The Cotton Gin The cotton gin was a very important invention, created in the 1794, by Eli Whitney. It sped up the removal of seeds from cotton fibers. This invention was particularly important because it sped up the production of cotton. Before the cotton gin, slaves had to hand pick the seeds from the cotton. This job was difficult and the cotton gin made it easier. However, the cotton gin’s quick production created a need to grow more plants. These plants needed to be picked, leading to a large increase for the need of slaves. The invention of the cotton gin may have made cotton production easier for the slaves but, it also caused a larger need for slaves.
The cotton gin was a machine that successfully pulled out the seeds in cotton fibers.
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In 1794, it was patented. However the patent laws had loopholes and plantation owners found ways to pirate or create their own form of the cotton gin to save money. For this reason, Eli did not sell many cotton gins. Laws were eventually changed but by this time Eli’s patent had expired.
The inventor of the cotton gin was Eli Whitney. He was born December 8, 1765 and died in 1825. He graduated from Yale College in 1792. After college he moved in with Catherine Greene in the south. She explained to him that cotton was an important crop and that the extraction of seeds was a painful process. For this reason, he created the cotton gin. Another important thing he did was produce arms and the interchangeable-parts system.
Many inventions led to the invention of the cotton gin. First, slaves had to pick the cotton then use a small comb called a cotton carding comb. This comb helped separate the cotton fibers from the cotton seeds. Another impact that occurred which lead to the creation of the cotton gin was the use of slaves. As the cotton began to grow there was a bigger need for someone to pick and separate it. This is where plantation owners needed slavery, or cheap labor as they saw