It has often been ventured that wooden clocks were first produced in Connecticut, because of the scarcity of brass for this purpose during the years between the beginning of the Revolution to the end of the War of 1812. The claim is made that brass was not being produced in the Colonies and that it was imported exclusively from England during this period. Certainly, the wholesale price index of metal and metal products shows a steady increase during this period, and a considerable jump during the period of the War of 1812, making brass an extremely expensive material. This may explain why the makers of clocks and instruments who made and sold brass clocks and instruments were producing the same products at the same time in wood which, as we have seen, was both plentiful and a satisfactory substitute.
It can be surmised, therefore, that surveying instruments, as well as instruments for other purposes, were produced in both brass and wood simultaneously by many of the New England makers in order to provide suitable instruments in a flexible price range to meet the demands of the trade. Whereas today modern manufacturing methods make it possible to produce instruments in a wide variety, both in quality and price, to suit the needs and capabilities of every prospective purchaser, the production facilities of the 18th century were much more limited. The constant factor of skilled hand labor was costly. Metal was expensive. As evidenced in the records of Daniel Burnap, for instance, it was possible to produce surveying compasses in brass in two grades, presumably one more elaborate than the other. Yet Burnap's prices ranged between six pounds and four pounds for the metal instruments, making them still well out of reach of many of the would-be surveyors. Accordingly, Burnap—and presumably numerous other instrument makers of the period—produced from wood an economy model that sold for not more than two pounds, thus placing the item within the reach of the nonprofessional surveyor.
This theory is supported amply by the discovery that several of the instrument makers who worked in brass also made instruments of wood during the same periods. In addition to the evidence in the records of Daniel Burnap, there are the surviving surveying instruments in brass and wood made by Samuel Thaxter, Thomas Greenough, and John Dupee, leaving little if any doubt that the reason for producing surveying compasses and similar items of wood during the 18th century was to satisfy the need for reasonably accurate yet inexpensive instruments.
Surviving Instruments
The fact that the surviving examples of the wooden instruments were produced only in New England seems to indicate merely that the New England instrument makers were more familiar with the use of wood as a material, and had greater facility in working with it.
Undoubtedly other instruments produced by the 18th-century American makers have survived in addition to those already found. Quite likely examples of these wooden instruments still remain hidden in unexplored attics and other repositories. Yet, if the few thus far discovered is any criterion, the number ultimately recoverable will probably be but a fraction of the great number produced by the 18th-century makers during the half century or more in which they worked. Even allowing for those probably destroyed in the natural course of events, one cannot help but wonder what has happened to the remainder.
Figure 32.—Wooden graphometer used by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock (1711-1779) about 1769 for surveying the area of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The hardwood block is covered with a brass plate with brass sighting bars mounted on a swivel and a spirit level under a brass strip on edge of instrument. The instrument is 8-5/8 in. long, 4-5/8 in. wide, and 7/16 in. thick. In collection of Dartmouth College Museum.
A list of the surviving wooden instruments is given in the Appendix (p. 153). Many of these wooden instruments bear signatures or other marks that permit identification of their makers, but a number of specimens have been found that are not signed. In most instances they show evidence of professional workmanship, and they may have been the work of known craftsmen. One or two examples are obviously homemade by unskilled amateur practitioners.
