"Man is a Tool-using Animal. Weak in himself, and of
small stature, he stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-
soled, of some half -square foot, insecurely enough; has to
straddle out his legs, lest the very wind supplant him. Feeblest
of bipeds ! Three quintals are a crushing load for him ; the steer
of the meadow tosses him aloft, like a waste rag. Nevertheless
he can use Tools, can devise Tools: with these the granite
mountain melts into light dust before him; seas are his smooth
highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds. Nowhere do
you find him without Tools; without Tools he is nothing, with
Tools he is all."
Carlyle: "Sartor Resartus," Chap. IV.
The purpose of this book is to bring out the impor-
tance of the work and influence of the great tool build-
ers. Few realize that their art is fundamental to all
modern industrial arts. Without machine tools modern
machinery could not be built. Little is known by the
general public as to who the great tool builders were,
and less is known of their lives and work.
History takes good care of soldiers, statesmen and
authors. It is even kind to engineers like Watt, Fulton
and Stephenson, who have conspicuously and directly
affected society at large. But little is known, even
among mechanics, of the men whose work was mainly
within the engineering profession, and who served
other engineers rather than the general public. The
lives and the personalities of men like Maudslay,
Nasmyth and Eli Whitney, can hardly fail of interest
to the mechanic of today. They were busy men and
modest, whose records are mainly in iron and steel, and
in mechanical devices which are used daily with little
thought of their origin.
In following the history of English and American
tool builders, the query arises as to whether there might
not have been important contributions to tool building
from other countries. Others have contributed to some
degree, but practically all of the creative work in tool
building has been done in these two countries. Although
the French were pioneers in many mechanical improve-
ments, they have always shown an aptitude for refine-
ments and ingenious novelties rather than for com-
mercial production on a large scale. They have
influenced other nations more through their ideas than
through their machinery. The Swiss are clever arti-
sans, particularly in fine work, but they have excelled
in personal skill, operating on a small scale, rather
than in manufacturing, Germany has, under the
Empire, developed splendid mechanics, but the princi-
pal machine tools had taken shape before 1870, when
the Empire began. The history of English and Ameri-
can tool building, therefore, covers substantially the
entire history of the art.
Almost the only book upon tool builders and their
work is Samuel Smiles' "Industrial Biography," which
is out of print and little known. It is an admirable and
interesting book, and a mine of information upon the
English tool builders down to about 1850. The writer
has used it freely and would urge those who are inter-
ested in the subject to go to it for further information
on the early mechanics. It was written, however, over
fifty years ago and contains nothing about modern
developments or about the American tool builders who
have contributed so much.
The writer has tried to trace the origin and rise of
tool building in America and to give something of its
spread in recent years. The industrial life of the
United States is so vast that a comiDrehensive history
of even a single industry, such as tool building, would
therefore, is confined to the main lines of influence in
tool building and to the personalities and cities which
have been most closely identified mth it. The later
history of American tool building has never been
written. For this the writer has had to rely largely
upon personal information from those who are familiar
with it, and who have had a part in it.
Part of the material contained in this book has
appeared from time to time in the American Machinist,
and the writer would acknowledge his indebtedness
most of all to Mr. L. P. Alford, the editor of that jour-
nal. His help and counsel have given these pages much
of such value as they possess. So many have helped
with information, corrections and suggestions that
acknowledgments can be made only to a few. The
Previous to 1569 .... page 37
Fig. 14. French Screw-Cutting Lathe,
about 1740 page 37
Fig. 15. Maudslay 's Screw-Cutting Lathe,
about 1797 Facing page 42
Fig. 16. Maudslay 's Screw-Cutting Lathe,
about 1800 Facing page 42
Fig. 17. French Planing Machine by
Nicholas Forq, 1751 . . . Facing page 50
Fig. 18. Matthew Murray Facing page 58
Fig. 19. Richard Roberts Facing page 58
Fig. 20. Roberts' Planer, Built in 1817 . Facing page 60
Fig. 21. Roberts' Back-Geared Lathe . . Facing page 60
Fig. 22. James Nasmyth Facing page 82
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 23. First Sketch of the Steam Ham-
mer, November 24, 1839 . . Facing page 94
Fig. 24. Model of the First Steam Ham-
mer Facing page 94
Fig. 25. Sir Joseph Whitworth . . . Facing page 102
Fig. 26. Samuel Slater Facing page 122
Fig. 27. Genealogy of the New England
Gun Makers page 139
Fig. 28. The First Milling Machine, Built
by Eli Whitney about 1818 . Facing page 142
Fig. 29. Blanc hard "Gun-Stocking"
Lathe, Built in 1818 for the
Springfield Armory . . . Facing page 142
Fig. 30. Eli Whitney Facing page 152
Fig. 31. Samuel Colt Facing page 164
Fig. 32. The Colt Armory Facing page 168
Fig. 33. Root's Chucking Lathe, about
1855 Facing page 170
Fig. 34. Root's Splining Machine, about
1855 Facing page 170
Fig. 35. Francis A. Pratt Facing page 178
Fig. 36. Amos Whitney Facing page 178
Fig. 37. Genealogy of the Robbins & Law-
rence Shop page 187
Fig. 38. Robbins & Lawrence Armory,
Windsor, Vt Facing page 190
Frederick W. Howe .... Facing page 196
Richard S. Lawrence .... Facing page 196
Joseph R. Brown Facing page 202
First Universal Milling Machine,
1862 Facing page 208
Early Micrometer Calipers . . Facing page 212
Genealogy of the Worcester Tool
Builders page 223
Lucius W. Pond Facing page 228
Salmon W. Putnam .... Facing page 228
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
Fig. 48. Hiram "W. Hayden .... Facing page 232
Fig. 49. Israel Holmes Facing page 232
Fig. 50. Genealogy of the Naugatuck
Brass Industry page 235
Fig. 51. William Sellers Facing page 248
Fig. 52. Coleman Sellers Facing page 252
Fig. 53. William B. Bement .... Facing page 252
Fig. 54. Worcester R. Warner .... Facing page 262
Fig. 55. Ambrose Swasey Facing page 262
Fig. 56. The " Mult-au-matic " Lathe,
1914 Facing page 276
Fig. 57. Machine Tool Building Area of
the United States, 1915 . . page 279
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY TOOL BUHiDERS
Well-informed persons are aware of the part which
machinery in general has had on modem industrial life.
But the profound influence which machine tools have
had in that development is scarcely realized, even by
tool builders themselves.
Three elements came into industrial life during the
latter part of the eighteenth century. First, the devel-
opment of modern banking and the stock company
brought out the small private hoards from their hiding
places, united them, and made them available for indus-
trial undertakings operating on the scale called for by
modern requirements. Second, Watt's development of
the steam engine and its application to the production
of continuous rotative motion gave the requisite source
of power. But neither the steam engine itself nor the
machinery of production was possible until the third ele-
ment, modern machine tools, supplied the means of
working metals accurately and economically.
It is well to glance for a moment at the problems
which were involved in building the first steam engine.
Watt had been working for several years on the steam
engine when the idea of the separate condenser came to
him on that famous Sunday afternoon walk on the Glas-
gow Green, in the spring of 1765, and, to use his own
words, "in the course of one or two days the invention
was thus far (that is, as a pumping engine) complete in
2 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
my mind. ' " He was a skilled instrument maker and his
first small model was fairly successful, but when he under-
took **the practice of mechanics in great," his skill and
all the skill of those about him was incapable of boring
satisfactorily a cylinder 6 inches in diameter and 2 feet
long; and he had finally to resort to one which was
hammered. For ten weary years he struggled to realize
his plans in a full-sized engine, unable to find either the
workmen or the tools which could make it a commercial
success. His chief difficulty lay in keeping the piston
tight. He "wrapped it around with cork, oiled rags,
tow, old hats, paper, and other things, but still there were
open spaces left, sufficient to let the air in and the steam
out.'" Small wonder! for we find him complaining that
in an 18-inch diameter cylinder, ''at the worst place the
long diameter exceeded the short by three-eighths of an
inch." When Smeaton first saw the engine he reported
to the Society of Engineers that ''neither the tools nor
the workmen existed that could manufacture so complex
a machine with sufficient precision.'"
Smeaton himself had designed a boring machine in
1769 for the Carron Iron Works for machining cannon,
an illustration of which is given in Fig. 1.* It consisted
of a head with inserted cutters mounted on a long, light,
overhung boring bar. The work was forced forward on
a rude carriage, as shown. The method of supporting the
cutter head, indicated in the section, shows an ingenious
attempt to obtain a movable support from an inaccurate
tion given in Farey's "Treatise on the Steam Engine."
Figure 1. Smeaton's Boring Machine
Carron Iron Works, 1769
Figure 2. French Lathes of about 1772
THE EARLY TOOL BUILDERS 3
upon the idea, which had escaped both Smeaton and
Watt, of making the boring bar heavier, running it clear
through the cylinder and giving it a fixed support at
the outboard end as shown in Fig. 7. The superiority
of this arrangement was at once manifest, and in 1776
Boulton wrote that **Mr. Wilkinson has bored us several
cylinders almost without error; that of 50 inches diam-
eter, which we have put up at Tipton, does not err the
thickness of an old shilling in any part. ' '^ For a number
of years, Wilkinson cast and bored all the cylinders for
Boulton & Watt.
The importance to Boulton & Watt of the timely aid of
Wilkinson's boring machine can hardly be overestimated.
probably the first metal-working tool capable of doing
large, heavy work with anything like present-day
We hardly realize the crudity of the tools available in
the eighteenth century. In all machinery the principal
members were of wood, as that could be worked by the
hand tools then in use. The fastenings and smaller
parts only were of metal, and consisted of castings and
forgings fitted by hand. There were some lathes of the
very simplest type. Most of them were '^pole" lathes,
operated by a cord reaching from a foot treadle, around
the work itself, and up to a pole or wooden spring
attached to the ceiling. The work rotated alternately
forward and backward, and was caught with a hand tool
each time as it came forward. Two are shown in Fig. 2,
one at the back and one at the left. Only the very best
forms had continuous motion from a direct drive on the
cFarey: "Treatise on the Steam Engine," p. 328. 1827,
e Watt's beautiful parallel motion, invented in 1785, was made necessary
by the fact that there were no planers to machine a crosshead and guides.
Planers were not developed until thirty years later.
4 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
live spindle, as shown at the right of the same figure.
This figure is reproduced from the French Dictionnaire
des Sciences, published in 1772. Such lathes were almost
useless for metal cutting, as they lacked both the neces-
sary power and a holding device strong enough and accu-
rate enough to guide a tool. The slide-rest, while it had
been invented, had not been put into practical form or
come into general use. There were a few rude drilling
and boring machines, but no planing machines, either for
metal or wood. The tool equipment of the machinist,
or ** millwright," as he was called, consisted chiefly of
a hammer, chisel and file. The only measuring devices
were calipers and a wooden rule, with occasional refer-
ence perhaps to "the thickness of an old shilUng," as
above. Hand forging was probably as good as or better
than that of today. Foundry work had come up to at
least the needs of the time. But the appliances for cutting
metal were little better than those of the Middle Ages.
Such was the mechanical equipment in 1775; practi-
cally what it had been for generations. By 1850 it was
substantially that of today. In fact, most of this change
came in one generation, from about 1800 to 1840. Since
that time there have been many improvements and refine-
ments, but the general principles remain little changed.
With so wonderful a transformation in so short a time,
several questions arise almost inevitably: Where did
this development take place, who brought it about, and
why was it so rapid?
The first question is fairly simple. England and
America produced the modern machine tool. In the
period mentioned, England developed most of the gen-
eral machine tools of the present day; the boring ma-
chine, engine lathe, planer, shaper, the steam hammer
and standard taps and dies. Somewhat later, but par-
tially coincident with this, America deYfiloped the special
THE EARLY TOOL BUILDERS 5
machine tool, the drop hammer, automatic lathes, the
widespread commercial use of limit gauges, and the inter-
changeable system of manufacture.
In a generalization such as this, the broad lines of
influence must be given the chief consideration. Some of
the most valuable general tools, such as the universal
miller and the grinder, and parts of the standard tools,
as the apron in the lathe, are of American origin. But,
with all allowances, most of the general machine tools
were developed in England and spread from there
throughout the world either by utilization of their
design or by actual sale. On the other hand, the inter-
changeable system of manufacture, in a well-developed
form, was in operation in England in the manufacture
of ships' blocks at Portsmouth shortly after 1800; and
yet this block-making machinery had been running for
two generations with little or no influence on the general
manufacturing of the country, when England, in 1855,
imported from America the Enfield gun machinery and
adopted what they themselves styled the ''American'*
interchangeable system of gun making.''
The second question as to who brought this change
about is not so simple. It is not easy to assign the credit
of an invention. Mere priority of suggestion or even
of experiment seems hardly sufiicient. Nearly every
great improvement has been invented independently by
a number of men, sometimes almost simultaneously,
but often in widely separated times and places. Of
these, the man who made it a success is usually found
to have united to the element of invention a superior
mechanical skill. He is the one who first embodied the
invention in such proportions and mechanical design as
to make it commercially available, and from him its
permanent influence spreads. The chief credit is due to
» See page 139.
6 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
him because he impressed it on the world. Some exam-
ples may illustrate this point.
Leonardo da Vinci in the fifteenth century anticipated
many of the modern tools. ^ His sketches are fascinating
and show a wonderful and fertile ingenuity, but, while
we wonder, we smile at their proportions. Had not a
later generation of mechanics arisen to re-invent and
re-design these tools, mechanical engineering would still
be as unknown as when he died.
Take the slide-rest. It is clearly shown in the French
encyclopedia of 1772, see Fig. 3, and even in an edition
of 1717. Bramah, Bentham and Brunei, in England, and
Sylvanus Brown,^ in America, are all said to have
invented it. David AVilkinson, of Pawtucket, E. L, was
granted a patent for it in 1798.^° But the invention has
been, and will always be, credited to Henry Maudslay, of
London. It is right that it should be, for he first designed
and built it properly, developed its possibilities, and
made it generally useful. The modem slide-rest is a
lineal descendant from his.
Blanchard was by no means the first to turn irregular
forms on a lathe. The old French rose engine lathe,
shoAvn in Fig. 4, embodied the idea, but Blanchard accom-
plished it in a way more mechanical, of a far ^vider range
of usefulness, and his machine is in general use to this
To the third question as to why this development when
once begun should have been so rapid, there are probably
two answers. First, an entirely new demand for accurate
tools arose during these years, springing from the inven-
tions of Arkwright, "Whitney, "Watt, Fulton, Stephenson
and others. The textile industries, the steam engine,
shown in the ** genealogical' ' table in Fig. 5.
Bramah had a shop in London where, for many years,
he manufactured locks and built hydraulic machinery
and woodworking tools. Maudslay, probably the finest
mechanician of his day, went to work for Bramah when
only eighteen years old and became his foreman in less
than a year. He left after a few years and started in
for himself, later taking Field into partnership, and
Maudslay & Field's became one of the most famous shops
in the world.
Sir Samuel Bentham, who was inspector general of the
British navy, began the design of a set of machines for
manufacturing pulley blocks at the Portsmouth navy
yard. He soon met Marc Isambard Brunei, a brilliant
young Royalist officer, who had been driven out of France
during the Revolution, and had started working on block
machinery through a conversation held at Alexander
Hamilton's dinner table while in America a few years
before. Bentham saw the superiority of Brunei's plans,
substituted them for his own, and commissioned him to
In his search for someone to build the machinery,
Brunei was referred to Maudslay, then just starting in
for himself. Maudslay built the machines, forty-four in
all, and they were a brilliant success. There has been
THE EARLY TOOL BUILDERS 9
considerable controversy as to whether Bentham or
Brunei designed them. "While Maudslay's skill appears
in the practical details, the general scheme was undoubt-
edly Brunei's. In a few of the machines Bentham 's
designs seem to have been used, but he was able enough
and generous enough to set aside most of his own designs
for the better ones of Brunei.
Of the earlier tool builders, Maudslay was the greatest.
He, more than any other, developed the slide-rest and
he laid the basis for the lathe, planer and slotter. His
powerful personality is brought out in Nasmyth's auto-
biography written many years later. Nasmyth was a
young boy, eager, with rare mechanical skill and one
ambition, to go to London and work for the great Mr.
Maudslay. He tells of their meeting, of the interest
aroused in the older man, and of his being taken into
Maudslay's personal office to work beside him. It is a
pleasing picture, the young man and the older one, two
of the best mechanics in all England, working side by
side, equally proud of each other.
Joseph Clement came to London and worked for
Bramah as chief draftsman and as superintendent of
his works. After Bramah 's death he went to Maudslay's
and later went into business for himself. He was an
exquisite draftsman, a fertile inventor, and had a very
important part in the development of the screw-cutting
lathe and planer. Joseph Whitworth, the most influen-
tial tool builder of the nineteenth century, worked for
Maudslay and for Clement and took up their work at the
point where they left off. Under his influence machine
tools were given a strength and precision which they had
never had before. Richard Roberts was another pupil
of Maudslay's whose influence, though important, was
not so great as that of the others.
We have an excellent example of what this succession
10 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
meant. Nasmyth tells of the beautiful set of taps and
dies which Maudslay made for his own use, and that he
standardized the screw-thread practice of his own shop.
Clement carried this further. He established a definite
number of threads per inch for each size, extended the
standardization of threads, and began the regular manu-
facture of dies and taps. He fluted the taps by means of
milling cutters and made them with small shanks, so that
they might drop through the tapped hole. Whitworth,
taking up Clement's work, standardized the screw
threads for all England and brought order out of chaos.
Some account of the growth of machine tools in the
hands of these men mil be given later. Enough has been
said here to show the cumulative effect of their experi-
ence, and its part in the industrial advance of the first
half of the nineteenth century. Similar successions of
American mechanics will be shown later.
Writing from the standpoint of fifty years ago. Smiles
quotes Sir William Fairbairn: " 'The mechanical opera-
tions of the present day could not have been accom-
plished at any cost thirty years ago ; and what was then
considered impossible is now performed mth an exacti-
tude that never fails to accomplish the end in view. * For
this we are mainly indebted to the almost creative power
of modern machine tools, and the facilities which they
present for the production and reproduction of other
"SmOes: "Industrial Biography," p. 399.
WILKINSON AND BRAMAH
In the previous chapter it was stated that John Wil-
kinson, of Bersham, made the steam engine commercially
possible by first boring Watt's cylinders with the degree
of accuracy necessary, and that his boring machine was
probably the first metal-cutting tool capable of doing
large work with anything like modern accuracy.
Although Wilkinson was not primarily a tool builder but
an iron master, this achievement alone is sufficient to
make him interesting to the tool builders of today.
He was born in 1728. His father made his financial
start by manufacturing a crimping iron for ironing the
fancy ruffles of the day. John Wilkinson first started a
blast furnace at Belston and later joined his father in an
iron works the latter had built at Bersham, near Chester.
By developing a method of smelting and puddling iron
with coal instead of wood-charcoal, he obtained an
immense commercial advantage over his rivals and soon
became a powerful factor in the iron industry. Later, he
built other works, notably one at Broseley, near Coal-
brookdale on the Severn.
One of the important branches of his work was the
casting and finishing of cannon. It was in connection
with this that he invented the boring machine referred
to. He bored the first cylinder for Boulton & Watt in
1775. Farey, in his ''History of the Steam Engine,"
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
In the old method, the borer for cutting the metal was not
guided in its progress/ and therefore followed the incorrect
form given to the cylinder in casting it ; it was scarcely insured
that every part of the cylinder should be circular; and there
was no certainty that the cylinder would be straight. This
method was thought sufficient for old engines; but Mr. Watt's
engines required greater precision.
Mr. "Wilkinson's machine, which is now the common boring-
machine, has a straight central bar of great strength, which
occupies the central axis of the cylinder, during the operation
of boring; and the borer, or cutting instrument, is accurately
fitted to slide along this bar, which, being made perfectly
straight, serves as a sort of ruler, to give a rectilinear direction
to the borer in its progress, so as to produce a cylinder equally
straight in the length, and circular in the circumference. This
method insures all the accuracy the subject is capable of ; for if
the cylinder is cast ever so crooked, the machine will bore it
straight and true, provided there is metal enough to form the
required cylinder by cutting away the superfluities.^
Wilkinson's relations with Boulton & Watt became
very intimate. He showed his confidence in the new
engine by ordering the first one built at Soho to blow the
bellows of his iron works at Broseley. Great interest was
felt in the success of this engine. Other iron manufac-
turers suspended their building operations to see what
the engine could do and Watt himself superintended
every detail of its construction and erection. Before it
was finished Boulton wrote to Watt :
Pray tell Mr. "Wilkinson to get a dozen cylinders cast and
bored from 12 to 50 inches in diameter, and as many condensers
of suitable sizes; the latter must be sent here, as we will keep
them ready fitted up, and then an engine can be turned out of
1 See Pig. 1.
2Farey: "Treatise on the Steam Engine," p. 326. 1827.
WILKINSON AND BRAMAH \^^ '''^;'^, ''^
hand in two or three weeks. I have fixed my mind upon making \V^. ^ ^'//
from 12 to 15 reciprocating, and 50 rotative engines per annum.^
This letter is interesting as showing Boulton's clear
grasp of the principles of manufacturing. Later, when
Boulton & Watt were hard pressed financially, Wilkin-
son took a considerable share in their business and when
the rotative engine was developed he ordered the first
one. He consequently has the honor of being the pur-
chaser of the first reciprocating and the first rotary
engine turned out by Watt. Later, when Watt was edu-
cating his son to take up his work, he sent him for a
year to Wilkinson's iron works at Bersham, to learn
Fig. 7, taken from an old encyclopedia of manufactur-
ing and engineering, shows the boring machine used for
boring Watt's steam cylinders.
On two oaken stringers SS, frames FF were mounted
which carried a hollow boring bar A driven from the
end. The cylinder to be bored was clamped to saddles,
as shown. The cutters were carried on a head which
rotated with the bar and was fed along it by means of an
internal feed-rod and rack. In the machine shown the
feeding was done by a weight and lever which actuated
a pinion gearing with the rack R, but later a positive feed,
through a train of gears operated by the main boring-bar,
was used. Two roughing cuts and a finishing cut were
used, and the average feed is given as %6 inch per revo-
lution. While this machine may seem crude, a compari-
son with Smeaton's boring machine, Fig. 1, will show
how great an advance it was over the best which preceded
method of making continuous lead pipe.
He was a man of great ability, strong and masterful.
Boulton wrote of him to Watt :
I can't say but that I admire John Wilkinson for his decisive,
clear, and distinct character, which is, I think, a first-rate one
of its kind.^
There is a note of qualification in the last clause. With
all his admirable qualities Wilkinson was not always
amiable and he was in constant feud with the other
members of his family. He became very wealthy, but his
large estate was dissipated in a famous lawsuit between
Forceful and able as Wilkinson was, another man,
Joseph Bramah, living in London about the same time,
had a much more direct influence on tool building. Bra-
mah was a Yorkshire farmer's boy, born in 1748, and
lame.^° As he could not work on the farm he learned
the cabinet maker's trade, went to London, and, in the
course of his work which took him into the well-to-do
houses about town, he made his first successful inven-
tion — the modern water-closet. He patented it in 1778
and 1783, and it continues to this day in substantially the
8 Smiles: "Industrial Biography," p. 119. Boston, 1864. Also, Beitrage,
etc., 3 Band. S. 226.
9 Smiles: "Boulton & Watt," p. 438. London, 1904.
10 The best account of Bramah is given in Smiles' "Industrial Biog-
raphy," pp. 228-244. Boston, 1864.
Bramah sent for him and Maudslay soon became his
right-hand man, and was made superintendent of the
works at nineteen. The work of these two men in devel-
oping the tools needed laid the foundation for the stand-
ard metal-cutting tools of today. The most important
improvement was the slide-rest. Nasmyth later said that
he had seen the first one, made by Maudslay, running in
Bramah 's shop and that '4n it were all those arrange-
ments which are to be found in the most modern slide-
rest of our own day" (i.e., fifty years later). Other
parts of the metal-cutting lathe also began to take shape ;
it has been said that parts of the lock were milled on a
lathe with rotary cutters, and that the beginnings of the
planer were made. How much of this work was Bramah 's
and how much Maudslay 's it would be hard to say.
Bramah was a fertile, clever inventor ; but Maudslay was
12 Anyone who is interested can find an account of the affair in Price 'a
"Fire and Thief -proof Depositories, and Locks and Keys," published in
1856, and Mr. Hobbs has given his own personal account of it, explaining
how the work was done, in the Trans, of the A. S. M. E., Vol. VT, pp. 248-
18 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
the better general mechanic, had a surer judgment and
a greater influence on subsequent tool design.
About this time Bramah invented the hydraulic press.
As he first built it, the ram was packed with a stuffing-
box and gland. This gripped the ram, retarded the
return stroke, and gave him a lot of trouble until Mauds-
lay substituted the self-tightening cup-leather packing
for the stuffing-box, an improvement which made the
device a success.
Bramah 's restless ingenuity was continually at work.
He invented a very successful beer-pump in 1797, the
four-way cock, a quill sharpener which was in general
use until quills were superseded by steel pens, and he
dabbled with the steam engine. He was a bitter oppo-
nent of Watt and testified against him in the famous suit
of Boulton & Watt against Hornblower. He maintained
the superiority of the old Newcomen engines and said
that the principle of the separate condenser was falla-
cious, that Watt had added nothing new which was not
worthless, and that his so-called improvements were
* * monstrous stupidity. ' '
In 1802 Bramah obtained a patent for woodworking
machinery second only in importance to that granted
Bentham in 1791. Like Bentham, he aimed to replace
manual labor "for producing straight, smooth, and par-
allel surfaces on wood and other materials requiring
truth, in a manner much more expeditious and perfect
than can be performed by the use of axes, saws, planes,
and other cutting instruments used by hand in the ordi-
nary way." His tools were carried in fixed frames and
driven by machinery. In his planing machine, one of
which was running in the Woolwich Arsenal for fifty
years, the cutter-head, which carried twenty-eight tools,
was mounted on a vertical shaft and swept across the
work in a horizontal plane. He used this same method
WILKINSON AND BRAMAH 19
in planing the metal parts for his locks, which corre-
sponds, of course, to our modern face-milling. He pro-
vided for cutting spherical and concave surfaces and
used his device for making wooden bowls.
In 1806 he devised an automatic machine which the
Bank of England used many years in numbering their
banknotes, eliminating error and saving the labor of
Maudslay was in his employ from 1789 to 1797. He
was getting as superintendent 30s. ($7.50) a week. A
growing family and *'the high cost of living" rendered
this insufficient and he applied for more. He was
refused so curtly that he gave up his position and started
in for himself in a small workshop on Oxford Street in
London. Later he took Field in as partner under the
firm name of Maudslay & Field.
In 1813 Bramah engaged another man who later had
a great influence, Joseph Clement. Clement soon became
his chief draftsman and superintendent. Salaries had
gone up somewhat by that time and he had an agree-
ment for five years starting on the basis of three guineas
a week with an advance of four shillings each year. At
Bramah 's death not long after, his sons took charge of
the business, and soon grew jealous of Clement's influ-
ence. By mutual consent the contract was terminated and
he went at once to Maudslay & Field as their chief drafts-
man. Later he, too, set up for himself and had an impor-
tant part in the development of the screw-cutting lathe,
the planer and standard screw threads. Whitworth was
one of his workmen and Clement's work on taps and
dies formed the basis of the Whitworth thread.
Bramah died in 1814, at the age of sixty-six. He was
a man of widely recognized influence, a keen and inde-
pendent thinker, a good talker, and, though it might not
appear from what has been said, a cheery and always
20 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
welcome companion. He left a reputation for absolute
business integrity and the quality of his workmanship
was unrivaled until his later years, when he was equaled
only by those he had himself trained. He gave the world
some great and valuable devices and paved the way for
others. His influence on modern tools can probably
never be accurately judged, but Smiles ' tribute to him is
as true today as when it was written, two generations
From his shops at Pimlico came Henry Maudslay, Joseph
Clement, and many more first-class mechanics, who carried the
mechanical arts to still higher perfection, and gave an impulse
to mechanical engineering the effects of which are still felt in
every branch of industry.^'
Bramah had an invincible dislike for sitting for his
portrait and consequently none exists. A death-mask
was made by Sir Francis Chantrey, who executed the
Watt statue in Westminster Abbey, but it was unfortu-
nately destroyed by Lady Chantrey. The complete cata-
log of the National Portrait Gallery in London" gives
Bramah 's name. The reference, however, directs one to
Walker's famous engraving of the ''Eminent Men of
Science Living in 1807-1808," which shows about fifty
distinguished scientists and engineers grouped in the
Library of the Royal Institution. This engraving is the
result of four years' careful study. It was grouped by
Sir John Gilbert, drawn by John Skill, and finished by
William Walker and his mfe. Bramah 's figure, No. 6,
appears in this group, but with his hack turned, the only
one in that position. It is a singular tribute to Bramah 's
influence among his generation of scientists that this pic-
ture would have been considered incomplete without him.
S ~ £ 5 r:
:: g £ ^ ^
I: ? ^ & H
§ ^ :.' 1 -
O *^ - ID -
ia V d *» ■»
.. --■ r
!r .. r 5 - 55 ^
> ^ *r t-
'"' =^ r
. -■■- 5 4.
1 :^ ri s: s. "
r Ki <
■^ - I- - ? 5 :<
■■- a 1:
— _. ft
.' f a
'i tj •»- M «^
WILKINSON AND BRAMAH 21
As no portrait of him existed he was included, but with
his face turned away. The figure was drawn in accord-
ance with a description furnished by Bramah's grandson,
E. H. Bramah.
The engraving includes many other men of interest
whose names are indicated. Some of them have already
been considered; others, while famous as engineers,
worked in fields other than the one we are considering.
BENTHAM AND BRUNEL
In the genealogical table shown in Fig. 5, Sir Samuel
Bentham and Sir Marc I. Brunei are indicated as having
originated the famous ''Portsmouth Block Machinery,"
which was built by Maudslay and which first gave him
his reputation as a tool builder. "While Bentham was
primarily a naval administrator and Brunei a civil engi-
neer, they were among the first to grasp the principles
of modern manufacturing and embody them successfully.
Both were men of distinction and each had an interesting
Samuel Bentham, Fig. 9, was a brother of Jeremy
Bentham, the famous English publicist and writer on
economics, and a step-brother of Charles Abbott, speaker
of the House of Commons. He was born in 1757, went
to the Westminster School, and later was a naval appren-
tice in the Woolwich Arsenal. His tastes and his train-
ing led him toward the administrative and constructive
work of the navy, and for this he had the best education
available at that time. He went to sea after a final
year at the Naval College at Portsmouth; and in 1780,
in consequence of his abilities, was sent by Earl Howe,
then first Lord of the Admiralty, to visit the various
ports of northern Europe. He went through the great
ports of Holland and the Baltic, eastward to St. Peters-
burg, and was introduced at the Russian court by the
The Russians took to him kindly, as he was handsome.
Figure 9. Sir Samuel Bentham
From an Old Miniature
BENTHAM AND BRUNEL 23
tall, and distinguished in manner, inspired confidence,
and made and held friends. He was well received by the
Empress Catherine, and soon became a favorite of Prince
Potemkin. He traveled over a greater part of the empire
from the Black Sea to the Arctic and as far east as
China, examining mining and engineering works. On
his return to St. Petersburg he fell in love with a wealthy-
heiress of the nobility. The parents objected; but
though the empress, who was interested, advised an
Manufacturer." London, 1869.
Bentham, Mary S. : Memoirs of Brigadier-General Sir Samuel
Bentham, in Papers and Practical Illustrations of Public
Works. London, 1856,
Beamish : Life of Sir Marc Isambard Brunei. London, 1862.
Nasmyth : Autobiography of James Nasmyth, Edited by Smiles.
Holtzapjfel: Turning and Mechanical Manipulation. London,
Buchanan: Millwork and other Machinery. London, 1841.
Perrigo: Modern American Lathe Practice. N. Y., 1907.
Perrigo: Change Gear Devices. N. Y., 1915.
Camus: Treatise on the Teeth of Wheels (English Translation).
Willis: Principles of Mechanism. London, 1841,
Fairbaim: Mills and Millwork. London, 1863.
296 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TOOL BUILDERS
Pole : Life of Sir William Fairbairn. London, 1877.
Memoir of John George Bodmer, in Transactions of the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers, Vol. XXVIII. London, 1869.
Farey : Treatise on the Steam Engine. London, 1827.
Price: Fire and Thief-proof Depositories, and Locks and Keys.
Baker: Elements of Mechanism. London, 1858.
Bishop : History of American Manufactures. 3 Vols. Phila-
Weeden: Economic and Social History of New England. 2
Vols. Boston, 1890.
Field : State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Goodrich: History of Pawtucket, R. I. Pawtucket, 1876.
Wilkinson: Memoir of the Wilkinson Family. Jacksonville,
Fitch: Report on Manufactures of Interchangeable Mechanism,
in U. S. Census, 1880. Volume on "Manufactures."
Durfee: "Development of the Art of Interchangeable Con-
struction in Mechanism," in Transactions of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. XIV, p. 1225.
Olmstead: Memoir of Eli Whitney. New Haven, 1846.
Woodworth : American Tool Making and Interchangeable Manu-
facturing. N. Y., 1911.
Blake: History of Hamden, Conn. New Haven, 1888.
Blake: New Haven Colony Historical Papers, Vol. V. New
North: Memoir of Simeon North. Concord, 1913.
Washburn: Manufacturing and Mechanical Industries of
Worcester. Philadelphia, 1889.
lies: Leading American Inventors. N. Y., 1912.
Parton: Captains of Industry. Boston, 1891.
Van Slyck: Representatives of New England. Boston, 1871,
Goddard: Eminent Engineers. N. Y., 1905.
Lathrop : The Brass Industry. . Shelton, Conn., 1909.
Anderson: The Town and City of Waterbury. 3 Vols. New
Evans: The Young Millwright and Miller's Guide. Philadel-
Freedley: Philadelphia and its Manufactures. Philadelphia,
Cist: Cincinnati in 1851. Cincinnati, 1851.
Cist: Cincinnati in 1859. Cincinnati, 1859.
Porter: Engineering Reminiscences. N. Y., 1908.
Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers. London.
Transactions of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Lon-
Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Journal of the Franklin Institute. Philadelphia.
Files of "American Machinist," New York.
Files of ' ' Machinery, ' ' New York.
Files of "Engineering Magazine," New York.
Files of " Gassier 's Magazine," New York.
Files of "Engineering News," London.
Files of "Engineering," London.
Much of the data in the latter portions of this book is derived
from private correspondence and personal interviews, and is,
therefore, not available for reference.
Acme Wire Co.: 160.
Allen, Ethan: 226.
Allen, Walter: 264.
Alvord, J. D.: 192, 197.
American Brass Co.: 236.
reasons for delayed development,
influence of the cotton gin, 114.
results of exportation to England,
early production, 115.
American Pin Co.: 234.
American Screw Co.: 125, 198, 226;
pointed screw, 126.
American Steel & Wire Co.: 225-
see Interchangeable manufacture.
American Tool Works: 269.
American Watch Co. :
interchangeable system, 144, 164.
American Wire Gauge: 205.
Ames Manufacturing Co.:
gun-making machinery, etc., 138,
Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. : 123,
124, 216-217, 253.
scythe mill, 117.
Angel, William G.: 126.
Ansonia Brass & Copper Co.: 234.
Ansonia Clock Co.: 234.
Arkwright, Sir Richard: 6, 64, 121,
Armstrong, Sir William: 105.
partner of Pitcher, 124.
Arnold, Jeremiah O. : 125.
brother of Jeremiah, 125.
Atwood, L. J.: 237.
calculating machine, 59.
Baldwin Locomotive Works, 256.
Bancroft & Sellers, 247.
Barber-Coleman Co. : 274.
Bardons & Oliver: 183, 265.
partner of Lodge, 269-270.
Barnes, B, F.: 274,
Barnes, W. F. & John, Co. : 273.
Barnes Drill Co.: 274.
Baush Machine Tool Co.:
drilling machines, 230.
Bayley, O. W.: 217.
Beach, H. L.: 165.
Beach, H. B., & Son: 165.
Beale, Oscar J.:
accurate standards, 205.
gun shop, 162.
Bellows, E. H. : 222.
Bement, Clarence S. : 255.
Bement, William B.: 217, 219, 249,
estimate of, 255;
Bement & Dougherty: 254.
Bement, Miles & Co. :
history of, 254-255.
brass worker, 232.
Benedict & Burnham: 234.
Benedict & Coe:
brass workers, 232.
Bentham Jeremy: 22, 25.
Bentham, Sir Samuel: 7, 22, 49, 89,
work on Portsmouth block machin-
ery, 8, 9, 18, 22, 26, 28;
in Kussia, 23, 24;
in British navy service, 24 ;
woodworking machinery, 24, 25;
planer, 51 ;
patent of 1793, 38;
slide-rest, 6, 38;
relations with Maudslay, 89.
Bessemer, Sir Henry: 96.
Besley, Charles H., & Co.: 275.
Bickford, Henry: 272.
Bidwell, Jason A.: 198, 266.
Bilgram Machine Works:
gear cutting, 259.
Billings, Charles E.: 170, 174-175,
Billings & Spencer Co.: 175-176.
Blake, Eli Whitney: 160.
Blake, Philos: 160.
Blaisdell, P., & Co.: 222,
Blanchard, Thomas: 220-221;
lathe for turning gun-stocks, G,
140, 142, 219, 220-221.
Block machinery: see PortsmoiUli
Bodmer, John George: 75-80;
estimate of, 79;
diametral pitch, 70 note 7;
interchangeable manufacture, 76,
fire-arms, 76 ;
two patents, 77-79;
traveling crane, 77, 80;
mill machinery, 76.
Bond, George M. :
Eogers-Bond Comparator, 180-
Smeaton's, 2, 13;
Wilkinson's, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 60;
in 18th century, 4.
Boston, Mass. :
heavy forge, 117.
Boston & Worcester R. E.: 220,
Boulton, Matthew: 145;
on Wilkinson's boring machine,
on Wilkinson, 145.
Boulton & Watt: 3, 11, 46, 55;
relations with Wilkinson, 12, 13,
Bow-string truss: 82,
Boye & Emmes Machine Tool Co.:
Bramah, Joseph: 7, 8, 15, 107;
estimate of, 19, 20;
invention of slide-rest, 6, 36;
hydraulic press, 18;
machine for numbering bank-
woodworking machinery, 18, 19,
other inventions, 18;
relations with Maudslay, 17, 19,
with Watt, 18;
with Clement, 19, 5S.
Bridgeport Brass Co.:
Bridgeport Machine Tool Co.: 184.
British Small Arms Commission :
138, 140, 141.
Brooker, Charles F.: 236,
Brown, David: 126, 202.
Brown, Capt. James S. : 124.
Brown, Joseph E.: 126, 202;
estimate of, 215;
"Universal" miller, 138 note 16,
linear dividing engines, 202, 204-
vernier caliper, 203;
formed milling cutter, 206, 207;
improvements on turret screw ma-
universal grinder, 214.
textile industry, 120, 121.
Brown, Sylvanus: 124.
inventor of slide-rest, 6;
slide lathe, 120.
Brown Hoisting Machine Co.: 258.
Brown & Elton:
wire and tubing, 233.
Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing
Co.: 125, Chapter XVI;
J. E. Browne & Sharpe, 202, 204 ;
"Universal" miller, 138 note 16,
linear dividing engines, 206;
precision gear cutter, 206;
turret screw machines, 207-208;
limit gauges, 210;
micrometer caliper, 211-213;
cylindrical grinder, 213;
automatic gear cutters, 214.
Brunei, Sir Isambard K. : 32.
Brunei, Sir Marc I.: 7, 26, 27, 31,
Portsmouth block machinery, 8,
9, 22, 26, 27, 28.
Bryant, William L. :
chucking grinder, 200.
English writer, 50.
Builders Iron Foundry or ' ' High
Street Furnace": 125.
Bullard, E. P.: 183-184.
vertical boring and turning mill,
Bullard Machine Tool Co.: 184.
Burke, "William A.: 253;
Amoskeag Manufacturing Co.,
Lowell Machine Shop, 217, 218.
rock drill, 228.
Burlingame, L. D. :
history of micrometer, 213.
Burton, James H. :
Enfield gun machinery, 140.
"Lord Chancellor," 45, 211;
vernier, 203 ;
micrometer, origin of, 211-213.
Campbell, A. C: 237.
"The Teeth of Wheels," 64-65,
Carmichaels, of Dundee:
engine makers, 86.
Carron Iron Works: 2, 85.
Change-gear box: 182.
Chase Boiling Mills Co.: 236.
"Chordal's Letters": 261.
tool building in, 266-267.
Cincinnati Bickford Tool Co.: 272.
Cincinnati Milling Machine Co.:
Cincinnati Planer Co.: 271-272.
Cincinnati Screw & Tap Co. : 272.
Clement, Joseph: 7, 8, 9, 57-58, 59,
screw-thread practice, 10, 19, 57,
gear practice, 68;
taps and dies, 10, 19, 58; lathes,
planers, 19, 50, 52, 54, 59 ;
relations with Bramah, 19, 58;
with Maudslay & Field, 19, 46,
Cleveland, Ohio: 183.
tool builders in, 261-266;
first multi -spindle automatic screw
Cleveland Twist Drill Co.: 266.
Clock industry in Connecticut: 171-
Coe, Israel: 236.
Coe, Lyman: 234, 236.
Coe Brass Co.: 234.
Coes "Wrench Co.: 226.
Colby, Gilbert A.: 254.
axe makers, 169.
Colt, Samuel: 166-168;
interchangeable system, 137, 168;
Colt revolver, 166, 167;
erection of Armory, 167, 168.
Colt Armory: 165, 166;
erection of, 167, 168;
a "contract shop," 178.
Conradson, Conrad N. :
turret machine, 276,
Cook, Asa: 174.
Coombs, S. C: 222.
Corliss Machine Works: 126.
growth of, 150-151.
invention of, 131, 148 et seq;
influence, 114, 131, 145, 149, 150-
patent rights of, 151-158.
Cowie, Pierson: 221-222.
Cramp Ship Building Co.: 257.
brass worker, 232.
Crompton, William: 114.
Cup-leather packing: 18.
Currier & Snyder: 222.
Cushman, A. F.: 173.
Darby, Abraham, 3d:
first iron bridge, 15.
graduating engine, 203, 204.
textile machinery, 246.
Davenport, William S.: 214.
da Vinci, Leonardo:
anticipation of modem tools, 6,
Davis, Charles: 269.
on Whitney's steel-barreled mus-
Davis & Egan: 269.
partner of Bodmer, 75.
De la Hire:
gear ceeth, 63, 64, 67.
DeLeeuw, A. L.: 273, 277.
Dennison, A. L. :
American Watch Co., 144.
de Vaucanson, Jacques:
milling cutter, 206.
Diametral pitch :
"Manchester pitch," 70 note 7;
Die forging: 137.
Dietz, Schumacher & Boye Co. : 268.
Dodge, Cyril: 126.
Dougherty, James: 254.
Draper Machine Tool Co. : 222.
Dresses, Henry: 271.
Dresses, Mueller & Co.: 271.
in 18th century, 4.
developed in America, 5, 143, 175.
Dwight, Dr. Timothy:
on Pawtucket^ 121,
Eagle Screw Co.: 126.
Earle & Williams: 219.
Eberhardt, Ulrich: 259.
Edgemoor Iron Co.: 249-250.
Egan, Thomas P.: 268, 269.
Eminent Men of Science Living in
engraving by Walker, 20.
Enfield Armory: 5, 96, 103;
Nasm3;i;li on reorganization of,
British Small Arms Commission,
Bobbins & Lawrence, 191-192.
Epicyclic curve: 63, 67, 68.
Essex Machine Shop: 219.
Evans, Oliver: 239-246;
conveyors for handling materials,
steam engine, 241-242, 245;
description of shop, 243;
prediction of railways, 245;
"Engineer's Guide," 242;
"Miller's Guide," 244.
Fairbairn, Sir Peter: 71, 74, 107.
Fairbairn, Sir William: 62, 107;
on machine tools, 10;
with George Rennie, 54, 71;
millwork, 71 ;
on "a good millwright," 72;
Fairbairn & Lillie, 72-73, 77;
treatise on * ' Mills and Millwork, ' '
iron ships, 73-74;
bridge building, 74.
Fairbairn & Co.: 268.
Fairfield, George A.: 170, 174, 176.
Fales & Jenks Machine Co. : 125.
Farrell Foundry & Machine Co.:
Fay, J. A., & Co.:
woodworking machinery, 229-230,
Fay, J. A., & Egan Co. : 230.
Fellows, E. R.: 199.
Fellows Gear Shaper Co.: 199.
Field, Joshua: 35, 89;
relations with Maudslay, 8, 35,
founder of Institution of Civil
first in America, 116.
horizontal turret, 197.
Fitchburg, Mass.: 219, 227-228.
Fitchburg Machine Works: 228;
Lo-swing lathe, 200.
Flagg, Samuel, & Co. : 221, 222.
Flather Manufacturing Co.: 228.
Murray's influence on, 57.
Foote-Burt Co.: 183;
drilling machines, 265.
Forehand & Wadsworth: 226.
Fosdick Machine Tool Co. : 271.
Fosdick & Plucker: 271.
Fox, James: 7, 50, 52, 53, 54.
Fox & Taylor: manufacturers of
Fox, Henderson & Co. : 192.
Francis, James B. :
hydraulic engineer, 218.
Franklin Machine Co. : 125.
Fulton, Robert: 150, 151, 161.
Gage, Warner & Whitney: 218, 228.
Gang, William E.: 268, 271.
Gang & Dietz: 271.
Gardner, Frederick M. :
disk grinding machines, 275.
Gardner Machine Co.: 276.
Garvin Machine Co.: 127.
principle of micrometer, 211.
Gay, Ira: 124, 216-217.
Gay, Zeba: 124, 217.
Gay & Silver Co.: 195, 197, 217;
Gearing and Millwork: Chapter VI,
Geier, Frederick A.: 272-273.
' ' Genealogies ' ' :
Early English Tool Builders, Fig.
New England Gun-makers, Fig.
Eobbins & Lawrence Shop, Fig.
Worcester Tool Builders, Fig. 45;
Naugatuck Brass Industry, Fig.
Giddings & Lewis Manufacturing
Gisholt Machine Works: 276.
Gleason Works: 183.
Globe Rolling Mill: 251.
Goddard, Benjamin: 225.
Gorham, Jabez: 127.
Gorham Manufacturing Co. :
Gould & Eberhardt: 259.
Grant, John J.: 214.
Gray, G. A., Co. : 273.
"Great Eastern," The: 32.
"Great Western," The: 32.
Great Western Railway:
cannon factory of, 118.
Greene, Mrs. Nathaniel:
friend to Eli Whitney, 147;
connection with cotton-gin, 148-
Greene, Timothy: 119, 121.
Greenwood, Miles: 267.
Gridley, George O. :
automatic lathes, 194, 200.
founder of brass industry, 232.
developed in America, 5;
Brown & Sharpe's, 213-214;
Hakewessel, Reinholdt: 183;
Acme automatic, 265.
Hamilton, Alexander :
entertains Brunei, 8, 27.
tool builders in, 273.
with Maudslay, 98.
Hanks, Alpheus and Truman:
Harper's Ferry Arsenal: 140, 143,
interchangeable equipment, 137;
Harrington & Richardson: 226.
Hartford, Conn.: 127;
manufactories of, 164, 165, 170;
gun makers of, 164, 166,
Hartford Machine Screw Co.: 170,
Hartness, James: 194, 197-198, 266;
designer of machine tools, 198;
flat -turret lathe, 198;
Lo-swing lathe, 200.
Haskell, Co., The William H. : 124.
Hawkins, John Isaac: 69;
on early gear tooth practice, 65-
Hayden, Hiram W.: 234, 236.
Hendey Machine Co.:
tool-room lathe, 182.
Henn, E. C:
Acme automatic, 265.
Herman, William: 271.
Hick, B., & Son: 75.
High Street Furnace: 125.
Hildreth, S. E.: 222.
Hobbs, Alfred C:
picks Bramah's lock, 16.
Holmes, Tlodgin :
cotton gin, 152, 154, 156, 157.
Holmes, Israel: 232, 233, 234, 236.
pioneer iron worker, 117.
Holmes & Hotehkiss: 233.
Holmes, Booth & Haydens: 234, 237.
milling machine, 272.
Holtzapffel, Charles: 74, 99;
on Eoberts, 60-61 ;
plane surfaces, 100.
partner of Pitcher, 124.
sewing machine, 144.
Howe, Frederick W.: 195, 196, 209,
milling machines, 138, 196, 208,
profiling machine, 143, 191;
turret-head screw machine, 195-
turret lathe, 197, 199.
Howe, Hezekiah: 119.
suggests invention of large ham-
invented by Bramah, 18, 34.
new elements in 18th century, 1.
Ingersoll Milling Machine Co.: 274.
Institution of Civil Engineers:
founding of, 90.
Interchangeable manufacture :
rise of. Chapter XI;
developed in America, 5, 129;
abroad, 138, 140;
in France, 129-131;
in Hartford, 164;
tools for, 142-143.
clock, watch and sewing machine
Colt, 137, 168;
Enfield, 138, 141;
Simeon North, 131, 133, 135-136,
Bobbins & Lawrence, 191 ;
Eli Whitney, 131-133, 136.
International Machine Tool Co.:
Involute gears: 63, 64, 67, 68, 207.
Iron bridge, the first: 15.
Wilkinson builds the first, 14;
Symington, 14, 82;
Onions & Sons, 14;
at Horsley Works, 14;
"Great Eastern" and "Great
Jefferson, Thomas : on interchange-
able system in France, 129-131;
on Whitney, 135.
textile machinery, 123, 246-247.
cotton machinery, 124-125.
Jenks, Barton H. : 247.
spinning machinery, 123.
Jenks, Joseph: 115-116, 125.
Jenks, Joseph, Jr.:
founder of Pawtucket, 118.
Jenks, Joseph, 3d :
governor of Ehode Island Colony,
Jenks, Capt. Stephen:
nuts and screws, 124;
Jenks & Sons, 125.
Jennings gun :
origin of, 292-294,
brass clocks, 144, 171-172, 233.
iron boat, 14,
Jewelry industry in Providence:
Johnson, Charles: 237.
Johnson, Tver: 226,
decision, Whitney vs. Fort, 155-
Jones & Lamson Machine Co.: 191,
193, 194, 197;
flat-turret lathe, 198-199;
Fay automatic lathe, 200,
Kearney & Treeker: 276.
Kempsmith, Frank: 264-265, 271.
Kempsmith Manufacturing Co. : 271,
Kendall, N., & Co. : 186, 189,
Lamson, Goodnow & Yale: 192, 193,
Lamson Machine Co.: 198,
Landis Tool Co.: 259-260,
Lane & Bodley: 267,
Lapointe, J. N, :
broaching machine, 183,
pole, 3, 41;
in 18th century, 3, 4;
automatic, 5, 176;
French rose engine, 6;
screw-cutting, 19, 35, 40, 119-
Bramah and Maudslay, 17;
Maudslay, 40-42, 46;
Blanchard, 140, 142-143;
Spencer's turret lathe, 176;
Fay automatic, 200;
Lathe, Morse & Co.: 222.
Lawrence, Richard S,: 188-189, 195;
profiling machine, 143;
master armorer, Sharps Works,
lubricated bullet, 194;
miller, 191, 194;
split pulley, 194;
turret lathe, 197;
Lawrence, Mass,: 127,
Lawrence Machine Shop: 219.
Lead screw: 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41,
interchangeable gun manufacture
in France, 130,
Le Blond, R, K.: 271,
Lee-Metford rifle: 105.
Leland, Henry M.: 214;
on J, R, Brown, 215,
Libbey, C. L. :
turret lathes, 275.
developed in America, 5,
Lincoln, Levi: 165, 171,
Lincoln Co., The: 165.
Lincoln, Charles L., & Co.: 165.
Lincoln, George S,, & Co.: 137, 165.
Lincoln miller: 137, 165-166, 208.
Linear dividing engines: 206,
Lingren, W. F., <fc Co.: 274.
early inventions, 56;
Sharp, Roberts & Co., 61-62;
Lodge, William E.: 268-271.
Lodge & Davis:
policy of, 270-271.
Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co.:
Lowell, Mass.: 127;
machine shops of, 218.
Lowell Machine Shop: 217, 218, 253.
Lucas Machine Tool Co.; 265.
McFarlan, Thomas: 268,
on Eli Whitney, 161.
effect of modern, 1;
crudity in 18th century, 3, 4;
developments of, 4, 5, 63, 107;
Fairbairn on, 10;
Bramah and Maudslay, 34;
Greek or Gothic style, 63 ;
developed by cotton industry, 120.
Machine Tool Works: 255.
Machinist Tool Co.: 222.
Madison, Wis.: 276.
Manchester, N. H.: 123, 127;
founding of, 217.
Manchester Locomotive Works: 217.
Manchester pitch : 70 note 7, 80.
Manville, E. J.: 237.
Map of tool building industry: Fig.
Marshall, Elijah D.: 254.
Marvel, C. M., & Co.: 219.
Mason, William: 170, 173-174.
Massachusetts Arms Co.: 162.
Maudslay, Henry: 7, 8, Chapter IV;
estimates of, 9, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49,
taps and dies, 10, 42, 88;
Portsmouth block machinery, 8,
screw thread practice, 10, 40, 42,
cup-leather packing, 18, 34;
the slide-rest, 6, 35, 36, 38, 40,
43, 49, 143;
screw-cutting lathe, 35, 40, 41,
42, 50, 120;
engine improvements, 43;
work on plane surfaces, 44, 45,
Maudslay & Field: 8, 19, 35, 58, 98;
influence on English tool builders,
Moon's description of shop, 46-
Maynard Eifle Co.: 161.
Mechanics Machine Co.: 274.
Merrick, S. V.:
introduces steam hammer into
United States, 96, 257.
textile works, 124, 127;
shops of, 216-219.
Michigan Twist Drill & Machine
Midvale Steel Co.: 250.
Miles, Frederick B. :
steam hammer, 255.
Mill, Anton: 272.
Miller, Patrick: 82.
partner of Eli Whitney, 148-149,
Miller & Whitney: 149, 152.
Miller, universal: origin of, 5, 138
note 16, 208-209.
Milling cutter, formed: 206-207, 208.
first in Hartford, 170, 194;
Lincoln, 137, 165-166, 208.
Millwork: Chapter VI;
Nasmyth on, 71.
tool builders in, 2'^6-277.
Milwaukee Machine Tool Co.: 277.
Moen, Philip L.: 225.
Montanus. Philip. 271.
expert in cotton machinery, 218.
Moore & Colby: 252.
Morris, I. P., & Co.: 257, 258.
Mueller, Oscar: 271.
D-slide valves, 51.
Murray, Matthew: 7, 54-57, 107;
planer, 50, 51, 55, 57;
D-slide valve, 55 ;
steam heating, 56;
influence on flax industry, 56.
Nashua Manufacturing Co.: 124.
Nasmyth, Alexander: 81, 82, 83.
Nasmyth, James: 7, 8, Chapter
with Maudslay, 46, 48, 87, 88 ;
mill work, 71, 88;
steam road carriage, 86;
milling machine, 89;
method of invention, 92;
steam hammer and other inven-
study of the moon, 97;
on interchangeable system of
Nasmj-th & Gaskell: 92.
National Acme Manufacturing Co.:
multi-spindle automatic lathe, 183,
Naugatuck Valley: Chapter XVIII;
brass industry in, 231-238;
pin machinery, 233.
New Britain, Conn.: hardware
manufacture in, 171.
Franklin Machine Co.: 125.
New England industries:
early development of, 109-110;
iron, 116, 117, 118.
New England Screw Co.: 126.
Newton & Cox: 266.
Newton Machine Tool Works: 266.
New York: early steamboat trade,
Niles, James and Jonathan: 251.
NUes & Co.: 267, 273.
Niles-Bement-Pond Co.: 179, 222,
255, 259, 273.
Niles Tool Works: 267, 273.
Norris, Henry M.: 272.
North Chelmsford Machine & Sup-
ply Co.: 124.
North, Henry: 165.
North, Selah: filing jig, 142.
North, Simeon: 161-163;
gun contracts, 131, 133, 134, 135,
137, 162, 163;
interchangeable system, 133-134,
136, 142, 145, 162.
Norton, Charles H. : precision grind-
ing, 214, 224, 225.
Norton, F. B.: 224, 225.
Norton Company, The: 224, 225.
Norton Emery Wheel Co.: 224.
Norton Grinding Co.: 224, 225.
Norwalk Iron Works Co.: 184.
Oesterlien Machine Co.: 268.
Ohio Machine Tool Co.: 269.
Orr, Hugh: early mechanic, 116-117.
Orr, Eobert: master armorer at
Otting & Lauder: 268.
Owen, William: 271.
Palmer, Courtland C: 190.
Palmer, Jean Laurent:
screw caliper, 212, 213.
Palmer & C.apron: 127.
Parallel motion : 3 note 6.
Parkhurst, E. G.: 182.
Parks, Edward H. : automatic gear
Pawtucket, R. I.:
manufacturing center, 118, 127.
Dr. Dwight on, 121;
manufactures of, 118-125.
Peck: lifter for drop hammer, 143.
Pedrick & Ayer: planer, 53.
Phelps & Bickford: 222.
Phoenix Iron Works: 165.
Philadelphia, Pa.: tool builders in,
early textile machinery, 246.
Pin machinery: 233.
Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. :
Pitcher & Brown, 124.
Pitkin, Henry and James F. :
American lever watches, 164.
Pitkin, Col. Joseph: pioneer iron
in 18th century, 4;
developed in England, 4;
Clement, 19, 52;
inventors of the. Chapter V;
early French, 50;
Bodmer, 75, 76;
Plane surfaces, scraping of:
Maudslay, 44, 45; Whitworth, 44,
Plume & Atwood: 234.
Plumier: French writer, 50.
Pond Machine Tool Co. : 222, 259.
Pope Manufacturing Co.: 170.
Portsmouth block machinery:
influence on general manufactur-
work of Bentham and Brunei, 8,
9, 22, 26, 27, 28;
Maudslay 's contribution to, 29,
description of, 29, 30, 31 ;
Maudslay and Bentham, 89;
approaches interchangeable sys-
Potter & Johnson: 183.
Pratt, Francis A.: 137, 170, 177;
Lincoln miller, 165, 191.
Pratt & Whitney: 137, 178-183;
Interchangeable system, 179;
gun machinery and manufacture,
screw threads, 180-182;
tool-room lathe, 182;
workmen, 183 ;
turret screw machines, 207.
Precision gear cutter: 206.
Prentice, A. F. : 224.
Prentiss, F. F.: 266.
Priority in invention : 5.
Pritchard, Benjamin: 216.
Profiling machine: inventors of, 143.
Providence, R. I.:
early cannon manufacture, 117;
trading center, 118;
textile industry, 123;
manufactures in, 118-126; jewelry
industry of, 126-127. '
Providence Forge & Nut Co.: 125.
Providence Tool Co.: 125;
turret screw machine built for,
universal miller built for, 209.
Providence & Worcester Canal: 219-
Punching machine, Maudslay 's : 43.
Putnam, John: 227-228.
Putnam, Salmon W. : 227-228.
Putnam Machine Co. Works: 200,
Ramsden, Jesse: lathe, 38,
Randolph & Clowes: 236.
Reed, F. E. : 224.
Reed & Prentice Co.: 222.
Remington Arms Co.: 161.
Remington, E,, & Sons: 175.
Rennie, George: 54;
planer, 50, 51.
Rennie, Sir John: 54.
Rennie, John: millwright, 54.
Rhode Island Tool Co. : 125.
Richards, Charles B,: 173.
Richards, John: on Bodmer, 79.
Robbins & Lawrence: Chapter XV;
interchangeable system, 138;
turret lathe, 143, 197;
miller, 165, 191;
government contracts, 190;
Enfield rifle and gun machinery,
cause of failure, 192;
successive owners of plant, 192-
Robbins, Kendall & Lawrence: 189-
Roberts, Richard: 7, 9, 59-60, 62,
with Maudslay, 46, 60;
planer, 50, 51, 60;
Sharp, Roberts & Co.: 61, 62.
Robinson, Anthony: screw thread,
Rockford, 111.: tool buUders in, 274-
Rockford Drilling Machine Co.: 274.
Rockford Iron Works: 274.
Rockford Lathe & Tool Co.: 274.
Rockford Machine Tool Co. : 274.
Rockford Milling Machine Co.: 274.
Roemer: epicyclic curve, 63.
Rogers, William A. :
Rogers-Bond comparator, 180-182.
Root, Elisha K. : 168-169, 170.
influence on die forging, 137;
profiling machine, 143;
drop hammer, 143, 169;
Colt Armory, 169;
machinery invented by, 169;
horizontal turret principle, 197.
Roper Repeating Arms Co.: 175.
St. Joseph Iron Co.: 253.
Savage Fire Arms Co.: 161.
Saxton: gear teeth, 66-67.
Schneider, M., and Nasmyth's steam
Scituate, R. I.: Hope Furnace, 117.
Scovill Manufacturing Co.: 232.
Screw machines, multi-sptndle auto-
matic : 265.
Maudslay and Clement, 10, 19, 42,
Whitworth standardizes, 10, 101;
early methods of screw cutting,
Pratt & Whitney, 180-182;
history of Sellers' or U. S. Stand-
Sellers, Dr. Coleman: 251-252.
design of railway tools, 251;
screw thread, U. S. Standard, 249.
Sellers, WUliam: 247-251, 255;
system of screw threads, 248-249;
bridge building . machinery, 250 ;
great lathe, Washington Navy
Sellers, William, & Co.: 251, 252.
Sentinel Gas Appliance Co. : 160.
Shapers: developed in England, 4;
Nasmyth's "Steel Arm," 92.
Sharp, Roberts & Co. : 61, 62.
Sharpe, Lucian: 202;
American wire gauge, 205.
Sharps, Christian: breech loading
rifle, 170, 192.
Sharps Rifle Works: 192, 194, 195.
Shaw, A. J.: 214.
Shepard, Lathe & Co. : 222.
Shipley, Murray: 270.
Slater, Samuel: 114, 119, 121;
Arkwright cotton machinery, 120,
textile industry, 122;
Amoskeag Co., 216-217.
in 18th century, 4;
inventors of, 6;
early forms of, 6, 36;
Bramah and Maudslay, 17;
Maudslay, 35, 36, 38, 40, 43, 49.
Sloan, Thomas J.: screw machine,
Slocomb, J. T.: 214.
Smeaton, John: 2, 3;
boring machine, 2, 13;
cast iron gears, 64.
Smith, George: 214.
Smith & Mills: 270.
Smith & Phelps : 234.
Smith & Silk: 271.
Smith & Wesson: 138.
Snyder, J. E., & Son: 22.
Southwark Foundry & Machine Co.:
Spencer, Christopher M.: 170, 175-
turret lathe, 143, 176;
board drop, 143;
silk -winding machine, 175;
repeating rifle, 175.
Spencer Arms Co.: 177.
Spring: planer, 50, 53.
Springfield, Mass.: 230.
Springfield Armory: 103, 136, 138,
Blanchard's lathes, 142-143.
Springfield Machine Tool Co.: 271.
Standard Tool Co.: 266.
Stannard, Monroe: with Pratt &
Steam boats: early, 82;
Steam engine. Watt's:
new element in industry, 1 ;
problems in building, 1-3;
first built at Soho, 12;
Maudslay 's improvements, 43.
Steam hammer: 4;
Nasmyth's invention of, 93-96.
Steam heating apparatus: Murray,
Steinle Turret Machine Co. : 277.
Stephenson, George: 6, 32, 56, 150.
Steptoe, John: 267-268.
Steptoe Co., The John: shapers and
milling machines, 268.
Stone, Henry D.: 192, 193, 196;
turret lathe, 143, 197.
Swasey, Ambrose: 183, 262, 263;
dividing engine, 264.
Syme, Johnie: Nasmyth on, 84.
Symington, William: iron boat, 14,
Taps and dies: developed in Eng-
Maudslay 's, 10, 42;
Taylor, Frederick W. : high-speed
tool steels, 250, 277.
Taylor & Fenn Co. : 165.
Terry, Eli: clocks, 144, 171, 172.
Textile industries: Arkwright and
Strutt, 53 ;
influence of Whitney's cotton gin,
in New England, 114, 120, 123,
Slater's influence on, 122.
Eobert 's spinning mule, etc., 61 ;
in New England, 114, 120-121;
Alfred Jenks, 123.
Thomas, Seth: clocks, 144.
Thomaston, Conn, : dock manufac-
Thurber, Isaac: Franklin Machine
Thurston, Horace: 214.
general estimate of early, 107;
in Central New England, Chapter
Western, Chapter XX.
Tool building centers: 127;
map of, Fig. 56.
Torry, Archie: Nasmyth's foreman,
Towne, Henry R. : 257, 258.
Towne, John Henry: 256-257, 258;
screw thread, U. S. Standard, 249.
Traveling crane, first: 77, 80.
Trevithick: steam road engine, 56.
Turret lathes: 140;
early producers of, 143;
Howe and Lawrence, 197;
Hartness' flat-turret, 198;
Warner & Swasey, 262.
Turret screw machine, improvements
Union Steel Screw Works: 198, 265,
Universal Kadial Drill Co.: 273.
Wadsworth, Capt. Deeius:
on Whitney's interchangeable sj's-
Waldo, Daniel: Hope Furnace, 117.
Wallace, William: 237.
Wallace & Sons: 234.
Waltham Watch Works, see Ameri-
can Watch Co.
Warner, Worcester R.: 183, 262,
Warner & Swasey Co.: 261-265;
building of astronomical instru-
Washburn, Ichabod: American Steel
& Wire Co., 225, 226.
Washburn & Moen Co.: 225.
Waterbury Brass Co. : 234, 237.
Waterbury Button Co.: 234,
Waterbury Clock & Watch Co. : 234.
Waters, Asa: 226.
Waston, William: Nasmyth on, 84.
Watt, James: 3, 6, 82, 83, 150, 161;
invention of steam engine, 1, 2,
parallel motion, 3 note 6;
dependence on Wilkinson's boring
opposed by Bramah, 18.
Weed Sewing Machine Co.: 170,
Weeden, W. N.: 237.
Wheeler, William A.: 221.
Wheeler & Wilson: 192.
Whipple, Cuilen: 126.
Whitcomb, Carter, Co.: 222.
Whitcomb-Blaisdell Machine Tool
White, Zebulon: J. S. White & Co.,
White Sewing Machine Co.: 193,
Whitman-Barnes Co.: 266.
Whitney, Amos: 137, 170, 177, 219.
Whitney, Baxter D.: 177, 230.
Whitney, Eli: 6, 146-147, 161, 177;
interchangeable system, 76, 132-
133, 134-135, 136, 145, 146, 158-
cotton gin, 114, 131, 145, 148-158;
U. S. contract of 1798, 131-132,
Whitneyville plant, 132, 162, 158,
method of manufacture, 158-159;
milling machine, 142;
Miller & Whitney, 149.
Whitney, Eli, Jr.: contract for
"Harper's Ferry" rifle, 160;
steel-barreled muskets, 160, 162.
Whitney Arms Co.: 160-161;
first Colt revolvers made by, 167.
Whitworth, Joseph: 7, 8, 9, 93;
screw-thread practice, 10, 59, 101,
102 note 4;
manufacture of plane surfaces, 44,
with Maudslay, 46, 98;
shaper and improvements in ma-
chine tools, 99;
improved methods of measure-
ment, 101 ;
ordnance and armor, 104-105;
on American automatic machin-
William Armstrong, 105.
Wilcox & Gibbs Sewing Machines:
208, 210, 213.
Wilkinson, Abraham: 119.
Wilkinson, Daniel: 119, 122.
Wilkinson, David: 123, 124, 125;
patent on slide-rest, 6;
slide lathe, 119-120;
textile machinery, 122;
nail manufacture, 122.
Wilkinson, Isaac: 119, 125.
Wilkinson, John: 2, 8, 11, 15;
boring machine, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13,
first iron boat, 14;
first iron bridge, 15;
relations with Boulton & Watt,
Wilkinson, Ozealt 118-119, 121, 122.
Wilkinson, William: 119, 121.
Willimantic Linen Co.: 175, 178.
Willis, Eobert: 69 note 5;
gear teeth, 63, 64, 69-70.
Wilmot, S. E. : micrometer, 212.
Winchendon, Mass. : woodworking
Winchester Eepeating Arms Co.:
Windsor, Vt: 127, 186.
Windsor Machine Co. : Gridley au-
tomatic lathes, 194, 200.
Windsor Manufacturing Co.: 193.
Wolcott, Oliver: 132.
Wolcottville Brass Co. : 233-234.
Wood, Light & Co. : 222.
Woodruff & Beach: 165.
Woodward & Powell Planer Co.:
Woodworking machinery : Bramah,
18, 19, 24;
Bentham, 24, 25;
in Massachusetts, 229.
Worcester, Mass. : 127;
tool builders in, 219-226; early
textile shops of, 220;
gun makers in, 226.
Worm-geared tilting pouring-ladle,
Worsley, S. L. : automatic screw ma-
Wright, Sylvester: 200, 228.
Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co.:
\A/ELLS BINDERY INC.
Roe» Joseph Wlckham» 1871—
English and American tool buil-derst
by Joseph Wickham Roe* New York*
London T McGraw-Hill, 1926.
xvy 315 o« illus«f 24 cm*
30 JUL SO
TJ 1185.R6 1926
3 9358 00012841