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Eli Whitney Invents the
      Cotton Gin
After his
conversation with
the Georgia
planters, Eli Whitney
put aside his plans
to study law and
instead tinkered
throughout the
winter and spring in
a secret workshop
provided by
Catherine Greene.
Before long he had
arrived at his basic
design, which had a
cylinder spiked with
wire teeth. The raw
cotton was fed onto
the cylinder and as it
rotated the teeth
passed through
narrow slits in a
piece of wood,
pulling the cotton
fibers through but
leaving the seeds
behind.
Within months he
had created the
cotton gin. A small
gin could be hand-
cranked; larger
versions could be
harnessed to a
horse or driven by
water power.
"One man and a
horse will do more
than fifty men with
the old machines,"
wrote Whitney to
his father. . . . "Tis
generally said by
those who know
anything about it,
that I shall make a
fortune by it."
But in the end,
Whitney made
virtually nothing
from his
invention. Others
copied his
invention and he
was left virtually
penniless.
Eli Whitney and
Interchangeable Parts
In 1804, Whitney left
the South forever,
disappointed and
disgusted. In his
words, "An invention
can be so valuable
as to be worthless to
the inventor."
But after settling in New Haven, Connecticut,
Whitney settled on an idea that would be as
valuable to the North as his cotton gin was to
the South.
In 1798, the federal government awarded Eli
Whitney a contract of $134,000 to produce
and deliver 10,000 muskets.
Until then, every rifle had been made by
hand from stock to barrel; but the parts of
one gun did not fit any other gun, nor did
anyone expect them to.
It was Whitney's
idea to use
machines that
would make all
the parts of his
rifles so nearly
identical that the
machines parts
could be
interchangeable
from one gun to
another.
This system of
manufacturing
would permit
an unskilled
man to turn
out a product
that would be
just as good as
one made by a
highly trained
machinist.
Whitney’s idea caught on all over America.

By 1850, English visitors back from America
described what they now called the “American
System of Manufacture.”

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Cotton gin and interchangeable parts

  • 1. Eli Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin
  • 2. After his conversation with the Georgia planters, Eli Whitney put aside his plans to study law and instead tinkered throughout the winter and spring in a secret workshop provided by Catherine Greene.
  • 3. Before long he had arrived at his basic design, which had a cylinder spiked with wire teeth. The raw cotton was fed onto the cylinder and as it rotated the teeth passed through narrow slits in a piece of wood, pulling the cotton fibers through but leaving the seeds behind.
  • 4. Within months he had created the cotton gin. A small gin could be hand- cranked; larger versions could be harnessed to a horse or driven by water power.
  • 5. "One man and a horse will do more than fifty men with the old machines," wrote Whitney to his father. . . . "Tis generally said by those who know anything about it, that I shall make a fortune by it."
  • 6. But in the end, Whitney made virtually nothing from his invention. Others copied his invention and he was left virtually penniless.
  • 8. In 1804, Whitney left the South forever, disappointed and disgusted. In his words, "An invention can be so valuable as to be worthless to the inventor."
  • 9. But after settling in New Haven, Connecticut, Whitney settled on an idea that would be as valuable to the North as his cotton gin was to the South.
  • 10. In 1798, the federal government awarded Eli Whitney a contract of $134,000 to produce and deliver 10,000 muskets.
  • 11. Until then, every rifle had been made by hand from stock to barrel; but the parts of one gun did not fit any other gun, nor did anyone expect them to.
  • 12. It was Whitney's idea to use machines that would make all the parts of his rifles so nearly identical that the machines parts could be interchangeable from one gun to another.
  • 13. This system of manufacturing would permit an unskilled man to turn out a product that would be just as good as one made by a highly trained machinist.
  • 14. Whitney’s idea caught on all over America. By 1850, English visitors back from America described what they now called the “American System of Manufacture.”