Brown, Joseph Rogers (1810-1876), was an American inventor and manufacturer of mechanical devices. He invented the “universal” milling machine and the “universal” grinding machine, so-called because of their adaptability to many types of manufacturing. He founded the Brown and Sharpe Company, one of the largest tool-manufacturers in the United States. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), he developed a number of machine tools to produce military supplies. He was born in Warren, Rhode Island.
