What is Honoré Blanc?
[[File:FlintlockMechanism.jpg|thumb|right|200px|{{Center|French gunLock (true [[Flintlock]]) as that made by and improved upon by Blanc}}]] '''Honoré Blanc''' (1736–1807) was a [[France|French]] [[gunsmith]] and [[inventor]]. He was one of the first to use the [[concept]] of [[interchangeable parts]].<ref name=Mouradian83>George Mouradian, ''The Quality Revolution'' (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2002), p. 83</ref> Blanc was born in [[Avignon]], [[France]] in 1736.<ref name=Alder223>Ken Alder, ''Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763-1815'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), p. 223</ref> At age 12 he became an [[Apprenticeship|apprentice]] to a [[gunsmith]].<ref name=Alder223/> He was an [[armorer]] at the Charleville [[Arsenal|armory]] in [[Charleville-Mézières]], [[Ardennes (department)|Ardennes]], France.<ref name=Alder223/> In 1763 he became the [[manager|controller]] of gunlocks at the [[Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne|Saint-Étienne arms factory]].<ref name=Alder223/> Just before the [[French Revolution]], he came up with the idea of [[interchangeable parts]] for [[Flintlock|gun lock]]s.<ref name=Horn144>Jeff Horn, ''The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1830'' (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006), pp. 144–145</ref> == Interchangeable parts == By the 1760s, Blanc was making specialized [[machinery]] and [[tool]]s to make gunlocks.<ref name=Alder223/> His [[wikt:design|design]] for the [[Musket Model 1777]] was accepted and he was made chief controller for three arms factories. In 1785, in an [[experiment]], Blanc mixed parts from 25 gunlocks and assembled several models with ease. His [[wikt:demonstrate|demonstration]] showed the [[wikt:benefit|benefit]] of interchangeable parts and how it worked. He repeated the experiment for military policy makers in 1790.<ref name=Horn144/> The [[French Academy of Sciences]] supported his idea in 1791.<ref name=Horn144/> But the [[Legislative assembly]] would not fund his work.