1
Cotton Gin
Cotton was king among crops in the South for generations. Historical evidence shows
that cotton was grown in India, China, Egypt and Pakistan thousands of years ago.
Columbus found cotton plants growing in the Bahamas. It was first spun by machinery in
England in the early 18th century. Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin in 1794
revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming
cotton was expensive and labor-intensive, requiring hundreds of man-hours to separate
the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Although simple seed-removing devices have
been around for centuries, Whitney's invention automated the seed separation process.
His machine could generate up to 50 pounds of cleaned cotton daily, marking the
beginnings of profitable cotton production. This booming cotton economy in turn had a
significant effect on the spread of slavery in the southern states. Although many
modifications and improvements have been made, Whitney's original design principles
remain relatively unchanged today. In addition to separating the seed from the fiber,
today's cotton gins also dry, clean and package the fiber before it reaches the textile mills.
Using electric power and improved technologies, these automated gins can handle up to
15 tons of cotton per hour.
Photo Credits:
Lummus Cotton Gins
CREATED/PUBLISHED
1896
REPOSITORY
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
DATABASE/REPRODUCTION NUMBER
B0043
DIGITAL ID
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B00/B0043/B0043-01-72dpi.html
2
3
Reaper
A reaper is a machine with revolving bars or teeth used for harvesting grains. Prior to its
invention, harvesting was done by hand with cutting tools such as the sickle and scythe,
or by animal-drawn wheeled boxes mounted with iron-teethed planks. The first recorded
English patent for a mechanical reaper was issued to Joseph Boyce in 1799. Although
other early reapers were developed using either vibrating knives or revolving cutters,
none of these gained widespread use. In the 1830s, two Americans -- Obed Hussey in
Ohio and Cyrus McCormick in Virginia -- developed successful mechanical reaping
machines. These first horse-drawn inventions cut the standing grain and swept it onto
attached platforms. Men walked along next to the machines raking the cut grain into
piles. These early reapers saved farmers hours of manual labor and enabled crops to be
grown on a much larger scale. McCormick eventually purchased the patent rights to
Hussey's cutting bar and began the mass production of his reaper in a Chicago factory. In
1851, his machine became an international sensation when it won a Gold Medal at the
London Crystal Palace exposition. He later modified his original design to enable the
grain to be cut, raked and bound by the same machine. By the 20th century, the reaper
was replaced by a one-man-operated harvesting machine called a combine, which cut,
gathered, threshed and sacked grain mechanically. However, it was the invention of the
reaper that began the transition from hand farming to the mechanized agricultural
industry we know today.
Photo Credit:
TITLE: Lagonda Agricultural Works, Springfield, Clark County, Ohio, Warder,
Brokaw & Child / E. Forbes, del. ; lith. of G.W. Lewis, N.Y.
CALL NUMBER: PGA - Lewis (G.W.)--Lagonda Agriculture
SUMMARY: Scenes of Lagonda Agricultural Works: men harvesting grain, and
harvesting machinery.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: c1859.
Forbes, Edwin, 1839-1895, artist.
NOTES:
Published in: Eyes of the nation : a visual history of the United States / Vincent Virga and
curators of the Library of Congress ; historical commentary by Alan Brinkley. New York
: Knopf, 1997.
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington,
D.C. 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID: (color film copy transparency) cph 3g01837
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g01837
4
5
Corn Detasseler
When the "corn is as high as an elephant's eye" it must be time for detasseling. If you live
in the United States' Midwestern corn-belt, chances are that you or family members have
spent a summer walking between rows of corn plants removing corn tassels. This 1948
image depicts a unique machine called a detasseler that was developed to assist in this
labor-intensive job. In the 1930s, scientists and seed corn producers discovered that
hybridization, the process of cross-pollinating plants, produced larger crop yields and
taller, healthier ears of corn. When corn is grown naturally, it will pollinate itself. In
order to produce hybrid corn, different strains of corn are cross-pollinated. Cornfields are
planted with two types of corn. One type is detasseled so it can't pollinate itself, while the
other variety serves as the pollinator. The detasseled corn will bear the hybrid seed corn.
Manually detasseling corn was a slow and tedious task most often performed by women
and teenagers. Workers walked up and down cornrows, grabbing the tassels, yanking
them off and throwing them on the ground. It took several trips through each cornrow
before a field could be completely cleared. In 1946, Iowan Ray Hagie developed a threewheeled tractor similar to the one pictured above that could carry six workers through the
field above the crop canopy at one and one half miles per hour so they could easily and
efficiently pull off the tassels. More sophisticated versions of this machine are used
today. Although seed companies are currently developing methods of producing pollenless corn, detasseling is a still a necessary part of the corn production process and
continues to require manual labor to accomplish the task.
Photo Credits:
TITLE #1 Corn detasseller, manned by teen-aged farm workers at Coon Rapids, Ia., in
1948
SUMMARY: Teenage boys riding on corn detasseller, which was driven down corn
rows, as the boys pulled tassels of one variety of corn, leaving the other variety to
pollinate the detasselled corn for hybrid corn seed.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1948.
NOTES: From the collections of Encyclopedia Britannica.
DIGITAL ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c12925
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c12925
TITLE #2: O! how high, Colorado corn / photo. by L.C. McClure, Denver.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
[1921].
SUMMARY
Tall tasseled corn on eastern Colorado plains; farmer, wearing overalls and boots,
measures height with outstretched arm.
REPOSITORY
Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Avenue
Parkway, Denver, Colorado 80204.
DIGITAL ID
codhawp 00072937 http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00072937+MCC-2937
6
7
Ice Cream Cone
Would you rather eat delicious, creamy ice cream from a bowl or a cone? On July 23, 1904, the choice
became available when Charles E. Minches of St. Louis, Missouri, developed the idea of filling a pastry
cone with ice cream, and the ice cream cone was invented. The walk-away cone made its debut later that
year at the St. Louis World's Fair. Of course, before the cone, someone had to invent ice cream. Do you
know when ice cream was invented?
The origins of ice cream go way back to the 4th century B.C. when the Roman emperor Nero ordered ice to
be brought from the mountains and combined it with fruit toppings. In the 13th century, Marco Polo
learned of the Chinese method of creating ice and milk mixtures and brought it back to Europe. Over time,
people created recipes for ices, sherbets, and milk ices. It became a fashionable treat in Italy and France,
and once imported to the United States, ice cream was served by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
and Dolley Madison. Jefferson's favorite flavor was vanilla. What's yours?
Whatever flavor ice cream you like best, you can make it by mixing cream, sugar, and flavorings (like
chocolate or strawberry) and then carefully lowering the mixture's temperature until it sets. The discovery
of using salt to control the temperature of the ingredients, along with the invention of the wooden bucket
freezer with rotary paddles, were major breakthroughs in the creation of ice cream as we know it. A
Baltimore company was the first to sell it to stores in 1851. Finally, with the introduction of refrigeratorfreezers came the ice cream shop, which has become a symbol of American culture. Do you scream for ice
cream?
Photo Credits:
TITLE: Children making ice cream to be sold for the benefit of the church at a ministers and deacons
meeting near Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1940 Oct.?
CREATOR: Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910- photographer.
PART OF: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of
Congress)
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID: (intermediary roll film) fsa 8a43752
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8a43752))
TITLE: Farm boys eating ice-cream cones. Washington, Indiana
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1941 July.
CREATOR: Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.
PART OF: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of
Congress)
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID: (intermediary roll film) fsa 8a32921
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c29115))
8