The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-09-01
GINNING COTTON.

There was meeting OF glnDels o.
cotton at Waco. Tex, a few days ago.
The fact was recognized that great
changes are pending in this business.
The handling of cotton is on the eve
of being revolutionized-iudeed it is
here now. The round bale, COM
pressed into bats of cotton, wound
around like threads on spool, has
come to stay. The seed cotton is
fed into the gin from which it comes
forth a broad. heavy bat of cotton
which is Immediately received and
ihickeDed up into bat forty eight
inches wide and some ten inches
thick. These bats come forth rapidly
il q solid mass, exhibiting more
smoothly and evenly laid 6bres than
the cotton as ordinarily put up.
With the 6bres in this improved con
dition, making the cotton so much
easier to handle at the mills and more
valuable, the bat rapidly passes
through compression roller whereby
by excluding the air, reduces it to q
thickness of about one-fourth OF an
inch, thus laying the fbres smooth
and straight and COMPRISING the
cotton without the least injury to the
fibre. The whole process. we are as,
snred, is as simple as the action of a
clothes wringer.
The wrapping Of this new bale is
Of cotton cloth. There is no strain
upon the bale; wound lap by lap it is
self fbiuding-consequentIy no ties
are required, the light wrapping be
ing necessary only to keep the end
Of the bat from unroiling and to pro-
tece the cotton from waste and dam
age.
The American. Cotton Company,
exhibiting one of their p.esses at
Waco, showed a bale that was press.
ed last December The Cotton sGin-
ners' Journal thus describes it:
Ii was chopped >in two with an ak,
and looked like a log of wood. 1t
had been standing without any wrap
ping upon it from December until
that day, six months, showing that
no wrapper whatever was necessary
TO prevent expansion. In the plain
view of all; chunks were cut out
of the solid end as though it were
q piece of wood. When all were
satisfied that it. was like a log of
wood, a small portion of the bat was
sunroued and the bale thrown into
the air repeatedly, with rotary mo-
ton, and the bat unrolle9 as read
lily as though j. were a spool Of
ribbon and this was continued until
the cotton unrolled clear to the core
AS soon as released, the tightly
pressed bat loosened up or fufed
ont, and an. exam:Ration Of the cot
ton by the cotton men present show
ed that it was unipjured in every res
peci by It's six months compression
TO q denity of certainly forty pounds
per cubic foot. Meanwhile the balet that
lad been sampled had mad 9 rcd driven
through it and was swung up in plain
view Of all. and then, just as rapidly
as il could be reyoived, the bat roll
ed off uabroken clear down to the
center It was explained that the
company guaranteed this IN every
case-that there vas absolutely no
truth in the reports that the bales
made on their new presses gave any
trouble in the unrolliDg.
The Journal adds:
Mr. Ball then explained that having
thoroughly refused everything that had
bees. said as 10 the non-sampliog and
non .anrolling Of the bale. they would
now show that it would not burn. A
bale was thea rolled of the platform
and out into the yard aad placed upon
supports several inches from the
ground, aud those present were Invited
to set it on FIRE with matches, cigarettes.
or by allowing spsrks to fall upon it.
After Dnmber OF attempts is was
Quickly seen that this had about the
same effect upoo the bale as though it
bad been log Of hard wood.
Insurance men present stated they
we're satisfied that the bale was practi
cally without risk-lt would not burn.
But further test was made. The
journal says of it:
The baggiog was cut aud slashed and
the cotton thrown beck, lot of paper
and k:ndling piled around and ueder
the bals, aud quantity OF coaloll
pourted over everything and set fire
to, after one end had been torn open
aud prodded. The wood and coal-oii
blased ferce!y and everybody stepped
back quite q distance, but in q few
minutes it was evident that the FIRE
would not even reach the. esd of the
bale where they had not placed sufh-