![]() Photo Credit: NPS Digital Photo At Asa Water’s armory, Blanchard created his first replicating machine, a lathe for uniformly cutting the exterior surface of musket barrels. Using a cam to control the cutter, the final three inches of the breech was automatically formed partly flat-sided as in hand-made barrels. By 1818, Springfield Armory had this machine in operation. Legend has it that during one of Blanchard’s visits to Springfield Armory at this time a musket stock maker, who carved the wooden gun stock, was heard to express that a machine could not be invented to replicate his skill at shaping wood. In a short time, Blanchard realized that he could produce just such a machine. In 1819, he patented his wood-turning lathe for cutting irregular forms. ![]() Photo Credit: NPS/Jim Lagone In the early 1820’s, it was adopted at both national armories and, with a dozen more specialized Blanchard shaping and inletting machines, mechanized much of the traditional handwork of gunstock production. Applied to commercial production by private industry, the machine produced shoe lasts, axe handles, wagon wheel spokes, etc. The “Blanchard lathe” is one of the great inventions on the road to America’s industrialization. Springfield Armory NHS has the only surviving example, dated 1822. In 1826, Thomas Blanchard built the first American automobile, a 2,000 pound steam-powered machine that he drove in Springfield. Shortly afterward, he built several steam boats and created transportation service between Hartford, Connecticut, and Bellows Falls, Vermont. Steam railroads also interested him. In his life, he had at least two dozen patents. He died in 1864. BiblographyRipley, George and Charles A. Dana, The New American Cyclopaedia, D. Appleton & Co., NY & London, 1867, vol. III. |
Last updated: March 25, 2023