Roller cotton gin (charkhi)
Desmotadora de rodillo (charkhi)
- Date
- c. century V · confidence low
- Place
- Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India
- Credited to
- Indian textile craftsmen
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Two rollers turning in opposite directions let cotton fibre pass through while retaining the seeds. The version with a worm screw and crank, documented in the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th-14th centuries, multiplied the output of clean fibre.
The depiction at Ajanta (5th century) as a gin is an interpretation; the geared, worm-screw version is attributed to the Delhi Sultanate or the Mughal Empire.
What it led to
- large-scale cotton spinning and weaving in India
- spread of the roller gin across Asia