The American Inventions That Revolutionized

Manufacturing

• Invented by Eli Whitney

• Patented in 1794

• Removed the seeds from cotton fiber, dramatically reducing the time it took to produce cotton

• Other inventors and plantation owners produced their own gins, so Whitney turned his attention to other innovations

Cotton Gin

• Concept introduced by Eli Whitney in 1798

• Whitney needed to fulfill an order of 10,000 muskets for the U.S. army

• Rather than making the guns from scratch, Whitney came up with the idea of standardized, interchangeable parts

• Workers could produce high volume at lower costs and in a much more timely manner

• Ability to swap out parts made repairs much more efficient

Interchangeable Parts

• Patented by Alexander Graham Bell on February 14, 1876

• Bell was working on a device to help the hearing impaired

• Many other inventors were working on similar devices

• Elisa Gray filed a patent just two hours after Bell

• Allowed shops to take orders over the phone (instead of by mail), which led to a boon for efficiency, productivity and, ultimately, profitability

The Telephone

• Introduced 1908-1913 by Henry Ford

• Created to keep up with demand for the Model T car

• Used conveyor belts to move parts down the line with 140 workers completing one simple task at a time

• Car production time dropped from 12 hours to less than 3 hours and car prices reduced by $300

• Significantly altered American manufacturing and gave rise to the modern automotive industry

The Moving Assembly Line

• Thomas Edison’s most well-known invention

• Made use of a carbonized cotton thread filament

• Edison’s company worked towards perfecting the electrical light bulb and providing electricity in American homes

• Enabled manufacturers to work longer days and even into the night, which increased production capacity exponentially

Electric Light Bulb

• In the 1950s, computer scientist Patrick Hanratty developed the first commercial CNC programming system called PRONTO

• By 1963, a PhD candidate from MIT named Ivan Sutherland created Sketchpad, which is considered one of the first computer aided design (CAD) programs

• CAD set the foundation for modern engineering designs and continues to influence how engineers mock-up their products

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

• In 1959, American inventor George Devol introduced the first industrial robot – the Unimate

• The Unimate was originally intended to perform work that was dangerous for humans

• The first Unimate prototype was placed on a GM assembly line in Trenton, New Jersey

• A new, advanced Unimate became the first mass-produced robotic arm for factory automation

• Today, automation and robotics are prevalent in manufacturing facilities throughout the country

Industrial Robots

• In 1986, American engineer Charles Hull patented the very first 3D printer, the stereolithography (SLA)

• 3D printing has evolved, and it has helped transform the manufacturing industry along with it

• As 3D technologies become more affordable and accessible, it will very likely lead to more American innovations

3D Printing