212 Memoir of the Ldfe of Eli Whitney. 



structlon and performances of the machine. "It is about a year 

 (says he) since* I first turned my attention to constructing this ma- 

 chine, at which time 1 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 difficulty of procuring workmen 

 and proper materials in Georgia, prevented my completing the larger 

 one until some time 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 cyhnder is only two feet two inches 

 in length, and six inches diameter. It is turned hy hand, and requires 

 the strength of one man to keep it in constant motion. It is the stated 

 task of one negro to clean fifty weight, (I mean fifty pounds after it is 

 separated from the seed,) of the green seed cotton per day. — In the 

 same letter Mr. Jefferson assured Mr. Whitney, that a patent would 

 be granted as soon as the model was lodged in the Patent Office. 

 In mentioning the, favorable notice of Mr. Jefferson to his friend Steb- 

 bins, he adds, with characteristic moderation, /Aope, ly 'perseverance^ 

 I shall make something of it yet. 



At the close of this year, (1793) Mr. Whitney was to return to 

 Georgia with his Cotton Gins, and Mr. Miller had made arrangements 

 for commencing business immediately after his arrival. The plan 

 was to erect machines in every part of the cotton district, and en- 

 gross the entire business themselves. This was evidently an unfortu- 

 nate scheme. It rendered the business very extensive and com- 

 plicated, and as it did not at once supply the demands of the cotton 

 growers, it multiplied the inducements to make the machines in viola- 

 tion of the Patent. Had the proprietors confined their views to the 

 manufacture of the machines, and to the sale of patent rights, it is prob- 

 able they would have avoided some of the difficulties with which they 

 afterwards had to contend. The prospect of making suddenly an im- 

 mense fortune by the business of ginning, where every third pound of 

 cotton (worth at that time from twenty five to thirty three cents,) was 

 their own, presented great and peculiar attractions. Mr. Whitney's re- 

 turn to Georgia was delayed until the following April. The impor- 

 tunity of Mr. Miller's letters written during the preceding period, 

 urging him to come on, evinces how eager the Georgia planters were 

 to enter the new field of enterprise, which the genius of Whitney 



This letter is dated Nov. 24, 1793.. 



