The Beginning of Standardized Production
Henry and James F. Pitkin were employed in the manufacture of jewelry in Hartford, Connecticut in the mid-1830s. Their business failed as a result of the panic of 1837, and the Pitkin brothers then turned their attention to the manufacture of watches. The brothers were able to construct rather crude machinery for the production of watches, in particular for the production of pallets. The first movement was completed in 1838, and Crossman reports that between 800 and 900 watches were completed in total up through 1845. Surviving examples of Pitkin watches show that the parts are in fact interchangeable, contrary to what is reported by Crossman.
A few years later, a reputable clockmaker by the name of Edward Howard and the watch repairman Aaron L. Dennison formed plans to construct a watch with interchangeable parts based on Dennison's visit to the Springfield armory. The pair constructed a factory in Roxbury, with financial backing provided by Samuel Curtis and D.P. Davis (a partner of Howard in his clock business). This company initially operated under the name of the American Horologe Company, but was quickly changed to the Warren Manufacturing Company to hide the purpose from foreign suppliers. The initial focus was on the production of an 8 day watch, however this proved to be too expensive and not very accurate. Instead, the attention was turned to a 30 hour watch, of a design very similar to what ultimately became the standard for an American 18 size watch. The first of these carried the serial number of 18, and was marked "Warren." This was completed in 1852. Aproximately 80 "Warren" watches were produced, followed by about 900 marked "Samuel Curtis" and a further 4000 marked "Dennison, Howard, and Davis." The factory was moved to Waltham in about 1857. The basic design of this watch was carried on for several years as the 1857 model Waltham.
In order to reach these strict tolerances, watch manufactures largely manufactured their own machine tools and machine parts. Elgin manufactured almost two drill bits for each watch it manufactured. The knowledge of how to manufacture machines that could manufacture watches spread from Waltham to Elgin to dozens of other American watch companies and manufacturers of other products. Techniques such as jigs, stops and measuring devices on machines were not just refined, but other techniques were developed also. For example, statistical methods were used to reduce wastage. If a gear staff (axel) and a jewel bearing hole were designed to be a given size, then the parts that most closely met those design goals were used in the highest grade watches, while staffs that were too large would be matched to watch jewels with holes that were too large and together they could be used on lower grade watches.
Read more about this topic: American System Of Watch Manufacturing
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