Babbage Analytical Engine - CBC interview

[Eric Smith]

  ben wrote:
> I suspect it comes under *mass production * of parts all the same
> quality. That did not come about until the late 19 th century.

Joseph Clement's work shows that he was able to achieve that in the 
early 19th century.  It didn't become standard practice until later.

The fact that most people couldn't build a working Difference Engine or 
Analytical Engine in the 19th century doesn't prove that it couldn't 
have been done by someone, such as Clement.  The reasons that Babbage 
didn't get a working DE or AE built are financial and political, not 
technical.  By 1859 Georg Scheutz had built several working DEs based on 
Babbage's design.

Eric