Early Cotton Press

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cotton press in Latta (1987)

The Early Cotton Press is an early screw press for cotton that was built around 1798. It was created at its location at Berry's Crossroad on South Carolina State Route 38 south of Latta in Dillon County and was moved four kilometers further west around 1950. On November 15, 1972, it was entered on the National Register of Historic Places .

history

Detail of the press

The cotton press was built around 1798 for pressing cotton into bales. It is made of peeled and dowelled oak and has a threaded spindle with a diameter of 40 cm, which was chiseled by hand. Turning the lead screw pressed the cotton into a wooden frame to form a bale. The press stood under a small, shingled , rectangular hipped roof to protect the mechanism from the elements. Four bars form a pyramidal frame and hold the threaded spindle. Two long rods connected to the lead screw extend outward. Mules or oxen were harnessed to these so-called "buzzard wings" in order to cause the threaded spindle to rotate. The press was built by or for Stephen Berry or "Buck Swamp" John Bethea.

The facility was relocated from its original location at Berry's Crossroad to private property on the south side of South Carolina State Route 38 in 1950 , about eight hundred meters west of its intersection with South Carolina State Route 917 .

With the exception of minor repairs to the roof and base, the press is made from original parts. It is the only cotton press from the late 18th century in South Carolina . There is a similar cotton press on the Town Common of Tarboro , North Carolina . Another cotton press from the antebellum on the Magnolia Plantation near Derry in Louisiana is missing the wing bars. There the threaded spindle is fixed, and the base is rotated to press the cotton.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Early Cotton Press, Dillon County (jct. Of SC Hwys. 917 & 38, Latta vicinity) . In: National Register Properties in South Carolina . South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  2. ↑ a b c Dollie McGrath: Early Cotton Press (PDF; 273 kB) In: National Register of Historic Properties Inventory - Nomination Form . National Park Service. August 4, 1971. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  3. ^ C. Allan Jones: Texas Roots . Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas 2005, ISBN 1585444294 .
  4. ↑ a b Nancy Pittenger, J. Tracy Powers: Cotton Press, Near Routes 917 & 38, moved from Berry's Crossroad, Latta vicinity, Dillon County, SC (Site Data Form) . In: Historic American Engineering Record . National Park Service. Accessed on May 9, 2009.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / memory.loc.gov  
  5. ^ A b Durward T. Stokes: The history of Dillon County, South Carolina . University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina 1978, ISBN 0872493660 , p. 50.
  6. ^ Carl Thomas Julien, James McBride Dabbs: Pee Dee Panorama . University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina 1951.
  7. ↑ Norfleet Cotton Press, Tarboro, North Carolina . In: The Built Heritage of North Carolina . North Carolina State University. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  8. ↑ Magnolia Plantation . In: Cane River National Heritage Area . National Park Service. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  9. ↑ Jonathon Fricker, Fricker, Donna: Magnolia Plantation ( English , pdf; 161 kB) In: National Historic Landmark Nomination . National Park Service. November 1999. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  10. ^ William Baldwin: Carolina Plantations: Lost Photographs from the Historic American Buildings Survey . The History Press, Charleston, South Carolina 2007, ISBN 1596293470 , p. 87.

Coordinates: 34 ° 20 ′ 16 ″  N , 79 ° 31 ′ 26 ″  W.