Although denied the attention and bravura accorded upon other inventors of his time, Johannsson worked to develop a system of precise measurement so beneficial that it completely revolutionized industrial production.

As a child, Johannsson exhibited traits that would later be important in his work. He kept a careful notebook in which he recorded all the events of his life, a habit he continued until his death in 1943. He also learned to work iron and steel so skillfully that his help was much sought after to repair broken tools or create new ones.

In 1882, Johannsson left his home in Götlunda, Sweden, to join his brother in St. Peter, Minnesota. The two worked in lumber camps and attended Gustavus Adolphus College until 1884 when they returned to Sweden. There, in 1887, Johannsson enrolled at the Eskilstuna Technical Sunday and Evening school and later secured a position at the Carl Gastafs...