While we were staying with them, Mark and Jackie had planned a tour for us at the Glenbar Cotton Gin in Pima. Cotton is one of the main farm products in the Gila Valley and the town of Pima is actually named after the Pima Cotton which is named after the Pima indian tribe. The gin was really interesting and it was neat to see how the raw cotton is cleaned and sent all through the building with air pressure. The cotton is picked and packed into these bales which get put on a conveyor and are fed into the start of the cotton gin.
At the end of the conveyor this station pulls out most of the big sticks and stems.
All of the cotton is sucked up that vent and sent to other parts of the gin. The cotton whizzes through these machines but it is open to just grab the cotton. I guess the cotton is kept moving by compressed air and vacuums.
Jerm had a lot of questions for our guide but it was hard to hear many of his answers because it was really loud! This picture slows it down so you can see the individual cotton balls.
This is the next step where most of the seeds come out, you can see them through the grate below.
In this picture you can see most of the machines and vents that the cotton travels through.
Here a worker is taking the cleaned and compressed cotton to be bagged.
It is actually really dense and hard at this point and if the bands or packaging break, it will expand all puffy like a giant cotton ball. This is the finished product which is sent out to fabric mills mostly in Asia.
Now here is the part Jeremy probably liked best, it made him feel like Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs to see the giant lint-traps of a cotton factory! Bits of cotton and dust were actually being blown into this cart and getting all over all of us...Jeremy most of all because I made him stand there for the picture!
Whoa is all I have to say...that is a lot of lint! I did think the fuzzy tractor was cool though!
I actually thought it was really smart how nothing went to waste at the gin. The cotton was cleaned and any waste, sticks, leaves, etc. went to compost the fields while even the cotton seed was reused either for planting or, in most cases, for livestock feed. Yay Cotton!!
At the end of the conveyor this station pulls out most of the big sticks and stems. 
All of the cotton is sucked up that vent and sent to other parts of the gin. The cotton whizzes through these machines but it is open to just grab the cotton. I guess the cotton is kept moving by compressed air and vacuums. 
Jerm had a lot of questions for our guide but it was hard to hear many of his answers because it was really loud! This picture slows it down so you can see the individual cotton balls. 
This is the next step where most of the seeds come out, you can see them through the grate below. 
In this picture you can see most of the machines and vents that the cotton travels through. 
Here a worker is taking the cleaned and compressed cotton to be bagged.
It is actually really dense and hard at this point and if the bands or packaging break, it will expand all puffy like a giant cotton ball. This is the finished product which is sent out to fabric mills mostly in Asia.
Now here is the part Jeremy probably liked best, it made him feel like Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs to see the giant lint-traps of a cotton factory! Bits of cotton and dust were actually being blown into this cart and getting all over all of us...Jeremy most of all because I made him stand there for the picture!
Whoa is all I have to say...that is a lot of lint! I did think the fuzzy tractor was cool though! 
I actually thought it was really smart how nothing went to waste at the gin. The cotton was cleaned and any waste, sticks, leaves, etc. went to compost the fields while even the cotton seed was reused either for planting or, in most cases, for livestock feed. Yay Cotton!!
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