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Eli Whitney Inventions

February 10, 2012 by · Comments Off on Eli Whitney Inventions 

Eli Whitney Inventions, There was a time when star NFL quarterbacks looked, walked, and sounded like golden-age Hollywood action heroes. They had names like Johnny or Dan, nicknames like the Mad Bomber and Broadway Joe, and hailed from blue-collar places like Pennsylvania coal country. Now, with his second Super Bowl Most Valuable Player trophy, golly-gee-shucks Eli Manning sits atop the American sports universe, and the local playground may never sound the same.

The hottest name in football right now is…Eli. Eli. As in Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. As in Eli Thompson, another Eli who lived in the shadow of a more famous brother. It’s Hebrew for “elevation,” apparently, but in the 1990s, the name Eli was only the 321st most popular name in America. It couldn’t have been a coincidence when the name shot up to No. 160 in 2004, right after Manning was drafted first by the New York Giants. Or that Eli broke into the top 100 after Manning led the Giants to his first Super Bowl win in 2008. After last night’s performance, Edward and Jacob might be in real trouble, to say nothing of Aaron (Rogers) and Ben (Roethlisberger).

Of course, Eli’s parents, Archie and Olivia Manning, have a way with names. Their eldest is named Cooper, and you already know Peyton — or perhaps you know the four Peytons in your child’s first-grade class. Eli’s older brother practically owns his name, in the same sense as Tiger or LeBron.

I’m just not sure I’m ready for a fresh crop of drooling Elis. It’s not like Tom (Brady) or Andrew (Brees) — you meet a tyke with those more common names and you don’t immediately assume they’re named in honor of a famous athlete. But Eli is too specific. “Eli? Like the quarterback?” you’ll be forced to ask. (As if the blue and red stroller and matching mom-son Giants jerseys won’t give it a way.) I don’t intend to give in so easy, though. “Eli, huh? Niiiiice. I loved Hostel…and your kid does look evil.”

Cotton Gin Inventor

February 10, 2012 by · Comments Off on Cotton Gin Inventor 

Cotton Gin Inventor, Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin and a pioneer in the mass production of cotton. Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts on December 8, 1765 and died on January 8, 1825. He graduated from Yale College in 1792. By April 1793, Whitney had designed and constructed the cotton gin, a machine that automated the separation of cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber.

Advantages of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Simple seed-removing devices have been around for centuries, however, Eli Whitney’s invention automated the seed separation process. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states.

Eli Whitney Business Woes
Eli Whitney failed to profit from his invention because imitations of his machine appeared and his 1794 patent for the cotton gin could not be upheld in court until 1807. Whitney could not stop others from copying and selling his cotton gin design.
Eli Whitney and his business partner Phineas Miller had decided to get into the ginning business themselves. They manufactured as many cotton gins as possible and installed them throughout Georgia and the southern states. They charged farmers an unusual fee for doing the ginning for them, two-fifths of the profits paid in cotton itself.

Copies of the Cotton Gin
And here, all their troubles began. Farmers throughout Georgia resented having to go to Eli Whitney’s cotton gins where they had to pay what they regarded as an exorbitant tax. Instead planters began making their own versions of Eli Whitney’s gin and claiming they were “new” inventions. Phineas Miller brought costly suits against the owners of these pirated versions but because of a loophole in the wording of the 1793 patent act, they were unable to win any suits until 1800, when the law was changed.
Struggling to make a profit and mired in legal battles, the partners finally agreed to license gins at a reasonable price. In 1802, South Carolina agreed to purchase Eli Whitney’s patent right for $50,000 but delayed in paying it. The partners also arranged to sell the patent rights to North Carolina and Tennessee. By the time even the Georgia courts recognized the wrongs done to Eli Whitney, only one year of his patent remained. In 1808 and again in 1812 he humbly petitioned Congress for a renewal of his patent.

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