The Absorbing History Of Cotton Gin

The term gin, which is an abbreviation for the word 'engine', literally means machine. A cotton gin combines a wire mesh with wire hooks, which are used to pull the cotton fibers through the mesh, to prevent the seeds from being retained along with the fiber.

Some of the earliest versions, which can be traced back to the 1^st century AD, made the use of stone or wood, and consisted of a single roller.

Although these machines were complicated to use, and required a considerable amount of skill, the rollers served the purpose by expelling the seeds from cotton. A single roller was believed to generate fifty pounds of cleaned cotton everyday.

Later on, in the 12^th and 14^th centuries, dual rollers were extensively used. Considered to be one of the most important inventions of the industrial revolution, the credit for designing the modern cotton gin goes to an American inventor called Eli Whitney.

Born in 1765, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1793. He was an enterprising Yale graduate, who devised a prototype for the cleansing of cotton. This invention received a patent on March 14, 1794.

The device was made from wood, and was attached with hooks, which pulled cotton through a wire mesh that separated the seeds from the cotton fiber. In terms of efficiency, this crude machine designed by Whitney, could clean fifty times more cotton than the amount that was cleaned by hand.

Although, throughout history, the invention of the cotton gin mentions Eli Whitney as the pioneer of this invention, a book called The Library of Southern, which was reprinted in 1910, mentions Catharine Littlefield Greene as the person who suggested the use of this brush-like device to separate the seeds from the cotton fiber.

The invention of this machine resulted in the increase in cotton production, and hence, farmers started focusing more on cotton crops, that yielded a better source of income. The overall cost of production reduced, and enormous profits were gained in this business. This stepped up the demand for laborers, who were needed to increase the production of cotton.

Bulk manufacturers started selling their products at wholesale prices. As this machine saved time and reduced labor, the manpower that was required to clean cotton started dwindling. To meet the rising demand, the state of Mississippi cleared vast portions of land for its cultivation.

Although, the history of the cotton gin is ambiguous, evidence in the form of paintings indicate the use of this device since the 5^th century. The invention of the modern cotton gin by Eli Whitney revolutionized the cleaning techniques of separating cotton seeds from its fiber.