Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 15.--James Wilson, first American maker of globes.

From a sketch by John Ross Dix in _Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion_ (Boston, 1857), vol. 12, p. 156.]

_New Hamps.h.i.+re_

Among the artisans who combined clockmaking with instrument making before the beginning of the 19th century was Benjamin C. Gilman (1763-1835) of Exeter, New Hamps.h.i.+re. He made mathematical instruments and clocks in addition to working as a silversmith, clockmaker, and hydraulic engineer.

_Vermont_

A New England instrument maker who had a most unusual career was James Wilson (1763-1855) of Bradford, Vermont. He was a native of Francestown, New Hamps.h.i.+re, where he was born in a log cabin and brought up on a farm. In 1796 he purchased his own farm, at Bradford.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 16.--Globe made by James Wilson (1763-1855) of Bradford, Vermont. Diameter is 13 in. Photo courtesy Houghton Library, Harvard University.]

When a young man of 36 he saw a pair of globes at Dartmouth College in neighboring Hanover and tried to duplicate them. He made b.a.l.l.s of wood turned from solid blocks, covered them with paper, and finished them off with lines and drawings. He later improved this method by coating the wooden b.a.l.l.s thickly with layers of paper pasted together. He then cut the globes into hemispheres, removed the wooden molds, and joined the paper sh.e.l.ls to make the globes.

Wilson next proceeded to procure copper plates of the necessary sizes for his globes, and he projected his maps on them in sections. He received a few lessons in engraving from Amos Doolittle of New Haven, but he was otherwise completely self-taught.

Wilson exhibited the first edition of his globes in Boston in 1814. They created a sensation, and many persons asked to see the maker, but Wilson was reluctant to come forward because of his coa.r.s.e clothing and rustic manners. He was greatly encouraged, however, by the public interest in his work, and he continued to make globes in Bradford (see fig. 16). In about 1815 Wilson and his three sons, all of whom were as ingenious as the father, formed a company to manufacture globes in Albany. There they produced terrestrial and celestial globes, the latter showing as many as 5,000 stars. Wilson produced a new set of plates in 1826 and made globes in several sizes. Even after he had reached the age of 83 years he constructed an excellent planetarium, engraving the large copperplate himself.

Wilson was married three times and was the father of 14 children. He died at the age of 92 in March 1855 at Bradford.[27]

_Ma.s.sachusetts_

A surprisingly small number of the Ma.s.sachusetts craftsmen working before the end of the 18th century produced scientific instruments.

Among the very earliest were several members of the King family of Salem. Daniel King (1704-1790) was born in Salem on November 17, 1704.

At the time of his death Rev. William Bentley spoke of him as a "maker of Mathematical Instruments" and a "teacher of Mathematics."[28]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 17.--Bra.s.s surveying compa.s.s made by Stephen Greenleaf (fl. 1745) of Boston. Photo courtesy New Hamps.h.i.+re Historical Society, Concord.]

Following Daniel's death, his business in instruments was inherited by his son Benjamin King (1740-1804), of Salem. Benjamin specialized in producing nautical instruments, and several of his Davis quadrants have survived in public collections. When he died on December 26, 1804, Reverend Bentley wrote that King was "... a Mathematical Instrument maker, in that branch which immediately regarded practical navigation by quadrant and compa.s.s. He supported a very good character through life & was much esteemed."[29]

Another of the very early mathematical instrument makers in Ma.s.sachusetts was Stephen Greenleaf (see fig. 17), who kept a shop on Queen Street opposite the prison in Boston where

He makes and Mends all Sorts of Mathematical Instruments, as Theodolites, Spirit Levels, Semicircles, Circ.u.mferences, and Protractors, Horizontal and Equinoctial Sun Dials, Azimuth and Amplitude Compa.s.ses, Elliptical and Triangular Compa.s.ses, and all sorts of Common Compa.s.ses ... N.B. He sets Load Stones on Silver or Bra.s.s, after the best manner.[30]

Jonathan Dakin worked as a mathematical balance-maker "at the Sign of the Hand & Beam, opposite to Dr. Colman's Meeting House" where he made a variety of scale beams in 1745.[31]

An interesting advertis.e.m.e.nt by Rowland Houghton appeared in the January 17-24, 1737, issue of the _Boston Gazette_. Houghton announced that he had "lately improv'd on his new Theodolite, by which the Art of Surveying is rendered more plain & easy than heretofore." Houghton was active in the political scene in Boston, as evidenced by the fact that in various issues of the _Boston Gazette_ for January and February 1739 he is listed variously as "Commissioner," "Proprietors' Clerk" and as "Collector."

Isaac Greenwood, Jr. (1730-1803), was born at Cambridge, where he married Mary I'ams in 1757. He maintained a shop where he combined the business of mathematical instrument maker and ivory turner, and also imported hardware. After the Revolution, he engaged in dentistry, specializing in making artificial teeth and in the manufacture of "umbrilloes." Paul Revere apparently did printing for him on five different occasions between 1762 and 1774, and in about 1771 engraved his trade card, which read:

ISAAC GREENWOOD, Ivory Turner Next door to Doctor John Clark's at the North End Boston. Turns all sorts of work in Ivory, Silver, Bra.s.s, Iron, Horn, Wood, etc. Such as Billiard b.a.l.l.s, Tea Boards, Scallop^d and Plain Salvers, Decanters ...[32]

Isaac's father, Isaac Greenwood, Sr., was "Professor of Mathematicks and Natural and Experimental Philosophy" at Harvard. In the _Boston Gazette_ for February 19-26, 1728, there appeared the following notice of his installation:

On the 13th of this Month at Ten in the Morning, The Honorable & Reverend Overseers of the College at Cambridge, met the Corporation in the College Hall, to Inaugurate Mr. Isaac Greenwood into the Office of Professor of the Mathematicks, and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, lately founded by that great and living Benefactor to this Society, Mr. Thomas Hollis of London Merchant.

The Rev. President being detain'd by illness, Mr. Flint the Senior Fellow perform'd the part of Moderator, began with Prayer, and then p.r.o.nounc'd a Latin Oration proper to the Occasion: Mr. Wiggleworth Divinity Professor, read the Founders Instructions. Mr. Greenwood took the Oaths and made the Declarations required in them: and p.r.o.nounc'd a Latin Oration. The Rev. Mr. Appleton Pray'd: and Singing part of the 104 Psalm concluded the Solemnity. After which the Overseers & Corporation repair'd to the Library; till the Publick Dinner in the Hall was ready, where all the Gentlemen Spectators of the Solemnity were hansomely Entertained.

Greenwood continued to teach privately for a decade. In various issues of _The Boston Gazette_ of 1738 and 1739 he featured an advertis.e.m.e.nt, the text of which always stated:

Such as are desirous of learning any Part of Practical or Theoretical Mathematics may be taught by Isaac Greenwood, A.M. &c.

in Clark's Square, near the North Meeting House, where Attendance will be given between the Hours of 9 and 12 in the Forenoon, and 2 and 5 in the Afternoons.

N.B. Instructions may also be had in any Branch of Natural Philosophy, when there is a sufficient Number to attend.[33]

John Bailey II (1752-1823) of Hanover and Lynn, Ma.s.sachusetts worked as a clockmaker from about 1770. His father, John Bailey I, and his brothers Calvin and Lebbeus also were clockmakers. Bailey married Mary Hall of Berwick, Maine, and settled in Hanover where he made scientific instruments and clocks. A bra.s.s surveying compa.s.s in the collection of the New York Historical Society is inscribed "J. BAILEY HANOVER 1804."[34]

Undoubtedly the best known instrument maker in Ma.s.sachusetts was Joseph Pope (1750-1826), of Boston, who was described by contemporaries as the "local mathematician, watch-maker and mechanical genius." In 1787 he completed the construction of a gear-driven orrery displaying the motions of the solar system in a horizontal plane with eccentric and inclined orbits. At each of the twelve corners were mounted cast bronze figures, claimed to have been carved in wood by Simeon Skillin and cast in bronze by Paul Revere. Although the instrument was made for Harvard, the university lacked funds for its purchase. Accordingly, it held a public lottery which realized a substantial sum in excess of the 450.3.0 paid to Pope, and the orrery was delivered in December 1788.[35] The orrery (fig. 18) has survived and is part of the collection of historical scientific instruments at Harvard University.

According to a statement in the _Boston Gazette_ for February 16, 1789, an apparatus for displaying planets in their proper orbits by means of wires was made and exhibited in Boston by Bartholomew Burges.

Mention must also be made of several members of the Folger family of Nantucket, Ma.s.sachusetts. Peter Folger (1617-1690), founder of the American branch of the family, emigrated from Norfolk, England, in 1635 and occupied himself in Nantucket as blacksmith, schoolmaster, watchmaker, and surveyor. He was a grandfather of Benjamin Franklin.

Another notable descendant was Maria Mitch.e.l.l (1818-1889), professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at Va.s.sar College.

The best known member of the family was Walter Folger, Jr. (1765-1849), a self-taught clockmaker and watchmaker with great interest in the sciences. A telescope that he produced about 1818 was considered to be the finest in the country at that time. His greatest achievement was a tall case astronomical clock that he devised and constructed; it was completed in 1790 and is considered to be the most complicated domestic clock on record.[36] Folger also produced quadrants and compa.s.ses, and made astronomical observations. His observations of the solar eclipse of September 17, 1811, were published in 1815 in _Memoirs of the Academy of Arts and Sciences_.

Probably one of the most significant of the surviving early American scientific instruments is a pair of gunners' calipers made and used by PAUL REVERE (1735-1818) of Boston. The calipers are made of incised bra.s.s, measuring 7 inches in length and 1-3/4 inches in width. They are signed on the reverse side with the name "Revere" in the style of script signature used by this maker in many of his engravings. The design of the instrument is substantially different from that which is commonly found in English, French, and German gunners' calipers of the period, and was probably Revere's own. (See figs. 19, 20.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 18.--Orrery by Joseph Pope completed in 1787 for Harvard University. Engraved plates and bronze figures were made by Paul Revere. The orrery is 6-1/2 ft. in diameter and 6-1/2 ft. high. The twelve figures at the corners are said to have been carved in wood by Simeon Skillin and cast in bronze by Paul Revere. Photo courtesy Harvard University.]

It is believed that these calipers, which are preserved in the collection of the Bostonian Society in Boston, were probably used by Revere in 1775-1776. This was the period during which he was in charge of ordnance repairs for the Continental Army, and involved in various ventures for the manufacture of gunpowder and the casting of cannon.

There is no evidence of other scientific instruments made by Revere, lending some weight to the belief that these calipers were made for his own use.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 19.--Bra.s.s gunnery calipers made and probably used by Paul Revere (1735-1818). The calipers are 7 in. long and 1-3/4 in.

wide.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 20.--Reverse side of gunnery calipers, showing the inscribed signature. Photos courtesy the Bostonian Society, Boston, Ma.s.s.]

Other Ma.s.sachusetts instrument makers include Gideon Fairman (1774-1827) of Newburyport who was a partner of William Hooker in the firm of Hooker & Fairman, which dealt in mathematical instruments before 1810.[37]

Fairman later moved to Philadelphia, where he was a.s.sociated with the engraving firm of Draper, Murray & Fairman.

At the end of the 18th century Samuel Emery was making mathematical instruments in Salem, at the same time that John Jayne was engaged in the same work in that community.[38]

John Potter of Brookfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, produced surveying instruments in the last quarter of the 18th century. A graphometer signed with his name and dated 1785 is in the collection of the firm of W. & L. E.

Gurley in Troy, New York.

_Rhode Island_

One of the earliest and most important of the instrument makers of Rhode Island was Benjamin King (1707-1786), of Newport. He was the son of Capt. Samuel King of Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts, where he was born and baptized on March 13, 1707. He was a brother of Daniel King of Salem.

Benjamin eventually moved to Newport, where he married Mary Hagger in July 1742. They had four children: Benjamin, Mehitable, Samuel, and Mary. He established himself as a respectable businessman in the community, and in 1759 or 1760 he became the senior partner in the importing and retailing firm of King & Hagger, "near the sign of Mr.

Pitt," dealing in general merchandise, mathematical and nautical instruments, and stationery. William Hagger was probably the junior partner, and may have been King's brother-in-law. King began making his own instruments for sale, surviving examples dated as early as 1762. The partners.h.i.+p was dissolved early in the 1760's. In 1766 Benjamin King was importing, making, and selling quadrants and other instruments "At the Sign of the Mathematical Instruments" next to the Golden Eagle on Thames Street. His son Samuel King occupied the same premises, where he dealt in paints and artists supplies.

When the British occupied Newport, King moved to North Kingstown, but he returned after the British vacated the city. He was 79 when he died in 1786, and his son Samuel King succeeded him in business.[39]

William Guyse Hagger (c. 1744-1830?), born in Newport, is believed to have been the son of William Hagar and Mary Knowlton. He was a quadrant maker (see fig. 21). In 1774 he headed a household that consisted of his wife, five children, and a colored servant. Whether it was he or his father who was the partner of Benjamin King cannot be determined with certainty. When Newport was occupied by the British, Hagger moved to Cranston, where he joined the Pawtuxet Rangers and served as a sentinel at Pawtuxet Fort in 1778. No members of the Hagger family appear in the 1790 census of Newport, but a William Hager is reported as having died in Boston in 1830 at the age of 82. It seems likely from the age and dates that it was William Hagger the elder who worked as a partner in the firm of King & Hagger, which was established in 1759 or 1760.[40]