American Precision Museum

Robbins and Lawrence Armory and Machine Shop
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	S. Main St., Windsor, Vermont
Built	1846
Architect	Unknown
Architectural style	No Style Listed
NRHP reference No.	66000796
Added to NRHP	November 13, 1966

The American Precision Museum,is located in the renovated 1846 Robbins & Lawrence factory in Windsor, Vermont. The building is said to be the first factory in the US to make precision interchangeable parts. As such, the claim is made that Robbins and Lawrence gave birth to the precision tool industry. The museum has the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation.

A “machine tool” is a machine which makes parts to other machines, such as screws or gun stocks, largely without a skilled craftsman doing the precision work. Instead, a machine operator controls the machine as it does the precision work. Examples of precision machine tools are the lathe, the milling machine, and the drill press.

The museum is open daily from 10am until 5pm Memorial Day Weekend through October. Admission is free on Sundays.

History & Importance

Richard S. Lawrence, a brilliant mechanic, moved to Windsor in 1838 at age 21 and started making guns in the Windsor Prison. He joined N. Kendall, who had a gun-making shop, and together started anew company.  Barely four years later,Samuel E. Robbins, a businessman, came to Windsor and, with Lawrence &Kendall, procured a government contract to produce 10,000 guns.   Over the next eight years, the factory was built and machines to make precision parts were made.  Those early machines made parts precise enough to be interchangeable, the first achievement of that long-term goal.  Later, Lawrence bought out Kendall. 

There are two reasons that Robbins & Lawrence can be considered as founders of the precision tool industry. In 1851, Robbins and Lawrence traveled to London to demonstrate their rifles at the Great Exhibition, held in London’s Crystal Palace.  The rifles were made in Windsor using interchangeable parts.   They won a medal and so impressed the British Army that they placed an order for 25,000 Enfield rifles needed for the Crimean War.  More importantly, they ordered 141of the Robbins & Lawrence metal-working machines making the firm the first large-scale exporter of machine tools. Thus began the “American System” for producing interchangeable parts;this accelerated the development of the precision tool-making industry that followed rapidly.   

The second reason Robbins & Lawrence can be credited with the birth of the precision tool industry is the number of people who were employed at the factory that went on to work at, or found, other companies.  J.W. Roe produced a “Genealogy of the Robbins& Lawrence Shop” which is reproduced here, with permission, from Lindsay Publications.   This “genealogy” is just part of the complex and fascinating history of precision machine tools.   With the development of interchangeable parts,machines of all sorts could be made in large numbers and sold cheaply.  The manufacture of sewing machines,typewriters, bicycles, engines and cars soon followed.  Precision machine tools which makes standardized parts are at the heart and soul of our modern world.

Current exhibit

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the museum opened two new exhibits to be on display in 2012 and 2013 from Memorial Day weekend through October. Full Duty: The Civil War Collection of Howard Coffin presents the first-ever exhibition from the private collection of Vermont’s foremost Civil War historian. The exhibit contains more than 100 artifacts and weaves a vivid story about Vermonters’ response to the crisis and their role in preserving the Union.

Arming the Union: Gunmakers in Windsor, Vermont uncovers the surprising influence of the machine tool company, Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, which operated out of the Robbins & Lawrence Armory. Together with other Northern gunmakers, they made 1.5 million rifles in the span of about three years. The majority of those weapons were made on machinery designed and produced by LG&Y.

==References==

External links

• American Precision Museum

See Also

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