Joseph Whitworth, an engineer and toolmaker in the nineteenth century, actively promoted standardization as a means of obtaining the interchangeability of parts.

He introduced the system of "end measurements" and in 1856 exhibited a measuring instrument controlled by a screw which detected differences in length as small as one millionth of an inch.

It was Whitworth also who brought about the standardization of screw threads in England. Using Clement's previous work on thread standards as a basis, he laid down the formula for the thread system which now bears his name, the "Whitworth Thread".