Interchangeable parts who invented

Henry Ford innovated mass-production techniques that became standard, and Ford, The Model T, sold by the Ford Motor Company from to , was the earliest effort to make a car that most people could actually buy. Modern cars were first built in in Germany by Karl Benz, and the first American cars in Springfield, Massachusetts in by Charles The internet got its start in the United States more than 50 years ago as a government weapon in the Cold War.

For years, scientists and By the s, technology had evolved to the point that individuals—mostly hobbyists and electronics buffs—could Developed in the s and s by Samuel Morse and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.

In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Samuel Morse Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Preindustrial Gunmaking Gunmaking was considered an extremely skilled craft in the 18th century, and firearms, including pistols and muskets, were all constructed by hand. Recommended for you. However, after his death a political posse formed between proponents and opponents with documents and demonstrations against counter-documents and counter-demonstrations about the interchangeability of parts.

Eventually the opponents won, the production of interchangeable parts stopped, and France lost the knowledge of interchangeable parts — and even forgot that they ever knew they had it. By coincidence, however, a new US ambassador to France Thomas Jefferson better known nowadays as the third president of the USA was able to witness the demonstration by Le Blanc in Jefferson brought the idea and samples back to the USA, and promoted interchangeability there.

Eventually, the young nation established two armories, one in Springfield, Massachusetts, and one in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. One of their goals, besides having a reliable supply of weapons, was to establish interchangeability of parts. The two armories differed enormously. While Springfield pushed for organization and structure, Harpers Ferry was a hotbed of corruption and waste. Yet, it was in Harpers Ferry that the US produced their first interchangeable locks.

Gunmaker, inventor, and proponent of interchangeability John Hancock Hall — was sent to Harpers Ferry to set up a workshop, independent from the rest of the armory. Hence, Hall not only had to solve the myriad of technical details of interchangeability, but also fight against the Harpers Ferry superintendent, who tried to hinder and hamper this outsider whenever he could.

Hall had constant problems getting men, material, machines, or even a workshop large enough to set them all up. Hall realized that interchangeability was all about precision. He achieved this interchangeability with the help of gauges, using a total of 63 gauges to verify the tolerances of the components of a lock. He also invented new measurement techniques, and created new and sturdier machines to reduce vibration. He also improved the new technology of milling.

By the parts for his locks were completely interchangeable. The next step was interchangeability across different workshops. This he achieved together with fellow gunsmith Simeon North whose th anniversary of his birth, July 13, , is coming up in five days. Eventually, Springfield Armory also achieved interchangeability, but only in By the way, you may have heard about interchangeability being invented by Eli Whitney — However, he was much better with words than with metal.

Instead, he only took the locks out of the wooden gun stock and placed them in another wooden gun stock. With no moving parts, this had a much looser tolerance. Additionally, Whitney used only ten carefully selected gun stocks that had been specially adjusted to fit all ten locks. Detailed analysis of existing Whitney muskets definitely prove that there was no interchangeability of the locks themselves. R about his lack of interchangeability. He also was 10 years late in delivering his 10, guns.

And, while I am at it, he did not invent the milling machine either. He did invent a small improvement to the cotton gin, although even this is contested see below for a selection of my sources.

In any case, the idea of interchangeability was now firmly set in American gun manufacturing. Additionally, hundreds of machinists and technicians working for the armories eventually moved to other industries and brought their knowledge with them.

Many of the new complex products benefited from the experience of the armories, including typewriters, sewing machines, bicycles, and eventually the automobile. However, even then it took time.

For example, famous sewing machine maker Singer did not achieve interchangeability until around Similarly, as late as most automobile parts were still not interchangeable. These new vehicles were tested on a racetrack and then completely disassembled. The many high-precision parts were then mixed, and three vehicles were assembled again. They not only successfully completed another mile test, but one of the vehicles even won a subsequent mile reliability test.

What nowadays would be standard in interchangeability was in an outstanding achievement. Hence, the idea of interchangeability that we take for granted nowadays was a long and winding road. Many inventors and supporters were needed to establish the idea and to bring it into the market.

Most of them were idealists, and Le Blanc, Hall, and North all died poor or without significant wealth. Nevertheless, without their contributions, our modern world would look quite different. Hence, remember them when you go out and organize your industry! PS : If you would like to read more about the history of manufacturing, then check out my book:.

Roser, Christoph, Productivity Press. Whitney spent a week making special tools and then had it working perfectly. While in New Haven, the six foot Whitney made numerous friends among his teachers and the community. For relaxation, he walked the area visiting them, observing the workmen and talking with the owners.

Upon graduation in , Whitney needed money to repay his father and time to prepare for the bar exam. A tutoring position was found for him in the South, but it never materialized. Instead, he found himself at Mulberry Grove, a plantation near Savannah, Georgia, owned by Catherine Greene, the widow of General Nathanael Greene, and managed by Phineas Miller, a Yale graduate and former tutor of the Greene children. Here Whitney invented the cotton gin that separated seeds from short-staple cotton.

The invention solved an economic problem for the south by making the crop worth the effort to grow it for the textile market in New England. Whitney and Miller formed a partnership and in June , Whitney returned to New Haven to take out his patent and to begin manufacturing the gins.

The cotton gin did not bring the partners the expected fortune, however. A patent was obtained but the problems of getting the gins into production allowed competing gin makers to beat him to the planters. His factory was located at the corner of Wooster and Chestnut Streets; here he improvised his own equipment and trained his workers.

Whitney intended that the workers would each work on one part of the gin; the parts would be assembled to complete the whole. Often he would lose men because they were not happy working on the separate parts, but as craftsmen were used to involvement with the entire product; others migrated westward to find new opportunities for their skills. Whitney was in a race with time to get the gins on the market. But during the summer of , epidemics of scarlet and yellow fever swept New Haven with dying in the city, forcing Whitney to close the shop; workmen were scarce.

A year later, , while Whitney was away from the shop, the men, taking advantage of the easy working atmosphere, went out for a late breakfast. A fire broke out which destroyed all but a new building in the back. Whitney rebuilt. In his new shop, he had each worker make only one part of the gin—a crank, a spindle, a wheel, etc. If all the parts were similar, the gins could be assembled faster. Whitney wanted to make all his gins alike according to his single plan. From his experience of watching clock makers, he knew that if the gears were identical you could exchange them and, with the proper machines, the parts could be made faster.

Any part can be used in any gin. They fit into any pocket. But the inventor had no water power for his machines on Wooster Street. The contested patent fight would last until , involving about 60 lawsuits. However, the time and money spent on the suits meant little profit on the invention. By the late s, Whitney began to search for a new business in which he could use his abilities and make money. One institution that might risk money on his ideas was the U.

The government had made other arrangements, but it was in need of muskets. The government at that time was contracting with private arms makers to supply it with muskets. Threat of war with France in seemed near, and importation of muskets from Europe stopped as those nations prepared for war. The government had established a federal armory at Springfield in , but by it had only made 7, muskets.

Thereafter, with improved machinery, only 9 man days instead of 21 would be needed to produce the weapon; and by , 4, were made yearly. Gun making was a complex craft; the gun was a precision instrument whose making was the work of a single highly skilled craftsman. The gunsmith fashioned each part and assembled the gun, which was a distinctive hand-crafted object. The number of guns produced depended upon the number of craftsmen available.

Because of its need for weapons, the government had to let private contractors help meet the demand. The near bankrupt Whitney saw an opportunity to apply his idea of using identical parts to gun making and to do it with secure government money through a contract. Yet two years passed without the delivery of even one musket. Instead, Whitney spent the time building and equipping his factory at Mill Rock about two miles outside of New Haven.

The summer after he signed the contract, he visited the Springfield armory and noted that the water supply was a distance from the factory. He bought a house from Captain Daniel Talmage into which he moved, and also property that included a barn and a blacksmith shop. Winter snows delayed work and the shipments of materials, but by May of , his main factory building was completed and the waterworks nearly ready.