Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, patented in 1794 to separate cotton fibers from seeds.
Whitney built the machine in Georgia in 1793 after being asked to solve a major problem in cotton processing. A rotating cylinder fitted with wire teeth pulled short cotton fibers through a screen, while the seeds were too large to pass through. A brush then removed the fibers from the teeth.
The invention dramatically increased the amount of cotton a worker could clean in a day. It helped make short-staple cotton profitable across the American South and contributed to the rapid expansion of cotton cultivation. That economic growth was tied to the expansion and entrenchment of enslaved labor, a central and tragic part of the cotton gin's history.
Whitney's patent was difficult to enforce, and competing machines quickly appeared. The gin did not pick cotton or grow it; its specific function was separating fiber from seed.