cotton gin
Seed-removing apparatus
A cotton gin is a machine that separates cotton fibers from their seeds—a labor-intensive process when done by hand.
The gin (short for engine) revolutionized cotton production in the American South, making large-scale cultivation profitable and dramatically increasing demand for enslaved labor.
The cotton gin could process fifty pounds of cotton in a day.
Something that divides
- rollersRotating cylindrical movers
- teethEnamel-covered chewing structures
- gearsToothed rotating machine parts
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
bolls · fiber · cleaning · lint · seed · bales · hopper · cylinder
Large-scale farming operation
- harvestGathering mature crops
- bollsSeed-containing plant pods
- fiberPlant-based digestive aid
- cropCultivated agricultural plants
staple · lint · seed · cultivation · picking · fieldwork · cash crop · commodity
Cotton gin's creator
- patentObvious; inventor's monopoly
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- breakthroughSudden important advance
- innovationCreating something original
efficiency · engineering · prototype · design · patent dispute · industrialization · transformation · automation
Revolving around an axis
- weavingInterlacing strands into fabric
- fabricWoven or knit material
- threadFiber for stitching
- yarnTwisted strand for crafts
muslin · denim · calico · garment · cloth · raw material · bale · textile industry
Agricultural system exploiting enslaved workers
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- enslaved laborWork compelled through ownership
- Deep SouthSouthernmost American states
- expansionIncrease in scope
forced migration · wealth accumulation · landownership · exploitation · southern states · bondage · unpaid labor · auction
separator
Something that divides
- rollersRotating cylindrical movers
- teethEnamel-covered chewing structures
- gearsToothed rotating machine parts
mechanism · bolls · fiber · cleaning · lint · seed · bales · hopper · cylinder · comb
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
crop · staple · lint · seed · cultivation · picking · fieldwork · cash crop · commodity · yield
Eli Whitney
Cotton gin's creator
- patentObvious; inventor's monopoly
- mechanizationConverting to machine operation
- breakthroughSudden important advance
innovation · efficiency · engineering · prototype · design · patent dispute · industrialization · transformation · automation · progress
spinning
Revolving around an axis
yarn · muslin · denim · calico · garment · cloth · raw material · bale · textile industry · export
plantation economy
Agricultural system exploiting enslaved workers
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- enslaved laborWork compelled through ownership
- Deep SouthSouthernmost American states
expansion · forced migration · wealth accumulation · landownership · exploitation · southern states · bondage · unpaid labor · auction · overseer
- Texas Agriculturecattle, beef, ranching, longhorns, feedlots
- textile historyspinning jenny, power loom, flying shuttle, spinning wheel, silk mill
- Innovationselectricity, printing press, telephone, telegraph, automobile
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- industrializationfactory, industrial revolution, Industrial Revolution, factories, manufacturing
- machinerymachinery, industrial machinery, motors, engines, motor
cotton ginspinning wheel
Fiber-to-thread device
spinning jenny · loom · cotton mill · spindle
cotton ginEmancipation Proclamation
Executive order freeing Confederate slaves
Thirteenth Amendment · abolitionist movement · Underground Railroad
engine, cotton, gin, cottons, cottony, cottoned, cottonwood, cottoning, ginned