The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Blanchard is considered one of the founders of the American machine tool industry. His contributions anticipated the development of mass production in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Born in Sutton, Massachusetts, in 1788, Blanchard worked in his brother's factory while still a boy, designing and producing such inventions as an apple parer and a tack-making machine. His most important work, however, came with his employment at the U.S. arsenal in Springfield, which sought his services after his construction of a lathe that could produce irregular gunstocks. Around 1818, while focusing on the problem of manufacturing identical gunstocks in rapid succession, Blanchard conceived of a lathe capable of endlessly duplicating any pre-set machine pattern. Integral to Blanchard's invention was the movement of a friction wheel over the pattern and the transmission of the movement to a cutting wheel. In addition to gunstocks, among the model patterns that Blanchard experimented with were shoe lasts, wheel spokes, and hat-blocks.
Because of his machine's ability to produce not only exact duplicates but replicas in various sizes as well, Blanchard is considered an inventor of the first rank. Lathes based on his original became the foundation of many modern manufacturing processes. Unfortunately, pirating of his idea, complicated by weak patents, was common until Congress eventually reaffirmed the primacy of his work.
Blanchard is also respected for his visionary, though failed, promotion of railroads and for his work with steam carriages and steamboats.