Important American inventor (1765-1825) remembered for developing the cotton gin, revolutionizing agriculture in the American South. Autograph manuscript signed three times within the text, "Eli Whitney" (2) and "E. Whitney," one page both sides, 7.25 x 9.5, no date but circa 1800. A handwritten series of questions from a deposition in a patent suit over the cotton gin, headed: "John Holland—of New Haven." In part: "Have you had any opportunity of being acquainted with the Machinery used in Cotton Manufactories in Great Britain—And have you any knowledge of a machine invented by the said Eli Whitney for separating Cotton from the seeds?...Have you ever known any Machine on similar principles use previous to the invention of Eli Whitney either for cleaning cotton from the seeds or any other purpose? Does this machine resemble in Form or in Principle a machine called the Teazer or Devil?...Does it make any difference in the principle of the machine whether a whole row of teeth be made from one & the same piece of metal: or from different pieces of metal, such as pieces of iron wire? When the teeth are made of wire does the machine more easily get out of order? Does it injure the staple of the cotton?...Is the machine invented by E. Whitney for separating Cotton from the seeds a useful invention or is it not?" In fine condition.
Eli Whitney designed the innovative cotton gin in a mere ten days, completing a prototype in April 1793. He patented the invention in 1794, and subsequently struggled to stop southern farmers from copying his design and illegally reproducing the machine to use without payment. He would spend years defending his patent from imitators. This significant handwritten document reveals several of Whitney's concerns pertaining to the invention, prepared as part of the vigorous defense that he mounted to protect his intellectual property.
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