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The evolution of U.S. manufacturing and the American industrial revolution are clearly reflected in the history of Connecticut. Between the birth of the U.S. patent system in 1790 and 1930, Connecticut had more patents issued per capita than any other state; in the 19th century, when one in three thousand people were issued a U.S. patent, one in 700-1000 Connecticut inventors were issued patents. [1] Connecticut's first recorded invention granted a U.S. patent was a lapidary machine, by Abel Buell of Killingworth, in 1765. [2]
As most early American colonies, Connecticut was an agrarian economy with pockets of manufacturing centered in market towns, producing goods for local markets. However by the late 1700s, the region was also known for cabinet and furniture making, originating the Queen Anne and Chippendale styles, produced by an influx of skilled immigrant artisans from England and Scotland who setup workshops throughout the colony. [3] Plentiful natural resources, including water for power, wood for fires and building material, and iron ore, combined with excellent natural harbors, and navigable rivers leading all the way to Massachusetts, quickly led to the area becoming a center for colonial trade and overseas exports.
As in most of New England, the residents believed that industry, in all senses of the word, not only strengthened individual moral fiber, but also served to make the colony independent and free to pursue its own religious and philosophical beliefs. While manual labor was valued, learning and study was also prized and many schools were founded, with Yale University the most significant. The development by Eli Whitney of the system of precision manufacturing of interchangeable parts [4] and the assembly line in the late 18th century, however made Connecticut into a major center of manufacturing. This development changed "made in the United States" from a phrase connoting shoddy workmanship and expensive maintenance, into a world standard for high quality, and the entire system became known as the American system of manufacturing.
In the late 18th century, the Connecticut government engaged in financial incentives for building and operating textile mills.
The Connecticut Valley (Wethersfield, East Windsor, and Colchester) was a center of cabinetmaking and furniture construction in the latter half of the 18th century. Beginning in the Queen Anne style, by the end of the period the furniture had evolved into four distinct variations of the Chippendale style; that of Eliphalet Chapin, one of the masters of the craft, who tended to produce pieces which were more compact and chunky in appearance, incorporating some of the Philadelphia rococo style without as much fussiness; that of the Colchester/Norwich area, exemplified by Samuel Loomis, as well as those of the Wethersfield and Springfield – Northampton areas.
Between 1800 and 1860, Connecticut manufacturers applied the system to the manufacture of economically priced high quality firearms, leading to Connecticut's nickname "the arsenal of democracy." This all started in 1797 when Eli Whitney began to manufacture weapons, later the Connecticut Valley Arms company. Middletown, Connecticut was the major supplier of pistols to the United States government during the War of 1812, with numerous gun manufacturers in the area. In 1810, Oliver Bidwell built the first pistol factory in the United States on the Pameacha River in Middletown, winning a contract with the United States War Department for handmade pistols. Also in 1810, Colonel Simeon North built a pistol factory in Middletown on the West River, now the Coginchaug River, also winning a contract from the United States Secretary of War, which led to enlarging his factory to 8,500 square feet (790 m2); he built about 10,000 pistols a year, up until just before the Civil War, designing America's first milling machine. Even more successful was Colonel Nathan Starr Jr., whose factory (built of stone quarried from the river) was about the same size as North's, and located across the river half a mile northeast. Starr initially manufactured swords, about 5,000 a year; including presentation swords for the state of Tennessee and War of 1812 heroes, colonel Richard M. Johnson, General Edmond P. Gaines, and General Andrew Jackson. The factory later manufactured muskets and rifles until 1845, after which the United States government started government armories in Massachusetts and West Virginia partially modeled after Starr's. In 1812, John R. Johnson and John D. Johnson built a factory, also on the Pameacha River. Robert and John D. Johnson manufactured Model 1817 common rifles in 1821 to 1827. After this period, firearm manufacturing declined in Middletown but briefly revived during the Civil War. The Savage Revolving Fire Arm Company manufactured pistols between 1859 and 1866, and the Sage Ammunition Works manufactured ammunition between 1864 and 1867.
In 1836, Samuel Colt invented the revolver design which continues to be used to this day. Colt's Manufacturing Company hired Elisha K. Root to modernize production, making Colt weapons the first in the world with truly interchangeable parts. Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson designed the first repeating rifle in Norwich in the early 1850s, which went into production by the New Haven Arms Company (which later became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company), and, just across the border in Massachusetts, the Springfield Armory. Smith also patented a metallic rifle cartridge in 1854. Christian Sharps designed the Sharps breech-loading rifle which in 1854 began to be manufactured in Hartford by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. Christopher Spencer designed the Spencer repeating rifle which played an important role for Union troops at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Another area where precision manufacture led to industrial dominance for Connecticut was in the manufacture of clocks, watches, and other timepieces, by Eli Terry and his apprentice Seth Thomas, the Forestville Manufacturing Company (which became the E. N. Welch Company), the New England Clock Company, the Ansonia Clock Company, Gilbert Clocks, Ingraham Clocks, the New Haven Clock Company, Welch Clocks, Sessions Clocks, and the Waterbury Clock Company, which became Timex Group USA, and is the sole Connecticut survivor of this once flourishing field, now decimated by lower costs of production elsewhere, in the United States and overseas. The American Clock and Watch Museum is located in Bristol, Connecticut.
Similarly, Connecticut industry became well known in allied fields. Hardware and tools continue to be manufactured by The Stanley Works and Stanley Rule & Level Co. in New Britain. Connecticut was a major area for development and manufacture of machine tools. In 1818, Simeon North designed America's first milling machine. Machinist Elisha Root first designed machinery for the Collins Company of Collinsville which manufactured axes which became world-famous, then was hired by Colt in 1849 to modernize firearm production by designing precision drop hammers, boring machines, gauges, jig (tool)s, etc., and improving the milling machines designed by Francis A. Pratt for the George S. Lincoln company in Hartford; the resulting Lincoln miller became world-famous, selling over 150,000 machines. Another Colt engineer, William Mason, patented 125 inventions for manufacture of firearms, as well as steam pumps and power looms. Christopher Spencer invented the automatic turret lathe (which in its small- to medium-sized form is known as a screw machine) for machining screws, as well as the variable cam cylinder used to control the turret. Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney invented a thread milling machine in 1865; Whitney also perfected various measurement instruments, and Pratt designed the aforementioned original milling machine manufactured by the George S. Lincoln company of Hartford. Simon Fairman invented the lathe chuck in West Stafford in 1830, and his son-in-law, Austin F. Cushman, invented the self-centering Cushman Universal Chuck in 1862. Edward P. Bullard designed the vertical boring mill in 1883. Charles E. Billings perfected the drop hammer for metal forging in the 1870s and designed the copper commutator central to the operation of electrical generators and motors. Edwin R. Fellows of Torrington in 1896 designed and built a new type of gear shaper and founded the Fellows Gear Shaper Company, which made a vital contribution to the manufacture of effective and reliable gear transmissions for the nascent automotive industry. The name Bridgeport on machine tools continues to be a guarantee of high quality around the world, for people who have no idea that the machinery is named after a city in Connecticut. Even the world of toys was dominated by the A. C. Gilbert Company, manufacturers of Erector Sets as well as other educational toys such as chemistry sets, microscopes, toy trains, etc.
Another area of industry where Connecticut excelled was in bicycle manufacturing, and its spin-off, the earliest automobile manufacturing. Albert Pope of Hartford saw a bicycle in Philadelphia in 1876 and was immediately enthralled with the concept of an "ever-saddled horse that eats nothing and requires no care." He subsequently began the first bicycle manufacturing in America, Columbia Bicycles, and set about marketing the vehicle, setting up a system of distributorships with fixed prices, hiring doctors to tout cycling as healthy exercise, and founding cycling magazines. When the safety bicycle was developed in the 1880s, he was in a perfect position to benefit from the subsequent craze.
Connecticut also became an innovative leader in the shipbuilding industry. The first recorded steam powered boat in America was built by South Windsor's John Fitch in 1786. The first military submarine, the Turtle, was built in Connecticut in 1775 by David Bushnell; since then, Connecticut has remained a world leader in the manufacture of these specialized ships. Simon Lake produced submarines for the US Navy in Bridgeport, beginning in 1913, and the work done by John P. Holland led to submarine production by the Electric Boat Company in Groton beginning in 1924, which continues to this day.
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John Moses Browning was an American firearm designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world. He made his first firearm at age 13 in his father's gun shop and was awarded the first of his 128 firearm patents on October 7, 1879, at the age of 24. He is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries and a pioneer of modern repeating, semi-automatic, and automatic firearms.
Samuel Colt was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of revolvers commercially viable.
Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company was the manufacturer of the Sharps Rifle. The company was organized by Samuel Robbins and Richard S. Lawrence as a holding company in Hartford, Connecticut, on October 9, 1851 with $100,000 in capital. Despite Sharps departing from the company bearing his name, Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company produced over 100,000 rifles, but it dissolved in 1881 with the widespread use of repeating rifles.
Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the successor corporation to Colt's earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colt is known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms, most especially between the 1850s and World War I, when it was a dominating force in its industry and a seminal influence on manufacturing technology. Colt's earliest designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from single-shot pistols. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver concept, his designs resulted in the first very successful model.
The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership in 1931 and was bought by the Western Cartridge Company, a forerunner of the Olin Corporation. The Winchester brand name is still owned by the Olin Corporation, which makes ammunition under that name. The Winchester name is also used under license for firearms produced by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group – FN Herstal of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Ogden, Utah.
Horace Smith was an American gunsmith, inventor, and businessman. He and his business partner Daniel B. Wesson formed two companies named "Smith & Wesson", the first of which was eventually reorganized into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and the latter of which became the modern Smith & Wesson.
William Mason was a patternmaker, engineer and inventor who worked for Remington Arms, Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, and Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the 19th century.
Charles Ethan Billings (1834–1920) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, superintendent, and businessman. He held various U.S. patents on hand tools, either assigned or licensed to the firm that he and Christopher M. Spencer cofounded, the Billings & Spencer Company. His name as patent holder is stamped on countless forged hand tools, many of which survive. Billings was an expert in drop forging and was an influential leader in the American system of manufacturing and its successor systems of mass production for firearms, sewing machines, hand tools, bicycles, and other goods. He served as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1895 and 1896. The Billings & Spencer Company was both a machine tool builder and a manufacturer of hand tools made with its machine tools.
The Eli Whitney Museum, in Hamden, Connecticut, is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. The museum's main building is located on a portion of the Eli Whitney Gun Factory site, a gun factory erected by Eli Whitney in 1798. The museum focuses on teaching experiments that are the roots of design and invention, featuring hands-on building projects and exhibits on Whitney and A. C. Gilbert.
Colt Defense LLC, together with its subsidiaries, is an American designer, developer and manufacturer of small arms weapons systems for individual soldiers and law enforcement personnel. It is headquartered in West Hartford, Connecticut. The company traces its portfolio of products and services back to Colt's Manufacturing Company and prior to that to Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company.
Eli Terry Sr. was an inventor and clockmaker in Connecticut. He received a United States patent for a shelf clock mechanism. He introduced mass production to the art of clockmaking, which made clocks affordable for the average American citizen. Terry occupies an important place in the beginnings of the development of interchangeable parts manufacturing. Terry is considered the first person in American history to actually accomplish interchangeable parts with no government funding. Terry became one of the most accomplished mechanics in New England during the early part of the nineteenth century. The village of Terryville, Connecticut is named for his son, Eli Terry Jr.
Pope Manufacturing Company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope around 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, US and incorporated in Hartford, Connecticut in 1877. Manufacturing of bicycles began in 1878 in Hartford at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory. Pope manufactured bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles. From 1905 to 1913, Pope gradually consolidated manufacturing to the Westfield Mass plant. The main offices remained in Hartford. It ceased automobile production in 1915 and ceased motorcycle production in 1918. The company subsequently underwent a variety of changes in form, name and product lines through the intervening years. To this day, bicycles continue to be sold under the Columbia brand.
The Colt Armory is a historic factory complex for the manufacture of firearms, created by Samuel Colt. It is located in Hartford, Connecticut along the Connecticut River, and as of 2008 is part of the Coltsville Historic District, named a National Historic Landmark District. It is slated to become part of Coltsville National Historical Park, now undergoing planning by the National Park Service.
The Colt New Model revolving rifles were early repeating rifles produced by the Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1855 until 1864. The design was essentially similar to revolver type pistols, with a rotating cylinder that held five or six rounds in a variety of calibers from .36 to .64 inches. They were mainly based upon the Colt Model 1855 Sidehammer Pocket Revolver developed by Elisha K. Root. Colt revolving pistols and rifles were attractive mainly because of their high rate of fire. They were used to a limited extent on the Pony Express and made a brief appearance in the American Civil War. However, the rifles were generally disliked by soldiers, and were ultimately discontinued due to serious design flaws.
O. F. Mossberg & Sons is an American firearms manufacturer, specializing in shotguns, rifles, scopes, and pistol accessories.
Daniel Leavitt was an early American inventor who, with his partner Edwin Wesson, patented the first revolver after Samuel Colt's, and subsequently manufactured one of the first American revolving pistols. The innovative design was manufactured only briefly before a patent suit by Colt forced the company to stop producing the Leavitt & Wesson Dragoon revolver. But Leavitt's early patents, and those of his partner Wesson, stoked competition and helped drive the technological and manufacturing boom that produced the modern firearms industry.
Robert Hillberg was a firearm designer and the head of Research & Development at the High Standard Manufacturing Company. His designs included the folding shotgun stock, the Whitney Wolverine lightweight pistol, Wildey .45 gas-operated pistol, COP .357 Derringer pistol, and M60 machine gun. Hillberg developed a variety of insurgency weapons, primarily multiple barrel shotguns, which could be covertly distributed to partisan forces fighting in the United States' national interests. Gun Digest editors have described Hillberg as a "national treasure."
Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor, from Manchester, Connecticut, who invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest models of lever-action rifle, a steam powered "horseless carriage", and several other inventions. He developed the first fully automatic turret lathe, which in its small- to medium-sized form is also known as a screw machine.
Frog Hollow is one of the neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut. It is a predominantly working-class residential area, bounded on the north by Capitol Avenue, the east by Lafayette Street, the south by Madison and Hamilton Streets, and on the west by Interstate 84. The neighborhood was developed between about 1850 and 1930, and still contains a remarkable concentration of residential housing from that period. The entire neighborhood, covering more than 150 acres (61 ha) and including more than 900 buildings, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.