Editing Eli Whitney (section)

===Interchangeable parts===
{{more citations needed|section|date=December 2019}}
{{main|Interchangeable parts}}
[[File:Eli Whitney's first contract as a gunfounder signed by Oliver Ellsworth 1786.jpg|thumb|upright|First contract of Eli Whitney as a firearms manufacturer, 1798. Signed by [[Oliver Wolcott Jr.]], [[Secretary of the Treasury]].]]
Eli Whitney has often been incorrectly credited with inventing the idea of interchangeable parts, which he championed for years as a maker of [[musket]]s; however, the idea predated Whitney, and Whitney's role in it was one of promotion and popularizing, not invention.<ref name="Bryson">{{cite book|last1=Bryson|first1=Bill|title=At Home: A Short History of Private Life|date=2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780767919395|page=[https://archive.org/details/athomeshorthisto00bill/page/412 412]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/athomeshorthisto00bill/page/412}}</ref> Successful implementation of the idea eluded Whitney until near the end of his life, occurring first in others' armories.

Attempts at interchangeability of parts can be traced back as far as the [[Punic Wars]] through both archaeological remains of boats now in Museo Archeologico Baglio Anselmi and contemporary written accounts.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}} In modern times the idea developed over decades among many people. An early leader was [[Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval]], an 18th-century French [[artillery|artillerist]] who created a fair amount of [[standardization]] of artillery pieces, although not true interchangeability of parts. He inspired others, including [[Honoré Blanc]] and [[Louis de Tousard]], to work further on the idea, and on shoulder weapons as well as artillery. In the 19th century these efforts produced the "armory system," or [[American system of manufacturing]]. Certain other New Englanders, including [[Captain John H. Hall]] and [[Simeon North]], arrived at successful interchangeability before Whitney's armory did. The Whitney armory finally succeeded not long after his death in 1825.

The motives behind Whitney's acceptance of a contract to manufacture muskets in 1798 were mostly monetary. By the late 1790s, Whitney was on the verge of bankruptcy and the cotton gin litigation had left him deeply in [[debt]]. His [[New Haven]] cotton gin factory had burned to the ground, and litigation sapped his remaining resources. The [[French Revolution]] had ignited new conflicts between Great Britain, France, and the United States. The new American government, realizing the need to prepare for war, began to rearm. The [[United States Department of War|War Department]] issued contracts for the manufacture of 10,000 muskets. Whitney, who had never made a gun in his life, obtained a contract in January 1798 to deliver 10,000 to 15,000 muskets in 1800. He had not mentioned interchangeable parts at that time.  Ten months later, the Treasury Secretary, [[Oliver Wolcott Jr.]], sent him a "foreign pamphlet on arms manufacturing techniques," possibly one of Honoré Blanc's reports, after which Whitney first began to talk about interchangeability.

[[File:Eli Whitney Gun Factory William Giles Munson 1827.jpg|thumb|250px|Whitney's gun factory in 1827]]
In May 1798, Congress voted for legislation that would use 800,000 dollars  in order to pay for small arms and cannons in case war with France erupted. It offered a 5,000 dollar incentive with an additional 5,000 dollars once that money was exhausted for the person that was able to accurately produce arms for the government. Because the cotton gin had not brought Whitney the rewards he believed it promised, he accepted the offer. Although the contract was for one year, Whitney did not deliver the arms until 1809, using multiple excuses for the delay. Recently, historians have found that during 1801–1806, Whitney took the money and headed into South Carolina in order to profit from the cotton gin.<ref name="Baida1987"/>

Although Whitney's demonstration of 1801 appeared to show the feasibility of creating interchangeable parts, [[Merritt Roe Smith]] concludes that it was "staged" and "duped government authorities" into believing that he had been successful. The charade gained him time and resources toward achieving that goal.<ref name="Baida1987"/>

When the government complained that Whitney's price per musket compared unfavorably with those produced in government armories, he was able to calculate an actual price per musket by including [[fixed cost]]s such as insurance and [[machinery]], which the government had not accounted for. He thus made early contributions to both the concepts of [[cost accounting]], and [[efficiency (economics)|economic efficiency]] in manufacturing.