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Whitney's Cotton Gin
A cotton gin (machine), invented by Eli Whitney (1765-1825) in the United States in 1794 during the Industrial Revolution. The machine was used to clean raw cotton and separate it from sticky seeds by pulling the cotton balls through a comb mesh and mechanism of revolving metal teeth and hooks. The machine greatly speeded up cotton production for spinning machines since a single cotton gin could process up to 25 kg (55 lbs) of cotton every day. Another consequence was the increased use of slaves to pick sufficient cotton to feed the gins.
Eli Whitney Museum, Hamden, Connecticut, USA
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Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.
Original image by Tom Murphy VII. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 17 April 2023. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
