The Cotton Gin: How Technology And How It Affected People

In History class we are doing an essay over something of our choosing. I chose technology and how it affected people. On how it affected people in the mid 1800’s, the region, and the country. Did it have any implications towards the upcoming war. I am going to write about the Cotton Gin. It made things so much easier. I thought this would be a good thing to write about because it helped a lot of people and it is a genius invention.

The Cotton Gin was the an amazing machine on how it worked and how much pure cotton it could produce. The inventor was Eli Whitney and he patented the machine in 1793. It would take the cotton balls and be picked apart through the two rotating cylinders with spikes on them so the cotton seeds would fall out through the bottom and into a tray. The two of the cylinders would rotate using just one crank. When the crank moved it would drive a belt on the

His inspiration for building this was for creating it easier for the slaves when he visited a plantation in Georgia. It worked like a strainer or a sieve so the seeds could fall through the metal mesh in the bottom of it. Smaller gins could hand cranked and larger ones would be powered by horses or eventually a steam engine. Only one of the machines could remove about 50 pounds of cotton seeds a day. After he got his patent, him and Miller later started a company manufacturing the cotton gin. In conclusion, I think that the cotton gin was an amazing invention and helped revolutionize the agricultural and crop industry. They were way helpful and even the slaves liked them. They could have used some more thought or had more improvements done to them to make them better but they were great for what they were and when they were made. If I was around during this time, this machine is what I would invest my money into. They could make a lot more money in a shorter amount of time, and who does not like more