>>bucket brigade<<

The difference being that apart from the first and last positions on the line (respectively, gathering and throwing water), the tasks are undifferentiated nor is it production, unless of a service.

However, the assembly line presupposes standardization or parts which, I have it on poor authority, was an innovation of Elie Whitney's. Or at least of gun manufacturers. According to an article that appeared in the Economist several years ago, this had repurcussions in the American Civil War, when guns were first mass produced. Further, it has ramifications for the interpretataion of the original intention of the right to bear arms.