Simeon north developed the first machine tools. He used a sawmill to make scythes for farming, and was able to quickly churn out tens of thousands of pistols with a very rudimentary system without interchangeable parts. This is before proper mechanization, and really before hydraulics. North also made major contributions in the ar machine tool to this milling machine - perhaps the most important in combined to multitude.
Transcript
chevron_right
Play full episode
chevron_right
Transcript
Episode notes
The modern world is an integrated system of almost unfathomable complexity, built upon sub systems, technologies, people and practices that if partially removed or neglected sufficiently, result in disastrous supply chain break downs as witnessed in wartime or as the world seized up in response to an over-hyped flu virus in 2020. One of the industries at the heart of the manufacturing economy is the machine tool industry, responsible for “building the machines that build the machines” – mills, lathes, planers, presses, etc. that produce the metal products such as cars, airplanes and household appliances. Without these industrial tools, production would be relegated to hand tools or worse, and for national security reasons is arguably a strategic industry to be protected. As with most things in modern America, however, what is sensible and what is reality is at odds, with the machine tool industry witnessing a global market share decline of number one in the world at around 20% in 1981 to less than 5% today.
