Science and engineering in Manchester chemist visited Manchester in the 1840s. In his research in Manchester, Smith discovered the existence of acid rain, a by product of the industrial revolution. Smith consequently pushed for greater environmental awareness and helped to found the Noxious Vapours Abatement Society in Manchester, which raised awareness of the consequences of poor air. Joseph Whitworth was an engineer and inventor who hailed from Stockport, Cheshire (now Greater Manchester). A talented mechanic amongst various other engineering roles, for long periods of his life, he worked in factories in Manchester. Whitworth would ultimately devise a standard screw thread system, the first of its
American Precision Museum Army that they placed an order for 25,000 rifles for the Crimean War and also ordered 141 of the Robbins & Lawrence metal-working machines making the firm the first large-scale exporter of machine tools. Thus began the “American System” for producing interchangeable parts which accelerated the development of the precision tool-making industry that followed rapidly. The second reason Robbins & Lawrence can be credited with the birth of the precision tool industry is the number of people who were employed at the factory that went on to work at, or found, other companies. J.W. Roe produced a "Genealogy of the