Inventor Eli Whitney was born in 1765 in Westboro, Mass. He graduated from college in 1792.

As a boy, he spent most of his time in his father’s workshop, where he developed his natural ability for creating tools and fulfilling ideas.

On a trip to the South, Whitney met a plantation owner who told him that cotton-cleaning was very labor intensive.

After observing the problems, Whitney developed his first cotton gin. The idea took off, and soon production of cotton gin machinery started. With his management skills and toolmaking ability, Whitney made a fortune.

About this same time, he became aware of the demand for firearms, which started a new industry. Upon studying how gun parts were made by hand, Whitney realized the problems this created. First was the time element, and second, the problem of parts for repairs. Each part had to be made by hand again, and it would fit only the one gun for which the part was crafted.

Whitney made a new production tool that we now know as a milling machine. This made mass production possible, which saved time and allowed for standardized parts that would fit any of the newly produced firearms.

He set in motion a factory and turned operations over to his trained employees.

At age 49, Whitney married Henrietta Edwards, and they had four children. With his factories running smoothly, he could spend more time with his family.

Whitney died in 1925 at the age of 59. His gun-making factories continued to operate until the late 1880s, producing fine match rifles.

Recently, a friend gave me one of his very fine .22 single-shot target rifles – one of 500 produced in the 1880s.

Harold Harton is a veteran outdoorsman and photographer, and a longtime contributor to the Lampasas.Dispatch Record.

This .22 single-shot target rifle was one of 500 produced in the 1880s by Eli Whitney’s manufacturing company. PHOTOS BY HAROLD HARTON