The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-28
i. Machine for Picking Cotton.

A M0Cn1He TOT ftCRtmk SVtNVus
 had the opportunity to witness the Lowry Cotton Picker, which occurred on the Moses McLemore plantation. nine miles from Montgomery. Novem- Der 25. 1904. No technical description of the machine will be attempted here. since this would be impossible without drawing and since the press reporters. have noted the main features or the machine.
 Briefly the outfit consists of CD frame, on four wheels, two or tne wheels being Hanged traction or orlse wheels. CD A four-horse-power gaso- line engine. which by means Of sprock- ct chain connections, drives the sup portine wheels, thus carrying the en- Sire machine forward at a rate wnich is under the control of the opera.oi' This engine also drives the mechanism which carries the picking oens, N, The essential part of the macnIhe 10 the picking arm of which 'nere
 eight, one for each hand or .ne tor laborers who ride on the machlne toI the purpose of directing these pickins arms (D Last but not least an engineer to guide and turn the maonine ana a crew of four boys or men, WnoSe husiness if is to point the tips or these
 nIcking arms at the open bolis as tne entire machine slowly moves past 'he plants. ,,S.nsd
 Each picking arm may pc nAen.u to a small tin trongh. cioseu v" Tnt. tom and sides and open on top, ts troaah is about 2 1-4 inches wide, ana ce about the same depth. In the pot tom of this trough runs an endless oeis os cloth and rubber, 2 inches wtde' anu .h.c,lv studded with metal tacks bent inward somewhat like the cards useo tn making bats of wool or cot.on' These tacks dc the work or pichins, the contact of even a few fibers peing ,,frc,snt to draw the entire contents os an open boil against the belt. which vhisks the seed cotton up four Tee. into a receptacle. This belt travels at the rate of about 3s0 feet per minute Tha lower end of this two men peit' hss no sides or bottom, thus exposing about three inches of the under sloe of inc studded belt. as well as US io~er lin and its upper side Tnis permi.s inc picking of a boil either from apove ar froro below. The inventor describes .n Improvement decided on by which thesA arms can be given a rotary move, ment. as we'll as the up-and-down anu sjdeways movement, which the arms now possess. Seated on the machine, tested the handling of these arms. found them so light, moveable. ano nearly balanced. that the work oi guiding them was an easy task
 With cotton stems as brittle as tnat ussd in this test, a small proportion of bolls breaks off and both burrs and seed cotton start up the endless belt. Most of these are knocked on ana thrown out by a small loose roller and by a series of wire pigs in the sides of the trough and about half an inch above the of the outer surface Of the tracks or teeth of the picking belt.
 Al FA. moves the seed cotton from the carding teeth and does 1t throughly.
 In short 1t was a general verdict that the principles on which this ma chine operates Is correct and prac- tical one. In few features the ma chine is In an experimental stage. or rather this particular machine. the hrst one made does not include all the im- provements now being embodied in a second machine now being built.
 The farmers interest naturally cen- ters in results of work rather than in Aetail of construction. The require ments which the farmer will demand in A cotton picker will be the follow ing:
 First--Thoroughness of work, that is the picking of a large percentage of the total seed cotton in the field. leaving little adhering to the plant or on the ground.
 Second-A product in picked seed cotton not excessively trashy, or con- taining much trash beyond the possi- Utilities of removal by clearing ma chinery at the gin.
 Third-Durability of construction, with such simplicity and lightness as to bring it's cost within reach without much expense for interest on the in- vestment.
 Fourth-Economical operation. not requiring excessive amounts of labor or fuel. and no great degree of technical skill on the part of the chief operator
 Fifth-Last essential beyond all else, the capacity to pick much more cot ton per Gay than could be done by field hands equal in number to the crew re- quired by the machine.