1794 - Technology

Technology

The first U.S. national arsenals are established at Springfield, Massachusetts, whose citizens were asked in 1776 to produce firearms for the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety, and at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The 1795 Springfield flintlock musket will be the first official U.S. weapon, and Springfield will become the small arms center of the world (see Springfield rifle, 1903; human rights, 1859).

The slide-rest that will be an essential part of the modern lathe is invented by engineer Joseph Bramah, now 34, or his foreman Henry Maudslay, now 23, or both working together (when Bramah refuses Maudslay's request for a raise, Maudslay will quit and go into business on his own). The slide-rest is a saddle that moves a cutting tool horizontally along the work being turned; along with other tools designed and built by Bramah, Maudslay, and men who will receive their training in Maudslay's shop, it will help provide the basis for the machine-tool industry that will underly the growth of British manufacturing in the next century (see Wilkinson, 1798; Maudslay, 1810; Nasmyth, 1839).

Welsh ironmaster Philip Vaughan at Carmarthen patents radial ball bearings for the axle bearings of carriages, but full development of ball bearings will await the invention of precise grinding machines that can produce accurately spherical metal balls.