Who Really Invented the Cotton Gin?: Unraveling the Mystery and Folklore of a Critical Agricultural Innovation - Paperback

by William B. Mayfield Msae (Author), Wesley F. Buchele Phd (Author)

After the Revolutionary War, Americans quickly began to establish their own industries, eager to move on from the embargos placed on them during British rule. One agricultural industry that flourished was the growing and ginning of cotton, its success largely coming from the invention of the cotton gin. Most Americans believe that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Southern folklore tells a different story-that a young blacksmith from South Carolina, Henry Ogden Holmes, patented the first practical cotton gin. It was a continuous-flow rip-saw-toothed gin, much more efficient than Whitney's first gin. Who Really Invented the Cotton Gin? delves into the history and folklore surrounding the first cotton gins. Iowa State University Professor Emeritus Wesley F. Buchele, who taught farm machinery design for forty-three years, and William D. Mayfield, a longtime expert in cotton ginning technology, use their technical and investigative expertise to share what made Holmes' and Whitney's gins different, who came up with what design first and patented it, and who really did invent the first practical cotton gin. This book is a fascinating look at the history behind one of agriculture's most significant innovations.

Author Biography

Wesley F. Buchele is a professor emeritus at Iowa State University and consulting engineer. Before retiring in 1989, Buchele taught farm machinery design for forty-three years. He holds twentythree patents. The most important are: (1) the rotary threshing and separating cone-cylinder used in all modern rotary grain combines, and (2) the large round baler that is seen everywhere. Early in his professional life, Buchele spent three years (1948- 1951) researching cotton mechanization in the Mississippi Delta.