Eli Terry. Portrait of Eli Terry (1772-1853), American technologist. Terry is credited as the instrue pioneer of mass productionins. By 1800, he had established himself as a manufacturer of cheap reliable clocks. The clocks were all built to the same specifications, and made of wood and brass. All the parts in the clocks were interchangeable, and produced on a large scale, making the process cheaper and more cost-efficient. At around the same time, firearms were being produced by Eli Whitney, and the techniques developed allowed the rapid mass production of Colt's revolver for the USA's war with Mexico in 1846.