Textbook Excerpt:

Question

Whitney wanted to speed up the making of guns by having machines manufacture each part. All machine-made parts would be alike-for example, one trigger would be identical to another. Identical parts would fit together with all other parts, and gunsmiths would not have to build each gun from scratch. Interchangeable parts would save time and money.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Based on this excerpt from the text, in what 2 ways would interchangeable parts best help businesses?
(2 points)

Customers had to wait longer to obtain the new parts made by machines.

Parts made by machines could be made more cheaply.

Businesses' costs could increase to pay for the machinery.

Machines could quickly manufacture parts that were previously made more slowly by hand.

Answer 1

The correct answer is:
1. Parts made by machines could be made more cheaply.
2. Machines could quickly manufacture parts that were previously made more slowly by hand.