B&W Lock-Recessing Machine
The Great Exhibition of 1851 at Alexandra Palace showed that American manufacturing methods for small, accurate parts in large numbers were superior to craft-based British practices. After a government inquiry, Britain bought over 150 new American machines to update manufacturing processes at the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield and employed American personnel in several managerial posts.
This machine was imported in 1857 as part of this push to modernise British gun-making. It cut the recess in the gun's wooden stock into which the mechanism (the 'lock') fitted.
Unlike hand-made gun parts, machined components were identical, accurate and interchangeable, simplifying assembly and repair. Seen in the Science Museum, Kensington, London.
B&W Lock-Recessing Machine
The Great Exhibition of 1851 at Alexandra Palace showed that American manufacturing methods for small, accurate parts in large numbers were superior to craft-based British practices. After a government inquiry, Britain bought over 150 new American machines to update manufacturing processes at the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield and employed American personnel in several managerial posts.
This machine was imported in 1857 as part of this push to modernise British gun-making. It cut the recess in the gun's wooden stock into which the mechanism (the 'lock') fitted.
Unlike hand-made gun parts, machined components were identical, accurate and interchangeable, simplifying assembly and repair. Seen in the Science Museum, Kensington, London.