Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-02-09
RAW COTTON WORKED
important Event in Progress Of
Fort Dummer Mills
First Armful Fed Into Picking Machine
by President Dunham-lnltiai Opera
tion a Distinct Success.

First ArmfuI Fed Into Picking Machine
by President Dunham-Initial Opera.
tion Distinct Success.
An event which marked a distinct
step in the progress of the new Fort
hummer Mills cotton factory took place
Wednesday forenoon, when the first raw
cotton was fed into one of the picking
machines and came out in the form of
a roll about three and half feet long
The machine, which is one of the very
few of its kind in use in this country
did dts work perfectly. A dozen or
more persons from this village watched
the operation with great interest.
George L. Durham, of the Durham
Brothers Co., president of the Fort
Dummer Mills corporation, had the hon
or Of feeding in the first raw material,
and the on-lookers gave him a round Of
applause. Edward G. Chace, treasurer
and general manager of the concern, and
william Worsnop, superintendent of the
factory, directed the work, after which
Mr.. Chace escorted the party through
abe plant and explained the functions of
the different pieces of machinery.
The power was turned on the pick
ing machine, which stands at the north
end of the mill, on the first floor, soon
after IL o'clock. Two workmen opened
two bales of cotton and spread it out on
the floor. At Ills, at a suggestion from
Mr.. Chace, Mr.. Durham thrust his arms
into the pile of cotton, lifted an arm
full and placed it upon a moving can
vas by which it was carried to the in
terror of the machine, where the sharp
pointed pickers picked it into small
pieces. Some of the particles of dirt
and waste material were removed in the
process and the cotton remaining came
out between iron rolls in a wide sheet,
yyh oh rrroa rn11 n1 I'M, in
by the machine. Workmen kept feeding
in the raw cotton until the cotton roll
was of the desired size, when the ma
chine stopped automatically. This was
the only operation attempted that day,
but several succeeding steps in the
manufacture of yarns and cloth were
explained by Mr.. Chace Other ma
chinery is being put in readiness and
it is expected that within few days the
various steps in converting the raw ma
-teriaa into cloth will be taken up, to be
continued without interruption.
The cotton comes to the mill in bales
weighing about 500 pounds. A bale to
the acre is an average yield, but the
more progressive growers produce a
somewhat larger amount. The differ
ent mills buy it according to the length
of the fibre, the longer fibre being
scarcer, of better quality and more ex-
pensive. The cotton brought by the
Fort hummer MINIS is OF one ana one
fourth inch fibre. OF the 100000 bales
grown in this country last year only
about 100000 bales were of this class.
The superior quality of the product of
the Fort Drummer Mills requires the use
of this expensive grade of cotton. The
mill will make fine lawns, but as there
is no bleaching plant connected, the
cloth will be shipped away in an I'M
bleached condition. A bleaching plant
in connection with the factory here is
one of the possibilities of the future.
From the picking machines the cotton
goes to the carding machines, where il
is further cleaned. In ordinary cotton
cloth the cleaning process stops there,
but in the Fort Drummer Mills it will
be put through combing machines, the
greatest cleaners of all. The cotton will
shrink about % per cent in weight in
the combing machines alone and about
30 per cent in the entire process of man
ufacture. From the time the cotton
comes from the carding machines, in
the form of soft ropes, it is twisted
stretched and doubled several times, I'M
til it becomes yarn, and one inch OF
yarn will contain particles of cotton
from about $4,000 different places.