The 1850s will be a decade of…
1851 CE
Samuel Colt is the first to widely commercialize the total use of interchangeable parts throughout a product.
It will be a leader in assembly line practice.
It will be a major innovator and training ground in manufacturing technology in this decade (and several after).
Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt had set out to establish a factory in Europe and chose London, England.
He organizes a large display of his firearms at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park, London and ingratiates himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of the Ordnance.
At one exhibit Colt disassembles ten guns and reassembles ten guns using different parts from different guns.
As the world's leading proponent of mass production techniques, Colt goes on to deliver a lecture on the subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.
The membership reward his efforts by awarding him the Telford Gold Medal.
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North Europe
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