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, brass, and ivory as well as "large brass pocket dials, fitted to the latitude 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, Brass, 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 Compasses, Pocket do. three Foot Telescopes, Pocket do. Backgammon Tables, Dice and Dice Boxes, Billiard Balls 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 relationship 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 associated with Hartford County. This form was quite common in East Hartford in 1761, and its first production may have had some association with Ebenezer Parmele (1690-1777), since an association 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 apprenticeship in New York City with a Dutch clockmaker from 1705 to 1710, where he may have learned to make wooden clocks.
This early type of wooden clock is associated with Benjamin Cheney (1725-1815), a clockmaker of East Hartford. The early or "Cheney" type of wooden clock was produced in Connecticut as late as 1812. A later form of the wooden movement began to appear about 1790, and was probably introduced by Gideon Roberts (1749-1813) of Bristol. Roberts had lived in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania before 1790, and it is conjectured that he became familiar with the wooden clocks produced by the German settlers of that region.[75]
It is not surprising that the wooden clock had its colonial origins in Connecticut, so completely was it adaptable to the pioneer conditions in that colony. The materials were the abundant native woods-cherry, apple, oak, and laurel. The parts were made with simple carpenter tools and a wooden foot lathe, using the methods of the cabinetmaker. Although it has been suggested that some relationship may have existed between the makers of wooden instruments in England, and the makers of wooden clocks and scientific instruments in the New England Colonies,[76] a careful study has failed to reveal any connection, and there appears to be little if any parallel between the two groups. Basically, the use of wood for making some mathematical instruments in New England resulted from the native familiarity with this material, which was also employed to a considerable degree for the construction of domestic and agricultural implements, and from the fact that many of the early clockmakers had been trained as or by cabinet makers, carpenters, and even dish turners. Random examples of a few of the more prominent clockmakers are Joseph Hopkins, a wood turner; Chauncey Jerome, who had been apprenticed to a wood turner; and Silas Hoadley, who had worked with a cabinet maker.
Perhaps a basis for the prevalence of wood in these trades is to be found in the lines from a familiar poem:
The Yankee boy, before he's sent to school,
Knows well the mystery of that magic tool,
The Pocket knife.[77]
But, from the technical point of view, it should be noted that those craftsmen who produced clocks and instruments and did not have their own brass foundries probably found that a good piece of straight-grained hardwood was as stable for holding its dimensions with the grain as a piece of brass. Shrinkage was at right angles to the grain; hence, for fixed linear stability wood was as good as brass. For rigidity per unit weight, wood was better than brass; and for availability and ease of working, wood was superior to brass.