Interesting. I always thought Samual Colt was responsible for interchangeable gun parts, but I guess he pick up the idea from earlier inventors.
On a similar topic -
I understand that our current system of having standard clothing sizes "off the peg" was a result of factory mass production of uniforms for the north during the American Civil war.
It's a really interesting series. It highlights how little we often know about how exactly we got to where we are.
I read the linked piece earlier. I always thought the production line was an invention of Henry Ford but it seems it was conceived/suggested by Adam Smith.
As an aside - I'm currently getting a lot of server errors from the BBC site when trying to view pages.
Interesting read that, thanks.
What struck me really was that it wasn't just always that way. I'd never considered that before.