An old engraving showing how early cotton gins work. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. A cotton gin (cotton engine) is a machine that separates cotton fibres from their seeds. The fibres are then processed into various cotton goods. The seeds can be used to make cottonseed oil. The mechanical cotton gin was invented by American Eli Whitney in 1793. Whitney's gin used a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through, while brushes removed the loose cotton lint. The top illustration shows a version of his gin, the bottom gin is a variant.
An old engraving showing how early cotton gins work. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. A cotton gin (cotton engine) is a machine that separates cotton fibres from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The fibres are then processed into various cotton goods. The separated seeds can be used to produce cottonseed oil. Handheld roller gins had been used in the Indian subcontinent since about AD 500. The modern mechanical cotton gin was invented by American Eli Whitney in 1793. Whitney's gin used a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through, while brushes continuously removed the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. The top illustration shows a version of his gin, the bottom gin is a variant. The cotton gin revolutionised the cotton industry in the USA, but also led to the growth of slavery in the American South as the demand for cotton rapidly increased – a contributing factor to the outbreak of the American Civil War.
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Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
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