This week in history: Whitney’s cotton gin patented

On 14 March 1794, American inventor Eli Whitney designed the cotton gin. Making cotton cloth became much easier, and US cotton exports shot up nearly 200 times between 1793 and 1810.

Dr Matthew Partridge
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published
in Features

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Whitney: responsible for developing the "American system of manufacturing"

Cotton has been cultivated for use in textiles since the fifth century BC. The development of large-scale spinning machines from 1738 onwards made it easier to turn raw fibres into cotton cloth, which led to Manchester becoming an early industrial centre. But the process of clearing the fibres from the seeds was very labour intensive and, while some primitive manual roller-based machines existed, they were clunky and hard to use. The breakthrough came when American inventor Eli Whitney designed the cotton gin, which dramatically sped up the process by pushing the cotton through a mesh.

As a result, making cotton cloth became much easier. The biggest effect would be felt in the US, where cotton exports shot up nearly 200 times between 1793 (the year Whitney invented the machine) and 1810. This was good for the US and the clothing manufacturers of Lancashire. It has also been credited with making slavery profitable, at a time when plantation owners were struggling to make money. Combined with the political power King Cotton' commanded, that helped keep slavery in place until 1865.

Ironically, Whitney did not make any money from his invention. Weak patent laws, disputes over who actually invented it, and a disastrous attempt to force owners to rent his machines, rather than buy them, resulted in mass piracy and bankruptcy. Whitney would later have a far more successful second career as one of the men responsible for developing the "American system of manufacturing", ie, increasing economic efficiency through the use of machines.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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