In the mid 19th century
Aaron Lufkin DennisonAaron Lufkin Dennison .-Early Life:Aaron Dennison was born in Freeport, Maine, after which the family moved to Brunswick, Maine. He was the son of Andrew Dennison, a boot and shoemaker who was also a music teacher. As a child Aaron earned pocket money by carrying a builder’s hod, working as a...
became inspired by the manufacturing techniques of the
United States ArmoryThe Springfield Armory was the primary center for the manufacture of U.S. military small arms and the site of many important technological advances in gun manufacture. Many different models produced at the armory from 1794 to 1968 were referred to as "Springfield rifles"...
at Springfield, Mass. The "armory practice" was mainly based on a strict system of organization, the extensive use of the machine shop and a control system based on gauges. Aaron Dennison proposed to produce watches via these techniques and, along with a few others, founded the
Waltham Watch CompanyThe Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch IOBNCo. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957.-History:In 1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts, David...
.
In the rest of the world manufacturing involved making certain parts under the roof of a
factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
and obtaining other parts from
piece workPiece work or piecework describes types of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed "piece rate" for each unit produced or action performed...
ers who used their own cottages as workshops.
The American System of manufacturing by
interchangeable partsInterchangeable parts are parts that are for practical purposes identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any device of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting...
meant the establishment of working facilities for the entire manufacture.
In the mid 19th century
Aaron Lufkin DennisonAaron Lufkin Dennison .-Early Life:Aaron Dennison was born in Freeport, Maine, after which the family moved to Brunswick, Maine. He was the son of Andrew Dennison, a boot and shoemaker who was also a music teacher. As a child Aaron earned pocket money by carrying a builder’s hod, working as a...
became inspired by the manufacturing techniques of the
United States ArmoryThe Springfield Armory was the primary center for the manufacture of U.S. military small arms and the site of many important technological advances in gun manufacture. Many different models produced at the armory from 1794 to 1968 were referred to as "Springfield rifles"...
at Springfield, Mass. The "armory practice" was mainly based on a strict system of organization, the extensive use of the machine shop and a control system based on gauges. Aaron Dennison proposed to produce watches via these techniques and, along with a few others, founded the
Waltham Watch CompanyThe Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch IOBNCo. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957.-History:In 1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts, David...
.
In the rest of the world manufacturing involved making certain parts under the roof of a
factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
and obtaining other parts from
piece workPiece work or piecework describes types of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed "piece rate" for each unit produced or action performed...
ers who used their own cottages as workshops.
The American System of manufacturing by
interchangeable partsInterchangeable parts are parts that are for practical purposes identical. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any device of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting...
meant the establishment of working facilities for the entire manufacture. It meant that everything was made on the premises, not according to the plans or ideas or methods of work of individual workmen, but under the direct supervision of a company's foreman, according to gauges the company furnished, under conditions of time, cleanliness and care which the company prescribed.
Waltham soon found that it was necessary to invent, develop and build its own production machinery, special gauges systems adjusted to the smallest watch parts dimensions, new alloys & materials.
The chronology of production lessons at the
Waltham Watch CompanyThe Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch IOBNCo. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957.-History:In 1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts, David...
can be divided into three phases:
- 1849-1857 learning and experimenting
- 1858-1870 refining and gauging
- 1871-1910 automating and factory organization
The manufacturing of watches differed from other products that had earlier used the armory practices in two significant ways.
First, the high price of watches allowed for a large investment in research and development. The vast majority of the price of a watch was due to labor rather than materials and any system that could significantly reduce labor costs could significantly increase profits. Even after 40 years of manufacturing improvements, in 1910, labor accounted for 80% of the cost of watches made by the Elgin National Watch Company.
Secondly, watches require very strict tolerances and very few manufacturing defects. Previous products made via armory practices, such as fire arms, sewing machines, etc. had tolerances 10 to 100 times as loose. A watch gear that is offset by a few thousands of an inch from where it should be will cause increased friction, losing critical power that needed to be sent to the balance wheel and greatly accelerating the wear of the watch. Previous watch manufacturing techniques required expert watchmakers to recognize slight variations in part sizes in order to place each gear in the correct location or to make other adjustments during the manufacturing of each watch.
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 they 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 manufactures 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.
See also
- E. Howard & Co.
thumb|Street clock by E. Howard & Co.The E. Howard & Co. clock and watch company was formed by Edward Howard and Charles Rice in 1858 after the demise of the Boston Watch Company. They bought the existing stock but were unable to buy the existing factory so they moved to Roxbury. They decided to...
- Waltham Watch Company
The Waltham Watch Company, also known as the American Waltham Watch IOBNCo. and the American Watch Co., produced about 40 million high quality watches, clocks, speedometers, compasses, time fuses and other precision instruments between 1850 and 1957.-History:In 1850, Roxbury, Massachusetts, David...
- Elgin Watch Company
The Elgin National Watch Company, most commonly known as just the Elgin Watch company, was founded in August 1864 as the National Watch Company. A number of former associates of the Waltham Watch Company and Chicago watchmaker J.C...
- Armory practice
External links