What is the cotton gin and who invented it?I can't find anything about him at the library, and there are no good web sites about him.

The cotton gin is a machine where harvested cotton is placed into it and it will separate the seeds out. This was extremely helpful when it was invented because it cut down a lot of time that was needed when people would have to pick through the cotton to get the seeds out by hand. This helped spur on the Industrial Revolution since it sped up cotton production.

The inventor of the cotton gin is said to be Eli Whitney because he patented it. However, it has been speculated that someone else either came up with the idea beforehand or someone helped him but they were not credited. So as time goes on, historians have questioned who really invented the cotton gin, but in school history textbook questions, Eli Whitney would be the answer. He was the first to PATENT it, but may not have been the sole inventor.