Everything required by the war has to be done quickly. And the war administrators have to sort out who and what works, if they are going to maximize their resources.
In the US Civil War that means the men with ability, including Isherwood, Dyer, McCallum and Spencer get sorted up instead of down quickly. Andrew Carnegie, who benefitted from inside knowledge of telegraphic messages, might be included in the list.
Isherwood's work on naval steam engines was practically inventing mechanical engineering.
Dyer, the Virginian, was placed in charge of the Springfield armory by Winfield Scott, and Dyer's work was a long step forward in the development of mass production. Dyer made the parts specifications for the Springfield rifle precise enough that any shop in New England could contribute to the assembly of the weapons.
McCallum was a systems guy, though he did not know. He knew that the tasks of junior managers had to be defined closely enough that the performance of the managers could be measured. That was a big step towards the creating the enormous trust businesses that followed the Civil War.
Spence combined elements of the Sharp carbine, the Henry Repeater, and the Burnside carbine to produce the first practical application of fully enclosed rim fire cartridges. I think enclosed cartridges, and the eventual machine guns that followed killed a lot more soldiers than Oppenheimer's bombs killed civilians.
Carnegie as a young man was close to the information center of the US in the Civil War. He was a genius in being able to see the money that going to be spent on bridge replacement. He also was well read enough to know that the demand for iron and then steel was going to nearly unlimited as the US railroad network expanded.
In the US Civil War that means the men with ability, including Isherwood, Dyer, McCallum and Spencer get sorted up instead of down quickly. Andrew Carnegie, who benefitted from inside knowledge of telegraphic messages, might be included in the list.
Isherwood's work on naval steam engines was practically inventing mechanical engineering.
Dyer, the Virginian, was placed in charge of the Springfield armory by Winfield Scott, and Dyer's work was a long step forward in the development of mass production. Dyer made the parts specifications for the Springfield rifle precise enough that any shop in New England could contribute to the assembly of the weapons.
McCallum was a systems guy, though he did not know. He knew that the tasks of junior managers had to be defined closely enough that the performance of the managers could be measured. That was a big step towards the creating the enormous trust businesses that followed the Civil War.
Spence combined elements of the Sharp carbine, the Henry Repeater, and the Burnside carbine to produce the first practical application of fully enclosed rim fire cartridges. I think enclosed cartridges, and the eventual machine guns that followed killed a lot more soldiers than Oppenheimer's bombs killed civilians.
Carnegie as a young man was close to the information center of the US in the Civil War. He was a genius in being able to see the money that going to be spent on bridge replacement. He also was well read enough to know that the demand for iron and then steel was going to nearly unlimited as the US railroad network expanded.
