The United States issues its first patent to William Pollard of Philadelphia. His machine roves and spins cotton.
Eli Whitney patents his machine to comb and deseed bolls of cotton. His invention makes possible a revolution in the cotton industry and the rise of "King Cotton" as the main cash crop in the South, but will never make him rich. Instead of buying his machine, farmers built bogus versions of their own.
Eli Whitney contracts to manufacture 10,000 muskets for the US Army. At the time, an entire musket would be made by a single person, without standardized measurements. Whitney divided the labor into several discrete steps and standardized parts to make them interchangeable.
The Fairmount Water Works harnesses steam power to provide water for the city of Philadelphia.
Dr. Alan de Vilbiss of Toledo, Ohio invented this device to replace swabs as the method of applying medication to oral and nasal passages.
Oliver Evans' Orukter Amphibolos dredges the waters near the Philadelphia docks. Its steam-powered engine drove either wooden wheels or a paddle wheel. Evans demonstrated his machine in Philadelphia's Center Square, where he passed the hat for money from onlookers.
Coffee drinkers the world over no longer had to chew their brew. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, invents a coffee pot with a metal sieve to strain away the grounds.
Robert Fulton, former miniaturist and landscape painter, opens American rivers to two-way travel. His steamboat the Clermont travels 150 miles upstream between New York and Albany at an average speed of 5 mph.