The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-20
COMBS LINT FROM SEED
Device Claimed to Be Improvement
Upon Cotton Gin.


From the Charleston News and Courier.
Bennettsville.-The cotton gin was. for
more than a hundred years, considered
such marvel of perfection that no at
tempt was made to improve upon the
principle of Whitney's invention. It is true
that great improvements have been made
hut all of them have recognized the
necessity of the saw to cut the lint from
the seed.
There is a new invention now, how
ever, which is destined to revolutionize
the ginning of cotton. The inventor Is
j. T. Fuller a Texan, and he calls his
machine 1.-The Fuller Combing Gin" Mr..
Fuller experimental with his invention
in Texas till he got 1t about perfected,
and he then desired to demonstrate Its
merits in the eastern part of the cotton
belt. 1t was natural that he should have
been directed to Marlboro, the best cot
ton county east of the Mississippi as the
place to make an exhibition of his gin.
Mr. Fuller is now in Bennettsville, and
has one of his gins in operation at the
oil mill ginnery. Your correspondent call
ed on him there today, and found him in
overalls and with greasy hands, hard at
work. adjusting his machine, which had
been put in the place of one of the oil
mills gins and connected with Its driv-
ing machinery Mr.. Fuller is man of
unusual intelligence and information, and
impresses one as possessing indomitable
energy perseverance and will power lie
told of the time and money that he had
spent perfectlng his invention and then
went into an explanation and demonstra-
ton of its merits.
This gin separates the lint from the
seed by a combng process The comb con-
sists of steel wire hooks in revolving
cylinder. There are no ribs like those in
a saw gin but there Is stationary comb
above the cylinder, through which the
teeth of the revolving comb pass. The
result is that the lint is pulled from the
seed unnjured, instead of being cut to
pieces by a saw In the presence of your
correspondent some of the same lot OF
cotton was run through the combing gin
and a saw gin There was so much diff
ference in the looks feeling and strength
of the lint obtained by the two processes
not two very different grades of cotton.
Mr.. l.. C. Breeder, the manager of the
oil mill, says that he carried two of these
samples to cotton buyers in town and
asked for bids without telling them any
thing about the different processes by
which they had been ginned. He was Of
fered a quarter of cent more for the
comb ginned cotton than the other. Mr..
Fuller says that the difference in the
true value is much greater than this, as
buyers and manufacturers have not yet
found out how much the preserving of
the staple intact will add to the strength
and lasting quality of thread and cloth.
Your correspondent saw a thread see
sawed against tooth of the combng
gin without being injured, but when it
was drawn against a tooth of the saw
gin 1t was instantly cut in two.
Mr.. Fuller also claims several other
advantages for his gin. 1t will gin wet
cotton, as it will not clog up and produce
fire by friction against the ribs The cot
ton does not fall from the feeder on top
OF the saws. but below the ginning
comb, to another revolving comb, which
throws the cotton through a third re-
volving comb, up to the ginning comb,
which catches 1t in its hooks and carries
the line through the stationary comb,
where 1t is drawn from the seed. stick
or a nail or handful of dirt thrown
into the gin does not affect its operation,
as they cannot reach the ginning comb.
Unlike the saws of a saw gin, the gin
ming comb can be stopped in moment
by touching lever at the side OF the
GIN without stopping the engine or any
other part of the gin. The comb teeth
are Independent of each other, and If
one gets damaged, it can be taken out
like a sewing machine needle, and an
other quickly put in its place.