EARLY AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
Reading edition
and Their Makers
SILVIO A. BEDINI
Curator of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON, 1964
Contents
Page
Acknowledgmentsix
Prefacexi
The Tools of Science3
Philosophical and Practical Instruments3
The Need for Instruments6
Colonial Training in Instrument Making8
The Mathematical Practitioners15
The Rittenhouse Brothers15
Andrew Ellicott19
Owen Biddle21
Benjamin Banneker22
Joel Baily24
Reverend John Prince24
Amasa Holcomb26
Instruments of Metal27
Pre-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers27
Post-Revolutionary Immigrant Makers30
Native American Makers33
New Hampshire34
Vermont34
Massachusetts36
Rhode Island43
Connecticut45
Ohio49
New York51
New Jersey53
Delaware54
Maryland and Virginia54
Pennsylvania58
Instruments of Wood65
The Use of Wood65
Surviving Instruments69
Compass Cards75
Trade Signs75
The Makers80
Joseph Halsy80
James Halsy II84
Thomas Greenough85
William Williams93
Samuel Thaxter97
John Dupee104
Jere Clough105
Andrew Newell106
Aaron Breed107
Charles Thacher107
Benjamin King Hagger109
Benjamin Warren112
Daniel Burnap117
Gurdon Huntington118
Jedidiah Baldwin123
Thomas Salter Bowles124
The New Era130
The National Collection131
Appendix153
Surviving Wooden Surveying Compasses153
Mathematical Practitioners and Instrument Makers155
Bibliography172
Index177