cotton ginning

From Extension Collaborative Wiki

A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds. These seeds were either used again to grow more cotton or if badly damaged were disposed of or used for feed or oil. The original Eli Whitney gin used a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. Modern gins pull the cotton through with saw blades or rollers in combination with air through the gin to basically comb seed and trash from the cotton fiber, then the gin consolidates the cotton together into a bale that is wrapped to protect the cotton (a wrapped bale is about 500 pounds originally with material wrapping, a little less with the more modern fiberglass covering). These bales are then transferred to a textile factory, spun into threads, made into textiles and then used to produce final cotton products such as clothing, sheets, and other items.