Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 02 (of 10)

by American School of Correspondence

All of these matters emphasize the fact that the mutual interests of the capitalist who manufactures and sells, and of the employee by the efforts of whose hand and brain the products are being turned out, are each year being recognized and in a very large majority of cases are being acted upon in good faith.

Methods of Modern Manufacturing. In former times, machines were built one at a time or in very small lots. Parts were made and fitted to the particular machine to which they belonged; and while the same general form and dimensions were practically maintained, there was no attempt made to render the several parts so exact as to fit upon any other machine than the one for which they were intended. Systems of gauges had not been developed, and the planer was yet a comparatively new tool; much work was still done by hand, the hammer, the cold chisel, and the file being the chief reliance of a large majority of machinists. This was the state of the machine shop and its methods nearly up to the year 1800.

Interchangeable Manufacturing. The use of milling cutters and the commencement of practically interchangeable manufacturing, came into machine shop practice at nearly the same time. It has been said that "but for the milling machine, there would have been no such thing as interchangeable manufacturing." It might be said with quite as much truth, that if the system of interchangeable manufacturing had not been conceived, there would have been little need for the milling machine. Each, to a great extent, depended very much upon the development of the other—and upon a third factor, the conception and development of the method of handling work (particularly small parts) in jigs and fixtures.

Milling cutters were made in America by one of the early machinists, a Frenchman named Vaucanson, who died in 1782. A sample of these had a hexagonal instead of a round hole, and the pitch of the teeth was very fine, so that the cutter resembled a saw rather than those at present in use. It is said that a man by the name of Bodmer, in Manchester, England, had made a milling machine in 1824.

It is altogether probable that Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, had built and used milling machines previous to this date, as the following item of mechanical history would seem to indicate. In January, 1798, Eli Whitney received from the United States Government an order to furnish ten thousand muskets, of which four thousand were to be delivered in one year, and the balance in two years. Mr. Whitney went at the undertaking in a very thorough and systematic manner. He first developed a water power; then erected suitable buildings; considered and developed ways and means for a larger and better product than had previously been realized; designed and built machinery to effect it; and trained workmen to a degree of skill necessary to success in their new employment.

The difficulties which Mr. Whitney encountered and the obstacles which he had to overcome, were so much greater than he anticipated that it was really eight years instead of two before he had succeeded in completing the government order for the ten thousand muskets. However, the progress which he had made in this new enterprise, and the character of the product which he turned out and delivered, were so satisfactory to the government officials that Congress treated him with the greatest courtesy and consideration.

His shops were situated in the city of New Haven, Conn., and soon became the Mecca of government officials, manufacturers, traveling notables, and foreigners, who had heard of this wonderful American mechanic and came to see his work for themselves—to find that the system, the machines, and the tools which he had perfected were well worth the journey. His innovations in the manufacture of arms formed as great an epoch in mechanical history as had his invention of the cotton gin.

Jigs and fixtures were among his equipment; and it is altogether probable that milling machines were also in use, since he must have had practical knowledge of the utility of the milling cutter at this time, as it is generally assumed that the first practical use of the milling machine was in the making of parts of muskets.

The buildings which Mr. Whitney erected for his use were substantial stone structures, and stand in a part of the city called in his honor "Whitneyville." They form a part of the extensive plant of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.