"* Colt's audacity,
however, did not offend the members of the committee and they
decided to visit his American factory at Hartford. They did; and
were so impressed that the British Government purchased in
America a full set of machines for the manufacture of arms in the
Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield, England, and took across the
sea American workmen and foremen to set up and run these .
machines. A demand sprang up in Europe for Blanchard copying
lathes and a hundred other American tools, and from this time on
the manufacture of tools and appliances for other manufacturers,
both at home and abroad, became an increasingly important
industry of New England.
* Henry Barnard, "Armsmear", p. 371.
The system which the gunmakers worked out and developed to meet
their own requirements was capable of indefinite expansion. It
was easily adapted to other kinds of manufacture. So it was that
as new inventions came in the manufacturers of these found many
of the needed tools ready for them, and any special modifications
could be quickly made. A manufacturer, of machine tools will
produce on demand a device to perform any operation, however
difficult or intricate. Some of the machines are so versatile
that specially designed sets of cutting edges will adapt them to
almost any work.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190