Cotton gin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image:Cotton gin EWM 2007.jpg

A cotton gin on display at the Eli Whitney Museum.

A cotton gin (short for cotton engine) is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds. These seeds were either used again to grow more cotton or if badly damaged were disposed of. It uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. The term "gin" is an abbreviation for engine, and means "device".

1 Invention
2 Operation
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Invention

According to Joseph Needham a precursor to the cotton gin was present in India, which was known as a charkhi, which had two elongated worms that turned its rollers in opposite directions.^[1]

The modern cotton gin was later created by the American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 to mechanize the production of cotton fiber. The invention was granted a patent on March 14, 1794. The cotton gin was credited for increasing assets in the American economy.

Image:Cottonginpatent.jpg

Cotton gin patent, March 14, 1794

There is slight controversy over whether the idea of the cotton gin and its constituent elements are correctly attributed to Eli Whitney. The popular version of Whitney inventing the cotton gin is attributed to an article on the subject in the early 1870s and later reprinted in 1910 in the The Library of Southern Literature. In this article Andrews mentioned how Catherine Littlefield Greene suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component instrumental in the machine's success. Historians later explored this idea, and some consider that Catherine Littlefield Greene, Whitney's landlady, should be credited with the invention of the cotton gin, or at least with the original concept. Women were not eligible to receive patents in the early U.S., and Greene may have asked Whitney to obtain it for her. Patent office records also indicate that the first cotton gin may have been built by a machinist named Sean Paul two years before Whitney's patent was filed. Joseph Watkins, who resided near Petersburg, Georgia is credited by many historians as the first inventor of the cotton gin, and was using it on his plantation when he was visited by the frustrated Eli Whitney, who on seeing it went back to Savannah and soon developed his model which he patented. Watkins was urged to sue Whitney, but had no desire to engage in a controversy and never asserted his claim. Watkins was a planter of large means, who pursued the study and application of mechanics more for amusement than profit.

The cotton gin was one of the causes leading up to the civil war. President Lincoln was famously quoted as saying "how could such a simple invention alter American history in such a king sized way?" when commenting on the effect the cotton industry had on the United States. The cotton gin was made so that slave labor would be easier. Ironically, more slaves were needed because of the cotton gin.

Image:Cotton gin harpers.jpg

An engraving from Harper's Magazine from 1869 showing the first cotton gin

While the Watkins story had some romantic adherents, and still others have credited Hodgson Holmes, later publication of certain of Whitney's papers, including letters to his family during the invention process, showed the claims to be lacking foundation.

The Indian churka was effective at separating seeds from the varieties of cotton grown there, and possibly for some of the long staple, sea-island cotton, but was inadequate for processing the short staple, green seed cotton cultivated in upper South Carolina and Georgia.

Many people attempted to develop a design that would process short staple cotton and Holmes was indeed issued a patent for an "Improvement in the Cotton Gin". However, the evidence indicates that Whitney did invent the saw gin, for which he is famous. Although he spent many years in court attempting to enforce his patent against planters who made unauthorized copies, a change in patent law ultimately made his claim legally enforceable—too late for him to make much money off of the device in the single year remaining before patent expiration.^[2]

[edit] Operation

Small cotton gins were hand-powered; larger ones were harnessed to horses.

[edit] References

^ Joseph Needham. Science and Civilisation, IV(2), pp. 122-24
^ The American Historical Review by Henry Eldridge Bourne, Robert Livingston Schuyler Editors: 1895–July 1928; J.F. Jameson and others.; Oct. 1928–Apr. 1936, H.E. Bourne and others; July 1936–Apr. 1941, R.L. Schuyler and others; July 1941– G.S. Ford and others. Published 1991, American Historical Association [etc.], pp 90–101.