The Life and inventions of Eli whitney
Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts on December 8, 1765. Ever since Whitney was young, he would always mess around with household items, like clocks, taking them apart and putting them back to the same condition he found them. He was always fascinated by machinery and how everything worked. At 12 years old, he created his own violin. And at the age of 15, Whitney found a way to forge nails from his father's workshop and sell them to builders during the Revolutionary was, when they were scarce. After the Revolutionary War, markets were filled with cheap nails so Eli Whitney decided to start a new business making canes and hairpins because he knew how trending and in demand they were. At 23 years old, Eli attended Yale University and graduated in 1792.
Eli Whitney is most known for his invention of the cotton gin, in 1793,but what most people don't know is that he also is the father of the mass production method. In 1804, Whitney moved from the South to New Haven, Connecticut, where he invented a way to mass produce muskets by using interchangeable parts, which were pre-manufactured parts of guns that had more than one use. Interchangeable parts not only made the cost of guns cheaper, it provided unskilled workers with a job and repairs or replacements of guns cheaper, faster and easier. Eli Whitney also contributed with a group of innovators, later on, that built a mechanized cutter, called milling machines, that helped workers shape metal parts.
While contributing with the milling machines, Eli was battling with prostate cancer, which eventually lead to his death, but it also inspired him to create devices that could mechanically lessen his pain. On January 8, 1825, in New Haven, Connecticut, Eli Whitney died leaving behind his wife Henrietta Edwards, that he married in 1817, and four kids. After Eli's death, the government issued a postage stamp in his honor.
Eli Whitney is most known for his invention of the cotton gin, in 1793,but what most people don't know is that he also is the father of the mass production method. In 1804, Whitney moved from the South to New Haven, Connecticut, where he invented a way to mass produce muskets by using interchangeable parts, which were pre-manufactured parts of guns that had more than one use. Interchangeable parts not only made the cost of guns cheaper, it provided unskilled workers with a job and repairs or replacements of guns cheaper, faster and easier. Eli Whitney also contributed with a group of innovators, later on, that built a mechanized cutter, called milling machines, that helped workers shape metal parts.
While contributing with the milling machines, Eli was battling with prostate cancer, which eventually lead to his death, but it also inspired him to create devices that could mechanically lessen his pain. On January 8, 1825, in New Haven, Connecticut, Eli Whitney died leaving behind his wife Henrietta Edwards, that he married in 1817, and four kids. After Eli's death, the government issued a postage stamp in his honor.