Inventor: Eli Whitney

In the early days, seeds from the cotton plants had to be removed by hand, a long and laborious process.  However, in 1793, Eli Whitney revolutionized the process of cotton refinery with his cotton gin, which mechanically separated the seeds from the fibers of cotton.  It consisted of a cylinder with teeth that, when rotated, combed the fibers and left the seeds for they were too large to pass through the ribs of the gin.

Previously, the need for hand removal of seeds called for an influx of slaves as the demand for cotton grew higher.  The cotton gin, in making preparing cotton much simpler, effectively lowered this demand for more slaves, as well as increased the turnout of cotton, and in turn the growth of the industry.  Today, the principle behind Whitney's cotton gin exists almost unchanged to process most of the US' cotton.

Picture from Encarta Encyclopedia

SOURCES:

"Cotton Gin". Microsoft Encarta Electronic Encyclopedia Edition 2002.

• A good source that discussed the development and impact of the cotton gin