Straight and True

Abstract

This article highlights that the craftsmen of early firearms advanced the standard of precision manufacturing. Barrel making has gone on to evolve the complex machine tools that are now used in such familiar products as heat exchangers and gasoline engines. Cannon boring was a technology already well understood decades before the siege of Orleans. A cannon barrel began as a casting having a cavity large enough to allow the use of a robust boring bar. Chip removal required frequent extraction and reinsertion of bits. In Europe, straightness was sometimes checked by running a taut wire down the barrel and sighting on it through the bore. Bends were removed by hammering straight. Pioneers learned to depend on hunting rifles to provide meat for their tables. The American long rifle was one of the finest examples of the precision that could be attained by craftsmen who worked with hand tools and were armed only with their versatility and ingenuity. Probably only clockwork was a more demanding example of metalworking.