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ARCHIVE USAAmerican Machine Tool Archive

From a system for making gun parts by machine so that they fit together no matter who made them (interchangeability), America gave rise to the milling machine, the turret lathe, the universal grinder and the gear shaper, and in the 20th century it spread mass production and NC (numerical control) around the world. This archive traces that story, checking each point against trade journals of the time, patents, government and military reports, and museum records, and gives a source for every event (with page numbers where known). The "Using research and archive sites" section below also explains how to read the same materials from Japan.

Interchangeability and NC:
America
gave birth to both!

Chips, the Kezuriba mascot
1850sArmories, belt drivec. 1900universal milling machine1950sPaper-tape NCTodayMachining center
How American machine tools changed: armory milling machine, universal milling machine, NC milling machine, machining center (illustration; not a specific model)

Chapters

You can read it in two ways: chapters by era, and chapters by machine type (lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines). 10 of the 10 chapters are available now (766 events, all with sources).

By era

Chapter 1 · 1798–1860sThe American System and the Birth of the Machine ToolWhitney's and North's gun contracts, the Springfield and Harpers Ferry armories, Blanchard's copying lathe, the first milling machines and turret lathes, Robbins & Lawrence and the British commission of 1854. The beginnings of the "American system" of making interchangeable parts by machine.Read →Chapter 2 · 1850–1914The Age of Precision and Specialist MakersBrown & Sharpe's universal milling machine and universal grinder, Pratt & Whitney's standard gauges, the Sellers thread, Warner & Swasey and Cincinnati, Norton's grinders, automatic screw machines and Taylor's high-speed steel. The era when building machine tools became an industry in itself.Read →Chapter 3 · 1900–1950sMass Production and the Two World WarsFord's Highland Park and special-purpose machines, centerless grinding and transfer machines, carbide tools, the surge in machine tool production during the two world wars, postwar surplus machines and Detroit Automation.Read →Chapter 4 · 1947–1980sThe Birth of NC and the Machining CenterParsons' rotor blades and the Air Force contract, MIT's 1952 NC milling machine, the APT language, Numericord, the 1958 Milwaukee-Matic (the first machining center), CNC and FMS.Read →Chapter 5 · 1970s–The Wave of Imports and RevivalImports of Japanese, German and Taiwanese machines and the retreat of US makers, the Houdaille petition and the 1986 voluntary restraint agreements (VRA), sales and mergers of old firms, the growth of Haas, foreign makers' US plants, and additive manufacturing.Read →

By machine type

Chapter 6 · 1800s–The Lineage of American LathesArmory lathes and Blanchard's copying lathe, the turret lathe and Hartness's flat turret, from Spencer's automatic to multi-spindle automatics, the lathes of Lodge & Shipley, LeBlond and Monarch, tracer lathes, NC lathes and turning centers.Read →Chapter 7 · 1810s–The Lineage of American Milling Machines and Machining CentersArmory milling machines, the Lincoln miller, Brown & Sharpe's universal milling machine, the knee-type machines of Cincinnati and Kearney & Trecker, the Bridgeport vertical mill, tracer mills, and from NC milling machines to the Milwaukee-Matic and vertical MCs.Read →Chapter 8 · 1830s–The Lineage of American Grinding MachinesBrown & Sharpe's universal grinder, Norton's heavy grinding and artificial abrasives (Carborundum, Norton), Landis's crankshaft grinding, Heald's internal grinding, centerless grinding, Blanchard's surface grinding, jig grinders, CBN and CNC grinding.Read →Chapter 9 · 1850s–The Lineage of American Gear MachinesBrown & Sharpe's formed cutters, the bevel gear generators of Bilgram and Gleason, hypoid gears, the Fellows gear shaper, American hobbing machines, shaving and gear grinding, AGMA, and Gleason's acquisition of Pfauter and Hurth.Read →Chapter 10 · 1800s–Other American Machine Tools: Drilling, Boring, Planing and Broaching Machines, EDM and MoreRadial drills, jig borers, vertical boring mills (Bullard), planers and shapers, broaching machines (Lapointe), horizontal boring mills, EDM, additive manufacturing and other machines besides lathes, milling machines, grinders and gear machines.Read →

How to read the history of American machine tools

The history of American machine tools becomes easier to see if you divide it into periods by "what people wanted to make in large numbers". In the first half of the 19th century it was guns; in the second half, sewing machines, bicycles and typewriters; in the first half of the 20th century, automobiles; and in the middle of the century, aircraft and weapons. Each time the product changed, machines were born to make it quickly and identically, and the companies that built those machines grew into specialist machine tool makers. Economic historians argue that this fact, that "the same operations (drilling, flat surfaces, threads, gears) are needed even as the using industries change," is why machine tool technology spread to other industries.

This archive consists of five chapters by era and five chapters by machine type (lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines). The era chapters focus on "why a machine was born," and the machine chapters on "how the machine's mechanisms (drive, feed, tools, control) changed," so the same event can appear in both. The gear machine chapter traces in detail the path from Brown & Sharpe's formed cutters to Gleason's bevel gear generators, the Fellows gear shaper, shaving, gear grinding, and CNC and corporate consolidation.

Links with Japan

Japanese factories in the Meiji era took British machines as their first model and American machines next. Domestic lathes were built by studying American-style machines, and many prewar milling machines and grinders follow American types (see Japanese Archive, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3). After the war Japan learned much from the US through technical tie-ups and the introduction of NC, and in the 1980s Japanese NC machine tools took a large share of the US market and became subject to voluntary restraints (VRA). The US chapters and the Japanese Archive chapters are linked to each other where they cover the same events.

How we checked

Years, model names and makers are checked against two or more sources. In US sources the year given for the same machine often differs by several years depending on whether it refers to the patent filing, the patent grant, the first shipment or a trade journal write-up. In the text we make clear which kind of year is meant. Wikipedia and summary sites are used only as leads, never as sources.

⌛Key events (mini timeline)

The events from each chapter that matter most for following the story. Colored tags show the chapter, and numbers refer to the sources below. All events are in each chapter's timeline.

  1. 1798ArmoryEli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, signs a contract with the government for 10,000 muskets. He builds a water-powered factory at Whitneyville near New Haven and promises a "new system" of making uniform parts by machine[1, p.131][1, p.132][1, p.158]
  2. 1813ArmoryNorth signs a contract for 20,000 pistols. It includes a clause that "any part fit any other pistol," and is regarded as the first government contract to promise interchangeability. He builds a three-story factory in Middletown[1, p.134][1, p.162]
  3. 1819ArmoryBlanchard patents a machine that traces a pattern (master) to cut identical irregular shapes. Gunstocks can now be made by machine, and the machines enter both national armories in the early 1820s[2][3][4, p.18]
  4. 1827ArmoryA report by three commissioners shows that 100 Hall rifles made in 1824 could be taken apart, their metal parts mixed, and reassembled with 100 new stocks with a good fit. A demonstration of interchangeability at a national armory[4, p.7]
  5. 1842ArmoryProduction of the new percussion musket (Model 1842) begins at Springfield. A full set of model jigs, taps and gauges is assembled, and the NPS regards it as the first Springfield arm assembled entirely from machine-made, fully interchangeable parts[4, p.8][1, p.143][5]
  6. 1845LathesStephen Fitch of Middlefield (Connecticut), making parts for a government pistol contract, builds at his own expense a machine that cuts in sequence with a horizontal-axis revolving toolholder (turret) carrying eight tools, and uses it until 1853. It is regarded as the oldest recorded turret machine[6][7, p.197]
  7. 1851ArmoryAt the Great Exhibition in London (the Crystal Palace), Robbins & Lawrence exhibits interchangeable rifles (the Mississippi rifle made for the government) and receives a medal. Colt also exhibits revolvers[4, p.8][1, p.191][8]
  8. 1854LathesRobbins & Lawrence builds turret lathes as a product. H. D. Stone drew the plans, and the vertical-axis turret later became standard. Roe called it "the first fundamental improvement since Maudslay's slide rest"[7, p.143][7, p.197][9]
  9. 1855ArmoryAmerican companies supply Britain with 20,000 interchangeable Enfield rifles and a complete set of arms-making machinery. The first 157 machines ($44,360) included 57 milling machines, 8 universal milling machines, drilling machines and more, with almost no lathes. The government arms factory at Enfield is rebuilt on the American model[4, p.9][1, p.138][1, p.140]
  10. 1855Milling/MCGeorge S. Lincoln & Co. of Hartford builds milling machines to F. A. Pratt's design for Colt's new armory. Making the Robbins & Lawrence machine sturdier and switching the feed to a screw and nut, it spread through gun and sewing machine factories as the "Lincoln miller," and Pratt & Whitney and others later built thousands[10, p.165][10, p.137][11, frame 16][11, frame 17]
  11. 1860PrecisionFrancis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney, who had worked at Colt, rent a small room in Hartford and start building thread-spooling machines on the side while keeping their jobs. This became Pratt & Whitney[12, p.177][12, p.178]
  12. April 1861ArmoryThe Civil War begins and the Harpers Ferry armory is burned. Springfield takes over rifle making for the Union on its own; production rises from 1,000 a month at the start of the war to 1,000 a day at its peak[5]
  13. 1862Other machinesWilliam Sellers of Philadelphia patents a planer whose table rack is driven by a spiral pinion on an inclined shaft. Table motion was smooth, and since the drive belt came on the operator's side, planers could be set parallel to lathes[13, p.248][14, p.85][15]
  14. March 1862PrecisionJ. R. Brown sells the first universal milling machine to the Providence Tool Company. Besides the flutes of twist drills, it could cut helices, gears and even irregular shapes. Ten were sold that year, and in December Scientific American featured it[12, p.208][12, p.209][16, p.432][17, frame 22]
  15. April 1864PrecisionWilliam Sellers, president of the Franklin Institute, presents "A System of Screw Threads and Nuts": a thread with a 60-degree angle and flat crests and roots, plus formulas for the dimensions of bolt heads and nuts. It became the US standard thread (Sellers thread)[18, frame 57][12, p.248][19, frame 2]
  16. November 1864Gear machinesJ. R. Brown receives US Patent 45,294 for a formed milling cutter for gears whose tooth form does not change when the rake face is resharpened (a relieved form cutter). Ordinary machine shops can now cut gears with correct tooth forms[20][21, p.206][22, frame 22]
  17. September 1873LathesC. M. Spencer obtains US Patent 143,306 (September 30). With cams arranged on a single shaft, the machine operated bar feed, chuck opening and closing, turret tools, the threading die and cutoff in sequence, making screws without human hands. The beginning of the automatic screw machine[23][7, p.176]
  18. 1874Gear machinesWilliam Gleason builds his first bevel gear planer, which cuts teeth by moving the tool along a template. The company calls this "the beginning of the bevel gear industry" and says it remained in use until the 1940s[24, p.7][24, p.8][22, frame 46]
  19. 1876PrecisionBrown & Sharpe's universal grinder appears at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It also had a device for form grinding and is regarded as the direct ancestor of today's production grinders. J. R. Brown died in July of that year[12, p.214][16, p.432][25, p.37]
  20. November 1877PrecisionAmerican Machinist, a trade journal for machinists and engineers, is launched in New York (monthly). The first issue featured chucks made by Pratt & Whitney and the Sellers and Whitworth threads[19][19, frame 2]
  21. 1883Other machinesBullard designs the first vertical boring and turning mill (today's vertical lathe). A 37-inch (about 940 mm) machine with a single belt-fed toolhead, it is regarded as the first small vertical boring mill to do precision work previously done on the faceplate of a lathe[13, p.184]
  22. March 1891GrindersEdward G. Acheson heats clay and carbon in an electric furnace and finds hard, blue, glittering crystals. It was silicon carbide (SiC), which he named "Carborundum" from carbon and corundum: the first artificial abrasive, one not found in nature[26, p.19][27, frame 50]
  23. May 1891LathesThe Hartness flat turret lathe appears. A low disk (turntable) was mounted on a saddle like an engine lathe's carriage, with a stop for each of its six tool stations. With the locating pin at the rim of the disk to take the cutting force, the turret could cut long, slender work up to 2 inches (about 50 mm) in diameter and 24 inches (about 600 mm) long[28, p.1][29][30]
  24. March 1892LathesW. P. Norton obtains US Patent 470,591 (March 8). Rows of stepped gears were housed in a box, and a single lever changed the lead screw speed, so thread pitches and feeds could be changed without swapping change gears[31][32, p.299]
  25. July 1896Gear machinesEdwin R. Fellows, chief draftsman at Jones & Lamson, founds the Fellows Gear Shaper Company in Springfield, Vermont. Jones & Lamson's president, James Hartness, encouraged him to go independent and invested along with local businessmen. The first prototype (36-inch) was built in Fitchburg the same year[33][21, p.199][34, p.20]
  26. 1900PrecisionTaylor and Maunsel White at Bethlehem Steel perfect high-speed steel (the Taylor-White process), with more tungsten and chromium and hardening at a high temperature, and demonstrate it at the Paris Exposition. At a depth of cut of 3/16 inch, a feed of 1/16 inch and 120 feet (about 37 m) per minute, it kept cutting even when the tip glowed red[25, p.34][25, p.35][16, p.441]
  27. March 1900PrecisionC. H. Norton moves to Worcester, and the Norton Grinding Company is formed with investment from Norton Emery Wheel. Its first machine was a heavy, powerful 18 × 96-inch cylindrical grinder using a wheel 2 inches wide and 24 inches in diameter[12, p.224][35, frame 56][25, p.38]
  28. 1901Milling/MCThe "constant-speed drive" No. 2 universal milling machine described in John Parker's memo of December 1900 is completed. A single belt ran at constant speed, and both spindle speeds and feeds were changed through gearboxes; it was the first all-geared milling machine, and feeds could now be chosen independently of spindle speed[11, frame 33][11, frame 34]
  29. Early 1900sOther machinesJoseph N. Lapointe, who had worked at Pratt & Whitney, puts a broaching machine on the market. It was a horizontal machine that pulled the broach (a long multi-tooth tool) with a belt-driven pulley and a feed screw; his son Francis J. Lapointe also helped build it[36][13, p.183]
  30. June 1902Mass productionSeventeen lathe makers come together to form the National Machine Tool Builders' Association (NMTBA, today's AMT). The aim was to end price wars that left no profit. The first annual convention was held on October 14 of the same year[37, p.923][38, p.61][39]
  31. June 1905GrindersJames N. Heald develops a planetary cylinder grinder that grinds the bore by moving the wheel spindle itself in a circle, without moving the engine's cylinder block. It eliminated boring, reaming and lapping, and became the standard machine for automobile engines and World War I aircraft engines[27, frame 69][27, frame 70][27, frame 71][40][41][42, p.218]
  32. May 1913Gear machinesJames E. Gleason and Arthur Stewart design the spiral bevel gear and apply for a patent on a machine that generates curved teeth automatically (granted 1919). The long teeth mesh smoothly, and the gears were used in automobile rear axles[24, p.12][43]
  33. 1914PrecisionThe US has 409 machine tool plants with output of $31,446,660 (census). The same year American Machinist publishes a map of 570 plants, including tool makers and others; Ohio had the most, with 117[16][12, p.278]
  34. 1914Other machinesBullard's Mult-Au-Matic appears in American Machinist. A "vertical multi-spindle automatic chucking lathe" that held work on several spindles on a round table and machined them simultaneously with separate toolheads while indexing, it became the mainstay of auto parts mass production[44, frame 3][13, p.185][45]
  35. April 1914Mass productionOn April 30, three raised chain-driven lines assemble 1,219 chassis in 8 hours. Labor per vehicle was 1 hour 33 minutes (93 minutes), sharply down from 12 hours 28 minutes (728 minutes) with stationary assembly[46, frame 161][47, p.3]
  36. 1922Mass productionCincinnati Milling Machine brings out a centerless grinder for mass production based on Heim's patent. The grinding wheel was 20 inches (about 510 mm) in diameter and the regulating wheel 12 inches, and it could also grind shouldered push rods and valve tappets[48, frame 82][49, p.54][50, frame 28][51]
  37. March 1924Gear machinesWildhaber conceives the hypoid gear (a bevel gear with the pinion axis offset from the center of the gear) and applies for a patent. Because the propeller shaft can be lowered, the car body can be about 50 mm lower. The patent for the hypoid gear itself was applied for in 1927 and granted in 1931[52, p.50][53][54]
  38. 1927Milling/MCCincinnati brings out the first production milling machine whose table feed is driven and controlled hydraulically (the bed-type Hydromatic). Feed was infinitely variable, cams could change the feed rate and raise or lower the spindle head, and production parts could be cut quickly[11, frame 47][11, frame 48][55][56]
  39. September 1927Mass productionNMTBA holds the first National Machine Tool Builders' Exposition (machine tool show) at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland (September 19–23, 180 exhibitors). The origin of today's IMTS[57, frame 145][58, p.544][39]
  40. October 1928Mass productionGeneral Electric puts carbide tools developed in its laboratory on sale under the name "Carboloy." Sales were handled by a new company, Carboloy Company, Inc., which planned a plant in Schenectady[59, frame 22][59, frame 32][60, frame 51]
  41. 1931Other machinesMoore builds its first jig borer for its own die making (development began in 1930). Using a hardened, ground and lapped feed screw, it let the toolroom set hole positions quickly and accurately[61, frame 10][61, frame 27][62]
  42. 1938Milling/MCThe first turret milling machine, built around the company's own milling head that Bannow conceived in 1936, is shipped. The head sat on a ram that could slide in and out and on a swiveling turret, combined with a knee-type table; more than 250,000 were later built, and it became the standard machine for die and fixture work in small shops[63][64][65, p.15][66][67]
  43. 1940GrindersThe Moore Special Tool Co. of Bridgeport (Connecticut) builds a jig grinder. Because holes could be ground to the correct position after hardening, the trouble of jig boring soft material while allowing for hardening distortion disappeared, and the accuracy of holes in progressive dies, watch dies and gauges improved[68, frame 10][69, frame 165][70]
  44. 1942Mass productionMachine tool shipments reach a record $1.32 billion, about 6.6 times 1939 ($200 million) and about 9 times 1938, with $132 million shipped in December alone. The order backlog peaked in July[71, frame 43][72, frame 53][73, p.148]
  45. 1947–48NCJohn T. Parsons and Frank L. Stulen calculate the coordinates of templates for inspecting rotor blades on an IBM punched-card computer and devise a method of cutting the templates on a boring machine to the tabulated points. The starting point of the NC idea of moving a machine by coordinate numbers[74][75][76]
  46. April 1947Mass productionFord creates an Automation Department within its manufacturing division. The word "automation" is credited to Ford vice president Del Harder; the first step was fitting press lines with devices for loading, unloading and turning over material[77, frame 90][77, frame 108][49, p.57][49, p.58][78, frame 7]
  47. March 1952NCMIT's NC milling machine is completed. Replacing the drive and controls of a government-loaned Cincinnati Hydro-Tel (tracer mill), it controlled three motions, of the table, spindle head and cross slide, simultaneously from punched paper tape. Working range 60 × 30 × 14 inches (about 1,520 × 760 × 360 mm)[79, frame 73][79, frame 79][79, frame 117]
  48. September 1955LathesAt the Chicago machine tool show, Jones & Lamson shows an NC turret lathe. Reading binary codes from punched paper tape, it commanded 32 spindle speeds, indexing of hexagonal and square turrets, a hydraulic collet and bar feed, and even coolant. Tools were preset to size with gauges in advance[80, p.78][81, p.3]
  49. October 1956NCAt an automatic control conference at Waseda University, Yasundo Takahashi of the University of California shows Seiuemon Inaba of Fuji Tsushinki (now Fujitsu) a Scientific American article on the NC milling machine. For a while MIT's report became the "bible" of Fujitsu's NC research[82, p.5][82, p.6]
  50. 1957–58NC105 large continuous-path NC machine tools bought by the Air Force are distributed to aircraft makers. The machines came from four companies, and the NC units from Bendix, GE, Giddings & Lewis (Numericord), Electronic Control Systems and Cincinnati. The figure is the 63 machines first procured plus 42 profile mills converted from template tracing to NC, and the cost of the Air Force program, including NC development, came to about $30 million by the end of 1958[83, frame 152][84, frame 161][76][85, frame 70][86, frame 13]
  51. April 1957GrindersGE's Robert H. Wentorf announces that he has made cubic boron nitride (CBN), rivaling diamond in hardness. GE named it "Borazon." It kept its hardness at temperatures at which diamond burns and reacted little with iron, so it was expected to become an abrasive for grinding hardened steel[87][88, frame 129][88, frame 131]
  52. October 1958NCKearney & Trecker unveils the Milwaukee-Matic at the AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers) machine tool conference in Hartford (Connecticut). Holding about 30 tools in a circular magazine and changing them automatically, it milled, drilled, reamed, tapped and bored on a single machine. The prototype of today's machining center[89, frame 66][90, frame 93][91, frame 130]
  53. February 1959NCAPT press conference at MIT (February 25). APT was demonstrated on an IBM 704, and reporters were given aluminum ashtrays programmed in APT and cut on MIT's NC milling machine[79, frame 132][79, frame 134][92][93]
  54. January 1963NCThe Electronic Industries Association (EIA) sets standards for NC paper tape formats: RS-273 (positioning) and RS-274 (contouring). This "word address" format of address letters followed by numbers was the origin of G-codes and M-codes[94, frame 53][95, frame 280]
  55. August 1967Other machinesA tech brief from the Atomic Energy Commission and NASA describes "traveling wire electrode" EDM built in the shop of Argonne National Laboratory. Brass or copper wire down to 0.005 inch (about 0.13 mm) in diameter was run back and forth in place of a plate electrode to cut rare-earth metals, meteorites and radioactive materials[96]
  56. July 1974Imports & revivalYamazaki Mazak's US company starts production at its plant in Florence (Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati). It was the company's first plant outside Japan and a forerunner of US production by Japanese machine tool makers[97][98][99][100, p.105]
  57. May 1982Imports & revivalHoudaille Industries, owner of Burgmaster and others, asks the President to deny the investment tax credit to companies buying Japanese machining centers and NC punching machines (the first petition under Section 103 of the Revenue Act of 1971). It charged that Japan's industrial policy and cartels were unfair[101, p.89][102][103, p.116]
  58. 1986NCGE and FANUC form the 50-50 joint venture GE Fanuc Automation, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, GE's NC base. It handled CNCs and PLCs (the joint venture was dissolved in 2009)[104][105][82, p.16][106]
  59. March 1986Imports & revivalCharles (Chuck) Hull's stereolithography patent (curing liquid resin layer by layer with ultraviolet light), US 4,575,330, is granted (filed August 1984). In the same year, 1986, Hull co-founded 3D Systems[107][108][109]
  60. December 1986Imports & revivalThe US concludes voluntary restraint agreements (VRA) on machine tool exports with Japan and Taiwan. For the five years 1987–1991, exports to the US of machining centers, NC and non-NC lathes and milling machines (and, for Japan, punching and shearing machines) were held to a set share of US consumption. West Germany and Switzerland refused agreements but were asked not to exceed the limits[110][111, p.9][103, p.113]
  61. 1988Imports & revivalHaas Automation shows a prototype of its first vertical machining center, the VF-1, at IMTS 88 (Chicago). With a list price of $49,900, a US-made MC came in under $50,000[112][113]
  62. 1988Gear machinesGleason unveils PHOENIX, a 6-axis CNC bevel gear cutting and grinding machine developed over more than five years. It eliminates the gear trains, shafts and handles inside the machine and produces every motion with small motors. Setup is short and it can be used for both cutting and grinding[24, p.27]
  63. 1997Gear machinesThe Hermann Pfauter group of Germany, the major hobbing machine maker, comes under Gleason. Gleason, the bevel gear company, now also covers cylindrical gear hobbing, shaping and grinding[24, p.31][114]
  64. October 1998Imports & revivalCincinnati Milacron sells its machine tool business to UNOVA for $180 million, renames itself Milacron and concentrates on plastics machinery. A machine tool company dating from 1884 left machine tools[115][116]
  65. August 2012Imports & revivalThe US government announces it will place an additive manufacturing institute, NAMII, in Youngstown (Ohio). The Department of Defense's $30 million was matched by $40 million from industry and others. It was the first institute in the network of manufacturing institutes (today's Manufacturing USA), and was renamed America Makes in October 2013[117][118][119]

🔎Using American research and archive sites

We checked the events in this archive using the sites listed here. We actually opened every one in October 2026 to see what is available and whether the full text can be read from Japan. Many old trade journals, patents and government reports can be read for free.

Papers & journals

Research on the history of American machine tools has accumulated in journals of economic history, history of technology and business history. First use catalogs of papers to find out "who wrote what," then read the full text through free allowances or libraries.

JSTORdigital archive of academic journals

What's there
A digital archive where you can read English-language humanities and social science journals from their first issues. It includes Technology and Culture (history of technology, issues before 2001), Business History Review (business history) and the Journal of Economic History (economic history). Many old issues first became readable in full text here.
When to use it
Use it to read, in the original papers, studies of the machine tool industry written in the 1950s–90s (interchangeable parts, thread standardization, the introduction of NC, military demand and industrial decline).
How to search
Search for terms such as "machine tool industry," "American system of manufactures," "numerical control" and "interchangeable parts," and narrow by journal title. Many book reviews are mixed in, so it saves time to treat one-page items as reviews and exclude them.
Access
Searching is free. A free personal account lets you read up to 10 articles on screen every 30 days (changed from 100 on September 1, 2026). Early Journal Content (such as articles more than 95 years old in the US) does not count toward this and is free. Saving PDFs requires a paid JPASS or an institutional subscription.
Examples found

Technology and Culture (Society for the History of Technology)journal of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)

What's there
A quarterly published by SHOT, the American society for the history of technology, and the central journal of the field. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press; recent issues are on Project MUSE and issues before 2001 on JSTOR. Besides papers, each issue carries 30–40 book reviews and reviews of museum exhibitions.
When to use it
Good for finding papers on the history of machine tool technology itself, such as thread standardization (Sellers), armory machines and the development of NC, and reviews of major books.
How to search
In OpenAlex, filter by the journal Technology and Culture and put machine tool, lathe, milling, numerical control or screw thread in the title to build a list. Open the DOIs you find in JSTOR or MUSE.
Access
Full text is paid (SHOT members can read it on MUSE). When we checked again later, Project MUSE's page for this journal (muse.jhu.edu/journal/194) opened. It lists every issue from Volume 1 (1959) to the latest; Open Access is marked “No,” but some issues, such as January 2025 (Vol. 66, No. 1), are free to read. Some issues before 2001 can be read with JSTOR's free allowance.
Examples found

The Journal of Economic History (Cambridge Core)journal of the Economic History Association

What's there
The journal of the Economic History Association, readable on Cambridge University Press's Cambridge Core. It carries Rosenberg's 1963 paper, the most cited work on machine tool history. Much of the research on the 19th-century "American system of manufactures" is also in this journal.
When to use it
Use it to read the original source of the view that "the machine tool industry grew up by moving from one user industry to the next: guns, sewing machines, bicycles, automobiles." It backs up the background explanations in the timelines.
How to search
Use the in-journal search on Cambridge Core with machine tool, American system or interchangeable. Sorting by citation count in OpenAlex brings the papers you should read first to the top.
Access
Full text is paid (as of 2026-10-22, Rosenberg 1963 showed even purchase as "temporarily unavailable"). Old issues are also on JSTOR, so first check whether you can read them with JSTOR's free allowance.
Examples found

OpenAlexfree API for a catalog of papers

What's there
An API that lets you look up, free of charge, a catalog of about 250 million papers, book chapters, theses and other works worldwide. It returns titles, journals, years, citation counts and whether a free version exists, as JSON. You can use it just by typing a URL into a browser.
When to use it
Ideal for listing "papers to read on machine tool history" in order of citations. Rosenberg 1963 came first, cited 898 times. It is also useful for checking DOIs and citing them correctly in source lists.
How to search
Example: /works?filter=title.search:machine tool industry,publication_year:1950-2005&sort=cited_by_count:desc. To narrow by journal, first look up the ID (S145330833) with /sources?search=technology and culture, then add filter=primary_location.source.id:S145330833.
Access
Free, no registration. However, in 2026 without an API key you share a pool of "$0.10 a day across all users at the same IP." Getting a key requires registering an email address. OpenAlex does not hold full texts, so whether you can read a paper depends on the publisher.
Examples found

Google Scholaracademic search engine

What's there
A free search engine that covers papers, books and theses. If there is a free full-text version (on a university repository, for example), a link appears to the right of the result. Even with the Japanese interface you can find English papers, and you can follow the papers that cite a given work.
When to use it
Searching "machine tool industry" brings up Rosenberg 1963, Wagoner's book on the US machine tool industry from 1900 to 1950, Saul's research on the British machine tool industry and others near the top, giving you an idea of what to read in what order.
How to search
Enclose terms in quotation marks and narrow by the date range on the left, for example "Since 1950." Open "Cited by" for a paper you want to read to follow later research. To search by person, write author:rosenberg.
Access
Free. It opened this time, but a temporary message saying it could not process the request also appeared. Many searches in a row can bring up a human-verification check.

Digital libraries, old books & trade journals

Many 19th- and early 20th-century trade journals and textbooks can be read in full in digital libraries. However, some materials are "full view in the US only" and may not be viewable from Japan.

HathiTrust Digital Libraryshared digital library of US university libraries

What's there
A huge digital library of books and journals scanned by US university libraries. It has trade journals such as American Machinist (226 volumes), Machinery (Industrial Press, 189 volumes) and The Iron Age (521 volumes). The contents of every book can be searched in full text.
When to use it
Use it to find a specific issue of a trade journal by volume and year. Woodbury's History of the Gear-Cutting Machine (MIT, 1958) is full view worldwide. US government publications (such as census reports) are also full view.
How to search
For bibliographic records, look up the journal title on catalog.hathitrust.org and choose from the list of volumes and years. Check each volume's rights code: pd = full view worldwide, pdus = full view in the US only, ic = search only. The bibliographic API (such as /api/volumes/brief/issn/0021-1508.json) lets you check rights codes all at once.
Access
Free, no registration. From Japan you can read in full only the pd volumes. For example, 41 volumes of American Machinist from about 1922–26 are pd, while Machinery for 1916–18 is pdus and search only from Japan. This time the main site stopped at a bot check, and only the bibliographic API opened.
Examples found

Internet Archivenonprofit digital library

What's there
A nonprofit digital library with vast numbers of scans of old books and journals. American Machinist is collected from its first issue in 1877 through 1988, about 3,000 issues. It also has Roe's English and American Tool Builders (1916) and The Iron Age (about 2,400 issues), and Machinery (Industrial Press, New York) is collected for 1894–1973, about 950 items.
When to use it
The most convenient way to read actual trade journal pages by date. From the dates of new-product ads and articles you can confirm the "year of announcement" of a machine. OCR text (full text) is also provided.
How to search
Type the journal title and year in the search box, as in "American Machinist 1955." In advancedsearch (archive.org/advancedsearch.php), writing collection:pub_american-machinist AND year:1930 gives a list of issues. The OCR text can be read at /stream/<ID>/<ID>_djvu.txt.
Access
Free. Most trade journals and old books can be read without registration, and PDFs are shown too. Newer books (e.g., Woodbury, History of the Lathe to 1850, 1961) are "Borrow" only and require a login.
Examples found

Google Booksbooks and journals scanned by Google

What's there
Books and journals that Google scanned in libraries. Used from Japan, it redirects to books.google.co.jp and displays according to rights determinations for users in Japan. Some 19th-century American Machinist volumes and German machine tool textbooks can be read in full even from Japan.
When to use it
Strong at finding which book or journal, and which page, mentions a person, company or model name. You can also trace how journals in other countries quoted trade journal articles of the 1890s.
How to search
In Google search choose "Books," then under Tools change "Any books" to "Free Google eBooks" (full view). In a URL, add tbm=bks&tbs=bkv:f. Find volumes and issues from "Other editions" on the book's page.
Access
Free. Books that show in full view from Japan (e.g., American Machinist Vol. 18, 1895) also have a PDF download button. Some books are full view in the US but only partly viewable in Japan, so check each book.
Examples found

Chronicling America (Library of Congress)Library of Congress historic newspaper archive

What's there
The historic newspaper archive published by the Library of Congress (LoC), where you can read pages of US newspapers published up to 1963 for free. The old site chroniclingamerica.loc.gov has been moved into loc.gov.
When to use it
Use it to search local papers in towns with machine tool makers (Providence, Cincinnati, Springfield, Hartford, Rochester and others) for plant openings, fires, strikes and obituaries.
How to search
Search with the company name plus the town name (e.g., "Brown & Sharpe" Providence). Narrow by place and year, and also search abbreviated company names (B. & S.) to allow for OCR errors. The LoC research guides explain how to search by subject.
Access
Free. However, even when we checked again later, the main loc.gov site (newspaper search, HAER drawings and photos) returned 403 to WebFetch, and in the browser it stopped at a check asking us to press an “I'm not a robot” button, so we could not check its contents. Only the research guide pages could be checked.

Patents

US patents go back to 1790, and the years and inventors of 19th-century machine tool inventions can be checked in patents. Take care with how dates are shown on old patents.

Google Patentsfree full-text patent search

What's there
A service for free full-text search of patents worldwide. Old US patents also have scanned images and OCR text, with inventor, assignee, filing date, grant date and classification (CPC) on one page. You can also follow cited and citing patents.
When to use it
Use it to check the "patent year" of a machine, such as Parsons' NC patent or Fellows' gear shaper patents. You can widen the search to patents of the same period with CPC B23F (gear working) or G05B19 (numerical control).
How to search
If you know the number, open it directly, as in patents.google.com/patent/US579708A. In searches, combine terms such as inventor:Fellows, before:priority:19200101 and cpc:B23F5. Old patents have OCR errors, so reread key words in the image (PDF).
Access
Free, no registration needed. Note: for 19th-century US patents, the "filing date" is sometimes shown as the same as the issue date (Fellows's US579708 has a specification signed in March 1896, but its displayed filing date is March 30, 1897).
Examples found

USPTO Patent Public SearchUSPTO Patent Search

What's there
The official patent search of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Full texts of granted patents go back to 1971; going back to 1790, only numbers, dates and classifications are included. Patents from 1836 to 2000 can be searched on limited fields in a separate OCR database (USOCR).
When to use it
Use it to re-check against the official record when the bibliographic data in Google Patents looks doubtful (dates and classifications of old patents). It also shows how patents were grouped in the US patent classification of the time.
How to search
Enter a patent number in Basic Search to get the front-page image and bibliographic data. To search old patents by words, choose USOCR in Advanced Search. For 19th-century patents, looking up by number or classification is more reliable than text search.
Access
Free. However, USPTO has announced that signing in with a USPTO account will be required from November 7, 2026. The search screen itself (ppubs.uspto.gov) runs on JavaScript, so this time we checked only the guide pages and FAQ.

Government, military & statistics

NC development was funded by the Air Force, and import restrictions were a matter of trade policy. Government reports and statistics are where to check the figures and the background.

DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center)Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)

What's there
The agency that collects reports of research funded by the US Department of Defense (shown as DoW on the site in 2026). Public reports on NC machine tools, the Air Force manufacturing technology program, FMS, studies of Soviet machine tools and more were available as PDFs.
When to use it
Use the public reports on NC, APT and the Air Force Manufacturing Technology program (ManTech) to confirm dates and responsible agencies from primary sources. There are also Cold War-era studies of Soviet machine tools.
How to search
If you know the report number (an AD number such as ADA118632), apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/<number> shows the bibliographic record and /sti/pdfs/<number>.pdf the full text. Search with title words (numerical control, machine tool industry, APT) plus a year.
Access
Public reports are free. However, as of 2026-10-22 the site showed "public search is suspended for performance improvements", and the record pages were "under maintenance". Restricted reports require Defense credentials. The same notices were shown when we checked again later. Please re-check after the service resumes.

NIST Research Library (NIST Technical Series)NIST (formerly NBS) publications

What's there
Reports of NIST, the US standards laboratory (NBS until 1988). There is a list of final reports from 1901 on, and older ones are published as scanned PDFs. They include reports on machine tool accuracy, NC data and the automated factory (AMRF).
When to use it
Use them to check, through government reports, the data rules of the NC programming language APT and the development of standards for measuring machine tools and their accuracy.
How to search
In the NIST Research Library Catalog (Primo), enter "numerical control", "machine tool" or "APT" and narrow the type to Technical Series. If you know the report number (NBSIR 80-2073, etc.), you can go straight to the PDF address on nvlpubs.nist.gov.
Access
Free. Old reports are scanned images, so some cannot be text-searched (the example here was image-only too; we checked the title on page 1).
Examples found

USITC Commission Publications LibraryUSITC publications

What's there
A library of more than 5,800 reports of the US International Trade Commission (USITC), searchable by number, title, year and type. Studies of how imports affected domestic industries and analyses of the economic effects of import restraints can be read as PDFs. The list can be sorted by number, title, date, subject and type, and even reports without the industry's name in the title can contain a chapter on machine tools.
When to use it
Use it to check, through government analysis, the effect of the "voluntary restraint agreements (VRA)" that limited machine tool imports from Japan and elsewhere in the 1980s. It supports the "Links with Japan" sections.
How to search
The library search is full-text, so broad words bring in many unrelated reports. Combine "import restraints" and "machine tools" with a year (1980s to 1990s) and work through them from the oldest number.
Access
Free. WebFetch and curl were refused with 403, but it opened in a browser. PDFs open a save-as-file dialog.
Examples found

U.S. Census Bureau: Current Industrial Reports (MQ333W Metalworking Machinery)US Census Bureau Current Industrial Reports (metalworking machinery)

What's there
Shipment statistics for metalworking machinery (metal-cutting and metal-forming machine tools) that the US Census Bureau published every quarter. The older ones, numbered M35W, go back to the 1950s. The survey ended with the fourth quarter of 2011.
When to use it
Use it to line up postwar US machine tool shipments by machine type and year. After the survey ended, fill in with the five-yearly Economic Census and the annual manufacturing surveys.
How to search
The 2010 and 2011 tables can be downloaded from census.gov as Excel files. The older M35W and MQ35W can be read in full on HathiTrust as US government publications by searching "Current industrial reports Metalworking machinery".
Access
Free. The reason for ending the survey can be checked on a notice page at census.gov (a review ahead of the FY2012 budget).
Examples found

FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis economic data)

What's there
A database that lets you chart and download US economic statistics for free. "machine tools" brings up 134 series. The core is prewar and wartime indexes of machine tool shipments and orders (NBER historical statistics) and producer price indexes (PPI) for machine tools from 1970 on.
When to use it
With the machine tool shipments index for 1901–1933, the orders index for 1919–1947 and monthly shipment values for 1937–1963, you can show the World War I boom and the Great Depression slump in numbers.
How to search
Open series by ID: A0168AUSA324NNBR (shipments index, 1913=100), M06029USM336NNBR (orders index), M0169BUSM174NNBR (shipment value), PCU3335173335172 (PPI for metal-cutting machine tools). We could not find a series named "production index".
Access
Free, no registration, and CSV downloads are available. NBER series say "citation required", so also list the original source (such as the Record Book of Business Statistics, given in each series' notes) in your references.
Examples found

AMT – U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO)AMT orders statistics (USMTO)

What's there
Machine tool order statistics for the US, Mexico and Canada compiled by AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology), the US machine tool industry association. It covers 229 technologies and totals participating companies' monthly orders.
When to use it
Use it to show recent movements in the US market. Long historical series are not published, so fill in older figures with the Census or FRED.
How to search
A press release on the second Monday of each month gives total and regional order values. Lining up past releases lets you build your own table of year-to-year changes in orders. The regional figures show which parts of the US had the most capital investment.
Access
The press releases are free. Detailed data, such as by machine type, are available only to participating companies that report their monthly orders.

Museums, heritage & archives

Real machines and makers' documents and catalogs are held in museums and archives. Only part of them can be seen online, so confirm the location in the catalog before contacting them.

ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering LandmarksASME Landmarks

What's there
The mechanical engineering landmarks designated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 1971, now more than 280. Each landmark has a description page and the booklet (PDF) handed out at the designation ceremony. Machine tool landmarks include the Springfield Armory, the Robbins & Lawrence machine shop and the US standard screw thread.
When to use it
Use the society's official descriptions to check interchangeable manufacture at the armories, the practical development of milling machines and turret lathes, and the standardization of screw threads. They are also candidates for "Places to visit".
How to search
Open Landmarks by Designator and expand a number range (1-25, etc.). For machine tools, the relevant ones are #41 Springfield Armory (1794), #119 American Precision Museum, #120 Robbins & Lawrence Machine Shop (1846), #182 Knight Foundry and #234 the US standard screw thread (1864).
Access
Free. The description pages are in English, and the booklets are PDFs. The booklets are ceremony materials, so check the dates they give against other sources.
Examples found

American Precision MuseumAmerican Precision Museum

What's there
A museum in Windsor, Vermont, housed in the Robbins & Lawrence factory building, ASME landmark #120. It has exhibits on the inventors of machine tools aimed at interchangeable parts, Civil War rifle production and the factory's water power. Its "Machine of the Month" articles can also be read on the web.
When to use it
The best place to see real mid-19th-century American machine tools. The site's articles, with photos and short descriptions, help you grasp how the machines work.
How to search
Look at the site's Collection and Machine of the Month. If you want to see materials for research, contact them in advance. The address is 196 Main Street, Windsor, VT.
Access
The site is free. Open daily 10:00–17:00 from May 1 to October 31, and weekdays 10:00–16:00 from November 1 to April 30 (as shown on the site in 2026).

Springfield Armory National Historic Site (National Park Service)Springfield Armory National Historic Site

What's there
The site of the first US national armory, founded in 1794, managed by the National Park Service. Besides one of the world's largest collections of US military small arms, it has more than 13,000 items and an archive and library holding records, photographs, blueprints and manuscripts.
When to use it
Use it to find primary sources on the machines and working methods born at the armory for "making many identical parts", such as Blanchard's copying lathe (1819).
How to search
There is no guide to an online catalog, so tell the curator your research topic and make an appointment. The schedule is set after talking with the curator. Records of gun serial numbers are at the National Archives (NARA). The exhibits are in the Main Arsenal (an 1850 building), including a display of 647 rifles.
Access
Research is by appointment, basically weekdays 8:00–15:00. You must sign the rules of use, and the storage areas are not open to the public.

HAER – Historic American Engineering Record (National Park Service)Historic American Engineering Record (National Park Service)

What's there
A national program begun in 1969 to document America's engineering and industrial heritage, created by an agreement among the National Park Service (NPS), the Library of Congress and five engineering societies. It records factory buildings and machinery, transportation, utilities, mines, bridges and more in measured drawings, photographs and written histories made to set standards.
When to use it
A candidate for checking records of factory buildings, and of the machines installed in them, through drawings and photographs. We could not confirm this time whether there are records of armories or machine tool plants.
How to search
The NPS's HAER pages link to each record's page at the Library of Congress (LoC) (e.g., HAER NC-42 → hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.nc0478). The records themselves are on the LoC site, where you search by place name or facility name.
Access
According to the NPS FAQ, the Library of Congress is the sole repository of HABS/HAER/HALS records, which are open to the public without restriction and digitized for viewing on the LoC site. However, loc.gov still stopped at a bot check when we checked again on 2026-10-22, so we could not open individual records.

The Henry Ford (Benson Ford Research Center)The Henry Ford (museum and Benson Ford Research Center)

What's there
A museum in Dearborn, Michigan, holding real machine tools that supported mass production of automobiles, along with photos and documents. Its collection pages give the maker, place of manufacture, dimensions and even inscriptions (such as patent years). The research center lets you see non-displayed items and documents.
When to use it
With sourcing, you can show real examples of special-purpose machines on production lines, such as the Ingersoll milling machine (1912) that machined Model T cylinder blocks at Ford's Highland Park plant.
How to search
The site search runs on JavaScript, so opening collection pages directly is more reliable. Try words like "milling machine", "lathe" and "Highland Park". On-site research is by appointment; remote inquiries are also possible.
Access
Collection pages can be viewed free. The research center is by appointment only: according to its guidance, weekdays 10:00–16:00 (closed for lunch 12:00–13:00), with requests by email at least two weeks in advance, up to three days per person, once a quarter, and up to 15 boxes a day. The page did not say whether on-site research is charged. Remote research is paid: $35 an hour for individuals ($45 for commercial use), with one hour paid in advance when you apply. The address is 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn, MI.
Examples found

Smithsonian Libraries – Trade Literature CollectionSmithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection

What's there
A collection of catalogs, manuals, price lists and company histories from about 40,000 companies (500,000 items), mainly American, most of it in the library of the National Museum of American History (NMAH). It includes Mel Heinz's collection of machine tool and metalworking catalogs.
When to use it
Use makers' catalogs to check model names, type numbers, release dates and dimensions. You can also search company histories.
How to search
Enter a company name, brand or industry in the page's search box. Each company record shows how many items it holds. Most items are not digitized, so confirm the location, then book a visit to the library to see the originals. Company names changed over time, so search under former names too.
Access
The catalog is free. Originals are viewed by appointment. Note that even when we checked again later, the NMAH collection search (americanhistory.si.edu, collections.si.edu) and the archives catalog (sova.si.edu) did not open because of 403 errors and a checkbox bot check.

Hagley Museum and LibraryHagley Museum and Library

What's there
A library and archive of business and technology history in Wilmington, Delaware, on the site of DuPont's powder works. It has company records, a collection of US patent models and a digital archive. It also offers research grants.
When to use it
Use it to look at the companies on the using side of machine tools, or at 19th-century inventions through patent models. It is also a base of the Business History Conference.
How to search
Search the holdings from the site's Library, Research & Digital Archive. Before visiting, read the "What to Research" guide and discuss your research topic. Copying and publication have separate rules.
Access
The site is free. Even when we checked again later, the digital archive (digital.hagley.org) stopped at a human-verification screen, and we could not check its contents.

MIT Libraries – DSpace@MITMIT DSpace (institutional repository)

What's there
The server where the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) publishes papers, theses and reports. Theses on the history of the Servomechanisms Laboratory, where the NC machine tool was born, and books on the history of NC and design can be read as PDFs.
When to use it
Use it to check MIT's NC development from 1949 through the 1950s (the contract with Parsons, Air Force funding) in MIT's own documents.
How to search
Enter "numerical control" or "Servomechanisms Laboratory" in the search box and narrow the type to Thesis or Technical Report. Few items predate 1960 when you filter by date, so trace the original reports back from later research.
Access
Free. Theses can be read as PDFs, but they are still under copyright, so we do not reproduce them. Even when we checked again later, the MIT Museum site returned 429 (too many requests), and the MIT archives catalog (archivesspace.mit.edu) returned 403 even in a browser, so we could not confirm the record numbers of the Servomechanisms Laboratory.
Examples found

Baker Library Special Collections (Harvard Business School)Harvard Business School, Baker Library Special Collections

What's there
An archive known for business history, collecting records, advertising and management papers of US companies. It holds company records such as those of Polaroid, more than 8,000 advertising trade cards from the 1870s–90s and more, and has digital exhibitions.
When to use it
A candidate when looking for business records of machine tool makers or of the companies that bought and used their machines. First check by company name whether they hold anything. If not, ask them where other archives might hold it.
How to search
Search with Harvard's archival catalog, HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. Search URLs take the form hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/catalog?q="machine tool", and this term returned 77 results (many of them company records at Baker Library). Each record page gives the holding location, call number and conditions of use. If they are not given, use the inquiry form (Ask Us).
Access
The site and catalog are free. The record of the photograph album cited as an example says “Collection is open for research,” and the materials are kept on site. The top page of the catalog says that anyone, whether or not affiliated with Harvard, can create a HOLLIS Special Request account, which is used to request materials (we did not create one this time).
Examples found

Gears

Much of the history of gear machines is written in trade-journal articles and makers' anniversary articles.

Gear TechnologyGear Technology (published by MPMA, formerly AGMA)

What's there
A specialist magazine on gear design and manufacturing, with back issues on the web from the first issue in 1984. Named the Michael Goldstein Gear Technology Library after its founder, it states that it will remain free to the public. It also has history articles, such as on Gleason's 160th anniversary.
When to use it
Use it to find articles on the histories of makers such as Gleason and Fellows, the patent history of hobbing machines, and people such as Kate Gleason. The history paragraphs at the start of technical articles are also good leads.
How to search
Enter "history", "Gleason", "Fellows" or "hobbing" in the site search. Choose a year from the issue list (/issues/) and open the contents or PDF. Anniversary articles are written from the maker's standpoint, so check dates against patents and trade journals.
Access
Free (stated as free to the public as a Library). Its publisher, the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA, founded 1916), merged in 2025 with the bearing industry association ABMA to form MPMA (Motion + Power Manufacturers Alliance). There is a login link, but the article here could be read without registering.
Examples found

Power Transmission EngineeringPower Transmission Engineering

What's there
A trade magazine on power transmission (gears, bearings, couplings, motors and more) from the publisher of Gear Technology. The back-issue list starts in 2007, and each issue's contents and articles can be opened. It also covers news of bearing and drive companies.
When to use it
Use it for gear industry developments and technical explanations of the relatively recent era (2000s on). For older history, Gear Technology has more.
How to search
Choose a year from the issue list, or enter "history" or a company name in the site search. History articles are few, so search together with Gear Technology. Scanning the feature titles in each issue's contents is the quickest way to pick. Open an issue from the year list and choose from its contents.
Access
The list of issues opens without registering, and each issue has a PDF link. The PDF of the February 2010 issue (about 8.5 MB) opened without logging in. Subscriptions to the magazine (print or digital) are free but require registering an email address (we did not register this time). The publisher is MPMA, formed in 2025 by the merger of AGMA and ABMA.

Search terms (Japanese and English)

The same machine was called different names in different eras and companies. When searching old trade journals, also search with the terms of the time.

JapaneseEnglishNotes
machine toolmachine tool (in statistics: metalworking machinery, metal cutting machine tools)
LatheslatheAn ordinary lathe is an engine lathe. A basic term in US trade journals
turret latheturret latheIn Britain, capstan lathe is sometimes used to distinguish it
automatic lathe (bar automatic)screw machine (automatic screw machine)Not a machine for making screws, but an automatic lathe for small parts
multi-spindle automaticmultiple-spindle automatic (multi-spindle screw machine)
copying lathecopying lathe (tracer lathe)Blanchard's gunstock machine is the Blanchard lathe
Milling machinemilling machine (miller for short; also mill in the trade)
universal milling machineuniversal milling machine
production milling machine (bed type)manufacturing-type milling machine (bed-type miller)
Planerplanerplaning machine in Britain
shapershapershaping machine in Britain
slotterslotter (slotting machine)
drilling machinedrill press (drilling machine)A radial drilling machine is a radial drill
boring machineboring mill (a horizontal boring machine is a horizontal boring mill)Careful: a vertical lathe is also called a vertical boring mill
vertical lathevertical boring mill (vertical turret lathe, VTL)
Jig borersjig borer
Grindersgrinding machine (grinder)
cylindrical grindercylindrical grinder (plain/universal grinding machine)
centerless grindercenterless grinderBritish spelling: centreless
surface grindersurface grinder
broaching machinebroaching machine
Hobbing machinegear hobber (gear hobbing machine)
gear shapersgear shaper (Fellows gear shaper)
bevel gear cutting machinebevel gear generator (bevel gear planer)
gear grinding machinegear grinder (gear grinding machine)
gear shaving machinegear shaving machineThe tool is a shaving cutter
Gearsgear (spur gear, helical gear, worm wheel)
jigs and fixturesjig, fixtureA jig guides the tool; a fixture holds the workpiece
interchangeable partsinterchangeable parts
American system of manufacturesAmerican system of manufacturesThe mass-production method that began in the 19th-century US armories
Armoryarmory (Springfield Armory, etc.)British spelling: armoury
limit gaugeslimit gauge (go/no-go gauge)In the US, often spelled gage
numerical controlnumerical control (NC)With a computer, CNC (computer numerical control)
direct numerical controlDNC (direct numerical control)Later also used to mean distributed numerical control
paper tapepunched tape (paper tape)Early NC was commanded by tape
automatic programming language APTAPT (Automatically Programmed Tool(s))
Machining centermachining centerBritish spelling: machining centre
automatic tool changerautomatic tool changer (ATC)
flexible manufacturing systemflexible manufacturing system (FMS)
orders and shipmentsorders (new orders), shipmentsThe two pillars of the statistics. Shipment values are more common than production values
voluntary restraint (on exports)voluntary restraint agreement (VRA)Machine tool export agreements made with Japan and others in the 1980s
national security investigation (Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act)Section 232 investigation
trade journaltrade journal (trade magazine)American Machinist, Machinery, Iron Age, etc.
company historycompany history (corporate history)Commemorative volumes: anniversary book, centennial history
patent filing and issuefiled (application), issued/granted (patented)"Pat'd" in old materials is the issue date
trade showsmachine tool show (IMTS, etc.)Chicago's IMTS is the International Manufacturing Technology Show
subcontract machine shopjob shop (contract machine shop)
machinistmachinistIn Britain, fitter and turner are distinguished by job

Cautions when reading American sources

  • A "year" can mean design, patent filing, patent issue, trade-journal announcement or shipment. Write down which year each source gives. In Google Patents, the filing date of an old patent is sometimes shown as the same as the issue date, so check the dates in the specification.
  • Whether you can read a HathiTrust full text from Japan depends on its rights mark: pd (worldwide) or pdus (US only). Even if it says full view in the US, you may only be able to search it from Japan.
  • US government publications (the Census, NBS/NIST, USITC, etc.) have no copyright, so they can often be read in full on HathiTrust even from Japan. For old statistical figures, starting from government reports is quickest.
  • Company names change often (e.g., names joined after mergers and acquisitions, or products sold under a division name). In timelines, give the company name used at the time, with today's name in parentheses.
  • Many trade-journal articles were written from makers' advertisements or contributions. Use "first" or "largest" only after checking against patents, other magazines and museum descriptions.
  • Company histories, anniversary articles and makers' own chronologies tend to be written in the company's favor. Their years and models may be usable, but do not copy their evaluative words; check them against other sources.
  • Dimensions and weights given in inches and pounds: keep the original values and add millimeters and kilograms in parentheses. For screw threads, distinguish the US standard (Sellers) from the later Unified thread (UN).
  • Wartime sources (World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Cold War) sometimes exaggerate production figures or withhold them for military reasons. The Air Force, MIT and the makers tell the history of NC development differently, so read sources from different standpoints side by side.
  • More and more sites stop at bot checks (Cloudflare, Anubis, etc.). Bibliographic APIs (HathiTrust, OpenAlex, Crossref, Internet Archive) usually get through, so use the APIs to confirm where items are, and open the full text in a browser.

Places to visit

Museums and historic sites where you can see real machines and former factories. Check opening days and tour bookings in each facility's guide before you go.

Springfield Armory National Historic SiteSpringfield, MassachusettsSite of the first national armory, established in 1794. The only surviving Blanchard gunstock lathe (1822) and a collection of about 20,000 small arms. An ASME historic landmark (Landmark #41)[2][3][120]ArmoryLathes
American Precision MuseumWindsor, VermontThe Robbins & Lawrence armory building itself, built in 1846, is the museum. An ASME historic landmark (Landmark #120) as the factory that made the interchangeable system practical. Displays 19th- and 20th-century machine tools[8][121][122][123][51][124][75][125][126][9][29][127][63][128][129][130][33][131][132][15][45][133]ArmoryPrecisionMass productionNCLathesMilling/MCGrindersGear machinesOther machines
Harpers Ferry National Historical ParkHarpers Ferry, West VirginiaThe national armory and the site of Hall's Rifle Works (Lower Hall Island), where John H. Hall built machines for interchangeable parts from 1819. The armory was burned in 1861[134][5]Armory
Coltsville National Historical ParkHartford, ConnecticutThe city of Colt's 1855 armory. The East Armory with its blue onion dome (rebuilt after the 1864 fire) can be seen from outside. The building is privately owned and the interior is not open to the public[135][136][12]ArmoryPrecision
Highland Park Ford PlantHighland Park, MichiganFord's plant from 1910 to 1927. The building where the first moving assembly line was installed in 1913, and the plant built for moving assembly, survive (as of the 1977 federal survey). It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. It is now private property, and the inside is not open to the public[47][137][138]Mass production
The Henry Ford (Benson Ford Research Center)Dearborn, MichiganFord's archive. It publishes photos such as those of the automated line at the Cleveland engine plant in 1952. See the museum's guide for how to view materials[139]Mass production
IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show)Chicago, Illinois (McCormick Place)A show held every two years, descended from the NMTBA machine tool exposition first held in Cleveland in 1927. Organized by AMT (formerly NMTBA)[39][140]Mass productionImports & revival
Computer History MuseumMountain View, CaliforniaHolds a commemorative ashtray handed out at the 1959 APT press conference (an aluminum ashtray programmed in APT and cut on MIT's NC milling machine, with the raised lettering "APT II MIT AMC Feb 59", donated by Douglas Ross) and a 1980 document of the EIA standard RS-274-D. Check before you go whether they are on display[92][141]NC
MIT Kresge AuditoriumCambridge, MassachusettsThe hall where MIT, the Air Force and the Aircraft Industries Association held the APT press conference on February 25, 1959 (the conference was in the Little Theater inside). It is on the MIT campus and can be seen from outside[79]NC
Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine ToolsMinokamo, Gifu PrefectureDisplays in working order the NC lathe MTC-2500R (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126), exported to the US in 1970 and brought home in 2008[142][97]Imports & revival
Mazak Corporation (North American headquarters plant)Florence, KentuckyMazak's US plant, which started up in 1974. After 20 expansions it has grown to about 1 million square feet. Check the company's guide for tours and events[98]Imports & revival
America MakesYoungstown, OhioThe national additive manufacturing institute set up in 2012 (formerly NAMII). Ask in advance whether visits are possible[117]Imports & revival
Haas Automation headquarters plantOxnard, CaliforniaHaas's plant (about 1.1 million square feet), going back to the VF-1 of 1988. We have not confirmed whether public tours are offered[112]Imports & revival
Slater Mill (Wilkinson Mill)Pawtucket, Rhode IslandA textile mill and machine shop built by Oziel Wilkinson in 1810–11 (ASME landmark #30). The workplace of the family of David Wilkinson of the screw-cutting lathe, it can be visited as part of the Slater Mill historic site[143]Lathes
The Henry Ford (Henry Ford Museum)Dearborn, MichiganThe large 1912 Ingersoll milling machine that machined Model T cylinder blocks at Ford's Highland Park plant can be seen in the "Made in America" exhibit. Woodbury (1959) writes that two good examples of Lincoln-type milling machines are also here (check the current exhibits before you go)[144][11][24][22][145]Milling/MCGear machinesOther machines
Smithsonian National Museum of American HistoryWashington, D.C.According to Woodbury (1959), the 1852 Robertson milling machine, the first milling machine patented in the US, was on long-term loan from Yale University to the United States National Museum (today's Smithsonian) (catalog number 314,939). We could not confirm whether it is on display now[11]Milling/MC
The Henry Ford (Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation)Dearborn, MichiganThe heavy-grinding cylindrical grinder designed by Charles H. Norton in 1900 (Object ID 31.368.1, about 4.1 m long). The first machine was used for about 30 years at a printing-press maker, then returned to Norton Company and was donated to the museum. The collection record places it in the permanent exhibition "Made in America." Check the museum's information on whether it is on display[146][27]Grinders
Worcester Historical MuseumWorcester (Massachusetts)A local history museum and library holding Norton Company records (Norton Company Collection, Parts 1 and 2). Worcester was home to the Norton and Heald plants, and the history of grinding can be researched here. The library is for in-house reading only; contact it in advance[147]Grinders
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Gordon Library)Worcester (Massachusetts)Papers of George N. Jeppson, an executive of Norton Company (MS 74). Most of the contents are Norton Company records. James N. Heald, founder of the grinder maker Heald, was also a graduate of this university[148][41]Grinders
Smithsonian National Museum of American HistoryWashington, D.C.Holds materials on artificial abrasives, such as the 1900 patent model (Carborundum articles and method of manufacture) of F. A. J. Fitzgerald of the Carborundum Company. Not currently on display (viewable in the collections search)[149][27]Grinders
Grand Rapids Public Library (Michigan Memories)Grand Rapids (Michigan)Publishes images of the local machine industry online, such as photos of the No. 10 grinder of Gallmeyer & Livingston Co., a maker of surface and tool grinders. The plant was on Straight Ave. SW[150]Grinders
Brown's Race (High Falls district)Rochester, New YorkAn old mill district along a millrace overlooking the falls of the Genesee River. William Gleason set up his shop here in 1865, and Gleason's factory was here until 1911. Today it is the High Falls historic district[24]Gear machines
Gleason headquarters plant (1000 University Avenue)Rochester, New YorkGleason's headquarters and plant: land bought in 1904, first building in 1905, move completed in 1911. Still the home base of Gleason Corporation. The plant is not open to the public, so please view it from outside only[24]Gear machines
Fairfield Museum and History CenterFairfield, ConnecticutThe Bullard company's records (Ms B41, 1888–1983) can be seen in the library. They include manuals, catalogs, company newsletters and photos, as well as records of electronic production control in 1955 and letters about the acquisition by White Consolidated[151]Other machines
3D Systems headquartersRock Hill, South CarolinaASME landmark materials say one of the very first units of the first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, is here. It is a company building, so ask the company whether visits are possible[152]Other machines

FAQ

Where should I start reading about the history of American machine tools?
To get the overall flow, the quickest way is to start with the mini-timeline on this page and move on to the chapters for the eras that interest you. If you are interested in a particular machine, the machine-type chapters (Chapters 6–10: lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines) are written so you can start there too.
Was the first NC machine tool built in the United States?
Yes. In 1952, MIT's Servomechanisms Laboratory unveiled an NC milling machine, a converted milling machine built under an Air Force contract. It began with a proposal by Parsons, who was making templates for helicopter rotor blades. For details, see Chapter 4, "The Birth of NC and the Machining Center", and Chapter 7, "The Lineage of Milling Machines and Machining Centers".
Can old trade journals such as American Machinist be read from Japan?
Many old issues can be read on the Internet Archive or HathiTrust. However, for some years HathiTrust does not show the full text to users outside the US. Which years can be read is explained in "How to use the paper and source sites" on this page.
How can I check the archive's sources?
Click a number in the timeline to open the source (at the page, if a page number is given). Patents can be opened by their Google Patents numbers, and government reports by their DTIC or other numbers.

Sources

Sources for the mini-timeline and Places to visit. Each chapter page lists all the sources for that chapter. “p.” is a page of the source and “frame” is the scan sequence number; click one to open that page.

  1. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the Internet Archive copy is the 1926 McGraw-Hill printing, with the same pages)p. 131, 132, 134, 138, 140, 143, 158, 162, 191
  2. National Park Service, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, "Thomas Blanchard and His Lathe"
  3. ASME, "Landmark #41 Springfield Armory" (1980)
  4. Charles H. Fitch, "Report on the Manufactures of Interchangeable Mechanism," Tenth Census (1880), Vol. 2, Manufactures, U.S. Census Office (1883). Numbers are PDF pages (printed page of the report + 5)p. 7, 8, 9, 18
  5. National Park Service, Springfield Armory NHS, "Springfield Armory Records (SPAR 15455)," catalog history
  6. E. G. Parkhurst, "Origin of the Turret, or Revolving Head," American Machinist, Vol.23 No.21 (May 24, 1900), pp.489–490
  7. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the scan is the 1926 reprint)p. 143, 176, 197
  8. American Precision Museum, "About / History"
  9. ASME, "Landmark #120 Robbins & Lawrence Machine Shop (1846)"
  10. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the scan is the 1926 reprint)p. 137, 165
  11. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Milling Machine: A Study in Technical Development, MIT Technology Press (1959). Note: numbers are scan frames (Internet Archive n-numbers; 1–2 pages per frame)Frames 16, 17, 33, 34, 47, 48
  12. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the Internet Archive copy is the 1926 McGraw-Hill printing, with the same pages)p. 177, 178, 208, 209, 214, 224, 248, 278
  13. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the scan is the 1926 reprint)p. 183, 184, 185, 248
  14. Wm. Sellers & Co., A Treatise on Machine Tools, etc. as made by Wm. Sellers & Co., Philadelphia (1873)p. 85
  15. American Precision Museum, "Machine Tool Hall of Fame: William Sellers"
  16. Nathan Rosenberg, "Technological Change in the Machine Tool Industry, 1840–1910," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp.414–443 (1963)p. 432, 441
  17. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Milling Machine, MIT Technology Press (1960). Numbers are scan frames (Internet Archive n numbers; each frame shows a two-page spread)Frames 22
  18. William Sellers, "On a System of Screw Threads and Nuts," Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol.77 (3rd series Vol.47 No.5, May 1864), p.344 ff. (presented at the meeting of April 21, 1864). Note: numbers are scan framesFrames 57
  19. American Machinist, Vol.1 No.1 (New York, November 1877). Note: numbers are scan framesFrames 2
  20. US Patent 45,294, "Improved Cutter for Cutting Gear-Wheels," J. R. Brown (granted November 29, 1864)
  21. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916; the scan is the 1926 reprint)p. 199, 206
  22. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Gear-Cutting Machine, MIT Technology Press (1958). Numbers are scan frames (Internet Archive n numbers; one frame shows one or two pages)Frames 22, 46
  23. US 143,306, C. M. Spencer, "Improvement in Machines for Making Metal Screws" (September 30, 1873; filed March 6, 1873)
  24. Gleason Corporation, Gleason 160: Yesterday and Today (2025, company history; numbers are pages of the electronic edition)p. 7, 8, 12, 27, 31
  25. Anderson Ashburn, "The Machine Tool Industry: The Crumbling Foundation," in Donald A. Hicks (ed.), Is New Technology Enough?, American Enterprise Institute (1988), pp.19–85p. 34, 35, 37, 38
  26. Alfred Haenig and Charles Salter, Emery and the Emery Industry: A Technical Study of Modern Abrasives and the Development of the Modern Grinding-Machine Industry, Scott, Greenwood & Son, London (1912)p. 19
  27. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Grinding Machine: A Historical Study in Tools and Precision Production, MIT Technology Press (1959)Frames 50, 69, 70, 71
  28. "A New Turret Head Lathe," American Machinist, Vol.14 No.19 (May 7, 1891), p.1 ff. (Jones & Lamson Machine Co.'s flat turret lathe)p. 1
  29. American Precision Museum, "Machine of the Month: First Model Jones & Lamson Flat Turret Lathe"
  30. American Precision Museum, "James Hartness" (Machine Tool Hall of Fame profile)
  31. US 470,591, W. P. Norton, "Feed Mechanism for Screw-Cutting Lathes" (March 8, 1892; filed September 16, 1891)
  32. Oscar E. Perrigo, Modern American Lathe Practice, Norman W. Henley (1907)p. 299
  33. American Precision Museum, "Machine of the Month: Gear Shapers"
  34. Gear Technology, May/June 2002 (editorial and industry news item "Fellows Corp. Closes"). Numbers are PDF pagesp. 20
  35. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Grinding Machine, MIT Technology Press (1959). Note: numbers are scan frames (Internet Archive n-numbers; one two-page spread per frame)Frames 56
  36. "F. J. Lapointe, Broach Firm Founder, Dies," Ann Arbor News (November 30, 1953; Ann Arbor District Library newspaper archive)
  37. The Iron Age, vol.110 (October 12, 1922 issue), article on the 20th annual convention of the NMTBAp. 923
  38. Mill Supplies, vol.13 no.5 (May 1923), Ernest F. Du Brul, "Big Sales Problem in Machine Tool Industry"p. 61
  39. AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology), "AMT 120 Years On: Where It Is – and Going" (2022)
  40. US Patent 791,570, “Grinding Machine” (filed November 7, 1904, granted June 6, 1905, George H. Newton; planetary-motion cylinder grinder)
  41. American Precision Museum (Machine Tool Hall of Fame), "James N. Heald"
  42. Worcester Polytechnic Institute yearbook The Peddler, 1980 edition, p.218: advertisement of the Heald Division of Cincinnati Milacronp. 218
  43. US Patent 1,325,784, "Gear-Cutting Machinery," J. E. Gleason (automatic generating machine for spiral bevel gears; filed May 26, 1913, granted December 23, 1919)
  44. Index of American Machinist, Vol.40 (January–June 1914), "Bullard Mult-au-matic vert. lathe". Note: numbers are scan framesFrames 3
  45. American Precision Museum, "Machine Tool Hall of Fame: Edward P. Bullard (1872–1953)"
  46. Horace L. Arnold & Fay L. Faurote, Ford Methods and the Ford Shops, Engineering Magazine Co. (1915)Frames 161
  47. National Park Service, "National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form: Highland Park Ford Plant" (Ralph J. Christian, 1977)p. 3
  48. Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Grinding Machine, Technology Press, MIT (1959)Frames 82
  49. Anderson Ashburn, "The Machine Tool Industry: The Crumbling Foundation," in Donald A. Hicks (ed.), Is New Technology Enough? Making and Remaking U.S. Basic Industries, American Enterprise Institute (1988)p. 54, 57, 58
  50. "Cincinnati Centerless Grinder," American Machinist, Vol.59 No.9 (August 30, 1923), p.339Frames 28
  51. American Precision Museum, "Heim Centerless Grinder, 1918"
  52. Gleason Corporation, Gear Technology Solutions (technical compendium; numbers are pages of the electronic edition)p. 50
  53. US Patent 1,694,027, "Gearing," E. Wildhaber (assigned to Gleason Works; filed March 25, 1924, granted December 4, 1928)
  54. US Patent 1,826,852, "Hypoid Gear," E. Wildhaber (assigned to Gleason Works; filed May 5, 1927, granted October 13, 1931)
  55. "Milling Machines, Plain and Duplex, 'Hydromatic'," American Machinist, Vol.72 No.3 (January 16, 1930)
  56. US 1,835,976, “Machine Tool Having Hydraulic Feed,” Hans Ernst and Lester F. Nenninger, assigned to Cincinnati Milling Machine; divided from an application filed September 15, 1927, granted December 1931 (checked in the patent PDF)
  57. Machinery, vol.33 no.12 (August 1927), announcement of the NMTBA exposition (Exposition News)Frames 145
  58. Automotive Industries, vol.61 no.15 (October 12, 1929 issue), "Automotive Influence Evident at Cleveland Show"p. 544
  59. Samuel L. Hoyt, "Tungsten Carbide—A New Tool Material" (p.623) and "'Carboloy' Cutting Tools" (p.633), American Machinist, Vol.69 No.16 (October 18, 1928)Frames 22, 32
  60. American Machinist, Vol.69 No.15 (October 11, 1928), plant-construction column (Carboloy Co.'s Schenectady plant)Frames 51
  61. Richard F. Moore et al., Holes, Contours and Surfaces, Moore Special Tool Co. (1955). Note: numbers are scan framesFrames 10, 27
  62. Moore Tool Company, "Timeline" (company history)
  63. American Precision Museum, "The First Bridgeport" (description of the milling machine with serial number 1)
  64. American Precision Museum, "Rudolph Bannow (1897-1962)" (Machine Tool Hall of Fame description)
  65. Current Biography Yearbook 1960, H. W. Wilson (1961), "Bannow, Rudolph F.", pp.15–16p. 15
  66. Tooling & Production, Vol. 4, No. 11 (February 1939), “New Bridgeport Turret Miller” and “Bridgeport P&M Works Changes Name”
  67. Machinery (New York), Vol. 45, No. 6 (February 1939), “Bridgeport Turret Milling Machine”
  68. Moore Special Tool Co. (F. C. Victory and Richard F. Moore), Holes, Contours and Surfaces (1955)Frames 10
  69. Wayne R. Moore, Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy, Moore Special Tool Co. (1970)Frames 165
  70. Moore Tool Company, "Timeline"
  71. Machinery, vol.49 no.7 (March 1943), "Machine Tool Output During the Last Five Years"Frames 43
  72. The Iron Age, vol.151 no.16 (April 22, 1943 issue), Thomas Lloyd, "Machine Tool Output to Level Off"Frames 53
  73. Automotive and Aviation Industries, vol.94 no.6 (March 15, 1946 issue), "Machine Tools: Yearly Dollar Volume of Machine Tool Shipments"p. 148
  74. J. A. N. Lee, Computer Pioneers (IEEE Computer Society, 1995), "John T. Parsons"
  75. American Precision Museum, The Manufacturing Ledger, Machine Tool Hall of Fame, "John T. Parsons" (inducted 1994)
  76. David F. Noble, Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation, Knopf (1984)
  77. Editorial "'Automation' May Help You" and Rupert Le Grand, "Ford Handles by Automation" (p.107 ff.), American Machinist, Vol.92 No.22 (October 21, 1948)Frames 90, 108
  78. Anderson Ashburn, "Automation—Its Development in Metalworking," Mechanical Engineering, Vol.77 No.11 (ASME, November 1955), pp.958 ff.Frames 7
  79. J. E. Ward, Automatic Programming of Numerically Controlled Machine Tools, MIT Electronic Systems Laboratory Final Report 6873-FR-3 (January 15, 1960; Air Force contract AF-33(038)-24007; DTIC AD0241754). Reprints the 1952 final report FR-1, the 1956 FR-2 and the record of the February 1959 APT press conference in its appendicesFrames 73, 79, 117, 132, 134
  80. "Numerically Controlled Turret Lathe," Automation, Vol.2 No.10 (October 1955), p.78 (Jones & Lamson Machine Co.)p. 78
  81. American Machinist, Vol.104 No.12 (June 13, 1960), p.3 "Turret Lathe Controls" and p.122, Warner & Swasey's new research laboratory and five modelsp. 3
  82. Tomoatsu Shibata, "Growth trajectory of a firm: A Case of Fanuc from venture within Fujitsu to a leading company of Factory automation," DSSR Discussion Papers No.52, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University (2016)p. 5, 6, 16
  83. American Machinist, Vol.101 No.14 (July 15, 1957), W. M. Stocker Jr., "The production man's guide to numerical control" (Special Report No.446)Frames 152
  84. American Machinist, Vol.101 No.21 (October 7, 1957), article on the numerical control symposiumFrames 161
  85. Mechanical Engineering vol. 81 no. 5 (ASME, May 1959). Numerical control special section, including W. M. Webster, “Air Force Participation” and D. T. Ross, “The APT Joint Effort”Frames 70
  86. American Aviation, Vol. 22, No. 15 (December 15, 1958), news brief on p.15 (cost of the Air Force NC program)Frames 13
  87. R. H. Wentorf Jr., "Cubic Form of Boron Nitride," The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 26, p.956 (April 1957)
  88. "Borazon," Machine and Tool Blue Book, Vol. 52, No. 4 (April 1957), p.126 ff.Frames 129, 131
  89. Automotive Industries, Vol.119 No.10 (November 15, 1958), "AIEE Holds Machine Tool Conference"Frames 66
  90. American Machinist, Vol.102 No.23 (November 3, 1958), article on the AIEE machine tool conferenceFrames 93
  91. American Machinist, Vol.102 No.26 (December 15, 1958), introduction of the Milwaukee-MaticFrames 130
  92. Computer History Museum, "APT II Commemorative Ashtray" (catalog number X356.84, gift of Douglas Ross)
  93. Douglas T. Ross, "Origins of the APT Language for Automatically Programmed Tools," ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Vol.13 No.8, pp.61-99 (1978). Reprinted in History of Programming Languages (Academic Press, 1981), pp.279-338
  94. J. M. Evans Jr. et al., Standards for Computer Aided Manufacturing, NBSIR 76-1094, National Bureau of Standards (1976)Frames 53
  95. Library of Congress Copyright Office, Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, January–June 1963 (registration of EIA standards RS-273 and RS-274, March 8, 1963)Frames 280
  96. AEC-NASA Tech Brief 67-10238, "Traveling Wire Electrode Increases Productivity of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) Equipment" (August 1967; Argonne National Laboratory)
  97. Yamazaki Mazak: History
  98. Mazak, "Mazak Celebrates 50 Years Of Kentucky Manufacturing Excellence" (June 1, 2024)
  99. John Teresko, "A Growing Mission To Teach," IndustryWeek (December 21, 2004; with a timeline of Mazak in the US)
  100. UNIDO, The World Machine-Tool Industry (background paper for the Fourth Consultation on the Capital Goods Industry, June 1991)p. 105
  101. Anderson Ashburn, "The Machine Tool Industry: The Crumbling Foundation," in Donald A. Hicks (ed.), Is New Technology Enough? Making and Remaking U.S. Basic Industries, American Enterprise Institute (1988)p. 89
  102. U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, The Machine Tool Industry and the Defense Industrial Base (98th Congress, 1983)
  103. E. Dinopoulos and M. E. Kreinin, "The U.S. VER on Machine Tools: Causes and Effects," in R. E. Baldwin (ed.), Empirical Studies of Commercial Policy, NBER and University of Chicago Press, 1991, pp.113–134p. 113, 116
  104. FANUC: History of FANUC
  105. John F. Mason, "DNC: The new assembly-line boss," Electronic Design, Vol.18 No.22, p.38 ff. (October 25, 1970)
  106. American Machinist, "Gaining control over machine tools" (August 1, 1998)
  107. US 4,575,330, "Apparatus for production of three-dimensional objects by stereolithography" (Charles W. Hull, UVP Inc., filed August 8, 1984, issued March 11, 1986)
  108. 3D Systems press release, "Co-Founder & CTO Chuck Hull Awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation" (October 26, 2023)
  109. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, "Charles W. Hull" (2022 laureate)
  110. Ronald Reagan, "Statement on the Revitalization of the Machine Tool Industry" (December 16, 1986; Reagan Library)
  111. U.S. General Accounting Office, International Trade: Revitalizing the U.S. Machine Tool Industry (GAO/NSIAD-90-182, July 17, 1990)p. 9
  112. Haas Automation, "Haas History"
  113. Haas Automation, "Very First (VF)": the origin of the VF-1 and a timeline
  114. Gleason-Pfauter Maschinenfabrik, "This is our story" (company history)
  115. Milacron Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal 1998, filed March 1999)
  116. UNOVA, Inc. Form 8-K (October 1998; completion of the acquisition of Cincinnati Milacron's Machine Tool Group)
  117. White House press release, "We Can't Wait: Obama Administration Announces New Public-Private Partnership to Support Manufacturing Innovation" (August 16, 2012; in the American Presidency Project)
  118. NIST, pages on the "National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute"
  119. Wohlers Associates, "America Makes" (renamed in October 2013)
  120. National Park Service, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, "Thomas Blanchard and his Lathe"
  121. ASME, "Landmark #120 Robbins & Lawrence Machine Shop" (1987)
  122. American Precision Museum, "About / History" and exhibits (Gridley automatic of 1900, Bryant cylindrical grinder of 1911, Brown & Sharpe measuring machine of 1878)
  123. American Precision Museum, "Exhibits" (1878 Brown and Sharpe Micrometer)
  124. ASME, "Landmarks by Designator" (list of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks; #119 American Precision Museum)
  125. American Precision Museum, The Manufacturing Ledger, Machine Tool Hall of Fame, "Francis J. Trecker" (inducted 1994)
  126. American Precision Museum, The Manufacturing Ledger, Machine Tool Hall of Fame, "Wallace E. Brainard" (inducted 2000)
  127. American Precision Museum, "About" (building and collection)
  128. American Precision Museum, "Machine of the Month: Bryant Chucking Grinder Model 10 A"
  129. American Precision Museum (Machine Tool Hall of Fame), "William L. Bryant"
  130. American Precision Museum (Machine Tool Hall of Fame), "Richard P. Moore"
  131. ASME, "Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark No. 119: American Precision Museum"
  132. "Museum features Cutting Edge exhibit," American Machinist (June 16, 2006)
  133. American Precision Museum, "Machine Tool Hall of Fame: Leighton A. Wilkie"
  134. National Park Service, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, "John H Hall"
  135. National Park Service, Coltsville National Historical Park, "The East Armory Complex"
  136. National Park Service, Coltsville National Historical Park, "The East Armory Complex"
  137. National Park Service NPGallery, “Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company” (National Register Information System ID 73000961)
  138. National Park Service, "List of National Historic Landmarks by State"
  139. The Henry Ford, "Two-Directional Automation Device at the Ford Motor Company Cleveland Engine Plant, January 1952" (description of a photograph)
  140. IMTS, "About the Show"
  141. Computer History Museum, "RS-274-D - EIA standard - Interchangeable variable block data format for positioning, contouring, and contouring/positioning numerically controlled machines" (dated February 8, 1980; catalog number 102785172)
  142. JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126: MTC-2500R, the NC lathe exported to the United States
  143. ASME, "Landmark #30 Wilkinson Mill (1810)"
  144. The Henry Ford, "Ingersoll Milling Machine Used at Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant, 1912" (object 31.671.1)
  145. The Henry Ford collections, "Moore No. 1 Precision Jig Borer, circa 1950" (92.159.1)
  146. The Henry Ford, "Norton Cylindrical Grinder, 1900" (Object ID 31.368.1, gift of Norton Company)
  147. Worcester Historical Museum, "Finding Aids: Business and Industry" (Norton Company Collection, Parts 1 and 2)
  148. WPI Archives & Special Collections, "MS 74 George N. Jeppson Papers" (Norton Company records)
  149. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, "patent model, carborundum article" (F. A. J. Fitzgerald, US Patent 650,235, 1900, ID AG.308780)
  150. Grand Rapids Public Library (Michigan Memories), "Gallmeyer and Livingston Co.": photo of the No. 10 grinder
  151. Fairfield Museum and History Center, "Bullard Company Records (Ms B41)" finding aid (revised 2004)
  152. ASME, "Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark No. 261: Stereolithography, The First 3D Printing Technology" (designated May 18, 2016)