Industrial Revolution Inventions 2
Cotton Gin and Interchangeable Parts
Cotton Gin
A cotton gin was revolutionizing invention that separated cotton strands from it's seeds. The cotton was then used for to make goods such as blankets, clothing, toys, and etc. Before this was invented people had to hand pick the seeds out themselves which took a very long time. This invention sped up that process and made it easier to get the seeds out. The inventor of this incredible invention was Eli Whitney, he made this invention to speed up the process of cotton making and he also wanted it to decrease the demand for slaves. He hoped that the cotton gin would replace slaves and hand-picking cotton. In today's time we still use a cotton gin but it is powered by electricity instead of hand turning it. However the highly powered machines we use today are very similar to the original cotton gin. This affected the world by improving and speeding up the process of making clothing causing more and more goods to be produced.
Cotton gin with a handle
Cotton gin with a turning wheel
Drawing of a cotton gin
Interchangeable Parts
Interchangeable parts were a very helpful invention during the Industrial Revolution. Interchangeable parts was a good made of very many different parts so if a part broke from the good you could easily replace that part instead of having the entire good be replaced or have a custom fitting. The inventor of the interchangeable parts is Eli Whitney, who was the same man that invented the cotton gin. The reason for his invention was for the parts to be easily mass produced and replaced. Also it was to produce large quantities of weapons at a low cost. This replaced having to buy entire new weapon if one part got broken. Still today interchangeable parts of being used. Interchangeable parts affected the world today because it made it easier for when products get broken it can be fixed by just replacing one part instead of the whole item. It saved time and money.