Facts about Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney died at 59 years old
Born: December 8, 1765
Birthplace: Westboro, Massachusetts, United States
Best known as: Inventor of the cotton gin
4 Good Links
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin
His brief entry from a National Inventors Hall of FameEli Whitney Museum
Active educational center and place to go for some backgroundDiscover Eli Whitney
Teaching resource with plenty of detail about his careerEli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
U.S. government documents and historical backgroundShare this:
Eli Whitney Biography
Eli Whitney went down in history as the inventor of the cotton gin, a machine made to extract seeds from cotton, patented in 1794. Whitney spent a decade fighting patent infringements, and years of litigation left him nearly penniless by 1804. Whether he was the sole inventor of the gin is still a matter of debate, yet Whitney clearly had a knack for manufacturing and business: after the cotton gin he went into the firearms business, using his mechanical skills to design a system for manufacturing identical and interchangeable parts for rifles. He operated a successful firearms factory near New Haven, Connecticut until he retired around 1820.