Patent for Cotton Gin (1794)

Citation: Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin Patent Drawing; 3/14/1794; Restored Patent Drawings, 1837 - 1847; Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, Record Group 241; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

引文：Eli Whitney 的杜松子酒专利图； 1794 年 3 月 14 日；修复的专利图纸，1837 - 1847 年；专利商标局记录，记录组 241；国家档案馆，位于马里兰州大学公园市。

Designed to separate cotton fiber from seed, Whitney's cotton gin, for which he received a patent on March 14, 1794, introduced a new, profitable technology to agricultural production in America.

惠特尼的轧棉机旨在将棉花纤维从种子中分离出来，他于 1794 年 3 月 14 日获得了专利，为美国的农业生产引入了一项新的、有利可图的技术。

The cotton gin is a device for removing the seeds from cotton fiber.

轧棉机是一种从棉纤维中去除种子的设备。

Such machines had been around for centuries when Eli Whitney made his improvements in 1794.

当 Eli Whitney 于 1794 年进行改进时，这种机器已经存在了几个世纪。

However, Whitney's was the first to clean short-staple cotton; and a single device could produce up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton in a day.

然而，惠特尼公司是第一个清洁短绒棉的公司。一台设备一天可以生产多达五十磅的清洁棉花。

This made cotton a profitable crop for the first time.

这使得棉花首次成为有利可图的作物。

After this invention, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800.

这项发明之后，1800年以后，原棉产量每十年翻一番。

Demand was fueled by other inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it.

工业革命的其他发明推动了需求，例如纺织机器和运输轮船。

By mid-century, America was growing three-quarters of the world's supply of cotton, most of it shipped to England or New England where it was manufactured into cloth.

到本世纪中叶，美国生产的棉花占世界供应量的四分之三，其中大部分运往英格兰或新英格兰，在那里被制成布料。

During this time tobacco fell in value, rice exports at best stayed steady, and sugar began to thrive, but only in Louisiana.

在此期间，烟草价格下跌，大米出口充其量保持稳定，糖开始蓬勃发展，但仅限于路易斯安那州。

At mid-century the South provided three-fifths of America's exports—most of it in cotton.

二十世纪中叶，南方提供了美国五分之三的出口——其中大部分是棉花。

Ultimately, however, the most significant impact of the cotton gin was on the growth of slavery.

然而，最终，轧棉机最显着的影响是奴隶制的发展。

Though the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the number of enslaved people forced to grow and pick the cotton.

尽管轧棉机减少了去除种子的劳动力，但它并没有减少被迫种植和采摘棉花的奴隶数量。

In fact, the opposite occurred.

事实上，情况恰恰相反。

Cotton growing became so profitable for plantation owners that it greatly increased their demand for both land and enslaved labor.

棉花种植对种植园主来说利润丰厚，大大增加了他们对土地和奴役劳动力的需求。

Because of the cotton gin, enslaved people labored on ever-larger plantations where work was more regimented and relentless.

由于轧棉机的出现，奴隶们在越来越大的种植园里劳动，那里的工作更加严格、更加严格。

This document is available on DocsTeach , the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives.

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