The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-10-17
COTTON PICKING BY MACHINE
New York Man. After Years Of Effort.
Perfects the Mechanism
Dallas News)


Picking cotton with a machine now
seems to be an established success. 1t
is a result of many trials and exper-
iments that have covered many years
and occupied many minds. The ma
chine that is picking cotton successful
ly is employed on farm on the Mes
quite road just beyond Buckner Or
phans Home, and it is picking only
for demonstration purposes. II 1t were
used steadily throughout the day there
would be no cotton available in that
field in a few hours The machine has
been perfected from an invention made
a number of years ago by one Angus
Campbell who placed his first machine
in a field near Greenville and induced
Theodore Ii. Price of New York TO ex-
anime it, Mr.. Prices engineers APP
proved the principle OF the machine
and since then Mr. Price has been de-
voting some time TO having il per-
fected.
The machine consists Of a high gas
oline tractor on the sides of which the
cotton picking mechanism may be cas-
lily attached. The picking mechanism
consists of two vertical cylinders on
each side within which are needles or
fingers that revolve in a direction op-
posite to the direction the machine is
going with the effect Of presenting to
every part of the cotton plant revol-
wing needle with a serrated edge that
engages the line and wraps 1t about
the needle, but with no other motion.
There are more than six hundred of
these needles in the four cylinders.
The cotton is stripped from the needles
and carried on an endless belt through
blowing compartment where dust
and leaves are eliminated. into a pair
Of large sacks al the rear OF the ma
chine.
Machine at Work
On an exhibition round yesterday
the machine crossed the field and came
back picking one row of cotton each
way. The round occupied eight min
utes and the cotton gathered weighed
sixty-seven pounds. The capacity OF
the machine is claimed to be 500 to
600 pounds Of seed cotton an hour in
an average field 1t seems to get prac.
tically all of the open cotton and is
claimed 10 clean up the field better
than hand pickers do. Mr.. Price is con-
fident that he has not got the ma
chine to the perfected status. Seven
or eight machines have been built,
but the newest and most perfect OF
them is the only one that has been
shown. Experiments with the new
machine this season have proven il
to the satisfaction Of cotton men and
manufacture of the machine is to
start at once. contract having been
made by Mr. Price with the Wichita
Motors company TO build them.
Banker Orders One
Among the visitors TO the new cot
ton picking machine demonstration
Friday last was J. A. Kemp, banker
Of Wichita Falls. After his visit to the
field and examination OF the machine
Mr.. Kemp said: Il am convinced be-
yond question that Mr.. Price has solv-
ed the problem OF cotton picking by
machine. | saw bale of cotton GIN
ned that had been picked by this ma
chine and it made rnirty-nine pounds
OF Jint from 100 pounds OF seed cot
ton. The ginner said that was above
the average. II is due 10 the fact
that machine picking was unusually
clean. The picking demonstration I
saw yielded III pounds OF seed cotton
In is minutes from a field that is be-
low the average in production and
will probably make about one-third
OF bale TO the acre. l am so fully