Visitors from other countries were enchanted by the technological prowess marshaled in Machinery Hall—and, specifically, in the Corliss engine. Something was happening in America, some new energy, an efflorescence of native talent. An American style of manufacturing seemed to be emerging—one that relied on automation, on interchangeable parts, on machine-made machines that fed still other machines. The Times of London gushed, “The American invents as the Greek sculpted and the Italian painted: it is genius.” Other English observers struck notes of quiet despair. “If we are to be judged by the
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