“…he can make anything…”

Basic Biographical Data Born in Westborough, MA Graduated from Yale University 1793 – invented the cotton gin 1798 – built a musket factory using the concept of interchangeable parts and a simple assembly line process 1825 – died in Connecticut

Why is Whitney Important? On trip to SC plantation, EW noticed slaves working hard 1793 – invented the cotton gin to help slaves clean cotton faster and easier to improve productivity to increase profits for plantation

The Cotton Gin Raw cotton goes in Roller combs rip cotton fibers apart Seeds fall to the bottom Clean cotton collects here Hand crank to turn the roller combs

Productivity Before the Cotton Gin

Productivity After the Cotton Gin 50

The Rest of the Story… EW had a patent for his invention…but… The cotton gin was easy to duplicate Farmers made their own machines EW and his lawyers spent years traveling the South suing and losing… Increased use of slaves on plantations

Interchangeable Parts Product made the same way each time Identical parts in each product Workers specialize in their one task Broken parts are easy to replace

Life Before Whitney’s Inventions Slaves had to clean cotton by hand… slow and painful work…expensive Muskets and pistols were custom made…one at a time…expensive

Whitney’s Inventions Change Life Introduced the concept of mass production to American business Saved businesses time and money Increased productivity of slaves on plantations and factory workers Increased profits

Long-term Effects in the South Increased settlement of western lands Increased production of cotton Increased need for slaves to work the cotton fields Increased desire to remove Indians from prime land

Long-term Effects in the North Development of the textile industry Increased need for factory workers Growth of cities Increased trade with European countries

Bibliography Eli Whitney: The Inventor.. out-eli-whitney/inventor Hall of Fame: Inventor Profile ml

Photo Credits itney.jpg/ /whitney.jpg he/000/010/244/509/ gif 9qa6VsI/AAAAAAAAAd8/Isgu8iFv6_M/s320/co tton_gin.jpg