The U.S patent system was born here, the milling machine, first mass produced pistol, submarine, etc. This state really has a fascinating history. In days past CT was really a industrial powerhouse. CT was once nicknamed the arsenal of democracy for its long gone firearm manufacturers. CT was also very well known for clock manufacturing. While this fame is long gone I still find it very interesting.
The
history of Connecticut Industry is a major part of the
history of Connecticut. Between the birth of the U.S. patent system in 1790 and 1930, Connecticut had more patents issued per capita than any other state; in the 19th century, when the U.S. as a whole was issued one patent per three thousand population, Connecticut inventors were issued one patent for every 700–1000 residents. Connecticut's first recorded invention was a
lapidary machine, by
Abel Buell of
Killingworth, in 1765.
Connecticut began, as most communities at the time, as a farming economy. It rapidly developed trade and manufacturing as the farmers, and then the merchants and manufacturers themselves, became affluent enough to start buying things. Manufacturing was aided by a plenitude of resources, including water power, wood for fires and building material, and iron ore, while transportation benefited from several excellent natural harbors, and navigable rivers leading all the way to Massachusetts. As in most of New England, the residents believed that industry, in all senses of the word, not only strengthened individual moral fiber, but also served to make the colony independent and free to pursue its own religious and philosophical beliefs. While manual labor was valued, learning and study was also prized and many schools were founded, with
Yale University the most significant. The development by
Eli Whitney of the system of precision manufacturing of
interchangeable parts and the
assembly line in the late 18th century, however made Connecticut into a major center of manufacturing. This development changed "made in the United States" from a phrase connoting shoddy workmanship and expensive maintenance, into a world standard for high quality, and the entire system became known as the
American system of manufacturing.
In the late 18th century, the Connecticut government engaged in financial incentives for building and operating textile mills.
The Connecticut Valley (
Wethersfield,
East Windsor, and
Colchester) was a center of
cabinetmaking and furniture construction in the latter half of the 18th century. Beginning in the
Queen Anne style, by the end of the period the furniture had evolved into four distinct variations of the
Chippendale style; that of
Eliphalet Chapin, one of the masters of the craft, who tended to produce pieces which were more compact and chunky in appearance, incorporating some of the
Philadelphia rococo style without as much fussiness; that of the
Colchester/
Norwich area, exemplified by
Samuel Loomis, as well as those of the
Wethersfield and
Springfield–
Northampton areas.
19th century
Between 1800 and 1860, Connecticut manufacturers applied the system to the manufacture of economically priced high quality firearms, leading to Connecticut's nickname "the
arsenal of democracy." This all started in 1797 when Eli Whitney began to manufacture weapons, later the Connecticut Valley Arms company.
Middletown, Connecticut was the major supplier of
pistols to the United States government during the
War of 1812, with numerous gun manufacturers in the area. In 1810,
Oliver Bidwell built the first
pistol factory in the United States on the
Pameacha River in Middletown, winning a contract with the
United States War Department for handmade pistols. Also in 1810, Colonel
Simeon North built a pistol factory in Middletown on the West River, now the
Coginchaug River, also winning a contract from the
United States Secretary of War, which led to enlarging his factory to 8,500 square feet (790 m²); he built about 10,000 pistols a year, up until just before the
Civil War, designing America's first
milling machine. Even more successful was Colonel
Nathan Starr Jr., whose factory (built of stone quarried from the river) was about the same size as North's, and located across the river half a mile northeast. Starr initially manufactured
swords, about 5,000 a year; including presentation swords for the state of
Tennessee and
War of 1812 heroes, colonel
Richard M. Johnson, General
Edmond P. Gaines, and General
Andrew Jackson. The factory later manufactured
muskets and rifles until 1845, after which the United States government started government
armories in
Massachusetts and
West Virginia partially modeled after Starr's. In 1812,
John R. Johnson and
J. D. Johnson built a factory, also on the Pameacha River, which was to sell rifles to the government until 1825. After this period, firearm manufacturing declined in Middletown, but briefly revived during the Civil War. The
Savage Revolving Fire Arm Company manufactured pistols between 1859 and 1866, and the
Sage Ammunition Works manufactured ammunition between 1864 and 1867.
In 1836,
Samuel Colt invented the
revolver design which continues to be used to this day.
Colt's Manufacturing Company hired
Elisha K. Root to modernize production, making Colt weapons the first in the world with truly interchangeable parts.
Horace Smith and
Daniel B. Wesson designed the first
repeating rifle in
Norwich in the early 1850s, which went into production by the
New Haven Arms Company (which later became the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company), and, just across the border in
Massachusetts, the
Springfield Armory. Smith also patented a metallic rifle
cartridge in 1854.
Christian Sharps designed the Sharps
breech-loading rifle which in 1854 began to be manufactured in Hartford by the
Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company.
Christopher Spencer designed the
Spencer repeating rifle which played an important role for
Union troops at the
Battle of Gettysburg.
Another area where precision manufacture led to industrial dominance for Connecticut was in the manufacture of
clocks, watches, and other
timepieces, by
Eli Terry and his apprentice
Seth Thomas, the
Forestville Manufacturing Company (which became the
E. N. Welch Company), the
New England Clock Company, the
Ansonia Clock Company,
Gilbert Clocks,
Ingraham Clocks, the
New Haven Clock Company,
Welch Clocks,
Sessions Clocks, and the
Waterbury Clock Company, which became
Timex Group USA, and is the sole Connecticut survivor of this once flourishing field, now decimated by lower costs of production elsewhere, in the United States and overseas. The
American Clock and Watch Museum is located in
Bristol, Connecticut.
Similarly, Connecticut industry became well known in allied fields. Hardware and tools continue to be manufactured by
Stanley Corporation in
New Britain, despite having almost moved elsewhere for financial reasons. Connecticut was a major area for development and manufacture of
machine tools. In 1818,
Simeon North designed America's first
milling machine. Machinist Elisha Root first designed machinery for the
Collins Company of
Collinsville which manufactured
axes which became world-famous, then was hired by Colt in 1849 to modernize firearm production by designing precision
drop hammers,
boring machines,
gauges,
****, etc., and improving the milling machines designed by
Francis A. Pratt for the
George S. Lincoln company in Hartford; the resulting
Lincoln miller became world-famous, selling over 150,000 machines. Another Colt engineer,
William Mason, patented 125 inventions for manufacture of firearms, as well as steam pumps and power looms.
Christopher Spencer invented the
automatic turret lathe (which in its small- to medium-sized form is known as a
screw machine) for machining screws, as well as the variable cam cylinder used to control the turret.
Francis A. Pratt and
Amos Whitney invented a thread milling machine in 1865; Whitney also perfected various measurement instruments, and Pratt designed the aforementioned original milling machine manufactured by the
George S. Lincoln company of Hartford.
Simon Fairman invented the
lathe chuck in
West Stafford in 1830, and his son-in-law,
Austin F. Cushman, invented the self-centering
Cushman Universal Chuck in 1862.
Edward P. Bullard designed the
vertical boring mill in 1883.
Charles E. Billings perfected the
drop hammer for
metal forging in the 1870s and designed the copper
commutator central to the operation of
electrical generators and
motors.
Edwin R. Fellows of
Torrington in 1896 designed and built a new type of
gear shaper and founded the Fellows Gear Shaper Company, which made a vital contribution to the manufacture of effective and reliable
gear transmissions for the nascent
automotive industry. The name
Bridgeport on machine tools continues to be a guarantee of high quality around the world, for people who have no idea that the machinery is named after a city in Connecticut. Even the world of toys was dominated by the
A. C. Gilbert Company, manufacturers of
Erector Sets as well as other educational toys such as
chemistry sets,
microscopes,
toy trains, etc.
Another area of industry where Connecticut excelled was in bicycle manufacturing, and its spin-off, the earliest
automobile manufacturing.
Albert Pope of Hartford saw a bicycle in
Philadelphia in 1876 and was immediately enthralled with the concept of an "ever-saddled horse that eats nothing and requires no care." He subsequently began the first bicycle manufacturing in America,
Columbia Bicycles, and set about marketing the vehicle, setting up a system of distributorships with fixed prices, hiring doctors to tout cycling as healthy exercise, and founding cycling magazines. When the
safety bicycle was developed in the 1880s, he was in a perfect position to benefit from the subsequent craze.
Connecticut also became an innovative leader in the
shipbuilding industry. The first recorded
steam powered boat in America was built by
South Windsor's
John Fitch in 1786. The first military
submarine, the
Turtle, was built in Connecticut in 1775 by
David Bushnell; since then, Connecticut has remained a world leader in the manufacture of these specialized ships.
Simon Lake produced submarines for the US Navy in Bridgeport, beginning in 1913, and the work done by
John P. Holland led to submarine production by the
Electric Boat Company in
Groton beginning in 1924, which continues to this day.
History of Connecticut industry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia