Editing Cotton gin (section)

===Eli Whitney's patent===
[[Image:Patent for Cotton Gin (1794) - hi res.jpg|thumb|Eli Whitney's original cotton gin patent, dated March 14, 1794]]
[[Eli Whitney]] (1765–1825) applied for a [[patent]] of his cotton gin on October 28, 1793; the patent was granted on March 14, 1794, but was not validated until 1807. Whitney's patent was assigned patent number 72X.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/ss/patent_X72.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140321060408/http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/ss/patent_X72.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 21, 2014|title=Who Invented the Cotton Gin and How Did it Impact History?}}</ref> There is slight controversy over whether the idea of the modern cotton gin and its constituent elements are correctly attributed to Eli Whitney. The popular image of Whitney inventing the cotton gin is attributed to an article on the subject written in the early 1870s and later reprinted in 1910 in ''The Library of Southern Literature''. In this article, the author claimed [[Catharine Littlefield Greene]] suggested to Whitney the use of a brush-like component instrumental in separating out the seeds and cotton. Greene's alleged role in the invention of the gin has not been verified independently.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/catharine-littlefield-greene.html|title=Catharine Littlefield Greene, Brain Behind the Cotton Gin|publisher=Finding Dulcinea|date=March 4, 2010|access-date=November 6, 2013|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309065315/http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/catharine-littlefield-greene.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Whitney's cotton gin model was capable of cleaning {{convert|50|lb|kg}} of lint per day. The model consisted of a wooden cylinder covered by rows of slender wires which caught the fibers of the cotton bolls. Each row of wires then passed through the bars of a comb-like grid, pulling the cotton fibers through the grid as they did.<ref name=harr>Harr, M. E. (1977). ''Mechanics of particulate media: A probabilistic approach''. McGraw-Hill.</ref> The comb-like teeth of the grids were closely spaced, preventing the seeds, fragments of the hard dried calyx of the original cotton flower, or sticks and other debris attached to the fibers from passing through. A series of brushes on a second rotating cylinder then brushed the now-cleaned fibers loose from the wires, preventing the mechanism from jamming.

Many contemporary inventors attempted to develop a design that would process [[short staple cotton]], and Hodgen Holmes, Robert Watkins, [[William Longstreet]], and John Murray had all been issued patents for improvements to the cotton gin by 1796.<ref>[[#Lakwete|Lakwete]], 64–76.</ref> However, the evidence indicates Whitney did invent the saw gin, for which he is famous. Although he spent many years in court attempting to enforce his patent against planters who made unauthorized copies, a change in patent law ultimately made his claim legally enforceable – too late for him to make much money from the device in the single year remaining before the patent expired.<ref>''The American Historical Review'' by Henry Eldridge Bourne, Robert Livingston Schuyler
Editors: 1895 – July 1928; J.F. Jameson and others.; Oct. 1928–Apr. 1936, H.E. Bourne and others; July 1936–Apr. 1941, R.L. Schuyler and others; July 1941– G.S. Ford and others. Published 1991, American Historical Association [etc.], pp 90–101.</ref>