| Thomas Blanchard invented woodworking machines and production systems that were central to the American manufacturing technology developed during his lifetime (1788-1864). Their origins, modes of operation, and manufacturing applications are examined here. Patent litigation records show how Blanchard's inventions as we know them were constructed through his interaction with others in the social system then in effect for patent management, and suggest some technological and economic consequences of that system. Patent assignment records reveal the geographic diffusion of Blanchard's machines in various industries before 1870.;Blanchard's inletting machines for gunstocking and blockmaking differed in their mode of operation from his lathe, and were similar to contemporaneous sculpture-copying and carving machines. Blanchard's woodbending machines of the late 1840's and 1850's, together with his improved irregular turning lathe of 1843, helped mechanize the production of ships, furniture, agricultural implements and of carriages and wagons well before the Civil War. Blanchard's success in winning reward and recognition as an inventor resulted from his skill in managing his intellectual property, not only by obtaining patents, but also in the necessary subsequent licensing, assignment, litigation, and lobbying.;Blanchard's production line in the 1820's for "half-stocking" U.S. Army muskets provided the American paradigm for manufacture by assembly of uniform parts after sequential operation of special-purpose machine tools. He also designed a production line of machines in the 1830's for making ships' tackle blocks. The original kinematics of his self-acting irregular turning lathe, patented in 1819-20, enabled it to cut rapid and accurate copies of highly irregular wooden objects, such as gun stocks or shoe lasts, that other lathes could not shape at all. It supplied large quantities of machine-made handles for axes and other tools, and uniform lasts for standardizing American shoe manufacture, decades before the shoe-making process itself was mechanized. |
