The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-03
A MONEY SAVER
FOR THE COTTON FARMERS OF
THE SOUTH.
Valuable Invention Of a South Caro-
linian That Will Revolutionize the
Handling Of Cotton.

A1AAeNA
Handling Of Cotton.
A large manufacturing plant Is to
be established in Richmond, Va, to
manufacture the Nicely compress,
which was invented by Mr.. Samuel
NJ. Nicely, of Chester, S. c., and
which it is claimed will revolutionize
the handling Of cotton that Is ex-
ported to other countries.
According to the figures that come
from the census bureau at Washing
ton there were about 12,500,000
bales Of cotton ginned in the South
ern States last year, and 1t took
something like 10000 gins to do
this work. Ginning means the sepa-
ration of the cotton fleece from the
seed and putting the fleece into
bales; large unweildy bales that are
but poorly fit for shipment by steam
er to foreign parts and that cost
entirely too much in freight, storage
and other charges.
To meet this situation there have
been established in the leading South
ern cities during the past decade OF
two various compress companies,
which take the bales Of cotton as
they come from the country CINE and
compress them into smaller areas
and put them in a kind Of shape fol
shipment to Europe ports but as
matter Of fact there has been but
little change within the past three
quarters of a century in the manner
Of bailing and COMPRISING cottor
for foreign shipment, except that the
iron screws has been substituted FOL
| the old wooden screw that was uset
by our forefathers.
Of course, there have been man!
improvements in the gins that are II
use so far, as the mere matter o
the separation of the seed from tn
lint is concerned, but all of the i'm
provements made in the matter o
COMPRISING the ginned bales read.
for shipment have been primaril,
in the interest of large corporations
which control the comparatively few
compress establishments in thi
country. The owners of these steam
compesses have been enabled to form
one Of the most gigantic and mos
| autocratic of the trusts.
In the olden time the cottol
grown in the South that went to al
parts of the world was ginned at tn
country and village gins and con
| densed in the old-time bales Of grea
bulk, pounds. These bulky bale
took up a great deal of platform
space at the storage points and
great deal of a space when tn
railroads came to haul them to tn
seaport points for shipment to for
eign manufacturers, and also a grea
deal of space in the ships that tool
them across the waters.
The compress became a necessity
that is, a steam compress that coul'
take the bulk bales and squeeze then
into smaller space. These steam
congresses are few in the number
being established only In the sea
port cities of the South, and in time
as before stated, the compress mel
became something ola trust, an,
then later on one Of the most AFRO
CANT Of all the trusts. The ships re
fused to receive for transportation
the old-time bulky bale direct from
the country gin, and thus the farme
was placed at the mercy of the com
press men r.
At least S,0O0,00O bales Of ou
cotton are exported, and every n o
these exported bales must g
through one Of the few existing com
presses located in the cities. Thi
export cotton has to be shipped from
the gin to the compress and be com
| pressed before it Is put on ship
board for shipment to some otheI
| country. All this costs money ant
it comes out of the pockets Of the
Southern farmer. To obviate all o.
these interminable troubles and tt
bring about some peace Of mind tt
the Southern cotton grower and tt
increase his profits on the sweat o.
his brow inventive genius has beer
at work for several years.
AS a result of this study seyera,
inventions were made and came or
the market, but none of them en-.
tirely filled the bill, until Mr.. Samuel
NJ. Nicely, Of Chester, S. c., who
lived in the cotton country, brought
out his cheap and in every way suit
able compress. After years of study
and just before his death, Mr.. Nicely
invented and had patented a COM
press that is believed to meet the
situation and this Is the machine
that a million dollar company has
been organized to manufacture in
Richmond.
The Nicely machine is very simple.
and will be made in time for this