Historians believe that one of the greatest pioneers in the birth of automation,
American inventor, pioneer, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer Eli Whitney. Best
remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin. He made his first violin when he was only
12. Eli started college when he was 23, in 1788. He left for Georgia and got his first look
at cotton business. He graduated from Yale in 1792, and went to Savannah, Georgia to
teach and study law. After he graduated he went south to tutor the children of a wealthy
plantation owner. He taught school for five years. Eli Whitney made and sold nails during
the Revolutionary war. In 1798 Eli obtained a government contract to make 10,000
muskets. In 1812 he was given another contract for 15,000 muskets .He built the first
firearms factory to use mass production methods. When Eli Whitney built his first factory
in 1798, he allocated a great deal of his precious resources to providing housing for his
workers as well as ensuring that they were well off financially.
A cotton gin on display at the Eli Whitney Museum.
English: Lummus cotton gin advertisement, 1896
"The First Cotton Gin" conjectural image from 1869This consideration marked
his entire career as an industrialist. He wanted to 'employ steady sober people,'tied to his
factory and part of a community of industry. He intended to create a self-sufficient village,
producing goods, and populated by well educated, happy workers,Whitneyville.
He also affected the industrial development of the United States , in manufacturing
muskets but most of whitney's own guns parts do not in fact interchange.
Nevertheless, Eli Whitney is a figure whose history is fascinating, and whose
impact in New Haven can not be overstated. He translated the concept of interchangeable
parts into a manufacturing system, giving birth to the Americanmass-production concept.
Whitney saw that a machine to clean the seed from cotton could make the South
prosperous and make its...