What did Eli Whitney?

Answer 1

Invented the cotton gin and the further developed the process of interchangeable parts.

Here's a sort biography of his life:

Eli Whitney was born no December 8th, 1765 to Eli and Elizabeth Whitney. His parents had no idea that their son would be a famous American inventor!

Eli Whitney liked learning how thing worked; his father's watch, a violin, tools, and so on. When he was 19, he decided he wanted to attend college. He tried out Yale College and passed the exam. He graduated from Yale about nine years later when he was 28.

After College he needed money fast. He found a tutoring job in South Carolina, but he did not want to go to the South, for he thought that is where his bad luck would start. However, he had no choice.

While traveling to South Carolina, he met a lady named Mrs. Catherine Greene. Mrs. Greene asked him if he would like to visit her largest estate called Mulberry Grove. When he did go to Mrs. Greene's estate found out that his job offer was already taken. At Mulberry Grove, cotton planters were telling each other their problem with cotton. Only green seed cotton, which is very hard to clean, grew in North America. The cotton planters told Whitney that a machine that would clean the seeds out of the cotton would be a miracle. Whitney hopped he could help these farmers and make money at the same time. He started work on his machine immediately. Within a week, he came up with a tiny working model of the Cotton Gin. The Mulberry Manager soon offered Whitney money for the rights of his invention. Soon many states paid him $50,000 for the right to use his invention. Whitney sent a cotton gin to England, but some of the Southern planters started spreading a rumor that the cotton gin ruined the cotton; many British spinners believed the rumor so they wouldn't buy the gin.

Whitney's cotton gin had a great affect on the southern economy. As they bought the gin they became more dependent upon slaves. The South was also becoming richer than before.

After Whitney had his cotton gin business in hand he decided he wanted to help the federal government. During the Revolutionary War the United States got its entire musket supply from France. And since there was a positional threat of war with France the U.S. needed to produce muskets. That is when Whitney became the father of mass production. He invented a machine that could make muskets with interchangeable parts.

Eli Whitney died on January 8th, 1825. He left behind his four young children. His three nephews continued his work. One of his nephews invented the rock crusher.

Eli Whitney was very successful in life. He invented many machines; cotton gin and the musket machine. He had a great impact on the U.S.; he help supply the war with 10,000 muskets and improved the cotton business.

Resources:

www.archivees.gov/education/lessons/cotton-gin-patent/

www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/farmest/invetors/whitney/indey.html