Lummus 80-Saw Cotton Gin

This steam-powered cotton gin, usually called a ginstand, was produced by F. H. Lummus and Sons of Columbus, Georgia. It employed a system of 80 twelve-inch saws, a pneumatic elevator, and a single-cylinder feeder. It also used a single-stand condenser, which collected the lint (cotton) as it came out of a flue and discharged it in mat form. The mat of cotton lint was then put into a compress. This machine was manufactured around 1900.

The Lummus gin and compress could produce one and a half bales of cotton every hour, or as many as 15 bales in a twelve-hour workday. Steam whistles signaled the beginning of a new day of ginning.

Much information about the construction of the shed that housed the gin has been lost, but it may date to the 1880s. When land development threatened the structure, the owner contacted the Smithsonian about the 80-saw ginstand. Lummus Industries restored the gin.

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