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- "Excelsior" Cotton Gin, circa 1875 -

- circa 1875
- Collections - Artifact
"Excelsior" Cotton Gin, circa 1875
- Cotton Ginning, Carding, & Spinning Machine, 1835-1840 - Called a "plantation spinner" or "spinster", this small machine combined the three processes required to convert raw cotton to yarn -- ginning, carding and spinning. Its small size and human-powered design was made for enslaved plantation laborers. By the time of the Civil War, there were 3,000 in use across the south. After emancipation they were no longer economically viable.

- 1835-1840
- Collections - Artifact
Cotton Ginning, Carding, & Spinning Machine, 1835-1840
Called a "plantation spinner" or "spinster", this small machine combined the three processes required to convert raw cotton to yarn -- ginning, carding and spinning. Its small size and human-powered design was made for enslaved plantation laborers. By the time of the Civil War, there were 3,000 in use across the south. After emancipation they were no longer economically viable.
- Cotton Gin Model, circa 1830 - Removing seed from cotton fiber was the main obstacle to large scale cotton production. A new design of gin, the saw-type, was developed by Eli Whitney, Hodgen Holmes and others in the 1790s. The dispute over who invented the saw-type gin was the first battle of the new US Patent system. This model is most likely closest to Holmes's design.

- circa 1830
- Collections - Artifact
Cotton Gin Model, circa 1830
Removing seed from cotton fiber was the main obstacle to large scale cotton production. A new design of gin, the saw-type, was developed by Eli Whitney, Hodgen Holmes and others in the 1790s. The dispute over who invented the saw-type gin was the first battle of the new US Patent system. This model is most likely closest to Holmes's design.
- Cotton Gins--One of the Greatest Industrial Inventions--Separating Fiber from Seed, Texas, circa 1905 -

- circa 1905
- Collections - Artifact
Cotton Gins--One of the Greatest Industrial Inventions--Separating Fiber from Seed, Texas, circa 1905