The Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney was a very famous inventor during the industrial revolution. Eli Whitney’s great accomplishment was inventing the cotton gin. Eli was born December 8, 1765. He invented it on March 14, 1794. He passed away January 8, 1825.

The cotton gin is a machine that removes the seeds from cotton, a process that used to be very hard and time consuming. Gin is short for engine. The cotton gin was a wooden drum stuck with hooks that pulled the cotton fibers through a mesh. The cottonseeds would not fit through the mesh and fell outside. Eli would tell a story where he was pondering an improved method of seeding the cotton when he was inspired by observing a cat attempting to pull a chicken through a fence, and could only pull through some of the feathers.

There were many benefits from this invention. Picking cotton before the gin was in vented was a very time consuming and laborious process. People spent many hours and days even weeks doing this just to produce some cotton. The cotton gin was not the only thing that Eli invented. He was also famous for the milling machine. the milling machine is used to cut various metals.

The main impact that Eli made was that the gin would revitalize slavery. Whitney's invention helped the cotton industry just when the South was suffering economic problems.

Later, Whitney became quite famous for building muskets with interchangeable parts. These were the easiest and fastest guns to make. They became very popular due to their lower cost. There were good and bad things about these guns. Because they were easier to make, large quantities could be produced in a short period of time. This factor became important during the American Civil War. The qualities of the guns, though, were not as good as those, which were hand made. Choosing between quality and quantity, factory owners chose quantity. Whitney's interchangeable muskets became almost as popular as his cotton gin. He made a huge impact on