William Woodworth

William Woodworth (1780 – February 9, 1839) was the inventor of the Woodworth Planing Machine. Early life William Woodworth was born around 1780, probably in Massachusetts. He later moved to Hudson, New York, where he was a carpenter and carriage maker. He worked on the Livingston family estate as a superintendent of their mill. He was the father of William W. Woodworth. Woodworth Planing Machine After spending years working around wood, Woodworth would design and then patent the Woodworth Planing Machine in 1828. Hailed as the greatest improvement to the planing machine so far and one of the most important inventions of the century, it added speed and efficiency to the process of creating lumber for domestic usage. The invention could perform the output of 25 laborers, cheapened finished lumber, and greatly increased the supply. In 1829, the Franklin Institute praised the invention. The United States Congress would praise the invention in 1850 along with Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin as the great labor savings inventions of the country.