Simeon North

Engineer and manufacturer, born in Berlin, Connecticut, USA. During 1799–1813 he pioneered the manufacture of pistols with interchangeable parts, mostly under government contract. From 1828 to his death he continued to produce rifles.

Simeon North (1763 - 1852) was a Middletown, Connecticut gun manufacturer, who developed America's first milling machine in 1818.

{{North is now generaIly credited with the invention of the milling machine-the first entirely new type of machine invented in America and the machine that, by re- placing filing, made interchangeable parts practical. In 1795, North began to produce scythes in a mill adjacent to his farm in Berlin, Conn. By 1813, he signed a contract to produce 20,000 pistols that specified that parts of the lock had to be completely interchangeable between any of the 20,000 locks---the first such contract of which any such evidence exists. In 1828, North received a contract to produce 5,000 Hall rifles with parts interchangeable with those produced at Harpers Ferry. Fitch prepared for the 1880 Census credits North with a key role in developing manufacture with interchangeable parts.American Precision.Com}}