Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1911-03-09
LONG AWAITED COTTON-PICKER
SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN INVENTED

nave ildu 10 contend with is the
necessity of gathering the staple
by hand. Every year the cry
goes up from various sections of
the South that there is a scarcity
OF labor with which to harvest
the crop. Not infrequently press
dispatches tell of whole fields of
open cotton being abandoned be-
cause there is no one to be had
to pick it. Therefore any plan
which will insure the harvesting
of the crop is of great impor-
tance. For years Angus Camp
bell, a Scotch inventor, has had
his attention turned to the in
vention of cotton-picker to take
the place of hand labor, and it is
now claimed that he has at
last invented a machine which
will solve the problem.
CampbelPs cotton-picker is so
adjusted that it picks only the
open bolls and leaves those which
are not matured. The machine
is said to operate so rapidly and
is so efficient that the percentage
of open cotton left after the ma
chine has done it's work is so
small as to be insignificant, as
compared with the great waste
which results from careless pick
ing by the negroes. The machine
picks about 10 pounds of seed
cotton per minute, or 5000
pounds per day of 10 hours, if
kept running continuously. or
5, 400 pounds per day, allowing
10 per cent, for stoppage. The
quantity picked varies somewhat.
depending on the amount of open
cotton on the stalks, but the
above amount may be considered
as fair average. On the first
trip it gathers 80 per cent. of
the open cotton, and the remain
ing 10 per cent. is picked on the
second trip.
An average of 30 horsepower
is required to operate this in
teresting cotton-picker. A gaso-
line motor of 30 horsepower is
usually installed for the service.
Beneath the engine are what are
termed two picking attachments
swung under it, and pair of
canvas bags hung out behind. 1t
moves over the field as fast as a
man walks, the wheels passing
between the cotton rows. The
cotton is picked over by the re-
volvlng steel fingers which catch
the lint but leave the plant un-
injured, so that later bolls may
mature. The picking machinery
is on two drums which hang from
the frame of the tractor.
Every motion is delicately ad-
justed. While the needles move
fast enough to catch the fiber.
their speed is not fast enough
to throw it out of the receiver.
The cylinders bring each needle
into place at the proper time,
so that there is never space
large enough for an open boil to
pass through without being
stripped of its contents. The
drum is moving backward at the
same rate that the whole ma
chine moves forward, so that the
picking needles do not move
horizontally through the plant.
but merely turn in it. In the
cylinders of each picker are no
less than 816 of the steel fingers
which harvest the cotton. But
one man is required to operate
the engine, while he also steers
the mechanism. A boy may be
employed to sit in the rear to
see that the cotton is all de-
posted through the conveyor in
to the storage bins, but unless
the bolls are think on the stalk,
all of the cotton is stored me-
chanically.
Tests have been made of the
new cotton picker in several
States, while it is being operated
extensively in the Texas fields.
These tests of capacity and
thoroughness were carried out by
experts of the agricultural de-
partment, as well as the farmers
themselves who are operating it.
AS to the cost of operation, the
maximum expense does not ex-
ceed $5 a day, including the
wages of the man and boy, and a
gallon of gasoline consumed every
hour for a day of ten hours. This
is the average outlay as shown
by calculations made in Texas
and other portions of the South.
Except for few green leaves,
the cotton is as clean. if not