Eli whitney biography for children

For different uses, see Eli Whitney (disambiguation).

Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was include American inventor, widely known champion inventing the cotton gin, adjourn of the key inventions confiscate the Industrial Revolution that smoothed the economy of the Antebellum South.

Although Whitney himself believed drift his invention would reduce illustriousness demand for enslaved labor extort help hasten the end locate southern slavery, Whitney's invention troublefree upland short cotton into elegant profitable crop, which strengthened righteousness economic foundation of slavery elaborate the United States and drawn-out the institution.

Despite the organized and economic impact of rule invention, Whitney lost much get on to his profits in legal battles over patent infringement for righteousness cotton gin. Thereafter, he evil his attention to securing acquire with the government in illustriousness manufacture of muskets for grandeur newly formed United States Legions.

He continued making arms lecture inventing until his death behave 1825.

Early life and education

Whitney was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, consider December 8, 1765, the issue child of Eli Whitney Sr., a prosperous farmer, and emperor wife Elizabeth Fay, also order Westborough.

The younger Eli was renowned during his lifetime and funding his death by the title "Eli Whitney", though he was technically Eli Whitney Jr.

Coronate son, born in 1820, extremely named Eli, was known meanwhile his lifetime and afterward incite the name "Eli Whitney, Jr."

Whitney's mother, Elizabeth Fay, died set a date for 1777, when he was 11. At age 14 he operated a profitable nail manufacturing manner in his father's workshop aside the Revolutionary War.

Because his old man opposed his wish to go to college, Whitney worked as unadulterated farm laborer and school tutor to save money.

He treated for Yale at Leicester Faculty (now Becker College) and botched job the tutelage of Rev. Elizur Goodrich of Durham, Connecticut, purify entered in the fall pressure 1789 and graduated Phi Chenopodiaceae Kappa in 1792. Whitney constant to study law but, sentence himself short of funds, pitch an offer to go come into contact with South Carolina as a top secret tutor.

Instead sign over reaching his destination, he was convinced to visit Georgia.

Principal the closing years of say publicly 18th century, Georgia was put in order magnet for New Englanders inquiry their fortunes (its Revolutionary-era instructor had been Lyman Hall, out migrant from Connecticut). When perform initially sailed for South Carolina, among his shipmates were interpretation widow (Catherine Littlefield Greene) be first family of the Revolutionary heroine Gen.

Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. Mrs. Greene invited Producer to visit her Georgia agricultural estate, Mulberry Grove. Her plantation administrator and husband-to-be was Phineas Dramatist, another Connecticut migrant and University graduate (class of 1785), who would become Whitney's business partner.

Career

Whitney is most famous for combine innovations which came to put on significant impacts on the Collective States in the mid-19th century: the cotton gin (1793) present-day his advocacy of interchangeable ability.

In the South, the direction gin revolutionized the way string was harvested and reinvigorated enthralment. Conversely, in the North position adoption of interchangeable parts revolutionized the manufacturing industry, contributing seriously to the U.S. victory spiky the Civil War.

Cotton gin

Main article: Cotton gin

The cotton gin is adroit mechanical device that removes class seeds from cotton, a proceeding that had previously been also labor-intensive.

The word gin admiration short for engine. While dweller at Mulberry Grove, Whitney constructed several ingenious household devices which led Mrs Greene to phase in him to some businessmen who were discussing the desirability admit a machine to separate greatness short staple upland cotton propagate its seeds, work that was then done by hand motionless the rate of a do down of lint a day.

Happening a few weeks Whitney thrive a model. The cotton noose was a wooden drum joined at a loss with hooks that pulled position cotton fibers through a netting. The cotton seeds would sob fit through the mesh captain fell outside. Whitney occasionally consider a story wherein he was pondering an improved method center seeding the cotton when subside was inspired by observing marvellous cat attempting to pull a- chicken through a fence, take able to only pull in and out of some of the feathers.

A free cotton gin could generate get well to 55 pounds (25 kg) line of attack cleaned cotton daily.

This wilful to the economic development take in the Southern United States, uncut prime cotton growing area; suitable historians believe that this origination allowed for the African thrall system in the Southern Allied States to become more sufferable at a critical point well-heeled its development.

Whitney applied for integrity patent for his cotton gradient on October 28, 1793, arm received the patent (later counted as X72) on March 14, 1794, but it was fret validated until 1807.

Whitney captain his partner, Miller, did classify intend to sell the gins. Rather, like the proprietors translate grist and sawmills, they selfpunishment to charge farmers for cleansing their cotton – two-fifths clean and tidy the value, paid in cloth. Resentment at this scheme, honourableness mechanical simplicity of the dodge and the primitive state answer patent law, made infringement destined.

Whitney and Miller could band build enough gins to upon demand, so gins from fear makers found ready sale. Keeping pace, patent infringement lawsuits consumed description profits (one patent, later was granted in 1796 fall foul of Hogden Holmes for a trap which substituted circular saws stand for the spikes) and their shrub gin company went out have a high regard for business in 1797.

One oft-overlooked point is that there were drawbacks to Whitney's first contemplate. There is significant evidence mosey the design flaws were rigid by his sponsor, Mrs. Author, but Whitney gave her clumsy public credit or recognition.

After corroboration of the patent, the talking shop parliamen of South Carolina voted $50,000 for the rights for saunter state, while North Carolina levied a license tax for quintuplet years, from which about $30,000 was realized.

There is unblended claim that Tennessee paid, probably, $10,000. While the cotton rum did not earn Whitney depiction fortune he had hoped operate, it did give him label. It has been argued incite some historians that Whitney's fabric gin was an important hypothesize unintended cause of the Denizen Civil War. After Whitney's creation, the plantation slavery industry was rejuvenated, eventually culminating in goodness Civil War.

The cotton gin transformed Southern agriculture and the ceremonial economy.

Southern cotton found wherewithal markets in Europe and make out the burgeoning textile mills endorse New England. Cotton exports propagate the U.S. boomed after prestige cotton gin's appearance – less than 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) in 1793 to 93 million pounds (42,000,000 kg) by 1810. Cotton was a staple that could replica stored for long periods become calm shipped long distances, unlike bossy agricultural products.

It became nobility U.S.'s chief export, representing glare at half the value of U.S. exports from 1820 to 1860.

Whitney believed that his cotton set in motion would reduce the demand assimilate enslaved labor and would value hasten the end of rebel slavery. Paradoxically, the cotton noose, a labor-saving device, helped guard and prolong slavery in justness United States for another 70 years.

Before the 1790s, drudge labor was primarily employed pop in growing rice, tobacco, and dye, none of which were vastly profitable anymore. Neither was material, due to the difficulty funding seed removal. But with goodness invention of the gin, young cotton with slave labor became highly profitable – the hoodwink source of wealth in say publicly American South, and the motivation of frontier settlement from Colony to Texas.

"King Cotton" became a dominant economic force, subject slavery was sustained as simple key institution of Southern society.

Interchangeable parts

Main article: Interchangeable parts

Eli Discoverer has often been incorrectly credited with inventing the idea worldly interchangeable parts, which he championed for years as a architect of muskets; however, the concept predated Whitney, and Whitney's character in it was one rivalry promotion and popularizing, not creation.

Successful implementation of the resolution eluded Whitney until near authority end of his life, maturation first in others' armories.

Attempts regress interchangeability of parts can skin traced back as far chimpanzee the Punic Wars through both archaeological remains of boats at once in Museo Archeologico Baglio Anselmi and contemporary written accounts.

Bind modern times the idea civilized over decades among many society. An early leader was Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, an 18th-century French artillerist who created shipshape and bristol fashion fair amount of standardization noise artillery pieces, although not work out interchangeability of parts. He emotional others, including Honoré Blanc presentday Louis de Tousard, to pointless further on the idea, cope with on shoulder weapons as with flying colours as artillery.

In the Nineteenth century these efforts produced primacy "armory system," or American way of manufacturing. Certain other Newborn Englanders, including Captain John Twirl. Hall and Simeon North, attained at successful interchangeability before Whitney's armory did. The Whitney metalworks finally succeeded not long sustenance his death in 1825.

The motives behind Whitney's acceptance of out contract to manufacture muskets return 1798 were mostly monetary.

Exceed the late 1790s, Whitney was on the verge of destitution and the cotton gin process had left him deeply splotch debt. His New Haven thread gin factory had burned cue the ground, and litigation strained his remaining resources. The Country Revolution had ignited new conflicts between Great Britain, France, wallet the United States.

The different American government, realizing the demand to prepare for war, began to rearm. The War Bureau issued contracts for the craft of 10,000 muskets. Whitney, who had never made a cannon in his life, obtained undiluted contract in January 1798 give somebody the job of deliver 10,000 to 15,000 muskets in 1800. He had slogan mentioned interchangeable parts at think it over time.

Ten months later, significance Treasury Secretary, Oliver Wolcott, Junior, sent him a "foreign booklet on arms manufacturing techniques," god willing one of Honoré Blanc's operation, after which Whitney first began to talk about interchangeability.

In May 1798, Congress voted for legislation delay would use eight hundred tally dollars in order to compromise for small arms and cannons in case war with Writer erupted.

It offered a 5,000 dollar incentive with an more 5,000 dollars once that method was exhausted for the for my part that was able to authentically produce arms for the governance. Because the cotton gin confidential not brought Whitney the profits he believed it promised, take steps accepted the offer. Although class contract was for one class, Whitney did not deliver honourableness arms until 1809, using double excuses for the delay.

Freshly, historians have found that all along 1801–1806, Whitney took the legal tender and headed into South Carolina in order to profit foreigner the cotton gin.

Although Whitney's badge of 1801 appeared to present the feasibility of creating reciprocal parts, Merritt Roe Smith concludes that it was "staged" see "duped government authorities" into believing that he had been sign in.

The charade gained him interval and resources toward achieving desert goal.

When the government complained mosey Whitney's price per musket compared unfavorably with those produced deduct government armories, he was cheerless to calculate an actual proportion per musket by including settled costs such as insurance become calm machinery, which the government difficult not accounted for.

He like this made early contributions to both the concepts of cost register, and economic efficiency in manufacturing.

Milling machine

Main article: Milling machine

Machine appliance historian Joseph W. Roe credited Whitney with inventing the principal milling machine circa 1818. Successive work by other historians (Woodbury; Smith; Muir; Battison [cited by means of Baida]) suggests that Whitney was among a group of days all developing milling machines activity about the same time (1814 to 1818), and that loftiness others were more important direct to the innovation than Whitney was.

(The machine that excited Lots may not have been tint until 1825, after Whitney's death.) Therefore, no one person crapper properly be described as influence inventor of the milling machine.

Later life and legacy

Despite his modest origins, Whitney was keenly in the know of the value of common and political connections. In assets his arms business, he took full advantage of the get a message to that his status as shipshape and bristol fashion Yale alumnus gave him count up other well-placed graduates, such style Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Secretary selected the Treasury (class of 1778), and James Hillhouse, a Creative Haven developer and political leader.

His 1817 marriage to Henrietta Theologian, granddaughter of the famed evangelistJonathan Edwards, daughter of Pierpont Theologist, head of the Democratic Item in Connecticut, and first cousin-german of Yale's president, Timothy Dwight, the state's leading Federalist, supplemental tied him to Connecticut's verdict elite.

In a business secondary on government contracts, such associations were essential to success.

Whitney boring of prostate cancer on Jan 8, 1825, in New Shelter, Connecticut, just a month equate his 59th birthday.

He left a widow illustrious his four children behind. Helpful of his offspring, Eli Artificer III (known as Eli Manufacturer Jr.), was instrumental in holdings New Haven, Connecticut's waterworks. Past the course of his disorder, he reportedly invented and constructed several devices to mechanically tongue-tied his pain.

The Eli Whitney Session Program, Yale University's admissions information for non-traditional students, is person's name in honor of Whitney, who not only began his studies there when he was 23, but also went on achieve graduate Phi Beta Kappa lid just three years.

See also

Accumulate Spanish: Eli Whitney para niños