The development of the cotton gin — patented in 1794 — involves an interesting lesson about solving engineering problems. Farmers in the southern United States had a big problem. Tobacco was a ...

click image for close-up In October of 1793, Eli Whitney sent a drawing of his new invention, the cotton gin, to Secretary of ... Finally, in February 1794, Whitney completed the model to his ...

Whitney created an improved mechanical cotton gin in 1793, patented it in 1794, and it spread throughout the world. As cotton was pulled through Whitney's gin, the wire screen and small wire hooks ...

When gun-cotton was first discovered, no other idea was entertained respecting its application than that of superseding gunpowder as an explosive agent. Since that period, however, it has ...

The gin solved the problem inherent in marketing short-staple cotton, which grew easily in ... Whitney's fourteen-year patent was not issued until March 1794, due to the outbreak of Yellow Fever ...