Before this rifling machine was invented by Elisha Root, President of Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company between 1862 and 1865, gun makers used hand-powered tools to carve grooves into the inside of a barrel. Notice that this rifling machine is working on more than one barrel. It was often powered by steam or water power.

 

During the Civil War, the United States looked to private companies to fill their steep arms demand that far outweighed their armories’ producing capacity. Harnessing the American System of Manufacturing and the genius of machine tool and arms inventors, the private-sector factories used innovative machines that promoted uniformity and quicker production time, such as this rifling machine.