The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-19
NEW COTTON GIN.
An Improved and Fast Roller Appa-
ratus Exhibited Mt Boston.

ratus Exhibited at Boston.
from the Charleston News and Courier.
ne subject Of handling the cotton so as
10 aNo-d Unnecessary injury to the fiber is
RECEIVING more and more attention every
year from the cotton manufacturers, and
1he-r desire for Improvements on existing
lhelhods OF ginning. particularly, has
awakened the interest Of inventors and set
llein 10 work to try to displace the old
sa" gin with one that will do as much
work IN less destructive way. The Bos-
ton Journal Of Commerce states that a
new machine is now on exhibition in
Boston which promises well. as it has all
the merits Of the roller gin without its
small capacity. ard is more economical
IN respect Of the power required to OPP
crate t.. The ddeal gin, we are told. is
enc that would hold the seed. seize the cot
lon ana draw II thoroughly from the seed
without breaking or crimping it. and
WOuld cnange the relation of the fibers
one 10 the other as little as possible. The
roller gin, which most nearly approaches
this Ideal. consists of a roller working
against knife edge, the roller drawing
means are provided for the removal of
me seed as fast as separated from the
AM; Machines Of this kind have been in
troduced, but have had the defect of not
working as rapidly as the saw gin The
Journal adds:
The roller gin exhibited in Boston this
week IS something similar to that Just de-
scribed The cotton is fed 10 the knife
edge, and is caught between the knife
eage and rapidly revolving rubber ball.
This roll draws the cotton down. the
seed cannot follow. but is struck by a fat
strip that works very rapidly up and down
against the side of the knife edge oppo-
site the roller, thus practically forcing
the seed from the cotton as well as hav-
ing the roller draw cotton from the seed
The motion of the fiat striker is very
rapid, and upon this rapidity depends The
speed with which the cotton is ginned. In
estimating the value of this machine the
natural question is as to how closely it
above. The fiber is certainly not torn
but Is considerably crimped by the action
OF the striker in bending It over the
knife edge, and the speed of the crank
motion given the striker must be limited.
The nearest approach of the ideal cotton
gin that we recall was seen in the Osgood
gin that attracted so much attention ten
OF tWelNe years ago. In this gin the cot
ton was seized by a covered roller against
knife edge, but instead of striking down
ward upon the seed and thus bending
and crimping II, the teeth of a rapidly
revolving band saw struck the seed and
drew il away from the cotton in the oppo-
site direction without bending or cutting
IT. This was the ideal machine of the
inventor, and in the working model he
had proved IL TO be capable of practi-
cal operation. Unfortunately, the machin-
lists who built the machine entirely failed
to comprehend its principle and did not
follow the model of the inventor, and the
machine they built was not a success, and
with the death soon after Of the man
who was backing the inventor the proper
machine was not built.
If it could have been done there can
be no question the attempt would have
been successful, and a rapid working
gin that would not injure the fiber would
have been the result. The gin now being
exhibited differs little from the OsgoOd
IN "a pph a nj al
point OF View the recIprocating motion
of the seed diSengager can never be as
rapid as the band saw method, nor can
II as surely knock the seed from the
cotton without bending. If there is any
disposition on the part Of southern grow
ers to use roller gin, the patents on the
Osgood gin probably having expired. a
practical rapid working roller gin that
will preserve the staple could readily be
built by any mechanic who understands
the problem and what is sought to be ac-
complished. The machine exhibited, how
ever, must give more satisfactory
product to the spinner than the saw gin. II
There ought to be enough suggestion
and inducement in all this TO put south.
ern Inventors and intelligent mechanics
and farmers of an inventive turn of mind
to work on the problem. Northern In.
ventors as a class labor under the great
disadvantage OF knowing nothing or the
condition of cotton in the seed, as few OF
them have ever seen a lock of the fiber as
II comes from the boil and goes to the gin
Any inventor in the south can inspect
a gin in operation in his near neighbor.
hood and study at his leisure all the
conditions and difficulties of the problem
and with such advantages in his favo:
some southern inventor should be able 10
make satisfactory gin, if any one can
All efforts so far appear to have followed
the lines marked out by the inventor
of the roller or knife" gin, and to have
failed despite their abundant promises
Possibly better success will reward the
bold genius who strikes out in an entirely
new direction, and there is reason to be
lieve that success is well worth working
for, and that the reward will be a hand
some one when il is earned