Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793 to address the labor-intensive process of removing cotton seeds by hand. His machine used a wire screen and hooks to quickly pull the cotton fibers through while retaining the seeds. This increased productivity from removing seeds from one pound of cotton over 10 hours by hand to being able to process 50 pounds per day with his machine. However, Whitney struggled to profit from his invention as others copied his design without payment. After legal battles, he began licensing cotton gins to make money. The cotton gin revolutionized cotton farming and production in the United States.

1. INTRODUCTION
Cottonplantsisa flowerytree thatchange color from yellow to the pink and finally become
red.Whenthe flowersfall off,the ovaries remain on the plant and eventually become cotton bolls.
Cottonfabricsis a material derivedfrom the cotton plants. It’s are so popular in the textile industry
of the country nowdays. Apart from cheap and comfortable to wear, it is easy to care and durable.
That's why cotton fabrics often the common choice and people used that as a clothing everyday. It
has hundredsof uses,fromblue jeansto shoe strings. Clothing and household items are the largest
uses, but industrial products account from many thousands of bale. Today, the world uses more
cotton thanany otherfiber.But, have youeverthoughtthat how cotton can be producedandwho is
invented of the machine to separate the cotton seed with its contents?
The cotton gin is a machine designed to remove cotton from it seeds. The process uses a
small screenandpullinghookstoforce the cottonthroughthe sceen.It was invented by Eli Whitney
on March 14, 1794, one of the many inventions that occured during the American Industrial
Revolutions. However, earlier versions of the cotton gin had existed since the first century. It was
improved over time from single roller design to double roller machine.
Cotton gin machine by Eli Whiteney
BACKGROUND OF INVENTOR
Eli Whiteney was born on December 5, 1765. He grew up in Massachusetts and showed a
intelligent for mechanical work an early age. At a young age is mother died and Eli Whitney had to

2. live with a mean stepmother who was much older then his father and had 10 childrens. During the
RevolutionaryWar,aroundthe age of ten,Whiteneystartedhisfirstbusiness. He asked his father to
make a fake nails.Nailswere uncommonduringthe war and sold at a good price. When the war was
over, England flooded the market with the cheap nails and drove the price down. So Whiteney
learned to make hat pins, which were a recent trend and in great demand. He seemed to have a
good business sense and an ability to notice what was needed.
Later, he worked as a teacher to earn money to go to college because his stepmother
opposedhiswishtoattend college. In 1789, at the age of 23, he went to Yale College. He graduated
fromYale inSeptember1792. Aftercollege,he decidedtostudylaw.Tomake some money while he
studied, he took a job as a tutor for a southern plantation owner. However, when he arrived, he
learnedthathissalarywouldonlybe half of what he has been promised, so he did not take the job.
Instead, he agreed to work on the widow of General Nathaniel Greene’s plantation, assisting the
plantation manager.
CREATE NEW PERSPECTIVE
Whitney heard some of the neighbors complaining about how long it took to remove the
seed from the green-seed cotton that grew in the area. It took 10 hours to remove enough seed to
make one poundof lint.Ittooknearlyas manyslavestoremove the seedsasitdid to pickthe cotton.
Whiteneywatchedhowthe slavescleanedthe cotton,holding the seed with one hand and plucking
out the lintwiththe otherhand.Basedon the neighborsexperiance,he getthe idea to help them by
create cotton gin.
SEPARATE IDEA GENERATION FROM EVALUATION AND TEST ASSUMPTIONS
As he watched,he developed his idea of how to create a machine to do the work faster and
better doing in by hand. Whiteney’s machine used a sieve of wires to hold the seed, while a drum
withsmall hook-shapedwiresbrushedthe lintoff the hooks.Inone hour, the cotton gin did as much
work as several could do in a day.
Priorto hisinvention,advantagesfromhisideaisfarmingcottonrequiredhundredsof man-
hoursto separate the cotton seedfromthe raw cotton fibers.Simpleseed-removingdeviceshave
beenaroundforcenturies.However,Eli Whitney'sinventionautomatedthe seedseparationprocess.

3. His machine couldgenerate uptofiftypoundsof cleanedcottondaily,makingcottonproduction
profitable forthe southernstates.
TAKE PRUDENT RISK
Eli Whiteneypatentedhismachine,however,several people made their own versions of the
gin.Whiteneyneverbecame rich from his invention. Despite the social and economic impact of his
invention,Whitneylostmanyprofitsinlegal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. He
failed to profit from his invention because imitations of his machine appeared and his 1794 patent
for the cotton gin could not be upheld in court until 1807. Whitney could not stop others from
copying and selling his cotton gin design.
Eli Whitney and his business partner Phineas Miller had decided to get into the ginning
business themselves. They manufactured as many cotton gins as possible and installed them
throughout Georgia and the Southern States. They charged farmers an unusual fee for doing the
ginningfor them, two-fifths of the profits paid in cotton itself. He also taking risk when made little
budget for his invention. Not only that, many farmers duplicated his cotton gin without paying
royalties. Whitney did not intend to sell the cotton gin. Instead, he planned to make a profit by
separating the cotton for farmers.
MINIMIZE NEGATIVE THINKING
Andafterthat, all the troubles began. Farmers throughout Georgia resented having to go to
Eli Whitney’s cotton gins where they had to pay what they regarded as an exorbitant tax. Instead
planters began making their own versions of Eli Whitney’s gin and claiming they were “new”
inventions. Phineas Miller brought costly suits against the owners of these pirated versions but
because of wayescape inthe wording of the 1793 patentact, theywere unable towinany suits until
1800, when the law was changed.
Struggling to make a profit and mired in legal battles, the partners finally agreed to license
ginsat a reasonable price. In 1802, South Caroline agreed to purchase Eli Whitney’s patent right for
$50,000 but delayed in paying it. The partners also arranged to sell the patent rights to North
Caroline and Tennessee. By the time even the Georgia courts recognized the wrongs done to Eli
Whitney, only one year of his patent remained. In 1808 and again in 1812 he humbly petitioned
Congress for a renewal of his patent.

4. CONCLUSION
Nowadays,more recentlydevicesforremovingtrash, drying, moisturizing, fractioning fiber,
sorting, cleaning, and baling in 218-kg (480-lb) bundles have been added to modern cotton gins.
Using electric power and air-blast or suction techniques, highly automated gins can produce 14
metric tons (15 U.S. tons) of cleaned cotton an hour.
Last but not least,whileEli Whitneyisbestremembered as the inventor of the cotton gin, it
isoftenforgottenthathe was alsothe fatherof the mass production method. In 1798 he figured out
how to manufacture muskets by machine so that the parts were interchangeable. It was as a
manufacturerof musketsthatWhitneyfinallybecame rich.If hisgeniusledKingCottontotriumph in
the South, it also created the technology with which the North won the Civil War.
Model of Cotton Gin