Eli Whitney

Whitney, Eli (1765–1825), U.S. inventor of the cotton gin (1793) and pioneer of mass production. In 1798 he contracted with the U.S. government to make 10,000 muskets: He took 8 years to fulfill the 2-year contract, but he showed that with unskilled labor muskets could be put together using parts that were precision-made and thus interchangeable, a benefit not only during production but also in later maintenance.

See also: Cotton gin.