The Brain controls everything. An idea is created in the brain and it is planned to be made reality. Present day America is filled with inventions that have progressed over the years since they were first invented. Eli Whitney is the brain behind the cotton gin and interchangeable parts and Robert Fulton was the inventor of the steamboat. The creation of the cotton gin, interchangeable parts, and the steamboat are innovations that evolved America leading it to a change. Eli Whitney wrote to his father of his life after college.
He wrote to him over his machine, who could operate it producing much ore cotton then picking it by hand and could also function by something that exerts greater force making it easier on a human. The cotton gin was created in 1793, Consisting of a wooden roll in the middle with rows of spikes next to a roll of brushes. The wooden roll of spikes would remove the seeds, the brushes with its bristles would collect the cotton without the seeds, making the production of cotton faster and more efficient in production.
Eli explains his knowledge on how to get a patent and the plan he saw with the machine, and how he would make a lot of money from his invention and asked of his ather to keep this a secret between the family. After getting the patent for the cotton gin in 1794 Eli Whitney and his partner Phineas Miller planned to produce more of his invention creating a company. They planned to place them on people’s lands expecting to receive in return some profit from the cotton produce on the land where they placed the gin.
Many landowners liked the idea of speeding up the cotton production but decided that they weren’t going to share any of their profit with Eli Whitney and his partner. Many disapproved of their plans and began making their own gins. Many lawsuits were made against those who made their own gin but Eli and Phineas lost those lawsuits because of a loop found in the patent. Just like everything ever done, there were positive and negative effects to the welcoming of the cotton gin. A few years before the gin came into use the production of cotton was 1,500 pounds.
After the Gin came out and was in use, production rose above to 35,000 pounds produced in the year 1800. Fifteen years after it rose to 100,000 pounds, and by the year 1848 production went beyond 1,000,000 pounds making it “America’s leading crop. Because of the crop coming in the lead, it became a good factor for the north helping its production and always having supplies for the mills. The cotton gin reduced the work that had to be done removing the seeds from the cotton, making it easier and speeding up the process creating a need to increase in the amount of land needing to grow more cotton.
Growing more cotton resulted on increasing the number of slaves owned. The number of slave states increased since the year 1790 where there were only six states to fifteen states in the year 1860 and in 1808 they banned the transportation of ore slaves from Africa because the number of slaves increased drastically to 80,000. The rise of cotton production not only helped the economy but it also leads to the creation of the “Steamboat to transport it. ” Robert Fulton met Robert Livingston who had a twenty-year monopoly in the state on New York over steamboat navigation.
They got together and decided to go through with building the steamboat. After failing the first time they found the problem which ended up being the engine breaking down so they decided try again and get another engine but with more orsepower this time. While Fulton got the engine, Livingston tried to get an extension to his monopoly. He returned to New York in 1806 and he set his mind to getting started on the construction of the steamboat. He first introduced the first version of the steamboat in 1807 when It was ready for its trial.
In an Article, they had Fulton’s description of his trip on the steamboat, he starts by telling the time he left which was four past noon from New York on a Monday telling the time that he arrived at his first stop the next day, an hour past noon, taking im the whole day to get there with the length of one hundred and ten miles and he tells of his next journey after that stop the next day in the morning going at a length of forty miles making an eight hour trip and adding the number of miles and the amount of hours it took him, he calculated that the boat was going at a rate of five miles per hour.
After that he makes his journey back home in an amount of thirty hours. By the year 1812 He and Livingston began a service “between New Orleans and Natchez, Miss. , under a monopoly contract with the territory of Orleans. using their steamboats to travel upstream at three miles per hour and going downstream going at eight miles per hour. Before the interchangeable parts making pistols or muskets was creating it unique. Every part was made for that pistol or musket and only for that one and no other one making it unique.
Since the guns were created unique it made it difficult to find a certain part making it expensive by having to buy a new part every time and taking the time to look for it and having someone service it for you. The interchangeable parts were a big impact in industry. The Parts were all created the same to be able to replace a part without any difficulty of finding the special part needed. These became famous when Whitney began using the parts to create muskets which helped the production of muskets easier than before.
Preparing for war they realized that they wanted guns that could be easily repaired to be ready the next day of battle they made a contract with Whitney for him to produce for them Ten-thousand muskets and having them delivered in a two-year period, signing the contract in the middle of the year 1798. Eli delivered a certain number of muskets, but the last of the Ten-Thousand muskets in his contract were not delivered until nearly eight years later still proving they were of great quality. After those Ten-Thousand Whitney continued producing much more.
The effects of the Interchangeable parts had positive effects when it was introduced. The parts helped reduce how much money is spent on replacement parts on guns. The idea presented became reality allowing Eli to realize his level of competence in business and managing. All the inventions created have evolved over time, improving each time reating it better to make life more efficient. Whitney’s creation of the cotton gin helped shape American agriculture, It made it easier on slaves to pick them but it also had its negative side but it helped.
Today growing, picking cotton, and going through the whole process has been made much easier on farmers with the crop and easier for those who now pick them. The invention has shaped America to produce much more compared to when it first appeared and boosted production for farmers. Once the cotton gin came around it created a domino effect leading to he increase in production leading to the steamboat to help transport products but Eli didn’t stop there with one idea he created other inventions leading to a change.
The cotton gin, Interchangeable parts, and the steamboat were all a part of the beginning of industrialism. Small innovations began leading to bigger ones that would make life easier in technology, transportation and much more beyond that. Once it began it led to one thing after another like dominoes creating a technological revolution creating new machines in the 19th century and many years after marking a beginning of something big.