North, Simeon
North, Simeon.
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Interchangeable parts in manufacturing.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 13th July 1765, Berlin, CT
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 25th August 1852, Middletown, CT. Aged 87.
DISCIPLINE: Arms manufacturer.
FIELD: Business and Industry
LANGUAGE: English.
PARENTS: Jedediah North and Sarah Wilcox.
SIBLINGS: 3 brothers.
SPOUSE: Lucy Ranney Savage (d. 1811), married 1786; Lydia Huntingdon,
married 1812.
CHILDREN: 5 sons and 3 daughters by Lucy Savage; 1 daughter by Lydia Huntingdon. Youngest son was Simeon North (1802-84) who went to Yale and
became president of Hamilton College.
EDUCATION: Little formal education.
MAJOR WORK: Interchangeable parts in manufacturing.
LIFE AND TIMES: Like his father and grandfather, Simeon North began life as a farmer. In 1781 he tried to enlist in the Continental Army but was rejected by the recruiting officer.
In 1786 he married Lucy Savage, also of Berlin, who was to bear eight children. In 1795, he began making scythes in an old mill adjoining his farm. On 9th March 1799, he signed his first contract with the U.S. War Department for 500 horse-pistols to be delivered within one year. Other government contracts followed, some of which were for pistols for the Navy Department.
In 1802, North showed his appreciation of the value of education, in spite of having received little himself, by helping to set up the first Berlin Academy. In 1811, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the 6th Connecticut Regiment, but resigned two years later.
Meanwhile, his excellent craftsmanship continued to bring more contracts. It
is unclear whether it was North, or the more famous Eli Whitney*, who first designed tools and machines for making separate parts and was, therefore, the first American manufacturer to make arms whose parts were interchangeable.
In North's contract for 20,000 pistols, dated 16th April 1813, he recommended the provision that ‘the component parts of Pistols are to correspond so exactly that any limb or part of one Pistol may be fitted to any other Pistol of the twenty thousand." This made sure that the pistols could be mass-produced. The contract price per pistol was $7.00.
On 10th December 1828, he signed his first rifle contract for 6,000 pieces which had
to be delivered at the rate of 1,200 a year for five years. He supplied them within four years. In 1825 he made a multi-charge repeating rifle capable of firing ten charges without reloading.
He supplied rifles and carbines to the U.S. government until 1850, his last order, dated 5th February 1850, being for 3,000 guns. His four older sons went into business with him. His fifth son, Simeon, was sent to Yale, was ordained into the ministry, and became president of Hamilton College.
ASSESSMENT: Colt* sub-contracted work to his armory.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: Simeon North, co-inventor of interchangeable parts
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dictionary of American Biography, London & Oxford: OUP, 1934.