Cotton Gin

Invented by : Eli Whitney

Invented in year : 1793

A Cotton Gin  is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibres from the seeds. The word 'Gin' is short for 'Engine'. The Cotton Gin was a wooden drum stuck with hooks which pulled the cotton fibres through a mesh. The cotton seeds would not fit through the mesh and fell outside. The machine was a combination of a wire screen, small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen and brushes which continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams.

History

Before the Invention of Cotton Gin simple devices for separating Cotton and seeds existed centuries before. An East Indian machine called a 'Charka' was used to separate the seeds from the lint when the fibre was pulled through a set of rollers. The Charka was designed to work with long-staple cotton. The device consisted of two wooden cylinders held closely together by a frame and rotated by a crank. The rollers were fluted by a series of longitudinal grooves and would separate loosely bound fibre from its seed by squeezing the cotton boll as it passed between them. The only difference is that the American Cotton is a short-staple cotton.

Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825), an American inventor developed a prototype for the cleansing of cotton in 1793. According to Whitney one day he was pondering over an improved method of seeding the cotton and he was inspired by observing a cat attempting to pull a chicken  through a fence, and could only pull through some of the feathers. Whitney came up with a basic design which composed of a cylinder, through which the Cotton was fed, with wire teeth. The Raw Cotton from the field could be fed through the cylinder and as it spun round, the teeth would pass through small slits in a piece of wood, pulling the fibres of the cotton all the way through but leaving the unwanted seeds behind. Whitney received a patent (later numbered as X72) for his Cotton Gin on March 14, 1794; however, it was not validated until 1807. Whitney and his partner Miller did not intend to sell the Gins. Rather, like the proprietors of grist and sawmills, they expected to charge farmers for cleaning their cotton - two-fifths of the profits, paid in cotton. The Crude Gin designed by Whitney could clean fifty times more cotton that could be cleaned by hand.

Development in Invention of Cotton Gin

H. Ogden Holmes achieved one of the first notable improvements in the Cotton Gin. He replaced the spiked cylinder with saw teeth cut into a set of concentric disks mounted on a single shaft. Each circular saw, spaced about one inch apart, would pass through one slot of the breastwork. Holmes also used flat ribs in the breastwork angled such that the seeds would be cast off as they were separated from the fibre. Holmes received his patent in 1796.

In 1805, Combination Gin-Spinners appeared, demonstrating combining of a system with its supersystem.

In 1834, a Double Cylinder Gin was patented thus creating a bi-system.

In 1837, an adjustable seed board, which could regulate the amount of Seed Cotton pulled in by the Gin, was developed thus increasing the dynamism of the system.

In 1858, a poly-system consisting of a Ginning cylinder and clearing brush followed by a second, faster rotating, Ginning cylinder and clearing brush, produced an improved product commanding a higher price.

After the Civil War Combination feeder, Gin stand and condensers with dyers became common.

The Gins later became horse-drawn and Water-Powered Gins and Cotton production increased, along with lowered costs.

Role of the Invention of the Cotton Gin in the improvement of Human Life

• Separating Cotton Fibres from seeds was previously done by hand. Farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the Cotton seed from the Raw Cotton Fibres. The Invention not only made the job easy it also saved time.

• Cotton Gin was one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution.

• It also led to the economic development of the Southern states of the United States with increase in Cotton production as Cotton was not a profitable crop before the invention. It was started to being grown even in those areas where nothing was grown.

• Cotton Gin led to the invention of the first Milling Machine.