1849.] MANCHESTEB COTTAGE SAW GIN. 169 



reports puMislied in the Cotton Blue book for Bengal, 

 the improved Chixrka appears to have failed to meet 

 the expectations which had been formed of either its 

 cheapness or its efficiency ; whilst its cost was sixty 

 rupees, or double the cost of the Cottage gin described 

 in the next paragraph. 



2iid, The Manchester Cottage saw Gin. — The Cot- 245 

 tage gin was an attempt to simplify the American gin, 

 and so far to cheapen it, as to bring it within the 

 means of the Indian Eyot. Its principle was the same 

 as that of the American gin, and an illustration is ap- 

 pended which will perhaps prove sufficient to explain 

 its working. Instead of sixty or even twenty saw 

 wheels, there are but four, and each saw wheel is only 

 ten inches in diameter. The length of the Cottage 

 saw gin is only two feet ; and its height is only twenty 

 inches at the hopper, and sixteen inches over the 

 brushes. The weight of the whole is only s^yi^s cot- 

 seventy-five pounds. The saws and brushes ton culture, 

 are put in motion by wheels and bands ^■^''^■ 

 turned by two winches, one on each side, which may 

 be moved by two children. The working of the 

 machine is the same in principle as that of the larger 

 gins. The seed Cotton is thrown into the hopper, and 

 carried away by the circular saws ; and as the seed is 

 too large to pass through the narrow grating, the staple 

 alone is carried away, and the seeds fall down. Thus 

 the staple is separated from the seed at the moment 

 the saws pass through the grating; and the staple is 

 cleaned and brushed off from the saws by the brush- 

 wheel which revolves in an opposite direction. 



Twenty-four Cottage saw Gins received by the Ma- 246 

 dras Government, 1849. — The Cottage saw 

 gins described above, had been constructed Despatch 

 under the direction of the Manchester Court of Bi- 

 Commercial Association, as being specially J^diwh'** 

 adapted for the use of the Indian Eyot. March, im9. 

 The cost, exclusive of all charges for freight ^^57)^*376! 

 or carriage, was about £3, or thirty rupees, 

 each. Twenty-four of these saw gins were despatched 

 to the Madras Presidency, in order that their efficiency 



