Cotton gin

What it is

A cylinder machine with hooked teeth that separated the seeds from the fibre of upland cotton fifty times faster than by hand. It made large-scale cotton growing profitable in the American South.

Whitney received the patent in 1794, but Catherine Greene, the plantation owner, and the enslaved workers who already used roller gins may have contributed; the patent was widely copied and Whitney made barely any money from it.

What it led to

• The expansion of slavery in the South (the 'Cotton Kingdom')
• A cheap supply for the mills of Lancashire
• The expulsion of Native peoples from the Southeast (the Trail of Tears)
• The economic causes of the American Civil War

Built on

• Roller cotton gin (charkhi)c. century V
• Indian roller churka (cotton gin)
• Carding machine

Made possible

• Cotton press
• Southern railways

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin