Interchangeable Parts
Another innovator of change was Eli Whitney, an American inventor who hailed from New England. Whitney was able to secure a contract with the American government in 1796 to produce over ten thousand guns in as little as two years. Ordinarily, such a project during this time would require a gun maker to produce one gun at a time; however, Whitney realized that if all gun parts were made the same way, the production would take less time.
Although Whitney did not finish his job on time, his rationale led to the concept of interchangeable parts, or the idea that all parts are made exactly the same. By 1824, the United States had adopted the practice of using interchangeable parts. The change led to a faster system of gun production, and the same standards flowed over into other venues of production as well.