The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24
COTTON GIN INVENTOR.
Former Georgian Now Resident im Gale ifornia NarraAes Acceant T'eia by
 Former President of Emory.
Wesleyan Advocate.

Former President of Emory. Wesleyan Advocate.
 Almost any school boy thinks he can answer this question. and will wonder why 1t should ever be asked. TO Eli Whitney is universally accorded the honor of this invention. In the hiss tory connected with 1t 1t is said that during the excitement caused by the invention that Whitney declined to show the gin as 1t was not entirely perfected, and because 1t might be iw- itated by others and he be Deprived in that way of his right to a patent. But so great was the excitement to which the people had been wrought up, and so tempting was the chance which pre- sented Itself to the unprincipled to ap- propFiate to themseives the. fruits Of other mems tolls that the bounding in which Whitney carried on his labors was actually broken Into one night by a party of lawless individuals and the instrument secretly carried off" When I was quite lad and Dr. A. B. Longstreet was President of Emory College at Oxford, Ga, remember that he was at my fathers house and the subject of the invention of the cot ton gin was brought up. He said that before 1t cotton was worth very little because of the tedious process of pick ing the seed from the lint by hand. He told us that every night and on rainy days all the members of the fam fly would set to picking cotton.
 He said upon one occasion, on rainy day, his mother was sitting with slap full of cotton, patiently picking out the seed; his father and friend of his were talking of inventions and inns provements in machinery. when his mother said: While you are invent ing, I wish you would invent ma chine to pick cotton." His father re- piled, well, we will do it" And with | that they commenced discussing the matter. They went out to a work shop that stood in the yard and after a few hours they brought in the result of their labofs. It was a alI.cyIifider of wood foot or more In length and some two or three inches in diameter. Into this they had inserted short pieces | of wire, bending them at right angles, all in the. same direction, something | like the teeth of a wool card. They | fixed this in a frame with a crank at one end. They took a bunch Of cotton and while one turned the crank the other held the cotton to the cylinder. The hooks, would catch the lint and pull 1t from the seed. But in a little while the hooks became clogged. and 1t was necessary to pick it off. In do- ! one of the hooks to catch his finger. tearing the flesh. He exclaimed. T ging! give me that hair brush" (one being near.). This worked so well that they again repaired to the work shop and made another cylinder. They then robbed the tails and manes of the horses of portion of the hair, and boring holes in this second cylin- der they inserted the hair, thus mRk- ing circular brush. This they arr ranged on the frame by the side of the | other with belt so arranged as to | revolve in the opposite direction to the \ other. Here was sfhe perfect germ of | the cotton gin. The excitement in the nsighborhood ran high. The news spread far and wide that MT. Long street had invented a cotton picking
 machine. Neighbors aocked fin to sec 1t. No effort was made at conceal
 ment. One day a very large lady closely yelled came on horseback. Shs
 examined. the little machine very care fully and went away without disclos- ing her identity or telling any one whC
 she was. In & few weeks 1t was an nounced that Eli whitney had also in.
 vented a cotton gin. For the wire
 hooks he had circular saws with lons
 hooked teeth that passed between
 metal ribs.
 Mir. Longstreet regarded 1t as an in
 fringement of his invention and com
 menced suit against him. But the mat
 ter was never settled. In confirmation
 of this story in the history of the in
 vention by Ell Whitney 1t Is said:
 Tt may we'll be supposed that thu
 various law suits growing out of thu
 infringement upon his rights was ar
 exhaustive draft upon Mir. Whitney
 funds"
 And again:
 At first MT. Whitney used ben
 wires for teeth, like those of the com
 mon card, but much larger and strong
 CT. and these were placed in rows oI
 a revolving cylinder. TheR
 teeth. however. being found too veal
 to pull the cotton from the seed with
 out becoming bent or broken. Whit
 ney substituted a circular saw in thei
 place. The teeth of the saw beint
 large and shaped like the beak of
 bird, had more strength and wer
 equally effective"
 This story as related by Dr. A.
 LonRstreet, made such a vivid impres
 sion upon my mind that I have neve
 forgotten It. J. c. Simmons.
 Salinas, Cal