INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



The older method of mixing was to place successive 

 layers of cotton from each of the bales in a pile, and 

 then pull and mix them by hand. In recent years, 

 however, machines known as "bale-breakers" or "cot- 

 ton-pullers" have been invented to take the place of 

 the more primitive method. These machines consist 

 of several pairs of rollers, either fluted or carrying 

 coarse spikes, which pull and mix the cotton. Thorough 

 mixing is obtained by feeding the cotton from the sev- 

 eral bales into the machine at the same time. 



After leaving the mixer the cotton goes at once to 

 the "opener," a machine which loosens the fibers and 

 shakes and blows out any foreign matter in the form of 

 grains of sand, seeds, leaves, etc., that are sure to have 

 crept in during the process of gathering and shipping. 

 The cotton is spread in a uniform layer on the feeding- 

 table of the machine, from which it is taken by the 

 feed-rollers and carried within reach of a cylinder fitted 

 with projecting teeth, and known as the "beater." 

 This cylinder revolves at a rate of a thousand or more 

 revolutions a minute, and quickly loosens the fibers as 

 they come into contact with the teeth; while at the 

 same time a strong draught of air is blown through 

 the cotton, still further loosening any particles of foreign 

 matter that may cling to it. It may pass over several 

 of these beating-cylinders, and bio wing -machines, be- 

 fore it finally emerges from the machine in the form of a 

 "lap" a flat layer or sheet of cotton and is wound 

 upon a cylinder. 



From these cylinders it is fed to the "scutcher," 

 which is really a modified form of opener. In this 



