Item 18: Picker laps as being fed into a cotton card

Gelatin silver print, ca. 1918. Black and white image shows cotton from the cotton lap ("continuous, . compressed, sheet of fibrous material . rolled into a cylindrical package") being fed into a card (the machine that separates fibers into "individual relationship[s]"), where the cotton is carded between the brush-like wire points. The full lap on the top will most likely be swung down to be fed into the card once the lap on the bottom has finished. See Item 13 , in this folder, for a virtually identical image, and Items 10 and 11, in this folder, for close-up views of this process. 18 x 9 cm.

Format: Stereoptic print.