550 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193? 



II. ELI WHITNEY'S PATENT 



Owing to the complete destruction of the United States Patent 

 Office by fire on December 15, 1836, and the consequent loss of all 

 models and specifications, the question has been raised as to what 

 were the original specifications of Whitney's patent and what kind of a 

 model did he file with his application for the patent. 



Whitney filed his application with the Secretary of State, Tliomas 

 Jefferson, on June 20, 1793. He had left Georgia immediately after 

 signing his partnership agreement with Phineas Miller, on May 27, 

 1793, for the purpose of constructing a model for the Patent Office, as 

 the law required. He states that he went to New Haven, Conn., for 

 that purpose, as he could not obtain the necessary mateiials in 

 Georgia. He writes from New Haven to his father in Westboro, 

 Mass., on September 11, 1793: 



I returned to the Northward for the purpose of having a machine made on a 

 large scale and obtaining a patent for the invention. I went to Philadelphia soon 

 after I arrived, made myself acquainted with the steps necessary to obtain a 

 Patent, took several of the steps, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson, agreed 

 to send the Patent to me as soon as it could be made out. So I apprehended no 

 difficulty in obtaining the Patent * * *. As soon as I have got a Patent in 

 America I shall go with the machine I am now making, to Georgia, where I shall 

 stay a few weeks to see it work * * *.* 



The prevalence of yellow fever in Philadelphia delayed finishing his 

 business in regard to the patent, but on October 19, 1793, he sent a 

 drawing of his cotton gin to Mr. Jeffereon. As a matter of safety, to 

 prevent being anticipated by anyone else in the matter of the patent, 

 he took the precaution to appear before Elizur Goodrich, alderman 

 and notary public of the city of New Haven, who certifies as follows: 



That in said city on the twenty-eighth day of October, one thousand, seven 

 hundred and ninety-three, Eli Whitney, of the County of Worcester, in the Com- 

 monwealth of Massachusetts, now residing in this city, personally appeared before 

 me, the said Alderman and Notary, and made a solemn oath. That he does 

 verily believe that he, the said Whitney, is the true inventor and discoverer of the 

 machine for ginning cotton, a description whereof is hereto annexed by me, the 

 said Alderman and Notary, by my seal Notorial, and that he, the said Whitney, 

 verily believes that a machine of similar construction hath never before been 

 known or used.* 



A long, carefully detailed description, including alternative methods 

 of constructing certain parts, was given "under five divisions corres- 

 ponding to its five principal parts, viz: 1, Frame; 2, The Cylinder; 

 3, The Breastwork; 4, The Clearer; 5, The Hopper." 



Whitney closes his description with the following statement: 



The foregoing is a description of the machine for cleansing cotton alluded to in a 

 petition of the subscriber, dated Philadelphia, June 20th, 1793, and lodged in the 

 office of the Secretary of State, all alleging that he, the subscriber, is the inventor 



> Amor. Hist. Rov., vol. 3, p. 99, 1897. 



) Tompkins, D. A., Cotton and cotton oil, p. 460, 1901. 



