the
American crop, aud it is estimated
that if our bales could be reduced TO
uniform size of 4Sx4 inches pressed
TO Il thickness of from - TO 81 inches, leav-
ing them in such shape that the compress
could readily reduce them to or less cubic
feet, with a density of from 60 to 70 pounds
per foot, it would save at least 10 per cent.
in transportation, equal 10 S2,5OO,OOO an
nually to the SOuthe farmers and it
would also save largely III the cost Of COM
pressing. To try to bring about some such
system a few years ago committee Of the
National Cotton Exchange recommended
uniform bale of 4 feet in length
by feet in width, but to put 500
pounds in a bale of this shape and
press it to anything like respectable pro
portions required enormous power which
suggested enormous size, in fact a ma
chine too cumbersome for a power press to
set along side of the gin in a small gin
house, and too expensive to be put within
reach of the average farmer. The best
presses now pack from fourteen to sixteen
pounds per cubic foot, and there are several
Of these which make a bale from Al to
feet long by % to 30 inches wide, and this
is the best that has been done, while the
For the past three months Mr.. c. G. VIII
son has been experimenting with view of
devising press with, first, greatly increased
speed, and, secondly, with a Sufficient in
crease of power to pack to a density of
from twenty-five to twenty-five pounds per
cubic foot and still require no more force to
operate than other presses and at the same
time keeping within reasonable bounds as
regards size and cost He is usingsone gen
hY,t fltr iaI
curing patents on two presses. To
accomplish all this there must be no
waste of box room. The box is made
Of ample capacity to hold 500 lbs. of perfect
ly dry cotton tramped in containing so cubic
feet. Mr.. Wilson'S completed model repre-
sents bale Skies inches, which he has
packed in three quarters of minute to 21
inches, or density of % Sl-l0O lbs. per
cubic foot. He now proposes to change his
box to the size suggested by the National
Cotton Exchange, 4SX24 inches, and ex-
poets to pack inside of one minute to 30
inches attaininga density of p lbs. per
foot.
In addition to the two plantation presses
he is getting up he is also inventing cheap
compress for small interior towns with a
capacity of about twenty bales per
hour.
He said the only thing which causes him
to doubt the success of his compress IS a
comparison of its cost with those now in
use. But his cotton presses are an assured
success, so far superior to anything yet in
vented that they will create a complete
revolution. It will well repay any one who
feels interested to call at the machine shop
and inspect the models before they are
sent to Washington. for we have no idea
Mr.. Wilson will take the trouble to show
them around town,
Mr.. Wilson says that before commencing
work upon his presses, he studied carefully
the merits Of the leading presses now in use,
and after selecting the one which he consd
cred decidedly superior to all others, he
singled it out for his victim, knowing that
if he beat that one in speed, power and con
venience, he had them all beat
If Mr.. Wilson makes a perfect success of
/. these undertakings me will have some of the
most valuable inventions of the day, for as
stated above it is a revolution, he having
no competitor until further invention Gre
ates one; it will not be a choice between
several presses that will all do about the
same work, for he will have the only one
that can do it with the same power