GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -Interchangeable parts, popularized in America when Eli Whitney used them to assemble muskets in the first years of the 19th century, allowed relatively unskilled workers to produce large numbers of weapons quickly and at lower cost, and made repair and replacement of parts infinitely easier.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1798 Eli Whitney built a firearms factory near New Haven. The muskets his workmen made by methods comparable to those of modern mass industrial production were the first to have standardized, interchangeable parts.

Detailed explanation-3: -The idea of interchangeability goes back to Gutenberg’s invention of precision type. Clock-makers had started making certain parts interchangeable in the 18th century. And Americans like to credit Eli Whitney with inventing the idea in 1803 to make muskets.