The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-12-15

pears LO nave SOWt UtIlG, Wao IcCoueAy
exhibited in Houston, Texas. The
following account of the machine and
It's inventor appears in the Houston
Post, a reliable and able journal
A cotton picking machine, or a cot
ton harvester, was exhibited near
Houston yesterday, and competent
Judges who witnessed its work state
that it comes nearer taking the place
Of human fingers than anything of the
kind ever before seen.
The inventor Of this machine is Mr..
George s. Lee, Of Hawthorne, N. J.
He has experimental with it several
times recently in New York, but de-
cided that thorough test in an actual
cotton field was needed, and that
Texas was the place for such trial.
Prior to his departure for Houston,
Mr.. Lee had formed the ACQUAINTANCE
Of Messrs. Frank CargAl and E. R.
Richardson Of the firm Of Cargill 6
Richardson, and at their solicitation
agreed to exhibit his cotton picker
near the city.
Some twelve or fifteen gentlemen
were invited to witness the harvester
at work, and cotton farm about three
miles from the city was selected for
the test. In the party were Messrs.
W. NJ. Read, G. 81. Lucy, G. w. Kidd,
B. W. Hunter, R. L. Neill, B. W.
Martin, G. W. Kidd, Jr., 3. R. Rich
ardson, DR.. j. D. McGregor, Mr.. Cal
houn and others. When the field was
reached, Mr. Lee and his assistants
had the cotton harvester in position
and ready for gathering the staple.
The machine is about thirty inches
vide and six feet in length. It is in
tended to be pulled by mule or large
horse, and goes between the rows Of
sotton. Extending from each side
and behind are long rubber arms in
Che form Of hose, which are used to
draw out the cotton. The harvester
isrun By gasoline, and suction is gen.
Grated by an exhaust fan to take the
cotton from the bolls. Zach arm Of
hose is handled By one person, who
merely applies the suction pipe to the
opened boil Of cotton-and the ma
chine does the rest. One harvester
can have anywhere from eight so
tWenty-one arms, and will employ just
that many men. Bach hose, accord
ing to the inventors statement, can
pull at least 1000 pounds of cotton a
day, consequently a machine with
fourteen arms would do the work Of
seventy men, estimating the average
picking by hand at 200 pounds daily.
AZ the cotton is draw through the
pipes il passes the exhaust fan and
falls into large wire receptacle, each
seed and the lint surrounding it drop
ping gout together. The suction takes
in every little trash, and when handled
properly nothing but the cotton itself
would ever leave tho stalk. The great
disadvantage Of all cotton picking ma
chimes heretofore invented has been
their inability to gather the cotton
without taking part of the boil, dead
leaves, trash, etc., which naturally
made the cotton dirty and of low grade
when ginned.
Mr.. Lees machine is not perfect by
any means, but he has certainly de-
monstrated the feasibility Of gather
ing cotton by suction. This was
shown to the satisfaction of all wit
nesses yesterday, despite the fact that
che mechanical part of the harvester
was not in good working order.
II simply wanted to demonstrate
She principle" said Mr.. Lee, in speak
ing Of the experiment. 'If the theory
is correct il will be very easy for me
20 improve and develop the mechani-
cal details. I already have fifty ideas
in my head for the improvement and
reconstruction Of the various parts Of
the harvester, and it was mainly for
this that I brought my machine to
Texas. You must remember that this
is the first one I have constructed,
and that it is naturally in crude
form. Every part of it can be made
lighter, the arms will need to be fash
toned differently, and many other
changes made. I have proved to my
own satisfaction that this is the only
possible way in which cotton can be
harvested by machinery, and I will
now devote my time to developing the
patent. .
Mr.. Lee has used this same machine
for cleaning the streets of New York,
che trash being drawn up by similar