Putting-out System - Firearms

Firearms

Historian David A. Hounshell writes:

In 1854, the British obtained their military small arms through a system of contracting with private manufacturers located principally in the Birmingham and London areas ... Although significant variation occurred, almost all of the contractors manufactured parts or fitted them through a highly decentralized, putting-out process using small workshops and highly skilled labor. In small arms making as in lock production, the "workshop system" rather than the "factory system" was the rule.

All of the processes were carried out under different cottage roofs. It was replaced by inside contracting and the factory system.