请教1道PP阅读题??

galfield

pp 1 110

At the same time that Edison was imagining the phonograph as the ultimate business tool, he also made a prophetic statement about its future."this machine," he wrote in 1878, shortly after the clamor surrounding the invention had died down, "can only be built on the american principle of interchangeability of parts, like a sewing machine" Edison had grasped the idea of mass production using standardized parts.

110 Thomas edison compared the phonograph to the sewing machine in terms of its

------------ 答案 method of production. 请问以上怎么理解.谢谢!

yongchou

To look for clues, let us look at the sentences around the phrase "like a sewing machine".
Before it, we've got "can only be built...."; after it, "the idea of mass production using standardized parts". Both are related to "method of production", right ?