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Consequently, he achieved a much higher level of interchangeability and
precision than did Whitney.
C.
Still others maintain that the credit for these modem innovations
should go to a French gunsmith whose methods and results predated those of
Whitney and Hall by at least a decade. In Britain, and somewhat simultaneously
with Whitney, the Frenchman Marc Isambard Brunei adapted steam-driven
machinery and assemblyline techniques to the production of 130,000 pulleys for
the marine industry in just one year. Brunei‘s achievements were made possible
by the design and manufacture of several machine tools by the noted British
inventor, Henry Maudslay.
D.
Maudslay‘s contribution to modem mass production was the
invention of precision machine tools capable of producing the identical parts
necessary for mass production techniques which made producing guns cheaper .
It is generally conceded that the British machine tool industry was far more
advanced than that of the Americans in these early stages of mass production
development. Simultaneous with Whitney‘s innovations in the United States
were those of Oliver Evans, whose many inventions in the flour milling process
led to an automated mill that could be run by a single miller.
E.
Samuel Colt and Elisha King Root were also very successful
innovators in the development of industrial processes that could mass produce
interchangeable parts for the assembly-line production of firearms. Colt and
Root wished to advance the machining of parts so that even the most minute of
tasks could be performed with the precision that they believed only machines
could achieve. In these
endeavors, Colt and Root were largely successful.
F.
Eli Terry also adapted mass production methods to clockmaking in
the early 1800s, and George Eastman made innovations to assembly-line
techniques in the manufacture and the developing of photographic film later in
the century. Credit for the development of large scale, assembly-line, mass
production techniques is usually given to Henry Ford and his innovative
Model T production methods. Henry Ford had his workers standing in one place
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while parts were brought by on conveyor belts, and the car itself moved past the
workers on another conveyor belt. Bodies were built on one line and the chassis
and drive train were built on another. When both were essentially complete, the
body was lowered onto the chassis for final assembly. Around the same time,
production of guns also entered into the assembly line.
G.
Despite the fact that he was not the first, Ford can certainly be
viewed as the most successful of these early innovators due to one simple fact--
Ford envisioned and fostered mass consumption as a corollary to mass
production. Ford‘s techniques lessened the time needed to build a Model T from
about twelve and a half hours to an hour and a half; the price was reduced as
well--from $850 for the first Model T in 1908, to only $290 in 1927 after
assembly-line techniques were introduced in 1913. The automobile was no
longer a luxury for the rich, the Model T fast became a necessity for nearly
everyone. Indeed, Ford sold almost half of all of the automobiles bought
worldwide from 1908 to 1927--the years of Model T production. Apart from
this, people showed different views over whether guns should be involved in
mass production. The expense opposition to ammunition was the first one to
trigger the debate. Other equipment involved in war or preparation for war was
also against. Let alone all these required a lot of workforce to accomplish.
H.
Assembly-line techniques also required that the manual skills
necessary
to build a product be altered. Previous to mass production techniques, as seen in
the early manufacture of firearms, each workman was responsible for the
complete manufacture and assembly of all of the component parts needed to
build any single product. Mass production and parts interchangeability
demanded that all parts be identical and the individual worker no longer be
allowed the luxury of building a complete product based on his personal skills
and inclinations. Machines came to dictate the production process, and each
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