50 
COTTON 
carries the cotton upward until it is deflected off 
into a receptacle, by a revolving brush. The ma- 
chine carries four operators and a driver, for each 
of whom a comfortable seat is prepared. There 
is no necessity for any bending or stooping on the 
part of the operator, and all he is required to do 
is to direct the well-balanced and nicely-adjusted 
arms of the machine. It is claimed by the inventor 
that when finally perfected each arm should gather 
up one boll per second, at a very low rate of speed, 
making 480 bolls per minute for the four opera- 
tions, or 28,800 per hour. As the bolls early in the 
season average 60 to 80 in the pound, one machine 
could pick from 3,600 to 4,800 pounds per day of 
ten hours. One of these machines with four boys 
and a driver could do the work of twenty average 
pickers." 
Some who have seen the Lowry Picker ask: 
"And what shall it profit the cotton farmer to have 
this machine, since even with it the human hand, 
or what is virtually an extension of the human 
hand, must be directed to each individual boll?" 
The advantage lies in the fact that the man who 
operates the mechanical hand at least saves (or 
should save) the time required in bending over 
each new stalk and the time required in drawing 
his hand back and forth in putting each separate 
handful into his picking-sack — and this is more 
than half the time required in picking. 
Others who think Mr. Lowry has invented a 
practical device for picking the cotton say that he 
has hampered its success by putting it in connec- 
tion with a motive power which is not satisfactory: 
in other words, he is sacrificing a good invention 
