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Yes. They are much bigger, factory sized operations though. The harvesting of the cotton is also mechanized now, with machines going through the field and, when full, extruding massive square blocks of cotton - about eight feet square and more than twenty feet long, weighing tons. These are collected by special trucks and driven to the gin. If you're driving along a road in the cotton producing areas in September the roadside is covered with cotton blown off as these big blocks are transported.

The reason the gin was so important is that before, separating the cotton fibers from the seeds in the cotton bolls was very difficult, time consuming, and very labor intensive - it had to be done by "hand carding", using two devices, smaller than ping ping paddles, the face of which were covered with metal pins sticking straight out. These were used to comb out the cotton so the seeds could be picked out, and it took forever to get enough de-seeded cotton to amount to anything. So even though cotton was a desirable fiber for making cloth, few planters grew it because it was too expensive to separate the fibers from the seed, which the new gin did much better and faster and in larger quantities, thus making cotton a viable crop.

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Did slaves use cotton gins?

Yes. Slaves often, almost always, used cotton gins to do their work on a farm. Since the invention of the cotton gin in 1794 by Eli Whitney, a southern schoolteacher, cotton gins grew immensely popular and were used quite often throughout the 1800s as an aid to both farmers and slaves. With the invention of the cotton gin, picking the seeds from fluffy cotton bolls was made a much simpler task. The gin made an easier way for cotton bolls to be separated from the seeds that farmers didn't need to be sold, and that couldn't be made into cloth. Slaves usually did the majority of the farm work on any southern farm, and so they usually used the cotton gin to help them quicken the task of cleaning cotton. The cotton gin works through feeding cotton bolls into the machine, spinning a handle on the side, which separates the cotton from the seeds, and then fluffy tufts of cleaned cotton come out through the other side. Cotton gins were initially made to cut down slave labor because of their simplicity and speed, but in actuality they raised the amount of slave labor growing in the south because now one worker could produce more cotton in an hour than 50 workers in the same amount of time without the aid of a gin. So to answer your question, yes, slaves utilized cotton gins quite often.


How do you use Cotton Belt in a sentence?

The Cotton Belt is a term used for the group southern states that grow cotton.


Why did Eli Whitney make the cotton grin?

To help make it easier to harvest and use cotton, which was a main staple in that era


When was cotton first used?

Eurasia, 2500 B.C.: The Harrapan people were the first to use cotton for clothing, towels and sheets. This is known because there are writings in the Rig Veda, a large collection of knowledge of the past time written roughly between 1700-1100 B.C.


What were socks made out of before elastic was invented?

The same things they are still made of (socks rarely use elastic in their construction). Wool and cotton are the major textiles used, and silk was sometimes used by the rich.

Related Questions

Who was able to access cotton gins?

people who owned slaves were allowed to use cotton gins in the 1790's and the early 1800's.


Did slaves use cotton gins?

Yes. Slaves often, almost always, used cotton gins to do their work on a farm. Since the invention of the cotton gin in 1794 by Eli Whitney, a southern schoolteacher, cotton gins grew immensely popular and were used quite often throughout the 1800s as an aid to both farmers and slaves. With the invention of the cotton gin, picking the seeds from fluffy cotton bolls was made a much simpler task. The gin made an easier way for cotton bolls to be separated from the seeds that farmers didn't need to be sold, and that couldn't be made into cloth. Slaves usually did the majority of the farm work on any southern farm, and so they usually used the cotton gin to help them quicken the task of cleaning cotton. The cotton gin works through feeding cotton bolls into the machine, spinning a handle on the side, which separates the cotton from the seeds, and then fluffy tufts of cleaned cotton come out through the other side. Cotton gins were initially made to cut down slave labor because of their simplicity and speed, but in actuality they raised the amount of slave labor growing in the south because now one worker could produce more cotton in an hour than 50 workers in the same amount of time without the aid of a gin. So to answer your question, yes, slaves utilized cotton gins quite often.


How do people use cotton?

they use cotton for blankets an other warming materials


How was the cotton gin was used?

It is still in use today.


What has the author G S Meloy written?

G. S. Meloy has written: 'The establishment of standard grades for American cotton linters' -- subject(s): Standards, Linters, Cotton 'Lint percentage and lint index of cotton and methods of determination' -- subject(s): Linters, Cotton gins and ginning 'Development and use of standards for grade, color, and character of American cotton linters' -- subject(s): Linters, Standards


How long was the cotton gin used?

It is still in use today.


What replace the cotton gin?

The cotton gin essentially replaced the handpicking and cleaning of cotton. Before the invention of the gin, the U.S. employed slaves to handpick cotton. Currently, only third world countries still use slaves to handpick cotton.


Why do people use organic cotton?

people use it cuz there needs to be everything organic and ........


How did the plains people use cotton as a resource?

They had a great need for cotton balls and they wove it into cloth


Why is cotton usefull?

You can use cotton for many things but one major thing that people use it for today is to make clothing with it. There is so many ways to use cotton that I can not even list them all.


What do you use the cotton for?

People wear shirts, pants, and dresses made of cotton. People sleep on bed sheets made of cotton. The oil in the seeds is used for commercial cooking.


How did farmers' alliances help poor farmers keep their farms?

They operated free mills and gins that small farmers could use.