On May 1, 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition of Works of Industry of All Nations in London's Hyde Park. The first world's fair, the exhibition brought together the best manufactured products of seventy-seven nations. The building in which it was held, nick-named the "Crystal Palace," was itself a technological marvel of iron and glass devised by Joseph Paxton. More than six million people from many nations visited the exhibition during its five and a half-month run.

International recognition of what the British soon termed as “the American System of Manufacture” came in 1851. That year, the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London was a coming of age for American inventors and industrialists. Americans won more prizes, proportionately, than any other country. Above all, the Americans did best with machinery, and in particular, with machines for firearms production, woodworking tools and agricultural implements. Perhaps fittingly, that same year, the American racing schooner America took the trophy from the British that has been ever after referred to as the “America’s Cup.”

The extraordinary achievement of the Robbins & Lawrence Armory, Windsor, Vermont, contractors to the US Ordnance Department for US Model 1841 Rifles, received global attention at the Crystal Palace Exhibition. Unlike Colt with an ornate exhibit patterned on the display of weapons in medieval castles, the Robbins & Lawrence exhibit was remarkable for its simplicity: six rifles only, which in turn were dismantled and reassembled to demonstrate interchangeability of parts to the amazement of those present. Significantly, the British Government took note and later sent a commission to visit the United States, visiting Springfield Armory and resulting in a major contract for Robbins & Lawrence to supply rifles for the Crimea War and machine tools for the Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory.