cotton gin
NAME: Cotton Gin
OTHER-NAME: Gin
DATE INVENTED/BEGAN: April, 1793.
PLACE INVENTED/BEGAN: Savannah, GA
DATE ENDED:
PLACE ENDED:
CATEGORY: Technology
DISCIPLINE: Invention
ASSESSMENT: Automated the cleaning of cotton, radically increased production, boosted the British industrial revolution, and institutionalized slavery in the Southern US.
LANGUAGE: English
DETAILS:
The cotton gin was invented in 1893 by American inventor Eli Whitney* in order to automate the process of cleaning seeds out of raw cotton. ‘Gin’ was an abbreviation of ‘engine.’
Fluffy white cotton bolls were fed onto a wooden rotating cylinder carrying teeth which caught on the cotton and pulled it in.
Before it reached the cylinder, the cotton passed through a set of narrow slots too narrow to let the seeds through. The cylinder could be hand-cranked, or turned by water- or animal-power. Continually-revolving brushes helped to clean the cotton of bits of dirt or seed pods, etc. One gin could produce fifty pounds of cleaned cotton a day.
ONELINER: The cotton gin
EXTRA-CONNECTIONS: None
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.eliwhitney.org/cotton.htm
EB