Daguerreotype portrait of inventor Elias Howe , circa 1850 , alongside his sewing machine patent drawing , 1846 .
National Archives and Records Administration
Massachusetts headquarters . Its employees then assembled each final product by hand . In 1852 , Singer and Clark moved their business to New York City . Since neither man was particularly interested in becoming a manufacturing expert , they continued to contract with various job shops to make their machines ’ parts . Clark kept busy defending Singer ’ s patent ; Singer was more interested in expanding his increasingly successful marketing and advertising programs .
Unlike the aforementioned competitors , Singer did not see the need to purchase specialized manufacturing tools , jigs and lathes , or to produce machines from interchangeable parts . Nevertheless , by offering the opportunity to pay for his sewing machines over time , and by sending women across the country to demonstrate how to use them , his company achieved considerable success . In 1858 , it moved to a larger building and added more general-purpose machine tools ; its employees still made their products by hand .
In 1863 , Singer Manufacturing hired Lebbeus B . Miller , an experienced mechanic who had worked at the Manhattan Firearms Company and become familiar with the ASM . Over the next 17 years , the company built its own specialized machine tools , jigs and lathes ; then it finally began producing sewing machines from interchangeable parts . Sales reached 500,000 in 1880 ; that figure seemed more related to the company ’ s aggressive and expensive sales and marketing programs than to its eventual adoption of the ASM .
The Crystal Palace … and Beyond
Manufacturers around the world first became aware of American companies ’ use of the ASM while evaluating many of their exhibits at the Crystal Palace exhibition held in London in 1851 . The British government sent several observers to the United States to examine the use of those techniques . In 1856 , it contracted with the aforementioned Robbins & Lawrence Co . to use the ASM to manufacture 25,000 Pattern 1853 Enfield rifles . In 1868 , the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield purchased an assortment of specialized manufacturing machinery from that Vermont-based firm .
American companies continued showcasing increasingly complex products at international expositions throughout the mid- to late-1800s . Their increased use of mechanization enabled them to engage in the mass production of an increasing variety of both industrial and consumer products . International companies attempting to copy the techniques
of American manufacturers were not able to prevent this country from evolving into the world ’ s largest manufacturing force well into the 20th century .
Michael A . Martorelli is a Director Emeritus at Fairmount Partners in West Conshohocken , PA , and a frequent contributor to Financial History . He received his MA in History from American Military University .
Sources
Hindle , Brooke and Steven Lubar , eds . Engines of Change : The American Industrial Revolution 1790 – 1860 . Washington , DC : Smithsonian Institution Press . 1986 .
Hounshell , David A . From the American System to Mass Production , 1800 – 1932 . Baltimore , MD : The Johns Hopkins University Press . 1991 .
Mayr , Otto and Robert C . Post , eds . Yankee Enterprise : The Rise of the American System of Manufactures . Washington , DC : Smithsonian Institution Press . 1981 .
Smith , Merritt Roe . “ John H . Hall , Simeon North , and the Milling Machine : The Nature of Innovation Among Antebellum Arms Makers .” Technology and Culture , Vol . 14 , No . 4 . October 1973 .
www . MoAF . org | Fall 2023 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 41