Eli Whitney

Eli Whitney often called “the father of American technology” was an American inventor and entrepreneur known for two inventions – the cotton gin and interchangeable parts.

Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts where his father was working as a farmer. Diligent and frugal Whitney saved money for his education and graduated at Yale. While he was working as a tutor for the children of a wealthy plantation owner he became inspired to invent cotton gin which revolutionized the cotton industry. By using his invention more cotton could be produce in an hour than previous by multiple workers in a day. By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export. Despite its success, the gin made little money for Whitney due to patent-infringement issue

However, although this invention made him famous, he made money at making guns due to patent- infringement issue. Until Whitney’s time, all guns were produced one at a time by an experienced gunsmith. Whitney in contrast introduced mass production method by designing machines to produce each part of the guns in quantity and then hired (unskilled) workers to assemble the parts. His method was faster and thus cheaper. In 1798 he secured a contract to make 10,000 muskets for the US Army and in 1812 another contract for 15,000 muskets.