The US Army ’ s experience in the War of 1812 showed the newly created Ordnance Department that armories spent more time repairing poorly made weapons than in making new ones . When in 1813 the War Department issued North a contract to make 20,000 pistols , it inserted a provision charging him with making them with interchangeable parts . Two years later , superintendents from both the Springfield and Harper ’ s Ferry armories confirmed that he was quite capable of carrying out the contract , thanks largely to the efficiency of the milling machine , patterns and gauges he began using that year . North had the right idea . But it seems he only produced a few hundred pistols with interchangeable parts before the War Department changed the specifications of that product .
In 1819 , Secretary of War John C . Calhoun signed a contract with another private gunsmith named John H . Hall to make 1,000 copies of a smoothbore , breech-loading rifle of his own design . After visiting North ’ s factory , Hall determined he could use an assortment of dies , molds and gauges to make the firing mechanisms of his M1819 rifle out of interchangeable parts . His metal-cutting engines performed work previously done with grindstones , chisels and hand files . Using them enabled him to employ unskilled men to operate each one sequentially to produce a completed product .
By 1827 , while working in a building on the grounds of the Harper ’ s Ferry armory , Hall was able to show yet another set of federal inspectors that he could indeed produce copies of his rifle with interchangeable operating mechanisms . Moreover , he also developed a set of specialized lathes to make gunstocks that required only minimal hand working before fitting with the rifle ’ s metal firelock . His breechloader proved to be such a superior weapon that during the next quarter century the War Department contracted with both Hall and North to make more than 37,000 copies of it .
Throughout the 1840s and 1850s , North and Hall continued to improve on their initial efforts to use specialized machinery to make small firearms with interchangeable parts . At the same time , the superintendents at both the Springfield and Harper ’ s Ferry armories and their armorers and mechanics made their own contributions to the more efficient use of machines , lathes , filing jigs and gauges to achieve that end . Over time , many skilled workers left those armories to take positions at private gun manufacturers such as Robbins & Lawrence , Burnside Rifle Company and Whitney Arms . Those firms used specialized machinery to make their own patented versions of various firearms with interchangeable parts . They made them under contract for the federal government , various states and private purchasers . Incorporating the essential elements of the ASM enabled the federal armories and more than 32 private contractors to produce upwards of one million weapons for the Union Army during the American Civil War .
Sewing Machines
The story of the sewing machine provides a good illustration of the way the elements of the ASM became diffused across the economy as they were adopted by creative inventors . Over the period 1853 to 1880 , three manufacturers applied different versions of the ASM to produce industryleading quantities of one of the first laborsaving machines available to the typical American homemaker .
On the cusp of the 19th century , the proliferation of fabrics that women could sew into clothing sparked the imagination of inventors and mechanics who realized the potential benefits of a machine that could accomplish that task . The lack of imported clothing from England and France during the period the Embargo Act of 1807 was in force also contributed to the urge to produce more Americanmade clothing .
Between 1800 and 1840 , more than a dozen inventors in both the United States and Europe had some partial successes in making a sewing machine . But none could perfect their invention or commercialize it . In 1845 , a machinist named Elias Howe began demonstrating a machine that could successfully sew all the seams of two woolen men ’ s suits . Much to his dismay , however , Howe spent the next three years trying unsuccessfully to convince any manufacturer to produce his invention under a suitable licensing agreement . In 1849 , he returned home from an unsuccessful trip to interest European manufacturers only to find that dozens of competitors were producing their own versions of his patented sewing machine .
After winning several patent infringement suits , in 1853 he began granting royalty licenses to half a dozen manufacturers . One of them , the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company , soon became the largest producer of this new consumer product .
Like most of Howe ’ s licensees , Wheeler and Wilson began building its sewing machines by hand . It produced more than 2,700 machines in its first three years . In 1856 , the company moved to a larger location in Bridgeport , Connecticut and hired three machinists with manufacturing experience at firearms companies using the ASM . They introduced a variety of gauges , fixtures and jigs capable of making each machine from interchangeable parts ; only the needle still required the handiwork of skilled workers . Wheeler and Wilson manufactured almost 4,600 sewing machines in 1857 . The company ’ s annual production peaked at more than 174,000 in 1872 .
In 1858 , the founders of the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company obtained a patent for their own version of a sewing machine with a different type of lock stitch . They chose to not produce all the machine ’ s parts themselves , but to contract the work out to an experienced manufacturer . They picked the Providence , Rhode Island-based J . R . Brown & Sharpe , a firm that was interested in expanding its watch and clock-making business . Joseph Brown and Lucian Sharpe decided to use the ASM to produce this product . But doing so was not as easy or straightforward as they expected . Hiring an experienced mechanic from the ASM-using Robbins & Lawrence firearms maker helped the firm acquire the right type of specialized tools , fixtures and gauges , and then use them to produce machines made with interchangeable parts . Production peaked at 30,000 per year in 1871 , just about the time yet another sewing machine manufacturer began to use some innovative and aggressive sales and marketing tactics to expand its already solid position in the industry .
Mechanic and inventor Isaac Merrit Singer patented his own version of a sewing machine in 1851 . He entered partnerships with lawyer Edward Clark ( for financing ) and contract manufacturer Owen C . Phelps ( for manufacturing ). Phelps & Co . operated by purchasing the major components of the products it made from other job shops near its Boston ,
40 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Fall 2023 | www . MoAF . org