Thomas Blanchard (1788–1864) was a prolific inventor with over two dozen patents on a range of inventions, including a cloth- shearing machine and a machine for making tacks. However, Blanchard is best known for inventing an irregular turning lathe for manufacturing metal gun barrels and all kinds of wooden shapes, from gun stocks to ax handles. Blanchard’s lathe coordinated the motions of a tracer pressing against a revolving model with a cutting wheel that acted on a revolving workpiece, so that the machine cut a three-dimensional copy of the model. Blanchard successfully lobbied Congress for several extensions of the normal fourteen-year patent period, resulting in an unprecedented forty-two-year patent monopoly for his lathe. Blanchard grew wealthy from his accumulated royalties and retire comfortably. This video is featured in the "Men of Progress" section of the American Enterprise exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. (The video does not include an audio track). Teachers, parents, educators! Check out our resources to use these videos in the classroom here: https://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/men-progress-video-series Section link: americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/videos/men-progress Exhibition link: americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise
