Interchangeable parts
About the middle of the 18th century, French gunsmith Honoré Blanc developed the concept of interchangeable parts for muskets. Blanc tried to interest other European gunsmiths, but they were not impressed by the idea. But he did interest the American Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson quickly saw that mass production of weapons parts would free America from dependence on European sources for parts. He could not get Blanc to move to the United States but he did convince President George Washington it was a good idea. It came at a critical time when Congress was preparing for a war with France. In 1798, Eli Whitney got the first contract for 10,000 muskets to be delivered within two years. Whitney used a large force of unskilled workers and machinery to produce standardized identical parts at a low cost. What he produced was the first smoothbore flintlock musket produced in the United States, the Springfield Model 1795 Musket. Whitney's idea of using machines to create interchangeable parts started what came to be known as the "American system" of mass production.