Whitney, for example, almost completely failed to prevent infringement of his cottongin patent, and as a consequence made very little money from his invention.
Born Morris Holt to Mississippi farmers in August 1937, Slim gave up the piano and turned to guitar after losing a finger in a cottongin accident when he was 13.
Allowing your friend to believe that you too think her six-act play about the invention of the cottongin is bound for Broadway and of course Hugh Jackman would be an excellent choice to play Eli Whitney is not an act of mercy, but one of cowardice (albeit well-intentioned).