US183375A

US183375A - Improvement in devices for picking cotton

Info

Publication number: US183375A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1876-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1893-10-17

Description

R. A- CUTLIFF.

DEVICE FUR PICKING COTTON. N0.183,37'5, Patented Oct. 17. 1876.

INVEITW ATTUBNEYS.

N-PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON, D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIC'E.

RICHARD A; OUTLIFF, or sHREvnPoRT, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR PICKING COTTON.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 183,375, dated October 17, 1876; application filed August 23,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD AMORY OUT- LIFF, of Shreveport, in the parish of Gaddo and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and Improved Device for Picking Cotton and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The process of picking cotton by hand is slow, tedious, and expensive, and machines for the purpose have failed to come into extensive use, first, on account of their cost, and secondly, their imperfect operation.

I have, therefore, devised a cheap but efficient means for facilitating hand-pickin g; and the same consists of gloves, or other hand-cow erings, provided with fangs, hooks, or claws, inclined backward toward the wrist portion, by which the cotton may be rapidly removed from the bolls. To free the cotton from the fangs or claws, I provide a brush, or other suitable means for the purpose, the same being attached to the body of the picker in a convenient position to allow thegloved hands to be passed across and in contact with it. The cotton thus removed from the fangs by the brush rolls off and falls into a bagor basket which is also strapped to the body of the picker.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, Figure 1 represents the invention as applied in use. Fig. 2'is a detail sectional view of one of the fingers of the glove, showing the manner of securing the fangs.

The glovesA may be made in the usual way of cloth, leather, or any other thin, flexible, and tough material. The fangs, hooks, or claws B are attached on the inner side thereof, and also to the tips of the fingers; l prefer to attach them to the fingers, and also at the back of the palm, leaving the intermediate portion free, to facilitate shutting the hand and grasping various articles, 850. The fangs are, in this instance, constructed of small doubled wire, whose shank is bent to form a loop, a. The fangs proper having been insorted through a fold of the glove, are bent backward toward the wrist, and the loop a is bent in the opposite direction toward the fangs.

The fangs are thus firmly attached to the glove as well as afford a protection to the latter, by preventing their rapid wear from contact with the bolls or stems of the cotton-plant.

In some cases I intend to extend the wrists of the gloves to form gauntlets, to the inner side of which fangs or teeth will be attached in the same manner as to the gloves proper. The brush 0 is attached to the waist of the picker by a belt, D, and the bag for receiving the cotton will, in practice, be suspended by similar means.

In practical operation, the picker provided with my improved gloves will simply extend one or both of his hands, and, in drawing it or them toward him, will guide the fangs or hooks into contact with the cotton visible in the open bolls, and thus cause the fangs to extract the same. The next movement is to pass the inner side of the hand or hands which have been thus extended across the brush 0 and in contact with it, as represented in the drawing. The cotton thus removed rolls off the brush and falls directly into the open mouth of the bag.

The action of the brush in clearing the cotton from the fangs is facilitated by the form of the latter, they being inclined upward or toward the wrist.

My invention provides a very cheap but efficient means for gathering a cotton-crop rapidly and economically.

I I do not claim, broadly, the application of metal fingers or claws to a glove or hand-covering; but

What I claim is 1. For picking cotton, a glove or other handcovering, provided with wire fangs or hooks inclined toward the wrist, substantially as shown and described. p

2. The combination, with a glove, of the fangs or hooks formed of wire, having a loop, a, which ,is bent down to secure the fangs or hooks, as shown and described.

' R. A. OUTLIFF. Witnesses:

A. W. HART, 801.0 C. KEMoN.