Eli Whitney is fairly considered one of the most prominent figures in the American engineering of the verge of the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a recognized inventor, engineer and pioneer, so the main invention he is credited with is the cotton gin (‘Eli Whitney’ 2002). He was born in 1765 in the family of farmers who later on migrated to the USA (Welch & Butler 2007, p. 6).
From his very childhood Whitney was not satisfied with the results until they were ideal; together with his plain farmer life he was good business, so he made the tools for making nails with his own hands and further on produced nails for sale during the War (Welch & Butler 2007, p. 9). All these efforts were aimed at studying in Yale, for which he saved every bit of money he earned on nails. He had a good command of Greek and Latin, and he was very good at English grammar, which further on helped him achieve his dream (Mitchell 2004, p. 14).
Whitney was educated in Yale, but to get there he had to first of all get the help of his supervisor, educator and simply a good friend Reverend Elizur Goodrich – he prepared him well to take the entrance examination in Yale, which Whitney successfully accomplished under the presidency of Ezra Stiles (Huff 2004, p. 19-21).
The history of his invention is described by Bagley (2003) the following way – the New Englander Whitney heard the complaints of cotton planters in Georgia about hardships they experienced with removing the cotton seeds from the plants, as a result getting no more use from cotton than from weed (p. 4). Besides, there is a widely spread idea that Catherine Greene, a friend of Whitney, was his inspirer for the creation of the cotton gin because she believed in his ability to invent (Bagley 2003, p. 4). Whitney also recognized the revolutionary impact of his invention – in his memoirs published by Olmsted (1846) Whitney recollects how much trouble he had with the patent and how Mr. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, personally wrote him a letter asking for more details about the machine and asked to present him one exemplar for his personal usage (p. 16-17).
Eli Whitney is also remembered by Americans for creation of mass production (Bagley 2003, p. 6). Despite his contribution, Whitney did not feel thankfulness of the state when the request for patent renewal was declined in 1807 – the inventor filled with bitter disappointment never patented his further inventions and still continued his valuable set of contributions (‘Eli Whitney’ 2002). But still his role in the growth of Southern cotton industry and mass production can hardly be exaggerated, so this personality occupies an outstanding place in the history of the USA.
References
Bagley, K 2003, Eli Whitney: American inventor, Capstone Press.
‘Eli Whitney’ 2002, Web.
Huff, RA 2004, Eli Whitney: The Cotton Gin and American Manufacturing, The Rosen Publishing Group.
Mitchell, B 2004, Maker of Machines: a story about Eli Whitney, Millbrook Press.
Olmsted, D 1846, Memoir of Eli Whitney, Esq, American culture series II, reel 63, Iss. 7, Durrie & Peck.
Welch, CA, & Butler, T 2007, Eli Whitney, Lerner Publications.