Cotton and cotton oil. Cotton ... Cotton seed oil mills ... Cattle feeding ... Fertilizers ... Full information for investor, student and practical mechanic ...

Front matter

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Chapter I. Introductory

Origin of cotton planting in United States. History previous to invention of saw gin. Influence of roller gin. Influence of saw gin. Table showing production and price from 1790 to 1900. Mutual influence cotton planting and slavery. The Civil War. Cotton planting with free labor. Present magnitude.

Chapter IV. The Plantation Before The Civil War

General organization of plantation. Home products and economy. Amusements on the plantation. Combination of work and play. The master. The overseer. The slave. Plantation during the war. Loyalty of the slave to the master and master to slave.

MARKETING COTTOX.—

Ante-bellum factor methods. Post-bellum methods. ^Middle men. Exporting.

Chapter IX. The Plaxtatiox, Durixg Axd After The Civil War

With slave labor. With emancipated negro labor. Methods of paying laborers. Renters, tenants, croppers, day wages. Influence of cotton factories. Influence of cotton oil mills. Xeighboring manufacturing enterprises make farming more attractive. Farm lands increasing in value.

COTTOX SEED OIL, COMMERCIAL FEATURES.—

History of oil milling. Purchasing seed. Uses made of various products. Value of products. Markets for products. Packages for products. Table showing quantities and values of products for 30 years.

Vlll.

Chapter XII. Cotton Seed Oil, Mechanical Features

AND PROCESSES.—

Detailed description of each machine and its operations. Table showing speed and power for each machine. Quality of raw material and its relation to finished products. Mill buildings. How to reduce fire risks by proper construction.

FERTILIZER MANUFACTURE.—

Chemical considerations. Mechanical considerations. Machinery. Raw materials. Phosphate rock. Pebble phosphate. Sulphuric acid in its relation to fertilizers. Manufacture of sulphuric acid.

Appendix

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO INVENTION OF COTTON GIN. TABLES AND MISCELLANY.—

Verbatim court records in cotton gin cases. Theory of cattle feeding. Sundry notes on cattle feeding.

Xi9t of HUuetratione-

I — Whitney's Original jModel of Gin.

2 — Madison's Certification of Original Gin Patent

Sheets. 3 — Whitney's Original Certified Patent Drawing. 4 — Drawing Accompanying the Whitney Substituted

Patent. 5 — Drawing Accompanying the Whitney Substituted

Patent. 6 — Certification of Whitney Patents. 7 — Certification of Bill of Injunction in Patent Suits. 8 — Certification of Holmes Gin Patent. 9 — Eli W^hitney's Autograph. lo — Whitney's Spike Gin, Intermittent Action. II — Holmes' Saw Gin, Continuous Acticii. 12 — Old Plantation Gin House and Screw. 13 — Old Horse Power for Gin House. 14 — Hauling Cotton to Market. 15 — Steam Power Applied to Old Gin House. 16 — Early Steam Ginnery.

The Plantation Home. 1 7 — Spinning \Vheel. 18 — ^Portable Ginnery. 19 — Improved Ginnery. 20 — Roller Gin. 21 — Section of Saw Gin. 22 — Perspective of Saw Gin. 23 — Huller Gin. 24 — Gin Driven from Below. 25 — Improved Ginnery. 26 — Ginnery with Suction Apparatus. 27 — Ginnery with Storage Bins. 28 — Texas Ginnery. 29 — Old Gin House and Screw.

Xll.

30 — Modern Screw Cotton Press.

31 — Steam Cotton Press.

32 — Cotton Compress with Knuckle Joints.

2,;^ — Ginnery Compress, Square Bale,

34 — Ginnery Compress, Cylindrical Lap Bale.

35 — Ginnery Compress, End Packed Cylindrical Bale.

36 — Ginnery Compress, End Packed Cylindrical Bale.

2,7 — Ginnery Compress, End Packed Cylindrical Bale.

38 — Ginnery Compress, End Packed Cylindrical Bale.

39 — Three Kinds of Cotton Bales.

40 — Cotton "Square" and Cotton Bloom.

41 — Cotton Bolls.

42 — Cotton Bolls,

43 — Negro and Plow.

44 — Sundry Plow Points,

45 — Sundry Plow Points.

46 — Plow and Hoe.

47 — Fertilizer Distributor and Guano Horn.

48 — Cotton Planting Machine.

49 — Sub-soiling Plow.

50 — Gang Plow for Cultivating Cotton.

51 — Sulky Plow for Cultivating Cotton,

52 — Disc Cultivator for Cotton.

53 — Cotton Stalk Cutter.

54 — Cotton Field at the End of the Day.

55 — Method of Picking Cotton.

56 — Experimental Cotton Picking Machine ; Rear View,

57 — Experimental Cotton Picking Machine; Front View.

58— Cotton Market,

59 — Cotton Sampler's Table.

60 — Cotton Planting Syndicate — Planter, Negro, Mule.

61 — Cotton Seed, Showing How Lint Grows,

62 — Cross Section of Cotton Seed ]\Iagnified 12^ times.

63— General View 150-Ton Oil Mill,' 1S85.

64 — Arrangement of Machinery, 150-Ton Oil Mill, 1885.

65— General View 200-Ton Oil Mill, 1887.

66— General View 100-Ton Oil Mill, 1890.

6/ — Arrangement of Machinery, 40-Ton Oil Mill, 1901.

68 — Right and Left Hand Conveyors.

69 — Wooden Boxes for Conveyors.

70 — Right Angle Conveyor Drive.

71 — Sprocket Chain Elevators.

y2 — Sand and Boll Screen.

73 — End Section Sand and Boll Screen.

74 — Section Through Cotton Seed Linter.

75 — General View Cotton Seed Linter.

76 — Linter Room in Oil Mill.

yy — Cotton Seed Huller.

78 — Secti(3n Through Huller.

79 — Cotton Seed Huller.

80 — Section Through Huller.

81 — Huller Feeder.

82 — Separating Conveyor.

83 — Diagram Serpentine Drive for Rolls.

84 — Five-High Serpentine Rolls.

85 — Diagram Tandem Drive for Four-High Rolls.

86 — Diagram Tandem Drive for Five-High Rolls.

87 — Four-High Tandem Rolls.

88 — Diagram Tandem Drive with Tightener, Five-High

Rolls. 89 — Five-High Geared Rolls. 90 — Heaters with Gang Under Drive. 91 — Heaters with Independent Parallel Lender Drive. 92 — Heaters with Overhead Drive. 93 — Presses, Former and Heaters with Independent Right

Angle Drive. 94 — Triple Heaters. 95 — Section Through Triple Heaters. 96 — Steam Cake Former. 97 — Interior of Oil Mill Press Room. 98 — Interior of Oil Mill Press Room. 99 — Oil Press, Showing Valves. 100 — Oil Press in Section, loi — Oil Press, Showing Hydraulic Packing.

XIV.

I02 — Mold for Making Hydraulic Packing.

103 — Hydraulic Steam Pump.

104 — Hydraulic Accumulators.

105 — Hydraulic Press Valve.

106 — Old Style Automatic Change Valve.

107 — New Style Automatic Change \^alve.

108 — Pump and Press Connections.

109 — Hydraulic Power Pump.

no — Cake Cracker.

Ill — Attrition Meal Mill.

1 1 2 — General View of Cotton Oil Refinery.

113 — Plan and Section Cotton Oil Refinery.

114 — Cotton Oil Filter Press.

115 — Interior Cattle Shed.

116 — Exterior of Cattle Shed.

117 — Feeding Cattle in the Open.

118— Type of Good Beef Steer.

119 — Type of Scrub Beef Steer.

120 — Type of Good Milk Cow.

121 — ^Type of Good Butter Cow\

122 — Type of Scrub Cow.

123 — Cycle of Production, Consumption and Land Restoration.

124 — Fertilizer Mixer.

125 — General View Sulphuric Acid Chamber.

126 — Plan and Section Sulphuric Acid Chamber.

127 — Section Fertilizer Factory.

Two Colored Plates, Showing Different Types of Negroes.

Three Colored Plates, Showing Different Stages of Growth of Cotton PlaAt.

Map Showing Quarantine Line for Texas or Splenetic Fever in Cattle.

Chapter I

llntrobuction.

For the ancient history of cotton, dating i,ooo years before Christ, the practical man of to-day cares very little. Even the minor details of its introduction into the United States possesses only historical interest and this will be taken up only to illustrate the evolution of the industry.

The early colonists naturally experimented on their new found soil with all of the divers seeds that they could obtain from all parts of the earth. Thus, cotton became an early experimental crop, beginning in Virginia about the year lOoo, and continuing in all of the Southern latitudes for nearly two hundred years before it came to be seriously regarded as a useful crop.

During this epoch a great army oi hand weavers had sprung up in England, and it was becoming a serious problem wdth them to get yarn to weave.

In all times and places, wdien there is a serious demand for any invention, the genius of the age soon develops and perfects that invention. In 1767 James Hargreaves invented in England the spinning jenny, by which one operative could run as many as twenty spindles, instead of one, as theretofore. This w^as successively improved by Arkwright and Crompton in England and others, so that it soon became an easy matter to provide yarn for the hand weavers. After the power loom had been introduced by Cartwright also in England in 1785, the world's consumption of all kinds of yarn became immensely increased, and thus the demand for raw textile fibres was a constantly growing one.

The American colonists took a growing interest in cotton production, and made every effort to meet the demand from the mother country, and also the new demands ■of the new independent colonies.

Ill 1786 Governor Tattnal, of Georgia, received sotiie Sea Island seed from the Bahama Islands, and encouraged its production in the coast region.

About the same time, a Airs. Burden, of South Carolina, promoted its growth on the sea islands of that State.

Several difficulties prevented the rapid spread of cotton culture in those days. Scarcity of labor in the new countiy, for the tedious process of harvesting or "pickingwas an important factor; but the prime difficulty was in separating the useful lint from the then useless seed. This work was done entirely by hand until the ancient roller gin was brought over.

A. Mr. Duhreuil, oi Louisiana, is said t(j have had one of the first gins of any kind in America. x\ more practical machine seems to have been introduced from the Bahama Islands by Dr. Joseph Eve, of Augusta, Ga., about the same time (1790). He is reported to have been the first to run a gin by power.

As the colonists gradually found their way inland, the character of the cotton which they continued to plant, changed from the Sea Island varieties, and began to develop a well marked type known as "upland." The seeds of upland cotton were even more difficult to separate than the other varieties, so that, although plantation labor began to be more plentiful l\v the importation of slaves, the growth of cotton could not become an extensive industry until a machine could be perfected fgr the separation of the seeds.

As in the invention of other machmery, a crying necessity stimulated inventive genius. The roller gin was already in use. and worked well for Sea Island cotton. In 1793, Eli Whitney, then living near Savannah, Ga., in vented a cotton gin, comprising m?ny of the features of the gin now in use for upland cotton. In 1794 he obtained his patent. In 1795 Hodgen Holmes, of Augusta. Ga.. invented the saw gin, an improvement on Whitnev's machine. In 1796 he obtained his patent. Thus in the period from 1793 to 1796. the saw i^in Ijecame a standard machine, and an epoch maker in the history of cotton.

Tlie first power saw gin, which is to say the first real practical and pro(hictive gin in the world was made l)y Hotlgen Holmes and was run by water power in Fairfield county. South Carolina, by Mr. James Kincaid in 1795.

The details of the invention of the saw gin are fully set forth in another chapter.

The etTect of this invention upon the cotton production of the country was wonderful. As soon as a few of these machines could be made and put upon the market, it was seen that with the available labor it w^as easy to increase the cotton production many fold.

In 1790 the production of cotton w^as ec[uivalent to 3,000 bales of 500 pounds each, and in 1798. about the time the use of saw gins became general, the ])roduction was increased to an equivalent of about 30,000 bales of 500 pounds each. At this time cotton was put up in bales or bags weighing about 225 pounds each. For the purpose of comparison, all statistics in this book have been reduced to our present average bale of 500 pounds gross.

It soon became apparent that the productiveness of the soil would justify much more cotton planting than the available labor could handle, even wi« h the help of the cotton gin. This idea fostered a great importation of negro slaves, and thus the growth of slavery and the increase of the cotton crop were simultaneous, each being sustained by the other. This material result was in opposition to a strong sentiment against slavery*.

The cotton crops steadily increased oh this basis, building up and enriching an agricultural ]>opulation wdiich became an aristocracy in the Southern United States. The cotton crop had grow^n to 4,000,000 bales in 1861, being mostly produced by the labor of the 4.000,000 slaves.

From 1 86 1 to 1865 the Civil War interfered with agricultural operations so that the average annual production during that period was reduced to a half million bales.

The Civil War resulted in the abolition of slavery. The ill-advised enfranchisement of the slaves who were led by dishonest adventurers, induced a condition of political and industrial disorder. This condition retarded the recovery of the cotton growing- States from the disastrous effects of the war; and hence it required about ten years after the war for the cotton planters to again reach a production of 4,000,000 bales. Since that time, the crop has continually increased, reaching to nearly 10,000,000 bales m 1900. as exhibited by the following table:

Introduction

TABLE I.

SHOWING THE PRODUCTION AND PRICE OF COTTON FROM 1790 TO 1900.

No Bales Price Per Lb

Year 500 Lbs. Gross in New York.

1790 3,000 260

1 791 4,200 26.0

1792 6,300 29.0

,1793 10,400 32.0

1794 16,700 33.0

1795 16700 36.5

1796 20.800 36.5

1797 22,900 34-0

1798 31-200 39.0

1799 41,600 440

1800 73,000 28.0

1810 177,000' 16.0

,1820 331.500 170

.1840 1,737,700 8.9

.1850 2,085,800 12.3

1865 250,000 80.0

1880 5,449,200 12.0

1900 9,436,400 8.7

Continued economies in the cost of production, and continued demand for cotton .snoods, together with a great increase of cotton mill building in the cotton producing States will no doubt lead to still further expansion of the crop to perhaps 15,000,000 within the next decade.

Coincident with the upbuilding of the cotton growing industry to such proportions, there has been great activity in the production of mechanical devices for the preparation and handling of the crop.

The separate discussion of these various devices and their influence on the scope and character of cotton production furnishes the theme for the most of Part I., of this book.

TABLE II.

SHOWING CHRONOLOGY OF SOME EVENTS RELATING TO COTTON.

1600. — Introduction of cotton into Virginia.

1730. — John W'yatt spins first cottoii by machinery in England.

1738. — John Kay invents the fly shuttle.

1767. — James Hargreaves invents spinning jenny.

1769. — Richard Arkwright invents drawing rolls fnr spinning machine.

1785. — Edmund Cartwright invents power loom.

1787. — First cotton mill in Beverly. Mass.

1790. — First cotton mill in Pawtucket, R. I.

1794. — Eli Whitney invents cotton gin.

1796. — Hodgen Holmes invents saw gin.

1796. — First cotton mill in Statesburg, S. C.

1813. — First cotton mill in Lincolnton, N. C.

Part 1.

COTTON.

CHAPTER II. Cbc llnvention of the Saw (3in

Much as has been written on the subject of the invention of the saw cotton gin, the question as to the credit for fundamental ideas, and their development into a commercial machine, seems yet to lack authoritative discussion.

It is so easy tO' collate a large amount of matter fron-i writers, who themselves have copied the works of others, purporting to relate history, that it is small wonder that well nigh as many errors as facts should have been frequencly copied and re-copied. This seems to be especially the case in America concerning the cotton gin, on acount of its being an American invention of such note, and of comparatively recent date.

Crude cotton as it is produced in the held, consists of fluffy masses of cotton lint adhering to seeds. It is cal'e(,i in this condition "seed cotton." The varieties of cotton may be divided into twO' general classes; "Upland" and ''Sea Island." This distinction is based mainly on the length of the fibre or "staple" the former having fibres varying from f to 1 1 inches and the latter from i-J to 2} inches. The lint of upland cotton adheres very firmh' to the seeds, appearing to grow out of it like w^ool from a sheep's back. The seeds, after being denuded of lint as well as possible, still have a wooll}- appearance. In a great many sub-varieties the seeds are green in color, thus givirg to upland cotton, in general, the name "green-seed cotton," as distinguished from Sea Island cotton, whose seeds are black. Sea Island, or long staple cotton does not adhere so closely to the seeds, and it can be easily pulled off clean, leaving the seeds perfectly smootli. These seeds are vulgarly called "bald-headed seed."

A gin is a machine for separating lint cotton from the seed. The word gin is supposed to be a contraction or engine, and the word has been used to indicate a number of lO THE INVENTION OF THE SAW GIN.

contrivances for doing work, such as hoisting, etc., on the same reasoning that in England at the present time, the machine in use for carding cotton is known as the carding engine.

Recent usage, especially in America, has restricted the use of the word engine to mean some prime mover, and the use of the word gin to mean cotton gin.

The term cotton, as commercially used in the United States, refers generally to upland cotton, that being the kind mostly produced. When Sea Island Cotton is refen-ed to, it is specially mentioned. In the same way the tenn "gin" is used to designate the saw gin, which is the particular kind in use with upland cotton. The machine used for separating Sea Island cotton from the seed is known as the "roller gin."

The saw gin has a saw cylinder, made up of circular saws, spaced by collars on a mandrel or shaft. The saws project into a breast box, through grooves or ribs set close enough together to prevent the passage of seed. The teeth pull the lint through the ribs and leave seed behind. Revolving in an opposite direction to the saw- toothed cylinder, parallel to it, and in a contiguous box, is another cylinder covered with bristles, which brushes the lint out of the teeth and delivers it into a room or into a condenser. The brush cylinder revolves 4 or 5 times as fast as the saw cylinder.

The first method of separating lint from the seed was naturally by hand picking. The next method, originating in India about 300 B. C, was by means of rollers, which running closely together, would pull the lint through and leave the seed behind.

The roller gin now in use for ginning sea island cotton is a modern development from this India gin.

As most of the ancient Eastern cottons were of the black seed varieties, the roller gin was fairly successful, though the seeds would often become cracked between the rollers and pass on through and mix v/ith the lint. The seeds contain considerable water and nitrogenous matter.

THE INVENTION OF THE SAW GIN. II

SO that those crushed are Hal^le to decay, and thus to give to Hnt cotton prepared in this manner a foul odor.

During the War of the American Revolution, and immediately thereafter, cotton culture began to receive consi*.:- erable attention in the Southern States. As the coahl country was the first to be settled; and as the valuable Sea Island varieties grew to perfection on that soil, these were first cultivated. They were prepared for market by hand, and by the roller gins, both processes being very slow. The roller gin then in use would clean about 5 times ;.s much cotton per day as could be cleaned by hand.

When upland \arieties began to be cultivated further inland where Sea Island would not grow, the roller gir. proved entirely inadequate and unsuitable, so that the extension of cotton growing soon reached its limit. In many cases, it surpassed the limit, and much cotton was wasted for want of being separated from its seed, and made ready for market.

In 1792, Eli Whitney of Massachusetts went by boat to Savannah, Ga., from which place he intended to go into the interior as tutor in a private family. On the same boat was traveling Mrs. Nathaniel Greene, the widow of the American Revolutionary General, who was returning from a Northern trip to her home at Mulbert y (jrove, near Savannah, Ga. On this journey Whitney naturally made the acquaintance of Mrs. Greene. Arriving in Savannah, he failed to perfect his arrangement for teaching and accepted an invitation from Mrs. Nathaniel Greene to make his home at her house and pursue the study of law. which was his grea; desire.

While he was in Mrs. Greene's house he exhibited great talent for mechanics, and made himself useful in that respect around the plantation.

In the spnng of 1793, some old comrades of General Greene: Majors Brewer, Forsythe and Pendleton, whc lived near Augusta, Ga.. called on Mrs. Greene. In the course of their visit they discussed the troubles of agriculture in the upper country, and mentioned the fact th.-'.t much upland cotton could be protitably produced if there were only some machine for separating- the lint f rom the seed. Mrs. Greene proposed that they talk over the matter with young Whitney. The result of that visit was that Whitney was given a room in the basement of the house, and after considerable experimenting, produced a machine that successfully separated the lint from seed.

Fig. I is copied fro-m an old print which is said to represent Whitney's original model. This is not an official record, but it is confirmed by compaiison with the patent drawing. Fig. 3.

In 1793 Whitney went to New Haven, Conn., to confer with his old friend and patron, Elizur Goodrich and others, in relation to obtaining a patent.

The original description in Whitney's own words, accompanying his petition for patent was filed with Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State at Philadelphia, June 20, 1793. Whitney also made affidavit concerning his invention before Elizur Goodrich, Notary Public, and Alderman of New Haven, Conn., Oct. 28, 1793.

A patent was issued to Eli Whitney March 14, 1794, and signed by George Washington, President, Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State and Wm. Bradford, Attorney General.

During some litigation over validity of the patent in the United States District Court in Savannah, Georgia, 1804 a copy of the complete patent and specification and drav/- ing was filed with the court. This copy was certified bv James Madison, Secretary of State, April 27, 1804, as shown by Fig. 2.

This copy, taken from the records of the Court, is given verbatim in the Appendix, marked Document H. Fig. 3 is a photograph of the drawing, accompanying this cerrified patent, and Fig. 6 is the certification of the whole set by the Deputy Clerk of the United States Court.

These documents are now on file in the United States Court House, Savannah, Ga., and are believed to be the only authentic records of this patent in existence. The

Fig. I Whitney's Original Model.

original patent papers tiled in the Patent Office by Whitney in 1793, were destroyed by the Patent Office tire in T836. See Appendix, Document IV. As soon as possible after this hre, the authorities made efforts to obtain co])ies of all papers that were destroyed. It so hajjpened. however, that tliey never secured the cercitied copy on record in Savannah, Ga., but they received from some source not shc\\n on the records, on May 2, I'i^i, what purported to be a copy of the Whitney patent. Figs. 4 and 5 are the drawings accompanying the document. The full text of tlie 1841 specification is given in the Appendix, Docum^nu III.

It will l)e noticed in comparing this 1841 record with ihe original, that the original specification gives a much more detailed account of the method of constructing the gin, even to the extent of describing and dlust rating the method of cutting the wire which was used for making the spiked teeth in the cylinder, and descri1;)ing in great detail the method of inserting the bristles in the brush, andgi\ing so-me alternate methods; and in all other cases referring to alternate methods, the particular alternate methods are described. But the very clear and extended s])ecification in the original makes no suggestion of an alternate method of constructing the cylinder, as for example, the use of circular saws. Neither does the original drawing show any suggestion of saws. But the specification of 1841 concludes with a paragraph not found in the original, x\z: "There are several modes of making the various parts r.f this machine, which, together with tlieir particular shape and formation are pointed out and explained in a description with drawings, attested, as the Act directs, and lodged in the Office of the Secretary of State.'"

There is a curious mistake noticeable in the drawing of 1841. Fig. 4, that would surely indicate that Eli Whitney himself ne\-er e\-en saw it; that is, the handle by which the machine is to be turned, is anplied to the brush shaft, instead of the main cvlinder, which is the wav it is described in both

1 6 THE INVENTION OK THE SAW GIN.

the authentic and the substituted specilication; and this is the only way it could be made to work in practice.

Whitney's authentic specifications say, in describing the brush : "IV. The clearer, C Fig. I, is constructed in the following manner: Take an iron axis, perfectly similar to that described as extending through the cylinder, except that it need not be so large nor fitted tor the application of a winch.

Whoever made the drawing for the patent of^ce after the fire, could not have understood the principles of the gin, othervv'ise, this error ui placing the ^vinch (or hand crank) ■could not have occurred.

These substituted drawings have some of the features of the authentic patent drawings, besides some features of the gins that were built about 1841. They also embrace a number of features totally at variance with the ])rinciples of Whitney's or any other gin.

The substituted drawings show sketches of saws, while there is nothing in the authentic drawings or specifications, even m the most remote way, suggesting the idea of a saw. These peculiar additions, which occur in the substituted documents, were evidently intended to establish a claim for Whitney for the invention of the saw gin, whereas the authentic patent papers amply refute such a claim.

The substituted specifications, while being in the main a synopsis of the authentic specifications, omit all reference to drawings, either original or substituted.

There were tried in the United States Court, district of Georgia, 27 suits for infringement of the W^hitney gin patent. Among the papers in the evidence introduced in these suits, is a certified copy of a patent for a gin, issued May 12, 1796, to Hodgen Holmes of Augusta, Ga.

A certified copy of this patent is given in full in the Appendix, Document VT

No drawing accompanies the patent, and the specifications are very meagre. The patent in itself does not in any way describe the fundamental operations of the gin, and does not state whether the teeth are made of wire or cut

Fig. 3.

Original Certified Patent Drawing.

Note that no saws are shown.

7ott^n Qin.

Fig. 4.

Drawing Accompanyingr the Substituted Patent.

Note that saws are shown on this drawing.

2/J/vae6o—^SA/:ai'S.

Fig. 5. Drawing Accompanying Substituted Patent.

out of sheet metal in the shape of saws. The model which would demonstrate that, was burned in the Patent Office., and has never been replaced. The records show that Holmes was not a man of collegiate education. It is natural, therefore, that his specifications, which had to he put in the inventor's own language, should not be so clear as that of Whitney, who was a Yale graduate, and who had the assistance of two Yale Professors. (Josiah Stebbins and Elizur Goodrich ) , in the preparation of his papers.

It is certain that Holmes was granted a patent, signed by George Washington, President, Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State and Chas. Lee, Attorney General. It is also certain that gins with saw teeth were in use about that time. In a book (Origin, Cultivation and Uses of Cotton) by W. B. Seabrook, President Agricultural Society of South Carolina, published in Charleston in 1844, the author says: "The Holmes machine was set up in the gris: mill of Capt.James Kincaid on Mill Creek in Craven (now Fairfield) County, South Carolina, in J795, and is reported to have been the first of the saw gins used in that State."

In the petition for injunction, filed in the United States Court, District of Georgia, by Whitney vs. Arthur Fort and John Powell. March 16. 1804. (For full text see Appendix, Document V.) Defendants are charged with infringements beginning 1800. In the petition occurs this language: "And it is also pretended . . . ' that the machine used by them contains in it an miprovement; . . . that is to say, teeth, cut into circular pieces of metal."

A great deal of Whitney's correspondence has been published, in which the invention is discussed; but previous to the letter by his partner Miller to Whitney. Feb. 15. 17Q7, no allusion whatever is made to the saw j^rinciple. In this letter. Miller says:. "It will be best to take the deposition of Goodrich and Stebbins on the subject of ratchet wheels, which may hereafter be rendered useful." The words "ratchet wheels" refer to a description often used in court in describing gin saws. This was on account of the similaritv of the gin saw to the thin iron ratchet wheel used on

THK INVENTION OF THE SAW GIN. 21

tiie end of the wooden cloth roll of a hand loom to hold the cloth taut. The full text of this letter is given in A'jpendix, Docunieiit V II.