Hand churka or Roller cotton gin, by John M. Dunlop, Manchester, England, 1859.

This machine is a self-contained roller gin for cleaning and preparing cotton fibres prior to their use in spinning. It is arranged to be driven by hand, and was patented in 1859. The upper and smaller roller is of metal and finely fluted. The lower roller is of wood, and driven by a belt on its spindle, or by a pinion gearing into a large internally geared spur wheel driven by hand. The rollers are geared together so as to have equal peripheral speeds, and each is cleaned by a stationary scraping blade. The bearings of the upper roller are pressed downward by springs, adjustable by wing nuts. The smaller fluted roller pulls the cotton fibres off but cannot grip the seeds which, when cleaned, fall down and through the grating.