Who Invented Interchangeable Parts?

If you still think it was Eli Whitney, we need to talk.

If you think Henry Ford was a genius, but you're also pretty sure he didn't come up with mass production all by himself, you're onto something.

If you've never heard of the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, and if you don't know the story of how a gun shop in Vermont helped found a major industry and then later helped determine the course of the American Civil War…stay with me.

My goal, in this posting and the ones to follow, is to explore the people, the innovations, the inspiration and perspiration that led to interchangeable parts, mass production, and, essentially, the culture of abundance that we know today.

So here we go. Before the Industrial Revolution, mechanical devices had been hand crafted, one at a time, by skilled artisans. Then, in the mid-1700s, entrepreneurs brought workers together into factories. New machinery and the division of labor created efficiency, but metal parts still had to be hand filed and shaped to fit together.

What happened next? In Europe and America, metal workers began to invent and improve upon machines that could cut metal accurately and consistently. At the same time, military leaders began to push for guns made of interchangeable parts-to make gun repair easier on the battlefield, and to make factory production faster and more efficient.

Of course there were some key figures:

• In 1794, at age 21, David Wilkinson of Rhode Island produced a remarkable new lathe, with a slide rest that could produce far more accurate work than previous lathes.
• In 1800 in England, Henry Maudslay developed a lathe that became a standard design for metal cutting.
• In 1816, in Connecticut, Simeon North developed a milling machine that-along with the Wilkinson lathe-allowed him to produce 20,000 pistols and then 5,000 rifles with interchangeable parts.
• In 1819, Thomas Blanchard patented a lathe that could make irregularly shaped wooden parts, for making gunstocks.
• The two U.S. federal armories brought together machinists and gunmakers who developed a system for producing interchangeable parts, using gauges and metal cutting machines.
• In the 1840s and '50s, the Robbins & Lawrence Armory in Windsor, Vermont, became a center for excellence, perfecting the tools and techniques.
• Machine developers moved around from one shop to another. They traded ideas and gradually improved the machines. The Springfield Armory adopted Simeon North's tools and methods. A milling machine developed at the Springfield Armory was improved upon in Windsor. Around 1840, a watchmaker toured the Springfield Armory and made up his mind to make pocket watches using the same techniques. Gunmaking machinery was soon adapted to making sewing machines and-after the Civil War-bicycles.

And so the "invention" of interchangeable parts was actually a collaborative, sustained process that took place over more than a generation, between 1790 and 1840. Yes, Eli Whitney played a role, but he did not produce guns with truly interchangeable parts for his famous first gun contract. And of course Henry Ford wasn't even born until 1863. Long before then, new tools and techniques had brought about a radical change in the way things were made in American factories.

Next time: The most important factory you never heard of (until today).

Editor's Note: This post was provided by the American Precision Museum. Read the introductory post about the museum.

Many early machine tools can be viewed at the American Precision Museum.

View biographies of some of the key figures here: http://www.americanprecision.org/exhibits/machine-tool-hall-of-fame

Visit the Springfield Armory's educational web site: http://www.forgeofinnovation.org/

Picture Credits: Clock Gears and Rifling Machine (Harper's Weekly, Sept. 21, 1861), courtesy of the American Precision Museum