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Eli Whitney (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor and manufacturer.
Biography
Born on December 8, 1765 in Westborough, Massachusetts, the son of a farmer, Whitney graduated from Yale College in 1792, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. On January 6, 1817 he married Henrietta Edwards; they had four children. He died at New Haven, Connecticut, United States on January 8, 1825.
Invention and innovation
Cotton gin
Whitney is credited with creating the first cotton gin in 1793, a mechanical device which removed the seeds from cotton, a process which until that time had been extremely labor-intensive. This contributed to the economic development of the Southern states of the United States, a prime cotton growing area; some historians believe that this invention allowed for the African slavery system in the Southern United States to become more sustainable at a critical point in its development.While his ideas were innovative and useful, they reproduced so easily that the concepts and designs were readily duplicated by others. Whitney's company that produced cotton gins went out of business in 1797.
Interchangeable parts
Eli Whitney is also credited with the creation of interchangeable parts and subsequently of the mass production of rifles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The concept of interchangeable parts – identical components of a larger mechanism that could easily be swapped or replaced – actually had longer lasting effects than the cotton gin, in large part enabling the boom of cheap mass production that began in the late nineteenth century. However, the use of interchangeable parts in gun manufacture actually predates Whitney; the French military used such a system in the final years of the Ancien Régime.The Eli Whitney Museum is now housed in his former musket factory.
External links
- The Eli Whitney Museum
- Essay from Cotton Times
- Eli Whitney Biography on the Whitney Research Group website.
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American engineers | American inventors | Business theorists | Firearm designers | People from Massachusetts | Yale University alumni | National Inventors Hall of Fame | Phi Beta Kappa members
Eli Whitney | Eli Whitney | Éli Whitney | 엘리 휘트니 | Eli Whitney | Eli Whitney | Eli Whitney
"Eli Whitney"