Imagine if just one guy had come up with the idea of mass production/tooling standardization, and the conical bullet and a breechloader 100 years earlier, and had the ear of a King, or Parliament.
Can I ask a related question then?
I recall reading on at least one instance that standardized parts in longarms (and other machinery as well I assume) was regarded as something of a "holy grail" in early Republic.. by the time Hall was working at Harper's Ferry on that promise, the idea had apparently been tried and failed before. Certainly the assembly line is presaged even in Adam Smith's needle factory (1776, Wealth of Nations).
Yet is was the mid-late 19th c. before we actually
had it.
That implies that some manner of supporting technology was missing - and not just here, but in Europe as well. So what was it? Precision measuring tools? Standardized rules and measures for machine parts like screws and such? Patterns for dies? Consistently regulated RPM in water-mill machine tools?Something else?
Thank you, and sorry for the veerage. :)