Boring machines produce smooth and accurate holes in metal or other material by enlarging existing holes with a bore, a single cutting tip or a grinding wheel. Although boring mills existed for centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution for the purposes of gun and cannon production, they were crude operations that, despite the rotation of a cutting tool, necessitated the regular pivoting of the mold being cut. The first true boring machine was constructed by John Smeaton in 1765. Powered by a waterwheel and distinguished by a traveling carriage, the machine produced an uneven bore hole, but nonetheless provided the basis for John Wilkinson's more stable, cylinder-supported machine that was produced a decade later.

With his machine, Wilkinson became the foremost expert on casting and boring iron cannons and engine cylinders. More importantly, he became the first ironmaster to fulfill the stringent design specifications of James Watt's...