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Interchangeable parts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Interchangeable parts are components of any device designed to specifications which insure that they will fit within any device of the same type. This streamlines the manufacturing process, since all pieces are guaranteed to fit with all others, and it similarly creates the opportunity for replacement parts.
Prior to the 18th century, devices such as guns were made one at a time by gunsmiths, and each gun was unique. If one single component of a weapon needed a replacement, the entire weapon either had to be sent back to an expert gunsmith to make custom repairs or discarded and replaced by another weapon.
Around 1778, Honoré Blanc began producing some of the first firearms with interchangeable parts. Blanc demonstrated in front of a committee of scientists that his muskets could be assembled from a pile of parts selected at random. Other inventors to implement the principle included Henry Maudslay, John Hall, and Simeon North.
In the U.S., Eli Whitney saw the potential benefit of developing "interchangeable parts" for the firearms of the United States military, and thus, around 1798, he built ten guns, all containing the same exact parts and mechanisms, and disassembled them before the United States Congress. He placed the parts in a large mixed pile and, with help, reassembled all of the weapons right in front of Congress, much like Blanc had done some years before.
The Congress was immensely impressed and ordered a standard for all United States equipment. With interchangeable parts, the problems that had plagued the era of unique weapons and equipment passed, and if one mechanism in a weapon failed, a new piece could be ordered and the weapon would not have to be discarded.
The principle of interchangeable parts quickly made mass production in all sorts of industries relatively easy. It was based on the use of templates, applied by semi-skilled labor using machine tools instead of the traditional hand tools. With the introduction of the assembly line at the beginning of the 20th century, interchangeable parts became ubiquitous elements of manufacturing.