COTTON GIN— LEWTON 551 



of the said machine, and signifying his desire of obtaining an exclusive property 

 in the same.^ 



According to law a model was required for deposition in the Patent 

 Office, and on November 16, 1793, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Whitney 

 at New Haven, as follows: 



Germantown, Nov. 16, 1793. 

 Sir: 



Your favor of Oct. 19 enclosing a drawing of your cotton gin was received on 

 the 6th inst. The only requisite of the law now uncomplied with is the forwarding 

 of a model, which being received, your patent may be made out and delivered to 

 you immediately. As the State of Virginia, of which I am, carries on household 

 manufacture of cotton to a great extent, as I also do myself, and one of our great 

 embarrassments is the cleaning the cotton of the seeds, I feel a considerable interest 

 in the success of your invention for family use. Permit me, therefore to ask 

 information from you on these points: Has the machine been thoroughly tried in 

 the ginning of cotton, or, is it yet but a machine of theory? What quantity of 

 cotton has it cleaned on an average of several days, and worked by hand, and by 

 how many hands? What will be the cost of one of them to be worked by hand? 

 Favorable answers to these questions would induce me to engage one of them to 

 be forwarded to Richmond for me. 



Wishing to hear from you on the subject, I am, Sir, 



Your most obed't servant 



Th. Jefferson.^ 



The personal interest shown by Jefferson prompted Whitney to 

 answer his questions on November 24, 1793, in the following words: 



It is about a year since I first turned my attention to constructing this machine, 

 at which time I was in the State of Georgia. Within about ten days after my first 

 conception of the plan, I made a small, though imperfect model. Experiments 

 with this encouraged me to make one on a larger scale; but the extreme difiiculty 

 of procuring workmen and proper material in Georgia prevented my completing 

 the larger one until sometime in April last. This, though much larger than my 

 first attempt, is not above one-third as large as the machines may be made with 

 convenience. The cylinder is only 2 feet 2 inches in lengh and six inches in diam- 

 eter. It is turned by hand, and requires the strength of one man to keep it in 

 constant motion. It is the stated task of one negro to clean 50 weight (I mean 

 50 pounds after it is separated from the seed), of the green seed cotton per day.^ 



It is evident that Whitney was delayed in preparing the model for 

 the Patent Office, as the patent was not issued until March 14, 1794. 

 All of this time Whitney was in New Haven. 



It is a matter of importance and of more than mere historical 

 interest to know what this model was like, and exactly what me- 

 chanical devices were shown on it. As already stated, the United 

 States Patent Office was destroyed by fire on December 15, 1836, 

 including all models, drawings, and specifications of the patents 

 which had been issued up to that time. 



♦ Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, p. 459, 1901; Wailes, B. L. C, Report on Agriculture and 

 Geology of Mississippi, p. 369, 1854. 

 ' Papers New Haven Colony Hist. Soc, vol. 5, p. 109, ISgi. 

 6 Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. 21, p. 212, January 1832, 



