1940 FAMOUS INVENTORS The greatest American inventors honors two of the most important pioneers in the field of communications: Samuel Morse, father of the Morse Code, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Also included are such agricultural greats as Cyrus McCormick, who patented the first harvesting machine; Eli Whitney, whose ideas gave birth to the cotton gin; and industrialist Elias Howe, the father of the sewing machine. Cover cachets may vary.