From the American system to mass production, 1800-1932: the development of manufacturing technology in the United States 9780801831584, 9780801829758

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Figures and Tables (page xi)
Foreword (page xv)
Acknowledgments (page xix)
Introduction (page 1)
1. The American System of Manufactures in the Antebellum Period (page 15)
2. The Sewing Machine and the American System of Manufactures (page 67)
3. Mass Production in American Woodworking Industries: A Case Study (page 125)
4. The McCormick Reaper Works and American Manufacturing Technology in the Nineteenth Century (page 153)
5. From the American System toward Mass Production: The Bicycle Industry in the Nineteenth Century (page 189)
6. The Ford Motor Company and the Rise of Mass Production in America (page 217)
7. Cul–de–sac: The Limits of Fordism and the Coming of "Flexible Mass Production" (page 263)
8. The Ethos of Mass Production and Its Critics (page 303)
APPENDIX 1. The Evolution of the Expression The American System of Manufactures (page 331)
APPENDIX 2. Singer Sewing Machine Artifactual Analysis (page 337)
Notes (page 345)
Bibliography (page 385)
Index (page 399)

Citation preview

a From the

AMERICAN SYSTEM to

MASS PRODUCTION 1800-1932

(2) STUDIES IN INDUSTRY AND SOCIETY Glenn Porter, General Editor Published with the assistance of the Hagley Museum and Library

1. Burton W. Folsom, Jr. Urban Capitalists: Entrepreneurs and City Growth in Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna and Lehigh Regions, 1800-1920

2. John Bodnar Workers’ World: Kinship, Community, and Protest in an'industrial Society, 1900-1940

3. Paul F. Paskoff {industrial Evolution: Organization, Structure,

and Growth of the Pennsylvania fron Industry, 1750-1860

4. David A. Hounshell From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States

5. Cynthia J. Shelton The Mills of Manayunk: Industrialization and Conflict in the Philadelphia Region, 1787-1837

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Figures and Tables x1 Foreword XV Acknowledgments XIX Introduction il

Antebellum Period 15

1. The American System of Manufactures in the

Manufactures 67

2. The Sewing Machine and the American System of

A Case Study 125

3. Mass Production in American Woodworking Industries:

4, The McCormick Reaper Works and American

Manufacturing Technology in the Nineteenth Century 153 5. From the American System toward Mass Production:

The Bicycle Industry in the Nineteenth Century 189 6. The Ford Motor Company and the Rise of Mass

Production in America 217

¢@. Cul-de-sac: The Limits of Fordism and the Coming of

“Flexible Mass Production” 263

8. The Ethos of Mass Production and Its Critics 303

Notes 345 Bibliography 385 Index 399 APPENDIX 1. The Evolution of the Expression The American

System of Manufactures 331

APPENDIX 2. Singer Sewing Machine Artifactual Analysis 337

1X

Figures 0.1. A Day’s Output of Ford Model T’s, 2.4 Punching Out Needle Eyes, Wheeler

Highland Park Factory, 1915 2 and Wilson Manufacturing 0.2 Ford Motor Company, Highland Park Company, 1879 7/4 Factory Employees, 1915 3 2.5 Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine,

185i /6 . | | U.S. Patent Model, 1858 76

egExhibition Rhode Island, 1860s Palace in2.7 London, , 79 Brown & Sharpe’s Shop Where

1.1. United States Exhibit at the Crystal 2.6 Brown & Sharpe Factory, Providence,

, |Willcox Gibbs Sewing Machines 1.2. Samuel Colt’s London Armory, Were&Made, 1879 &0 1854 is 2.8 Patent Model, Si Sewing Machi 1.4. North-Made Horse Pistol, Model . 2.9 Showroom, I. M. Singer & Co.’s

1.3. London-Made Colt Revolver 22 ves 93 » SINBET SOWIE MACHINE,

1813 30 Central Office, 458 Broad N

) York City, 1857 6&4 Gunstocks, 1822 36 7 2.10 I. M. Singer & Co.’s New York

1.5. Blanchard’s ‘‘Lathe’’ to Manufacture Cnn MINS: PORGWAY INOW

; Factory, 1854 6&6 1.7 Inspection Gauges, United States . 2.11 I. M. Singer & Co. Advertisement, Model 1841 Rifle 45 1.8 Samuel Armory, Hartford, _ 2.12Colt’s Demonstrating the Singer Sewing Connecticut, 1857 46 . o«: , . Machine, 1850s 58 1.9 Howe’s Pinmaking2.13Machine, ca. . Singer Model A Family Sewing

1.6 Portsmouth Blockmaking Machine 37

, 1857 87

1838 92 Machi 1858 90

1.10 Eli Terry’s Patented Pillar and Scroll MACITIE, BOVE .

2.14 Singer New Family Sewing Machine, Clock, ca. 1816 53 1865 94 Gauges , . 1.141 Seth Thomas Wooden Clock

2.15 Singer Manufacturing Company's and Parts, ca. 1838 55 a, | :; Elizabethport Factory, 1880 95 1.12 Seth Wooden ClockElizabethport, Striker . . Thomas 2.16 Singer Foundry,

Jig, ca. Wooden 1838 56 1880 100Plate , 1.13 Bending Seth Thomas Clock _ ; 2.17 Singer Forging Shop, Elizabethport,

, 1880 6/00 Department, Model 58 .

Drilling Jig, ca. 1838 57

1.14 Joseph Ives’s BrassSinger Clock, ca. 1838 . 2.18 Screw

Reconstruction of 1833 Patent Elizabethport, 1880 /0/

2.19 Singer Department, 1.15 Early Chauncey JeromeoaBrass ClockNeedle : Ehizabethport, 1880 /0/

Movement, 1839 59 2.20 Sj Polishing R Blizabeth

1.16 Musket Assembly, Springfield Armory, : “880 i oom, Eizabetnport,

185265 2.21 Singer Japanning (Painting) Operations, Elizabethport, 1880 /02 2.1 Machine Shop, Wheeler and Wilson 2.22 Singer Assembling Room,

Manufacturing Company, 1879 7/ Ehzabethport, 1880 /03 2.2 Assembly Room, Wheeler and Wilson 2.23 Testing Singer Machines,

Manufacturing Company, 1879 72 Elizabethport, 1880 /03 2.3. Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine, 2.24 Setting up Singer Machines for

ca. 1876 73 Shipment, Elizabethport, 1880 /04 x]

XH FIGURES AND TABLES

2.25 Singer Improved Family Sewing 4.11) McCormick Foundry, 1885 /83

Machine /08 4.12 Lathe and Press Room of the

2.26 Caricature of a Yankee Inside McCormick Factory, 1885 /&4 Contractor, 1880 /// 4.13 Shafting Room, McCormick Factory,

1885 /84 3.1. American Woodworking Machinery, 4.14 ‘Setting Up’’ or Assembling Mowers,

Enfield Arsenal, 1857 /26 McCormick Factory, 1885 /&5

3.2 Wooden Sewing Machine Cabinet 4.15 ‘‘Fitting Up Binders,’? McCormick

Made by the Wilson Sewing Factory, 1885 /86 Machine Company, 1876 /28

3.3. Interior of the New York Crystal 5.1 Columbia Light Roadster High-Whee!l

Palace Exhibition, 1853 /30 Bicycle, 1886 /9/

3.4 Woodworking Shop at the Wheeler and 5.2 Columbia Women’s Safety Bicycle, —

Wilson Factory, 1879 /31 1896 96/92

3.5 Diagram of Peeled and Sliced Veneer §.3. ‘‘Bicycle Room’’ of the Weed Sewing

Production /34 Machine Company Factory,

3.6 Plain Walnut Cabinet Made for Singer 1880 9/93

Sewing Machines, 1876 /35 5.4 Weed Sewing Machine Company 3.7 Fancy Cabinet (Walnut, Mahogany, or Factory, Hartford, Connecticut,

Rosewood) Made for Singer Sewing 188i /95 Machines, 1876 /35 §.5 Machining Rear Hubs for Columbia 3.8 Plain Walnut Table with Paneled Cover Bicycles, Weed Factory, 1881 /95 Made for Singer Sewing Machines, 5.6 Inspecting and Gauging Columbia

1876 137 Bicycle Parts, Weed Factory,

3.9 Singer ‘‘Drop’’ Cabinet, 1893 /4/ 1881 /96

3.10 Singer Bent Plywood Sewing Machine §.7 Truing Columbia Bicycle Wheels,

Cover /43 Weed Factory, 188i /96

3.11 Special-Purpose Wheel Machinery, 5.8 Assembling Columbia Bicycles, Weed

J. A. Fay & Co., 1888 /48& Factory, 1881 /97

3.12 Manually Indexed Hub Chipping-out 5.9 Warehouse for Columbia Bicycles and

Machines and Handwork, Studebaker Parts, Weed Factory, 1881 /97 Brothers Factory, ca. 1890 /50 5.10 Local Chapter of the League of

3.13 Hand Planing Felloes, Studebaker American Wheelmen, 1880s /99 Brothers Factory, ca. 1890 /5/ §.11 National Bicycle Exhibition, Madison Square Garden, 1895 /99

4.1. Cyrus McCormick’s Instructions for 5.12 Thomson Electric Welder, 1891 20/ Reaper Assembly, 1851 /58 5.13 Sections of Hub Forging and Finished

4.2. McCormick Reaper Factory, Chicago, Hub for Columbia Bicycle,

ca. 1860 /63 1892 204 4.3, McCormick Self-Raking Reaper, 5.14 Pope Testing Department Apparatus,

1862 /65 1896 207

4.4 C.H. McCormick & Bro. Factory, §.15 Examples of Bicycle Parts Stamped out

North Side Chicago, 1868 /69 of Sheet Steel, 1890s 209

4.5 McCormick Advance Self-Raking 5.16 Examples of Electrically Welded

Reaper, 1869 /7/ Bicycle Parts Made from Sheet

4.6 McCormick Prize Mower, 1869 /7/ Steel, 1896 2/0

4.7 McCormick Harvester and Wire 5.17 Steps in Making Hubs 2//

Binder, 1876 /76 3.18 Steps in Sprocket Making 2/3

4.8 McCormick Harvester and Twine

Binder, ca. 1881 /79 6.1 Model T Ford, 1913 2/9 4.9 Setting up Finger Bars, McCormick 6.2 Static Assembly, Model N, Ford Motor

Factory, 1881 /8&/ Company Piquette Avenue Factory, 4.10 McCormick Factory, 1885 /83 1906 222

Figures and Tables XH 6.3 Punch Press Operations, Highland Park 6.29 Body Drop, Highland Park, 1913 254

Factory, 1913 225 6.30 Radiator and Whee! Chutes, Final 6.4 Punch Press Operations, Highland Park Assembly Line, Highland Park,

Factory, 1913 226 1914 255

6.5 Highland Park Factory, 1923 227 6.31 Driving Off the Assembly Line.

6.6 Quick-Change Fixture for Crankcase Highland Park, 1914 256

Drilling, 1913 230 6.32 General View of **The Line,’’

6.7 Machining Engine Blocks, 1915 23/ Highland Park, 1914 257

6.8 Ford Crankshaft Grinding Machines. 6.33 Rear Axle Assembly Line, Highland

1915 232 Park, 1914 258 6.9 Drilling and Reaming Engine Block, 6.34 Dashboard Assembly Line, Highland 1913 233 Park, 1914 259 6.10 Magneto Coil Assembly, Highland 6.35 Upholstery Line, Highland Park, Park, 1913 234 1916 260 6.11 Engine Assembly, Highland Park, 7.1 Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge 239Assembly Factory,Stands, 1930Highland 269 . . 6.12 1913 Rear Axle

7.2 Henry Ford and His Chief Production

Park, 1913 235 Experts, 1933 270

Park, 1913 236 _Model T, | Fifteen Milhionth

6.13 Dashboard Assembly Stands, Highland 7.3 Henry Ford and Edsel B. Ford in the

6.14 Static Assembly of Model T Chassis, 1997 280

1913 237 7.4. Model A Engine Number One on Test

1913 238 Block, 1927 282

6.15 Ford Foundry Mold Conveyors,

6.16 Moldine Mach; Ford Foundt 7.5 Henry Ford, Edsel B. Ford, and the Olaing Niacnines, Nord rounay: New Model A Ford, Waldorf Hotel,

L913 2359 December 1,1890 1927 283 6.17 Westinghouse Foundry, 240 . 6.18 “Di bv’? Line. Slaughterh 7.6 Johansson Gauge Blocks 287

: isassemDly Line, slaugnternouse, 7.7 Model A Final Assembly Line, River 1873 242

6.19 “D; bly’? Line. Slauchterh Rouge Factory, 1928 290

: Igy odd INC, S1aUghlernouse, 7.8 Body Drop, Model A, Final Assembly

| Line, River Rouge Factory,

6.20 Evans’s Automatic Flour Mill, 1931 29/

Occoquan, Virginia, 1795 243 ) , Factory. : , . . 7.9 Conveyor Belt, River Rouge 6.21 Norton’s Automatic Canmaking 1932 298 Machinery, 1885 24) 7.10 Ford V-8 Engine Assembly, River

6.22 Some of the Principal Creators of Mass R R; 1930s 299 Production at Ford Motor Compan ouge Pactorys eee

, og 1932 300 1913 246 8.1 Henry Ford and William J, Cameron in

Pany> 7,11 Henry Ford and the V-8, March 10, 1913 245 6.23 ‘The First Magneto Assembly Line,

6.24 Assembling Transmissions on What the Dearborn Laboratory of the Ford Horace Arnold Called ‘‘the first of Motor Company, 1935 304 the Ford sliding assembly lines,” 8.2 Ford Soybean Processing Plant, River

1913 247 Rouge, 1930s 3/0

6.25 Part of Engine Assembly Line 8.3 Assembly Line Factory Production of

Operations, Highland Park, Gunnison Housing Corporation, New

1915 250 Albany, Indiana, ca. 1937 3/2

6.26 Installing Pistons in Model T Engines, 8.4 Automatic Paint Booths, Gunnison

Highland Park, ca. 1914 251 Housing Corporation, New Albany, 6.27 Engine Drop, Final Assembly Line, Indiana, ca. 1937 3/2 Highland Park, 1913 252 8.5 ‘‘Ford’’ or “‘Chevrolet’’ Equivalent of 6.28 End of the Line, Highland Park, Gunnison Prefabricated House, ca.

1913 253 1937 3/3

XIV FIGURES AND TABLES

8.6 ‘‘Buick’’ or ‘‘Cadillac’’ Equivalent of | A.3 Needle Bar and Presser Foot Bar of

1937 313 87104 339

Gunnison Prefabricated House, ca. New Family Machine Number 8.7 Shift Change at Louis’s Phonograph A.4 Underside of Singer New Family

Factory, A nous la liberté, Sewing Machine, Serial Number

1931 397 106092, ca. 1865 339

8.8 Phonograph Manufacture on the A.5 Detail of Underside of Singer New Assembly Line, A nous la liberté, Family Sewing Machine Number

1931 317 106092, ca. 1865 340

8.9 Chaplin on the Assembly Line, Modern A.6 Detail of Needle Bar, Needle Bar Cam,

Times, 1936 318 Presser Foot Bar, and Faceplate,

8.10 Chaplin Driven Crazy on the Assembly Machine Number 106092 340 Line, Modern Times, 1936 3/9 A.7 Detail of Bevel Gears, Machine

8.11 Charles Chaplin with Edsel B. Ford Number 106092 34/ and Henry Ford in the Power Plant, A.8 Detail of Needle Bar, Needle Bar Carn,

Highland Park Factory, 1923 320 Presser Foot Bar, and Faceplate, 8.12 North Wall, Detroit Industry, Diego Serial Number 360834, ca.

Rivera, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1870 34]

1932 324 A.9 Detail of Horizontal Shaft and Bevel

8.13 South Wall, Detroit Industry, Diego Gear of New Family Sewing Rivera, Detroit Institute of Arts, Machine Number 103977, ca.

1932-33 325 1872-73 342

8.14 Detail, South Wall, Detroit Industry, A.10 Detail of Crank or Cam Mechanism,

Diego Rivera, Detroit Institute of Which Operates the Grooved Cam of

Arts, 1932-33 326 the Needle Bar, Machine Number 1038977 342

A.1 Underside of Singer New Family A.11 Underside of Singer New Family

Sewing Machine, Serial Number Sewing Machine, Serial Number

87104, ca. 1865 338 5235877, ca. 1884 or 1885 343

A.2 Detail of Underside of Singer New A.12 Detail of Bevel Gears of Machine

Family Sewing Machine, Number 5235877 343 87104, ca. 1865 338

Tables 2.1. Production of Wheeler and Wilson and Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machines,

1853-1876 70 2.2 Output of Singer Sewing Machines, 1853-1880 89

4.141841-1885 McCormick Machines Built, . /6/ 6.1 Manufacturing and Marketing of Model T Fords, 1908-1916 224

re Foreword

| his volume marks an important departure in the Industry and Society series of mem (he Johns Hopkins University Press and the Eleutherian Mills—Hagley Foundation. It has been our intent from the first that most of the studies in this series focus on the economic and social history of the Mid-Atlantic states yet be pertinent to wider issues and

topics. Burton Folsom’s Urban Capitalists, John Bodnar’s Worker’s World, and Paul Paskoff’s Industrial Evolution led the way in fulfilling that goal; all three deal closely with aspects of industrial history in a single state, but all approach their subjects in a way that makes them of interest to the broad community of historians. The publication of David Hounshell’s From the American System to Mass Production represents another kind of work that we also hoped to include in the series—studies that make significant contributions to important historical questions about the relationship between industry and society but do not necessarily deal exclusively with the Mid-Atlantic region. Hounshell’s work is pathbreaking in many respects. He gives us, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the most significant and best-known set of mass production technologies in American history. Beginning with their origins in the federal armories of the early nineteenth century, Hounshell traces those interrelated technologies through a number of industries—the sewing machine, the woodworking indus-

tries, the reaper, the bicycle, and the automobile. The techniques were spread and improved by a close-knit network of key mechanics, who moved out in concentric circles from the armories to the machine tool companies, the sewing machine manufacturers, and the rest, all the way to the automobile makers. Mechanics who had learned parts of the growing body of ideas about how to create highly productive factories passed those ideas on to others, who, in turn, expanded and spread them. The extent of the linkages between the critical firms and individuals was astonishing. Over time, these men steadily widened the range of methods for manufacturing items of wood and metal. Factory organization, specialized machines, precision manufacture, interchangeable parts, carefully coordinated work sequences and materials flows, and new methods for stamping and welding metal eventually become standard items in the repertoire of America’s production engineers. By the early twentieth century some industries had become so adept at turning out masses of parts that they encountered a bottleneck at the point of assembly. The mechanics and engineers responsible for the revolution in production proved equal to this new challenge as well. On the eve of World War I the Ford Motor Company came up with the answer—the assembly line. The last obstacle had been removed. Seemingly limitless numbers of virtually identical goods could now be produced. A perpetual cornucopia machine had emerged, fully realizing the promise of true mass production that began in the armories at Springfield and Harpers Ferry. AV

XVI FOREWORD

Almost as quickly as the new order had dawned, however, it ran into another bottleneck. For the first time in the story of the industries Hounshell examines, the major problem ceased to be the challenge of how to produce enough goods to meet an evergrowing demand and became, instead, how to dispose of these goods. Although creative marketing and heavy advertising had been central elements in the success of firms such as Singer and McCormick, their factory superintendents had usually been called on again and again to expand output. In the auto industry, however, after Ford’s assembly innovations at Highland Park things began to change. For the first time in the firms studied here, serious difficulties arose as the volume of manufactured goods exceeded the demand. The solution to these problems came not from Henry Ford, perhaps the greatest figure in the history of mass production, but from Alfred Sloan, Charles Kettering, and others at General Motors. They pioneered a revolutionary approach to marketing in which they continued to introduce real mechanical improvements in their products but, in addition, they now emphasized style and superficial annual model changes. Furthermore, GM began to create individual products consciously aimed at different income groups. The General Motors strategy succeeded so well that the Ford Motor Company plunged into decline and losses. Ford and his production engineers eventually were forced to follow the lead of GM. Hounshell traces in detail the story of the painful transition at Ford to the new technology of ‘‘flexible mass production.’’ Ford had, with the Model T, taken American mass production to its most extreme form. He had also led his company into an economic and technical dead end. The dream born in the federal armories a century earlier became the nightmare of crushing inventories of unsold cars and a rigid production system with enormously costly and inflexible plants. The tragedy of Henry Ford pointed to a cruel dilemma that had long troubled other manufacturers. In a sense it is a fundamental! problem of technically advanced capitalism itseli—manufacturers could produce ever greater quantities of any given item, but eventually they reached the point at which they could no longer sell them at a price that would yield what they considered an acceptable profit. The system is built on endless

growth, however, and for any given firm, continuing growth can be achieved only through change. No solution is ever final, no product ever so successful that its growth phase continues endlessly. Even the Model T—the perfect car for the masses—fell victim to this hard fact. Ever since American consumers have been free to choose new goods in the marketplace, they have done so sooner or later, no matter how useful, durable, or inexpensive the existing product might have been. Firms committed to growth exist in a treadmill universe; the machine of growth must never stop. In many industries, though generally not in the ones detailed in this study, the problem of overcapacity had existed long before Ford pioneered the assembly line. Manufacturers tried various ways of dealing with the problem, from trade associations and pools to the mergers that created so many big businesses before World War I. Oligopolistic competition and heavy reliance on modern marketing techniques provided a way out for some industries. When the problem of overcapacity struck the auto industry, however, it hit the Ford Company especially hard because of the company’s wider-ranging commitment to the mass production of a single product. David Hounshell skillfully traces the evolution of the most important set of production technologies in American industrial history. In the process, he inters a number of myths that have grown up over the years, such as the ideas that the use of interchangeable parts was widespread in the nineteenth century, that interchangeability always meant lower costs, and that technical barriers prevented mass production in the woodworking tndus-

Foreword XVil tries. Perhaps most important, Hounshell shows that the most successful American firms relied on the most careful attention to both marketing and production. The story he tells 1s one in which a complex and difficult set of new technologies came to fruition with the benefit of initial government subsidy and only when business leaders made long-term commitments to innovation and excellence. At a time when Americans are worrying about a decline in the performance of their industrial corporations, it is both tmely and instructive to have this history of the era in which U.S. firms rose to a dominant position in world markets. This is not, however, entirely a paean to progress. Although most of the book is written from the perspective of the factory superintendents and engineers who perfected mass production, the gradual spread of mechanized production technology meant more routinized work for the people who tended the machines and whose workday came to be controlled and defined by the production engineers. In its final chapter, the study assesses the ambiguous meaning for American society of the coming of mass production. Few topics are as central to the interests of the Regional Economic History Research Center at Hagley as David Hounshell’s subject. Since he has served for some years as a member of the Center’s Academic Advisory Board and as curator of technology at the Hagley Museum, I am particularly pleased to have his work appear tn this series. GLENN PorTER, Director

Regional Economic History Research Center Eleutherian Mijls—Hagley Foundation

a en Acknowledgments

I he debts I incurred in writing this study are staggering. First and foremost, I MN am indebted to the Eleutherian Mills—Hagley Foundation, which supported me as a Hagley Fellow while I was a graduate student at the University of Delaware and later as a curator in the Hagley Museum. The foundation’s generous travel budget allowed me

to carry out an important part of my manuscript research, and its Eleutherian Mills Historical Library held resources that I could not obtain elsewhere. Among numerous members of the library staff who helped me, Carol Hallman deserves special thanks for handling countless interlibrary loans and solving other problems for me. The library’s Pictorial Collections Department also made a substantial contribution to the illustrations of this book. I deeply appreciate the patience shown me by my museum colleagues and superiors through the process of refining the manuscript. Robert Howard, Hagley’s curator of engineering, contributed to this book through his excellent drawings. I remain flattered that my colleague, Glenn Porter, wanted to have this book as part of the Regional Economic History Research Center’s series with the Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity Press. He played a dual role, serving as my greatest critic and as my constant supporter. Those who have read Glenn Porter’s own work know the precision of his scholarship; I consider myself fortunate to have experienced at firsthand the benefit of his outstanding editorial skill. He contributed significantly to this book in more ways than even he will ever know. For each of them and for his constant support, 1 am most grateful. Two other members of the foundation staff helped to make this book possible. Dora Mae Blake sustained me during the manuscript’s most trying moments, that of typing. She cheerfully turned a manuscript that looked worse than a rotten sow’s ear into a real silk purse. Mary Meyers rendered great help with the index. By awarding me a predoctoral fellowship in the history of science and technology, the Smithsonian Institution made possible a major portion of the work on my doctoral dissertation, which provides the basis for this book. I wish to thank Edward Davidson, Gretchen Gayle, and Elsie Bliss for their help on administrative matters. The National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, and its staff were critical in my research and writing. I am especially indebted to Robert C. Post, who served as my Smithsonian supervisor and who continually went beyond the call of duty. His own work, his criticism of mine, his careful editorial markings, and his abiding friendship will always be gratefully remembered. Carlene E. Stephens answered hundreds of my questions and solved more than a few perplexing historical riddles. I also thank Lu Rosignol and Charles Burger of the Smithsonian Library, who often rendered heroic service. Other Smithsonian staff who helped me in important ways are Brooke Hindle, Silvio Bedini, Joyce Ramey, Nancy Long, Robert Friedel, Otto Mayr, Robert Vogel, Rita X1X

XX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Adrosko, Barbara Suit, William Henson, Joanna Kofron, and Hazel Jones. I sincerely appreciate their help and support. I am also indebted to Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, for funding my research on woodworking technology. The college not only awarded me a summer faculty

research fellowship but it provided other nonpecuniary support. Much of that support came from B. Samuel Tanenbaum, dean of the college, and Richard Olson, my colleague and oftentimes pedagogue. Thanks also go to the College of Arts and Science of the University of Delaware for helping to defray the costs of obtaining and publishing many of the illustrations in this book. I wish to thank the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and its staff in the manuscripts

reading room for their help with my work in the McCormick Collection and the papers of the Singer Manufacturing Company. I am indebted to Joy Levien, assistant secretary of the Singer Company, for permission to use the Singer papers. Henry D. Sharpe, Jr., chairman of the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, gave me permission to use the historical material on Brown & Sharpe which still survives. | sincerely appreciate his help and encouragement. To the staff of the manuscripts section of the Connecticut State Library I extend my thanks for their help with the surviving papers related to the Pope Manufacturing Company. [These papers gave me an unexpected and important perspective on manufacturing problems in late nineteenth-century America. The Ford Archives of the Edison Institute will always hold a special place in my debt list. Douglas A. Bakken, director of the Ford Archives, has made this archive into a firstrate research facility, and his interest in my project greatly aided my work there. Reading manuscripts in the Ford Archives was pure pleasure. I profited enormously from the help of David Crippen, reference archivist. His familiarity with the vast Ford Motor Company collection and with Ford history is delightfully rare and is deeply appreciated.

My study was aided by Jane McCavitt of the MIT Institute Archives. Her quick responses to my numerous inquiries faciliated my work on Foster Gunnison. Also, I must acknowledge my debt to Foster Gunnison, Jr., for providing me with important information on his father’s life and work and for allowing me to use the photographs of Gunnison houses and the Gunnison factory. In addition, my thanks go to the Department of Special Collections, Case Western Reserve University Libraries, for its help with the Fred Colvin Papers, which aided my analysis of the Ford assembly line. My wite, Nancy Eddy, contributed in countless ways to the making of this book. Her patience with my long hours and her help when little time and much work remained will never be forgotten. Our daughter Jennie was born at the same time this book was being conceived. She has grown up with her daddy always either talking about or working on his book, and she has made her special contributions, as has her younger brother, Blake. His passion for Tin Lizzies has been exceeded only by his father’s own passion for how they were made. In short, we have sustained each other. The editorial team of Johns Hopkins University Press deserves special thanks. Henry Tom gave his support early on, and he demonstrated great patience in working with me. Trudie Calvert performed the difficult task of copyediting the manuscript of this book with impressive care and thoroughness and real grace. To them and others not mentioned, |

offer my sincere thanks.

I could never have realized, much less addressed, conceptual problems without the work and help of John J. Beer, Merritt Roe Smith, and Eugene S. Ferguson. When |

Acknowledgments XX]

began this study, I set as my goal to equal the quality of John Beer’s dissertation and hoped my resulting published work would have the same importance as his. | am not qualified to judge whether I have reached these ends, but I know that Beer’s work and his excitement for learning have contributed to my intellectual makeup. One need only peruse the first chapter of this book to see the magnitude of the debt J owe Merritt Roe Smith. His writings on arms production technology form the basis of my work. Smith’s careful criticism of the manuscript and his probing questions have sharpened my work at every turn. My greatest debt, both intellectual and otherwise, is to Eugene S. Ferguson. He was one of the first historians of technology to stress the importance of the American system of manufactures and the development of mass production technology. In his class on Ameri-

can technology, Ferguson demonstrated the necessity of understanding this historical phenomenon if we are to comprehend fully the nature of technology in nineteenth-century America. This need is the reason | undertook my study. Ferguson continually directed me to important sources and raised questions that never occurred to me. No student ever had a better teacher, and no person could ever have a more devoted friend. These many individuals and institutions have contributed to the makeup of this book, but the weaknesses that remain are mine and mine alone.

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