Existing comment:
Only a few machines operated at the armory during its early years. Skilled craftsmen produced most of a weapon by hand. Gunsmiths hand-forged early barrels and other gun parts with hammer and anvil. Welding a gun barrel required two men, and six completed barrels a day represented a fair day's work.
Despite continual resistance by Harpers Ferry armorers, water-powered machines eventually replaced most skilled craftsmen. One worker could forge 14 to 16 barrels a day with the aid of a trip hammer.
Nearly 20 years before the Musket Factory branch of the armory adopted precision machines, John Hall developed and utilized them in his rifle factory.
None of Hall's precision machines are known to have survived.
After John Hall died in 1841, the armory removed Hall's dilapidated buildings and constructed new ones. Indeed, many of his cutting machines were fitted with new holders and cutters for production of the Harpers Ferry M1841 "Mississippi" rifle. When the armory was looted by Confederates in 1861, it is likely that some of Hall's re-tooled machines were transported to southern armories. |