. The story of agriculture in the United States. y men with the old machines. Itmakes the labor fifty times less without throwing anyclass of People out of business. I returned Northward for the purpose of having amachine made on a large scale and obtaining a Patentfor the invention. I wentto Philadelphia soon afterI arrived, made myself ac-quainted with the stepsnecessary to obtain a Pa-tent, took several of thesteps and the Secretary ofState Mr. Jefferson agreedto send the Patent to me assoon as it could be madeout. ... It is generallysaid by those who knowanything about it, that Ishall make
. The story of agriculture in the United States. y men with the old machines. Itmakes the labor fifty times less without throwing anyclass of People out of business. I returned Northward for the purpose of having amachine made on a large scale and obtaining a Patentfor the invention. I wentto Philadelphia soon afterI arrived, made myself ac-quainted with the stepsnecessary to obtain a Pa-tent, took several of thesteps and the Secretary ofState Mr. Jefferson agreedto send the Patent to me assoon as it could be madeout. ... It is generallysaid by those who knowanything about it, that Ishall make a Fortune by I wish you, sir, not toshow this letter nor to com-municate anything of itscontents to any body exceptmy Brothers and Sister, enjoining it on them to keepthe whole a profound secret. . Only two or threeof my friends know what I am about, tho there aremany surmises in town. ^ Such was the beginning of the cotton gin — a shortword for engine. The idea was simply that of placing 1 American Historical Review, iii, 99 Cotton Gin The upper figure shows Whitneys in-vention. The lower figure showsa later form. 128 AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES teeth in rows upon a cylinder so that they projectedthrough the spaces between strips of metal. The cotton,being placed over this metal grating, was drawn throughby the teeth as the cylinder revolved, while the seedswere left behind. Whitneys first idea was to use circularpieces of sheet iron upon whose edges he could make sawteeth. A number of these pieces were set into a cylinder,side by side, with short spaces between. But he haddifficulty in obtaining sheet iron for this purpose. Oneof the daughters of Mrs. Greene had purchased someiron wire with which she intended to make a bird Whitney in another letter, Seeing this wire hangingin the parlor it struck me that I could make teeth withthat. Later, it was found a better plan to use iron sawteeth for this purpose. There was yet another difiiculty. After
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