Researched
Machine Tools
Wilkinson's boring machine and Maudslay's lathe make metal parts with a precision impossible by hand.
Open in the interactive tree →In 1775 John Wilkinson bored cannon barrels and steam cylinders so accurately that Watt's engine became steam-tight; around 1800 Henry Maudslay built the screw-cutting lathe with slide rest. Machines now build machines - a point where precision could grow quickly. All later manufacturing technology up to the CNC mill builds on it.
Prerequisites
- Geometry (Euclid)~300 BC
- Blast Furnace & Cast Iron~1400
- Steam Engine1712
Unlocks
- Interchangeable Parts~1800–1850
- Mechanical reaper1834
- Analytical Engine & Punch Cards1837Babbage's engine parts needed machine-tool precision; without it no build
- Internal Combustion Engine1876
- CNC & Numerical Control1952
More in Manufacturing & Construction · Industrial Age
- Crucible Steel~1740
- Mechanized Textile Mills1764-1785
- Iron Bridge1779
- Puddling & Rolling Mills1783-84
- Centrifugal Governor1788
- Interchangeable Parts~1800–1850
- Jacquard Loom (Punched Cards)1804
- Macadam & Asphalt Roads1820