Cotton Gin

His 1794 patent was not validated until 1807, and after years of legal battles the courts declared him the inventor, too late for him to profit much.

Whitney applied for a patent on October 28, 1793; it was granted on March 14, 1794 but was not validated until 1807. There is slight controversy over whether the modern cotton gin and its parts are correctly attributed to him: an 1883 pamphlet, Woman as Inventor, claimed Catharine Littlefield Greene suggested the brush-like component that separates out the seeds and cotton. Hodgen Holmes, Robert Watkins, William Longstreet and John Murray had all been issued patents for improvements to the cotton gin by 1796. Patent courts eventually decided, after years of legal battles, to nullify Holmes's patent for the saw gin and to declare Whitney the inventor. He spent many years in court trying to enforce his patent against planters who made unauthorized copies, and a change in patent law made his claim enforceable too late for him to make much money in the single year remaining before the patent expired.