science · 13 July 1765 · 259 years ago
birth
Born 13 Jul 1765; died 25 Aug 1852 at age 87.
American inventor and manufacturer who, like Eli Whitney, incorporated interchangeable parts in manufacturing. After a start in farming, he began a business making scythes in 1795. He expanded to making pistols, first for private use, then under government contract in Mar 1799 for 400 pistols. Larger government orders followed. By 1813, at North's suggestion, a contract for 20,000 pistols included the provision that parts should be interchangeable. Subsequently, he developed machine tools to aid production. North is generally credited for building probably the earliest, though primitive, milling machine to replace filing operations by about 1816 or even earlier. For 53 years, he filled War Dept. contracts, including rifles (from 1823), and devised a 10-round repeating rifle (1825).
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