Two men at Whitney's Distillery drinking moonshine in front of a cotton gin removing seeds for the still. . .

"You know, Eli, maybe someday they'll find a use for this white fluffy stuff."

Eli Whitney's (1765 - 1825)cotton gin was one of the great inventions of the 19th century. He went on to develop the modern system of manufacturing using interchangeable parts in the United States. This came to be known as the "American system of manufacturing" even though the original idea came from the French gunsmith Honore Le Blanc.