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
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.
Whitney operated a successful firearms factory near New Haven, Connecticut until he retired around 1820.