Made in America: Manufacturing

African American mechanical engineer Elijah McCoy patented this version of his of lubricator in 1882. The many moving parts on a steam locomotive required constant lubrication, and crews had to apply oil regularly. McCoy's lubricator automatically deposited metered amounts of oil, reducing the need for manual lubrication.

The Model T's distinction as a landmark car design can be traced in large part to machines like this -- a high capacity precision machine tool that performed just two production steps on the car engine's cylinder block. The Model T as a design achievement is inseparable from many hundreds of engineering, materials, and production innovations.

There were more than 10,000 parts in a Model T. Henry Ford's moving assembly line required that each one of those parts be manufactured to exacting tolerances and be fully interchangeable with any other of its kind. By splitting a car's construction into a series of distinct small steps, the assembly line yielded enormous gains in productivity.