Question

Eli Whitney is most famous for inventing the Cotton Gin. However, that is not necessarily his most important invention. Determine for your self which creation was Whitney's "greatest" and post on this board before the end of Wednesday. Define your concept of "greatest", explain why this choice meets your criteria. Be sure to include at least two historical examples in support of your explanation.

Answer 1

Perhaps the most important invention by Whitney is the concept of interchangeable parts. It is impossible to imagine modern industrialized countries without interchangeable parts.

For me, the tag of 'greatest invention' has to go to something which changed the way the world functions, something which altered entire processes and became the most important driver of change. While cotton gin certainly was important, its applications were limited to few industries. It gave a new material but did not fundamentally alter the way the world worked.

Interchangeable parts satisfied all the above. Before them, it was very difficult to manage machines as each had their custom parts, making servicing and repair expensive and difficult. It was difficult for mechanics to work on different machines. this limited their reach and scope. Interchangeable parts altered that. They made standardized parts which could be easily used in multiple products thereby making it easier and quicker to manage machines. The most notable example of this is perhaps its use in arms and ammunition with magazines becoming standard, thereby increasing lethality. It helped fuel the mass manufacture of automobiles and computers. Perhaps another, indirect application of the same idea is the Universal Serial Bus(USB), ubiquitous in computers today.