cotton gin
Cotton Gin Patent Number(s) Patented March 14, 1794 Inducted 1974 American inventor, pioneer, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer Eli Whitney is best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin. ... Whitney saw that a machine to clean the seed from cotton could make the South prosperous and make its inventor rich. ... Whitneys gin brought the South prosperity, but the unwillingness of the planters to pay for its use and the ease with which the gin could be pirated put Whitneys company out of business by 1797. ... His genius as expressed in tools, machines, and technological ideas made the southern United States dominant in cotton production and the northern states a bastion of industry.