In the Philadelphia directory and register for 1821 Thomas Whitney advertised that he
... presents his sincere thanks to his friends and the public and respectfully soliciting the continuation of their favors, wishes to inform them that he has devoted his attention principally to the making of surveying compasses for 16 years past, and has made 500 of them; the good qualities of which are well known to many surveyors, in at least 16 of the States and Territories of the Union ... [he also makes] many other instruments, protractors, gunner's Calibers and quadrants, etc.
George Evans was another instrument maker who arrived from London after the end of the Revolution. He established himself in a shop at 33 North Front Street in 1796, where he sold imported instruments as well as stationery, Bibles, and cloth. He died in 1798.[20]
Thomas Dring, who migrated from England, settled in Westtown Township of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he was first noted in the tax records of 1786. He married Hanna Griffith, a native of the region, and their son, Jeptha Dring, subsequently was mentioned as a carpenter by trade, and a vagrant by inclination, who could quote Shakespeare from memory. According to local legend, Dring raised money from a number of townspeople for the purpose of purchasing clocks for them in England. He set sail for his homeland in about 1798 and never returned.
Although the tax records for 1796 described Dring as an "Optician" he was also a clockmaker and maker of scientific instruments. At least three of his tall-case clocks have survived, and a stick type of barometer which he made for Edward and Hannah Hicks in 1796. The instrument is now in the collection of the Chester County Historical Society. It measures 39 inches in height, and is signed on the thermometer dial THOMAS DRING/West Chester. This instrument (fig. 14) is one of the very rare barometers produced in America in the 18th century.
Another craftsman who emigrated from England was Robert Clark, who opened a shop at 5-1/2 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1785. In that year he announced himself as a
Math., Optical and Philosophical Instruments maker and Clockmaker from London ... As the Advertiser has lately had an opportunity of working and receiving instruction under the first masters in the above branches in Great Britain, flatters himself that he shall give satisfaction to those who may be pleased to favor him with their orders ... for Surveyors compasses, Quadrants, Telescopes, Microscopes, Spirit Levels, etc.[21]
W. Fosbrook was another craftsman originally from London. He was a cutler and maker of surgical instruments, with a shop in Beekman's Slip in New York City in 1786 or earlier. He specialized in leg irons and rupture trusses, and he made instruments and files for setting the teeth as well as standard items for surgeons.[22]
Figure 14.—Barometer made in 1796 by Thomas Dring of West Chester, Pa., for Edward and Hannah Hicks. Photo courtesy the Chester County Historical Society.