From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (Studies in Industry and Society) [Paperback]

David Hounshell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

The history of technology at its very best. It is also a volume which has a great deal to interest the business historian... A superb study replete with new insights and eqully valuable in its parts as in their sum... This is an exciting book which deserves the highest praise.

(Business History )

David Hounshell's history of the evolution of American production methods has few rivals: in execution of the theme it has none... Both the armchair historian and the specialist in the history of technology will find this a highly readable and most informative work.

(Science )

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (September 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080183158X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801831584
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know the true story of interchangeable parts, May 10, 2000

By 

Michel Baudin (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (Studies in Industry and Society) (Paperback)

Hounshell is a serious academic historian, which means that he doesn't put words in the mouths of dead people, and he draws prudent inferences from period documents, drawings and photographs. It makes him credible, if a bit plodding at times and overly concerned with always crediting the right inventors. What you learn in this book is surprising and contradicts many popular beliefs. For example:

1. Eli Whitney had nothing to do with it.

2. Thomas Jefferson picked up the idea in France when he was ambassador. It was abandoned overthere while he, as president, started a pattern of government funding for research that took 50 years to bear fruit.

3. Early adopters don't always win. In his account of the sewing machine industry, he shows how the early adopters of interchangeable parts technology lost out to Singer, which only adopted it 30 years later.

If you are interested in the subject and you like your beliefs to be convincingly challenged, check out this book. Even if you are not a history buff but a citizen concerned about the role of the federal government in technology development, this book will give you a valuable perspective.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History of manufacturing and quality control, August 13, 2006

By 

E. Husman "ehusman" (Las Cruces, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (Studies in Industry and Society) (Paperback)

I saw a reference to this book in Womack et al's The Machine that Changed the World, a book about Toyota's lean production system and automobile manufacturing in general. That book starts with the shift from craft production to Just-In-Time production and necessarily passes through Ford's production system. Hounshell ends his book with Ford in the Depression and the struggle against GM.

Hounshell begins with armory manufacture. As another reviewer has pointed out, the idea of making guns with interchangeable parts started in the French Army and introduced in the US by both Thomas Jefferson and a French officer who was instrumental in the founding of West Point. Eli Whitney took a stab at it, but he was more adept at self-promotion than achieving interchangeability. It took almost another generation or more before the system was perfected at the Springfield and Harper's Ferry armories; had it not been part of the West Point curriculum, it is not clear whether the idea would have borne fruit even that quickly.

Hounshell goes on to follow the development of manufacturing technology from guns to sewing machines, reapers, clocks, wooden furniture, bicycles, and finally the automobile. I was surprised at some of the twists and turns: Singer actually achieved dominance through a superior marketing and retail network and only adopted the "armory system" of gages later. The McCormicks were more adept at selling and servicing than at manufacture, but did introduce annual model changes; early on, they were afraid of making too many because they thought they would flood the market and put themselves out of business. The bicycle industry in the 1890s was necessary for the development of the automobile because it introduced the idea of personal mechanical transportation to the masses and refined the process of metal stamping, which has become crucial. Throughout the pre-automotive period, most of the industries that finally adopted "the American System" did so after hiring someone who had previous experience in a New England gun manufacturer. Thus, the history of mass production owes much to the French (who abandoned the idea early on), to government investment (through the Army), and to the Yankee mechanic.

Woven throughout, it is easy to see the simultaneous development of modern quality control methods, but this is not explicitly discussed. Hounshell augments the narrative with photographs of early machine parts and of the revolutionary gage system. Setting and maintaining standards was the only way to achieve interchangeability, which led to faster and cheaper assembly by eliminating the need for skilled "fitters" who essentially built each machine (gun, reaper, sewing machine, etc.) by custom fitting with files. By making parts to specification, unskilled labor could assemble the system. That idea informs the Toyota JIT system, as does Ford's invention of the assembly line and development of the Rouge Plant (upon which Hounshell sheds light) but also led to the unfortunate Taylorist diversion (which is also briefly described). Unfortunately, Hounshell doesn't concentrate on the link between the gage system and statistical quality control methods as one might find in the work of Shewhart, Deming, or Feigenbaum. The book ends with the rise of Sloan and the GM/Taylorist management paradigm, an unfortunate aberration that is finally coming to an end with the rise of Toyota and JIT.

From what I can tell (I'm no historian), this is an excellent work of history, and the illustrations are plentiful, relevant, and informative.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little dry but an essential contribution to technology literature, February 25, 2007

By 

Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (Studies in Industry and Society) (Paperback)

The early days of the American republic were categorized not by the "American system of mass production" but by determined entrepreneurs who made skilled use of workers. Hounshell tracks several industries including woodworking, International Harvester, Singer Sewing machines and gun manufacturing showing how scale and interchangeable parts came into existence. The first half of his book tries to dispel the myth of the American System of manufacturing and provides great technical insight into each of the industries mentioned above.

The second half looks at how the principles of mass production were applied. Particular attention is paid to Pope bicycles which were among the first items mass produced. You can clearly see how technology built upon one another to form the mass production we know today. The last three chapters of the book focus mostly on Ford and their production models from the Model T to the Model A. Some attention is given to GM and their efforts to undermine the cheap characteristics of Ford and create the car industry as we know it today. It considers the idea of mass production and debates what Ford really did create.

The book does an excellent job of looking at how industries progressed over a long period of time and while getting lost in the details it does come through. There is some thick description were the technological explanation is more than someone would want to know but mostly it is good solid information. This is a great book for those who are just beginning to study the history of technology or for the experts.