Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1923-07-05
COTTON PICKING.
MACHINE TO BE
GIVEN TRY-OUT
Demonstrations Will be Civ
en- in a Few Days in VAL
ley Cotton Fields. Promot-
ers Expect Good Results

A machine that will pick. clean. gin
and bale cotton in the field, il the
plans of its promoters materiaIize.
will soon be on exhibition in the cot
ton fields Of the Lower Rio Grande
Valley.
Z. A. King. representative Of the
Cotton Harvester Company, of Pitts
burgh. Pennsylvania, is now in the Val
ley. and arrangements have been made
for three 40-acre tracts Of cotton. to
be used in the demonstration. A ma
chine has been shipped and is expect
ed to arrive at McAllen. where the
first test will be made. within week
or ten days. Through the efforts of
the Rio Grande. Inc. two of the tracts
have been secured. one Mt Weslaco. and
one at La Feria. Forty acres at Me
Allen have been contracted for BY r.
c. Grow. The cotton on these tracts
will be picked free Of charge. il the
machine is successful. and cash bond
covering possible damage to the crop
will be given in each case.
A detailed description of the cotton.
harvester. Is given i'm recent issue o.
the Cotton and Cotton Oil News. one
of the largest publications given over
exclusively to the interests Of cotton,
which Is published at Dallas.
The machine runs on crawlers Of
the caterpillar type. Its dimensions are
about II by feet. and it weighs about
$4,000 pounds. The ginning machinery
is not very different from the usual
type except that it is condensed. Ac-
cording to Mr.. King. the process Of gin
ming Is a certain feature. We have been
ginning cotton for years, and a porta-
BILE gin Is not an innovation. either.
The problem which his company has
had solved, and the one on which the
machine will either prove a success or
failure is the cotton picking mechan-
ism.
Cotton picking machines have been
constructed heretofore, stated Mr..
King. but the trouble has been that
they picked trash. dirt and sticks at
the same time. and have not bee neffi-
cient in other ways. This trouble he
asserts is eliminated by his machine in
two ways. First. the cotton is cleaned
Immediately after it is picked. in the
ginning process. and before il be-
comes packed and the trash and dirt
embedded. In the second place. the dirt
and trash picked up by the machine is
reduced to a minimum. Although both
suction and mechanical pickers have
been tried on the machine. the one
which will be sent TO the Valley will
use a mechanical picker. the result OF
experimentation over. period of 35
years.
When asked as to whether the har-
vester would damage the cotton. MI.
King declared that il had been run
through field Of rose bushes without
knocking off a petal. He claims that
the machine will produce better
staple than the present method of har-
vesting cotton. The cost of picking,
ginning and bsling cotton. If the ma
chine is successful. will not exceed
SO per bale.
II the machine is successful, IL will
not be sold to private planters. at least
for the present. he states. but they will
be manufactured and operated by the
company, on the same plan that was
formerly used in grain thrcshing. The
cost Of manufacturing each machine
will be about $1,000, il was stated.
Mr.. King does not make any claims
for the machine. He does not say that
il will pick cotton. but he does say
that il will be tried out in the Val
ley. and that engineers from all parts
Of the country will be on hand at the
demonstrations. If IL is success. the
machine will be opearted in the Valley
this summer. II IL does not work. his
company will work on until il is
success. he states. He says that they do
not expect to put a perfected machine
in the field at the first trial. but that
in any other machine. improvements
and changes will have 10 be made.