From farm equipment and Colt to a Detroit machine shop

he gained machine knowledge working with farm equipment and learned the firearms trade working at Colt before the Civil War. Working at Brown and Sharpe in Rhode Island, he learned the importance of precision grinding that permitted the interchangeability of parts, a key element in his later success. Traveling the country to sell Brown and Sharpe parts, Leland found Detroit an attractive site for his own machine shop. He acquired financial backing and established Leland, Faulconer & Norton in 1890. His son Wilfred, who had been studying medicine, joined him. The company made bicycle and marine engine parts, became Leland & Faulconer in 1894