Whenever I'm in my car in the morning, I love listening to "The 1A" show on NPR, with host Joshua Johnson. Today I heard part of a fascinating interview with author Simon Winchester, who has just published a book titled The Perfectionists. It tells the story of precision engineering, from the steam engine to quantum computing.
One of the stories I had never heard before now was about a contract that the United States government signed with inventor Eli Whitney to deliver 10,000 guns with interchangeable parts. It seems he did a demonstration that was essentially a sham, got the contract, and delivered his sub-par guns without interchangeable parts eight years later. Winchester said that Eli Whitney became famous for his cotton gin invention, but engineers who knew of his gun scam considered him a charlatan.
As I was listening to the interview with Simon Winchester, I thought it would generate a lot of student questions. Students could follow up on their questions by trying to locate related primary sources in the Library of Congress.
As for Eli Whitney, I haven't been able to find any mention of his fake demonstration, but I did find an interesting letter from Thomas Jefferson with a pointed question: "Has the machine been thoroughly tried in the ginning of cotton, or is it as yet but a machine of theory?" Now that I know the story of the guns, Jefferson's question seems even more insightful.
https://www.loc.gov/item/mtjbib008209/
Thomas Jefferson to Eli Whitney, Nov. 16, 1793
PDF text: https://cdn.loc.gov/service/mss/mtj//mtj1/019/019_0956_0956.pdf
6 - 8 9 - 12 Science Technology The 1A NPR Eli Whitney Thomas Jefferson cotton gin inventions engineering
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Mary Johnson
I had never heard of his connection to building guns. So I started to wonder what I might learn from Chronicling America. I found some interesting articles. Here are a sampling of what I found, including a drawing of the factory.
The Weekly Clarion, January 17, 1877 http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016926/1877-01-17/ed-1/seq-1/
Mr. Clifton called up the bill making an appropriation to pay Eli Whitney $4260 for guns purchased before war; Mr. Watkins moved to re-commit the bill; carried. Adjourned.
The daily morning journal and courier, July 16, 1903
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020358/1903-07-16/ed-1/seq-3/
William Talbot
Word has been received in this city of the death of William Talbot at Birmingham England. At the beginning of the Civil War he was with the Colts Fire Arms Company in Hartford and afterwards came to New Haven, entering the employ of Eli Whitney Gun company. About four years ago he returned to England. He died June 23 and was nearly eighty-three years of age.
Whitney Arms Company engraving http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ct0106.photos.023838p/
I noticed he had been involved in litigation over the cotton gin. I wonder where where the court records would be? Eli Whitney Whitney Arms Company Cotton Gin Social Studies/History
Edited
Ruth Ferris
, you always go above and beyond the call of mentor duty! Chronicling America searches often result in some of the best information, but for me, they are also among the most difficult.
I think I may have to buy a copy of Simon Winchester's book, not only to read it, but to peruse his source lists regarding Eli Whitney's gun fiasco. The Connecticut History website's page on "Connecticut Arms the Union" presents a view of Eli Whitney's role in providing guns to the Union in a decidedly more positive light:
"While his initial production methods may have been slower than he anticipated, Whitney’s real contribution to the industry came in his devotion to the use of interchangeable parts."
If Winchester's research is correct, devotion would hardly be an accurate word to describe Whitney's role in manufacturing interchangeable parts!
Mary Johnson
Thank you for your kind words. A few years ago when I started doing some free-lance writing for the Montana Historical Society I needed to use Chronicling America for the piece. At that time it wasn't overly user friendly. In frustration I called Martha Kohl 
Martha Kohl
at MHS and asked her if she had or knew of any tutorials for Chronicling America.
Her response makes me laugh now, but not so much then. Ruth, that's a really great idea would you please create one. So I did. Chronicling America has continued to change and is much more user friendly than it once was. The librarians who work with the project do amazing work.
In reality, the Springfield Armory was the first place in history to make interchangeable parts actually work and not till the 1840s. Precision manufacturing became possible. See our web site on the Forge of Innovation. The Armory is part of the National Park Service. Come visit!
There is a museum to Eli Whitney in New Haven. His later financial success allowed him (?) or someone to rehabilitate his reputation regarding interchangeable parts.
- Rich
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