Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, (gin is short for engine). Everyone knows that. And he patented it. Most people know that. And his intellectual property was essentially stolen and increased the value of slavery.
When creators are ripped off many of them quit creating. The number of first time inventors with a successful invention that are crushed by large organizations can't be counted.
And Eli was down in the dumps. But he did not give up. Instead he did something audacious. He asked for and received a contract to manufacture 10,000 guns for the United States military, something that was literally impossible in the state of the art in 1797. Guns were hand built one at a time. Eli, decided to make all the parts the same so they were interchangeable. He did it, perhaps not in the two years the contract stated, but he changed the arms industry for all time.
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/how-the-government-launched-the-us-gun-industry-213892?curator=MediaREDEF&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digg
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