Interchangeable PartsCarlos Pérez

11 “A”

What are interchangeable parts?

• The concept behind interchangeable parts lies in creating nearly identical parts that can be easily mass produced, and if necessary, replaced. These parts are then fitted together to create various products like firearms, furniture, clocks, and a host of other complex objects.

Interchangeable Parts Origin• It is next to impossible to point the exact origin of

interchangeable parts. The truth is they were a product of the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, machines took over most of the manufacturing work from men, and factories replaced craftsmen’s workshops. The event that laid the groundwork for this monumental change was the introduction of interchangeable parts, that were for all practical purposes identical, into the firearms industry.

Eli Whitney

• Interchangeable parts, popularized in America when Eli Whitney used them to assemble muskets in the first years of the 19th century, Whitney proved to be an effective businessman and manager, he allowed relatively unskilled workers to produce large numbers of weapons quickly and at lower cost, and made repair and replacement of parts infinitely easier.

The Impact of Interchangeable Parts

• The Interchangeable parts divided labor efficiently among his largely unskilled work force and building precision equipment that enabled the production of large numbers of identical parts quickly and at a relatively low cost.