The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-10-27
WILL DO HI WORK
NEW COTTON PICKER SAID TO DE
AN ENTIRE SUCCESS.
Claims That 1t Will Pick a Thousand
Pounds an Hour Without Injury
to BOllS or Plant.

to Bolls or Plant.
The practical working of the Price.
Campbell cotton picking machine was
demonstrated on the plantation OF
Senator John l.. McLaurin, near
Bennettsville one day last week in
the presence of a large number OF
plante S and other citizens, and If
what is claimed for the new ma
chine is true, it can be %truthfully
asserted that the days of hand picked
cotton will soon be a thing of the
past. It Is asserted that the ma
| chine picked cotton at the rate OF a
thousand pounds an hour, without
injury to the plant or unopened
bolls. About 80 per cent of the open
| cotton was obtained at the first pick
ing, and by running the machine over
the same rows again, it got about
| 80 per cent Of the balance, making
80 per cent. There was a consider
| able amount Of trash In the cotton
picked, but many practical farmers
said they had seen more trash IN
hand-picked cotton.
A h%undred-acre field Of cotton was
bought last summer from Senator
McLaurin by Theodore H. Price OF
New York for the demonstration Of
the machine.
No cotton had been pcked IN the
field. and the DOLLS which opened
early in the season had been damag-
cd by dust and smoke in the field,
and the foliage had become dry and
rotten, SO that the cotton naturally
made a poorer appea ance thar II 1t
had been picked soo after open
ing. Some of the cotton was ginned
and submitted to buyers here, who
classed it as low middling to strict
low middling. They said they had
bought a great deal of cotton this
season which was not as good as that
picked by the machine.
Upon the invitation of Mr.. Price.
a number of Northern capitalists
came down and witnessed a private
test of the machine. They saw a
bale of cotton picked in an hour and
then ginned. The party included
V. Ernest Macy, Marshall P. Slade.
W. II. Lotus, N. r. Carpenter, Geo.
W. Baxter, Rudolph H. Kissel. George
C. F aser and Elwood Hendrick, of
New York, Herbert E. Walmsley and
Herbert f. Walmsley, Jr., of New
Bedford, Mass; Stephen c. Lowe, F.
P. Sheldon, Frederic S. Goodwin, e.
L.. Hathaway, F.. w. Perkins and o.
D. Hammond of Boston, S. H. Nc
Ribbon and George P. Gordon Of
Pittsburg, and Joel Hurt of Atlanta.
They were fully convinced that the
machine is a success.
The machine is driven by an auto
| mobile engine, and the driver sits
in front and steers the machine
| astride a row of cotton. 1t moves
over a row as fast as a man can
walk, picking about an acre an hour.
The projecting moses" run ahead
| Of the machine, ON each side OF the
| row, and lift up the limbs that are
all gathered up and pressed into a
| space about a foot wide. While the
| stalk Is thus held. small steel spin
| dies reach Through 1t from both
| sides. reaching every inch of space.
| On one side of each spindle is a row
of small teeth. so short that they
| will not catch hold of anything ex-
| cept the cotton fiber.
These spindles are revolving rap
| idly and when a lock of cotton is
| touched it is caught and wrapped
| around the spindle. The spindles
then move out of the plant. stop
| revolving. and the cotton is taken
| off by ribs similar to the breast OF
4 gain. 1t falls on %conveyors. which
empty it in bags at the rear Of the
machine. A boy sits on the rear OF
the machine and packs the cotton in
the bags. The boy would not be
needed if the bags were large enough
to hold a round without packing.
Very few pieces of locks are left
in the burrs. The cotton left Is
usually in whole bolls or locks. The
spindles either miss them or else
are already loaded when they come
in contact with them. When a
spindle engages a lock, it usually
twists it all out. Running the ma
chine over a row the second tim,
demonstrated the fact that practically
all the cotton could be gotten the
first time by doubling the capacit!
of the machine. which can be done
by lengthening the battery of spin
dies.
Angus Campbell. of Pittsburg, the
inventor of the machine. saw tn
machine work. He has been work