Allis-Chalmers cotton picker ??

[SPMN]

I see an Allis-Chalmers cotton picker fixing to close on an Aumann auction. How rare is ac AC picker/ I knew they built cotton strippers, but not pickers.

 

[rustcollector]

Allis Chalmers sold cotton pickers that were manufactured under contract by the Rust Brothers in Pine Bluff (later Ben-Pearson Rust), Arkansas from about 1948 through the 1960's. These pickers were nicknamed Bow and Arrow pickers since the Ben Pearson company manufactured bows and arrows. I can't answer the numbers question, but both one row and two row units were produced and mounted on tractors and self powered units. The one-quarter inch by about 6 inches straight barbed spindles (compared to tapered) were contained in a chain and friction driven while in the row and reversed when the cotton was being doffed from the spindle. The first pickers were open topped baskets and used a drag chain conveyor to move cotton from the row unit to the basket. Usually, a second man doodled cotton to the back of the basket. AC strippers were built in the 1960's and into 1980's and were offered in finger and brush units. There may have been AC strippers produced since the early 1940's, but I would have to research that before elaborating further. Seems like Auburn University Experiment station had an AC stripper in the early 1950's. As I remember from literature, Auburn tested AC, Deere, IH, Dearborn strippers and pickers and perhaps others at Sand Mountain Research Station during the early 1950's.

 

[SPMN]

Thanks for the reply Rustcollector!