Improvement in Cotton-Pickers. Page: 2 of 2
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UNITED
STATES
PATENT OFFICE.
B. G. SHIELDS,. OF MARLIN, TEXAS.
IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-,PICKERS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,746, dated September 16, 1856.Yo all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, BENJAMIN G. SHIELDS,
of Marlin, in the county of Falls and State of
Texas, have invented certain new and useful
Improvements in Hand-Machines for Gather-
ing Cotton in the Field; and I do hereby de-
clare the following to be a full, clear, and ex-
act descriptionrof the construction and opera-
tion of the'same, reference being had to the ac-
companying drawings,making a part thereof,
in which-
Figure -1 represents a side view of the ma-
chine. Fig. 2 represents a vertical central and
longitudinal section through the same.
Where similar latt ts of reference-oeeur in-
the separate figures they denote the same parts
of the machine.-
Letters Patent of the-.United States were
granted to George A. Howe on the 4th day of
December, 1855, for a hand-machine for pick-
ing cotton in the field. In actual practice
Howe's machine fails, to certain extent, to take
the cotton from the -gathering-chain. His
stripper was designed to knock the cotton from
the teeth of the chain, but in doing this the
stripper itself becomes entangled with the
fiber, and the machine clogs up.
My invention aims at overcoming this de-
fect in Howe's machine, and I have success-
fully accomplished it by the hereinafter-de-
scribed means.-
The nature of my invention consists in the
use of a fan wheel or wheels in connection .with
a gathering-chain for taking the fiber from the
teeth of the chain.
To enable others skilled ii the art to make
and use my invention, I will proceed to de:
scribe thesame with reference to the drawings.
A A represent two metallic or other tubes,
arranged one over the other, and united at
their rear ends by a metallic case,B. In front
of the-tubes a small pulley, a, is arranged, and
ivithin the case B another- pulley or drum, b,
is so fixed-as that an endless gathering-chain,
C, shall run over said pulleys and pass through
the tubes A.
On the outside of the case B is placed -acogged wheel, D, havingacrank, E, affixed tooit.
This cogged wheel D takes into and -turns a
'pinion, F, arranged on the axis c of the drum
of the pulley-shaft b, so as to rotate said drum
or pulley. The perilpheryof the pulley b is
armed with teeth which take into the links of
the chain C, and cause it-to run steadily with-
out slipping. Upon the pulley-shaft b are also
placed two sets of -broad arms or fan-wheels,
G, (one ,on each side of the chain, one only
being seen in the section,) which rotate in the
direction of the motion of the chain and create
a. blast of air that blows- the fiber from the
teethof thegathering-chain. Theblastcreated
by th6-fan-blowers is in the direction of the in-
clination of the teeth of the chain, and as the
locks of cotton approach on the chain the arms
of the blower knock it off .by a blow from be-
hind, and the blast facilitates and completes
the delivery.
It is obvious that the machine.can be dupli-
cated without changing its character, each ad-
ditional chain, after the first one, only requir-
ing one additional fan, aid the fans, instead of
being on the shaft b, may tie above, below, or
behind it, and driven by the chain or by an-
other -gear, piniofi, or belt; but these moditi-
.catious are obvious, and I would consider any
machine that takes the fiber from the teeth by
a fan arranged at or near the point of delivery
as involving my invention or improvement.
A bag or receiver of any kind may be at-
tached to the -rear of-the machine to receive
the gathered cotton.
Having thus fully described the nature of
my invention, what I'claim as an improvement
on the patent of George A. Howe of the 4th of
December, 1855, is--
The application of a fan or fans to the gath-
ering-chain as a means of removing the gath-
ered cotton from said chain ; and this I claim
whether said fans -be used as herein set forth-
or in any other way substantially the same.
BENJAMIN G. SHIELDS.
Witnesses:
A. B. STOUGHTON,
G. W. FOTHURST.
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Shields, B. G. Improvement in Cotton-Pickers., patent, September 16, 1856; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth165047/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.