A professional who tends battery of picker machines that break up and clean cotton or synthetic fibers, form them into lap ii, and wind lap into rolls. Responsibilities include:

• Starts machine and pulls cord to open gate of hopper through which cotton tufts feed onto conveyor of machine or hand feeds cotton tufts onto conveyor.
• Moves levers to regulate weight, length of lap, and speed of machine.
• Observes and regulates speed of conveyor as conveyor feeds machine to prevent jamming.
• Inserts metal bar in lap arbor of automatic winding mechanism that winds and ejects lap rolls of specified size.
• Turns end of lap around lap forming bar by hand, when necessary.
• Lifts roll of lap from machine, weighs roll of lap, records weight, places roll on portable rack, and removes pin around which lap was wound.
• Marks lap to identify fiber type, using specified chalk.
• Cleans and oils machine.
• May tend machines that open, clean, fluff, and mix cotton or synthetic fibers prior to picking process.