Robert Waller, 48, cotton baler, rescued James C. Holloway, 35, plant superintendent, from a machine, Greenville, Mississippi, November 20, 1959. While Holloway was on a platform 20 feet above a concrete floor inspecting a cotton gin, the strap of his wrist watch became caught in the cotton, and his hand was pulled into the machine’s feed rollers which were turning at 250 revolutions a minute. Because of noise made by the machines, the operator on the floor was unable to hear Holloway’s cries to turn off the power. Waller, the only other person on the platform, ran to the side of the machine where an arrangement of pulleys and belts turned the rollers. Squatting at the edge of the platform, he held to a railing and thrust one foot against the three belts, which were moving between two pulleys at 3,600 feet a minute. He pushed on the belts as hard as he could, forcing them off one pulley and causing them to be thrown clear of the other. Both pulleys continued turning, the upper one due to momentum. Waller pressed the sole of his shoe against the upper pulley, stopping it and the rollers. He then turned the pulley backward with his hands to eject Holloway’s arm, which had been drawn into the rollers to three inches above the elbow. Holloway sustained severe arm injuries but recovered. 44917-4341
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