Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers Part 5

Probably the earliest Philadelphia instrument maker of record was Thomas G.o.dfrey (1704-1749) who was born in Bristol Towns.h.i.+p. After serving an apprentices.h.i.+p, G.o.dfrey developed his own business as a glazier and plumber. He is stated to have done the major part of the glazing of the State House in 1732, as well as similar work on Christ Church. He also worked for Andrew Hamilton and for James Logan.

G.o.dfrey had a natural inclination and interest in science and mathematics, which may have been further encouraged by his friends.h.i.+p with Benjamin Franklin, who resided in the same house. G.o.dfrey was also a fellow member of Franklin's Junto.

In 1730 G.o.dfrey invented an improved backstaff or Davis quadrant, and loaned the instrument to Joshua Fisher to be used in the latter's survey of Delaware Bay. It is claimed that the location of Cape Henlopen was established on Fisher's map (published in London in 1756) by means of G.o.dfrey's instrument. James Logan became interested in the improved backstaff invented by G.o.dfrey and at Logan's request, the instrument was taken on a voyage to the West Indies by a Captain Wright for the purpose of testing it.[61]

At the same time Logan sent a description of the instrument to London to the Royal Astronomer, Edmund Halley. No acknowledgment was made, and in 1734 Logan sent a second description to Sir Hans Sloane and to Peter Collison for forwarding to the Royal Society. The arrival of this description coincided with the submission of the description of a similar instrument to the Society by its vice president, James Hadley.

The Royal Society decided in favor of both inventors, and G.o.dfrey was awarded the equivalent of 200 pounds in household furniture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 29.--Bra.s.s surveying compa.s.s made by Isaac Chandlee (1760-1813) of Nottingham, Maryland. Photo courtesy Ohio State Museum.]

G.o.dfrey is often confused with his son, also named Thomas G.o.dfrey (1736-1763), who worked as a watchmaker in Philadelphia, and subsequently became active in literary arts.

Benjamin Condy (fl. 1756-1792, d. 1798) was an instrument maker with a shop on South Front Street in Philadelphia. As early as 1756 he worked for most of the merchant s.h.i.+ppers of the port, supplying them with a considerable number of sand gla.s.ses that ranged from the quarter-minute to the two-hour varieties. Although he made his own mathematical instruments, it is likely that he imported the sand gla.s.ses. According to Customs House clearances of 1789, he had imported from London on the s.h.i.+p _Pigou_ "three cases of merchandise" valued at 160/17/6 with a duty of $32.19, which may have included sand gla.s.ses.[62]

When Condy retired in 1792 he was succeeded in business by Thomas Biggs at the same address. Biggs had originally served an apprentices.h.i.+p with Condy, and then fought for the American cause in the Revolution for five years. Following the termination of his military service he had engaged in instrument making in New York for eight years before returning to Philadelphia, his native city. Biggs prospered and his advertis.e.m.e.nts continued until early in 1795.

Thomas Pryor made instruments in a shop on Chestnut Street in 1778, but he evidently retired from business in the 1790's because the city directory of 1795 listed him merely as "gentleman." He is reported to have been one of those who, from the State House Yard, witnessed the transit of Venus.[63]

Among the early makers of mathematical instruments in Philadelphia was William Dean (?-1797), who is believed to have been working in that city as early as 1778. His name first appears in local directories in June 1792, where his shop address was listed as No. 43 South Front Street. Later he advertised that he made and sold "Surveying instruments--Telescopes, s.e.xtants, Quadrants--and every article requisite for navigation, surveying, levelling, &c...."

According to details which were noted in his last will, which was dated June 1, 1797, and filed and proved in the following month, Dean's death appears to have been preceded by a long illness. He designated his two sisters as his executrices, and the fact that his will specified the appointment of a Mr. Thomas Yardley, Jr., as guardian of his three children indicates that he may have been a widower at the time of his death.

A surveying compa.s.s by this maker was recently brought to light in, the Clark County Historical Society, Springfield, Ohio, by Dr. Donald A.

Hutzlar of the Ohio State Museum. The instrument is a plain compa.s.s in bra.s.s without levels, 13-1/2 inches in length, and with a 5-inch needle.

The dial is marked "DEAN PHILAD^a." The wooden cover for the instrument is marked with the names of previous owners and dates, as follows:

Jno. C. Symes, Aug. 10, 1778 I. Ludlow, 1791 Henry Donnel, July 24, 1794 Jonathan Donnel, 1796 John Dyherty Thomas J. Kizer, 1838 David J. Kizer, '78.

A description of this instrument in "_The History of Clark County, Ohio_" by A. P. Steele, published in 1881 by the W. H. Beers Co. of Chicago, adds considerably to its interest as a historical record of American scientific instruments and their use: "Col. Thomas Kizer, the veteran surveyor, has in his possession a compa.s.s made by Dean of Philadelphia; this instrument was owned and used by his father, David Kizer, who obtained it from John Dougherty about 1813; Dougherty got it from Jonathan Donnel. This relic is marked I. Ludlow, 1791; Henry Donnel, 1794; J. Donnel, 1796, John Dougherty, 1799; these marks are rudely scratched upon the cover of the instrument, and bear every evidence of being genuine; there is no doubt but that this old compa.s.s was used in making the first surveys in this county, or that it is the identical instrument used by John Dougherty, in laying off Demint's first plat of Springfield, and by Jonathan Donnel on the survey of 'New Boston.'" It is to be noted that some discrepancies exist in the listing of names and dates of the previous owners between Steele's _History_ and those which actually appear on the cover of the instrument. Steele apparently made the changes he deemed necessary in his account of the instrument.

Between 1791 and 1795 the same address was also occupied by a cooper named Michael Davenport, and from 1797 to 1801 by "the Widow Davenport,"

presumably widow of Michael. From 1802 to 1804 the same address is listed for William Davenport, "Mathematical Instrument Maker,"

apprentice to William Dean, and believed to be the son of Michael.

During the next ten years Davenport's address was 45 South Front Street, and then, to 1820, was 25 South Front Street.[64] Several bra.s.s surveying compa.s.ses bearing his name have survived.

Another maker of mathematical instruments about whom nothing further is known is Charles Taws, who was listed in this manner in the Philadelphia directory of 1795.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 30.--Bra.s.s surveying compa.s.s marked "F. Heisely Fred:*town." In collection of Ohio Historical Society, Ohio State Museum.]

The making of instruments in gla.s.s appears to have been a specialized business in the Colonies, because those who worked in this field do not appear to have produced instruments in other materials. One of these makers of gla.s.s instruments--specifically barometers, thermometers and "Gla.s.s Bubbles to prove spirits, of different kinds"--was Alloysius Ketterer. He maintained a shop in the house of a Charles Kugler at "the sign of the Seven Stars," corner of Race and Fourth Streets in Philadelphia, in 1789. He moved to another address in Race Street in 1790 and was eventually succeeded in business by Martin Fisher, who increased the number of types of gla.s.s instruments made and sold at the shop.[65]

Henry Voight (1738-1814) was a man with a varied career. Of German ancestry, he was trained as a clock-and watchmaker, and he was a skilled mechanic. He operated a wire mill in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1780 and moved shortly thereafter to Philadelphia, where he established a clockmaker's shop on Second Street. He became a close friend of the inventor John Fitch in about 1786, and in the following year he became a shareholder in Fitch's company for producing steamboats. In 1792 he entered into a short-lived partners.h.i.+p with Fitch to manufacture steam engines. In 1793 he invented a process for making steel from bar iron.

In the same year President Was.h.i.+ngton appointed Voight to the position of chief coiner of the Philadelphia Mint, and he continued in that position until his death in 1814. He was closely a.s.sociated with David Rittenhouse, Andrew Ellicott, Edward Duffield, and others.

Although there is no record of Voight's career as an instrument maker, there is nevertheless some evidence that he worked in that field. In the collection of the U.S. National Museum there is a bra.s.s equal-alt.i.tude telescope (fig. 31) made about 1790, that is signed "Henry Voigt." His name was spelled "Voigt" and "Voight" interchangeably.

Henry's son Thomas Voight worked as a clockmaker on North Seventh Street in Philadelphia around 1811. He was the maker of a tall case clock, ordered by Thomas Jefferson, that Jefferson's daughter presented in 1826 to her father's physician, Dr. Dunglison, for settlement of medical services.[66]

There were several instrument makers in provincial Pennsylvania, but the majority of such craftsmen worked in Philadelphia. Dr. Christopher Witt (1675-1765), an emigrant from England, worked in Germantown from about 1710 to 1765. He was well known locally as a medical doctor, scientist, "hexmeister", clockmaker, and teacher. It is traditionally claimed that he produced mathematical instruments in addition to timepieces. He described the great comet of 1743 and built his own 8-foot telescope.

One of his apprentices may have been Christopher Sower (1693-1740), of Germantown and Philadelphia, who achieved renown as a doctor, farmer, author, printer, papermaker, and clockmaker. He also produced mathematical instruments.[67]

George Wall, Jr., of Bucks County, was the author of a pamphlet on the subject of "a newly invented Surveying Instrument, called the Trigonometer." The instrument was described and ill.u.s.trated in the pamphlet, which was published in Philadelphia in 1788. Was.h.i.+ngton's own copy, bearing the inscription "To the President of the United States from the Author" is in the collection of the Boston Athenaeum.

George Ford of Lancaster maintained a shop on West King Street, probably from the end of the 18th century until 1840. There he made tall case and other clocks, surveying compa.s.ses, and other instruments for the retail trade. However, he "did not push the business of Watchmaking and Clockmaking so hard, for the manufacture of nautical instruments and surveyors instruments was a more important part of his business."[68]

Upon his death in 1842 he was succeeded by his son George Ford II.

Thomas Mendenhall repaired clocks and mathematical instruments in a shop on King and Queen Streets in the borough of Lancaster in 1775.[69]

John Wood of Philadelphia was a wholesale supplier of parts for clockmakers and watchmakers. According to a notice in the May 7, 1790, issue of _Pennsylvania Packet_, he had "pocket compa.s.ses, steel magnets, Surveying compa.s.s needles, surveyors chains, etc." Since no mention was made of making or mending instruments, it is probable that Wood was merely importer and wholesaler.

Another instrument maker of Philadelphia about whom little is known is Bryan Gilmur, who worked at the close of the 18th century making instruments and, possibly, clocks.[70]

James Jacks (also listed as James Jack) first worked as clockmaker and watchmaker in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1780's; he later moved to Philadelphia where he maintained a shop on Market Street where he sold a variety of instruments. In the June 5, 1797, issue of _The Federal Gazette_ he announced that, in addition to jewelry, clocks and watches, he "also had for sale mathematical instruments in cases very compleat; Surveyors Compa.s.ses and Theodolites; s.h.i.+p's Quadrants; Fis.h.i.+ng Rods and Reels; Billiard b.a.l.l.s and sheet ivory; silver and plated coach, chaise and chair Whips."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 31.--Equal alt.i.tude telescope, 17 in. long, made and signed by Henry Voight (1738-1814) of Philadelphia. USNM 311772.]

_Instruments of Wood_

The Use of Wood

An interesting fact concerning the instruments produced by 18th-century craftsmen is the relatively high incidence of instruments constructed of wood instead of bra.s.s or other metals. A significant reference to this use of wood is found in Alexander Hamilton's "Report on the Subject of Manufactures," published in 1821,[71] which refers to such items of wood as "s.h.i.+ps, cabinet-wares and turnery, wool and cotton cards, and other machinery for manufactures and husbandry, mathematical instruments," ...

and "coopers' wares of every kind."

Most common of these mathematical instruments is the surveying compa.s.s, possibly the instrument most needed and produced in America. Recorded in public and private collections are 31 known examples of such compa.s.ses made of wood, a rather large number. Furthermore, a substantial number of these were being produced simultaneously by skilled craftsmen who at the same time were making similar instruments in bra.s.s.

Finally, from a study of the surviving examples of wooden surveying compa.s.ses comes the interesting and perhaps significant fact that all the known makers were from New England. The towns and cities in which they worked were Boston and Plymouth in Ma.s.sachusetts, Windsor and New Milford in Connecticut, and Walpole and Portsmouth in New Hamps.h.i.+re. A careful study of the advertis.e.m.e.nts and works of the instrument makers in the other large cities of the Colonies, such as New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, reveals no examples of wooden scientific instruments.

Excluded, of course, are those instruments normally made of wood, such as the octant and the mariners quadrant.

Two possible exceptions are instrument makers of New York City. The first is James Ham, a maker of mathematical instruments "at the house wherein the Widow Ratsey lately lived near the Old Dutch Church on Smith Street" who advertised in the May 27, 1754, issue of _The New York Mercury_ that he made and sold

mathematical instruments in wood, bra.s.s, or ivory, theodolites, circ.u.mferentors, sectors, parallel rules, protractors, plain scales, and dividers, the late instrument called an Octant, Davis'

quadrants, gauging rods, sliding and gunter's scales, amplitude wood box and hanging and pocket compa.s.ses, surveying chains, j.a.panned telescopes, dice and dice boxes, mariners compa.s.ses and kalenders, etc.[72]

Ham subsequently moved his business to Philadelphia where he first advertised in 1764, stating that he worked at the sign of "Hadley's Quadrant" at Front and Water Streets in Philadelphia and sold all forms of instruments in silver, bra.s.s, and ivory as well as "large bra.s.s pocket dials, fitted to the lat.i.tude of Philadelphia." In 1780 his son James Ham, Jr., advertised from the same address as a maker of mathematical instruments, specializing in "Hadley and Davis Quadrants."[73]

The second exception is William Hinton, who advertised in _The New York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury_ of May 4, 1772, as follows:

WILLIAM HINTON, Mathematical Instrument Maker, at Hadley's Quadrant, facing the East Side of the New Coffee House, Makes and sells all sorts of Mathematical Instruments, in Silver, Bra.s.s, Ivory or Wood, viz. Hadley's Quadrants, Davis's do. Crostaf's Nocturnals, Gunters Scales, Plotting do. Cases of Instruments, Surveyors Chains, Dividers with and without Points, Protractors, paralelled Rulers, Rods for Guaging, Amplitude, hanging and common Wood Compa.s.ses, Pocket do. three Foot Telescopes, Pocket do.

Backgammon Tables, Dice and Dice Boxes, Billiard b.a.l.l.s and Tacks, Violin Bows and Bridges; with a Variety of other Articles too tedious to mention: And as he is a young Beginner, he flatters himself, he shall meet with Encouragement; and all those who please to favour him with their Custom, may depend upon having their Work done in the neatest and best Manner, and at reasonable Rates.

It is mentioned that both Ham and Hinton worked in wood in addition to other materials, but it appears very likely that the use of wood referred specifically to those instruments normally made of wood, such as quadrants and octants, and not to other instruments.

Any attempt to relate the making of wooden scientific instruments with the production of wooden clocks in New England has no conclusive result, yet there appears to be some relations.h.i.+p between the two. Wooden clocks were made as early as the 17th century in Germany and Holland, and they were known in England in the early 18th century. In the Colonies the wooden clock was first produced in Connecticut, and the earliest type was a.s.sociated with Hartford County. This form was quite common in East Hartford in 1761, and its first production may have had some a.s.sociation with Ebenezer Parmele (1690-1777), since an a.s.sociation between Parmele and all of the earliest makers of wooden clocks can be traced.[74] Little is known about Parmele. His father was a cabinetmaker in Guilford, Connecticut, and Ebenezer practiced the same craft, in addition to being a boat builder. He was a man of means, held various town offices, and served as town treasurer. For a while he operated a cargo sloop on Long Island Sound. In 1726 he built the first tower clock in Connecticut for the Guilford meeting house. He was a versatile worker in wood, and it is believed that he served an apprentices.h.i.+p in New York City with a Dutch clockmaker from 1705 to 1710, where he may have learned to make wooden clocks.