The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-02-11

THE COTTON GIN AND ITS IsyESroRs.

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THE COTTON GIN AND ITS INyENfORS
BY ELZY HAY. slBsi
From the Scientific Americana
An agricultural article recently pub
lished in one of our leading newspapers
contained a casual allusion to Eli Whit,
ney, as the inventor of the modern saw
gin for seeding cotton. This was by n(
means a unnatural or fragrant mistake
as probably not one person in th0us-
and is aware of the fact that our modern
saw gin is not MIR. Whitney's inven.
ton, but an improvement upon it
The former, of which / have seen more
than one relic, was merely a wooden
cylinder with wire teeth or claws run.
ming round it in circles. The idea ol
the saw gin was borrowed from Ohio
as will be related further OH. Mr..
Whitney sued the earlierinventors and
manufacturers for violating his patent,
aud their defenses We're based on the
ground that the saw was no infringe
ment of the wire tooth patent. One oI
Mr.. Whitney's original cotton gins, as
executed and operated by himself, was
in the possession of my father until
some fifteen or twenty years ago, when
it was lost at all agricultural fair al
Augusta, whittier it had been sent fol
exhibition. remember it well, as
among the contents of an attic room
where / used sometimes to play, in
childhood, and a feeling recollectionloi
getting my ears boxed more than once
for stealing wire from it to string papef
climber jacks" on.
Ihave heard my father relate many
interesting facts as to the origin and
early history OF the cotton gin, which
he received from persons who were CO.
temporaries and associates of its inven-
tor. There are probably not a dozen
other men living to whom these facts
are known, and it may be well to record
them here before they are lost in the
dim regions of traditionary lore.
Eli Whitney, it is well known, was
a tutor i'm the family of General Greene,
of revolutionary memory, at the time
he invented the cotton gin; and here
are some of the facts concerning him
my father received from gradson OF
the General. Whitney's Yankee inge-
nuity, as exhibited in various amateur
tinkerings at refractory door fastenings,
broken clocks, ETC., inspired the family
with such confidence in his skill, that
OH some occasion, when the watch OF
Mrs. Miller, a member of Gen. Greene's
household, got out of order, she gave it
to Mr.. Whitney to repair, no profess
sional matchmaker being within reach.
He performed the work successfully to
the great delight of Mrs. Miller, and
the admiration of the whole family.
A short time thereafter, gentleman
called at the Generals house to show a
fine sample OfcottOn wool, and remark
ed while exhibiting it, that there was a
fortune in store for somebody who
should invent machine for separating
the lint from the seed. Mrs. Miller,
who was present, turned to Whitney
and said, "You are the very man Mr..
Whitney, for since you succeeded SO
well with my watch, lam sure You
have ingenuity enough to make such
"a machine"
After this conversation Mr.. Whitney
confined himself very closely to his
room for several weeks, at the end of
which he invited the family to inspect
his model of a cotton gin. 1t was con-
structed as l have already described,
with wire teeth on revolving cylinder,
but as there was no cOntrivance for
throwing off the lint after it was sepa-
rated from the seed, it wrapped round
the cylinder, thereby greatly Obstruct-
ing the operation of the machine. Mrs.
Miller, seeing the difficulty, seized o
common hair clothes brush, applied it
to the teeth, and caught the lint. Mr..
Whitney with delight exclaimed: :
MADAME, you have solved the prob
lem, with this suggestion my machine
is complete"
The important part thus played by a
woman i'm the history of the cotton gin
is unknown. believe, except as a fam-
lily tradition, even in her own State.
NY father was also informed ty gem
tleman once connected with Whitney
i'm business, that the latter obtained his
first idea of the invention from gin
used to prepare rags for making paper,
which he saw i'm a wrecked vessel. Gen.
Greene, i'm whose family he lived at the
time, resided in one of the "sea islands,
along the Georgia coast.
Unfortunately for Mr.. Whitney, the
prophecy of the gentleman with regarrl
to the fortune i'm store for the future in
ventOr os a cotton gin, was never real
lied IN his case, for he was engaged in
constant lawsuits against infringements
of his patent right, and lived and die,i
poor. AS a Georgian, regret to say
that his adopted State never bestowed
any substantial testimonial of appreci
alton upon the inventor of a machine
by which she profited SD largely. Ten
nessee, Alabama, and South Carolina,
it is said, manifested their appreciation
of its merits by material and substantial
donations, while Georgia, with sorrow
/ write it, has been worse than silent,
for her jllries refused him verdicts to
which the judges declared he was enti-
tied, against the violaters of his patent.
So uncertain was the enforcement Of
the patent laws in those days, that
Whitney resorted to the same eXpedi-
ent for the protection of his right that
used to bring upon medieval inventors
charges of socery and witchcraft. i
mean the eXpedient of secrecy.
About the year 1874 or 1875, he set
tied i'm place some six miles from the
quiet little village of Washington, in
Wilkes county, and established there
one of the first, ifnOt the first cotton gin
ever worked in the State. He and his
partner Durkee, erected at this place a
large cotton store house, which now
does service as a barn, and gin house
at present used as kitchen by Mrs.
Tom Burdett, wife of the present pro-
prietOr, and scene of preparation for
dinners and goodies" generally, that
would make appropriate offerings to
the memory of him who invented
cooking stoves. The gin house had
narrow grated windows, so that visitors
ton flying from the gin without observ-
ing the operation of the machine
which was concealed behind low
screen. Among other visitors we are
informed that OH the occasion of a Ger
tain militia muster i'm the neighborhoOd
The rustic battalion was permitted to filt
through the house, while Whitney's gil
was in operation, and see the flakes O
cotton thrown off by the brush, bu
none were permitted to examine furth
er. What a different errand the grand
sons of those rustic militia men, films
past the first cotton gin, were one day
to march upon
Women were permitted by Whitne,
to euter his gin house, and eXamin,
the machinery if they liked, as the,
were not supposed to be capable of be
traying the secret to builders-an opin
ion for which modern females of tn,
strong minded school will no doub
| boar him n prtIdpe-and not altOpefhe