Joseph Saxton, American Inventor
Joseph Saxton (March 22, 1799 - October 26, 1873) was an American inventor. He worked in his father's nail factory and learned the trade of watch making. While living in Philadelphia he invented a machine for cutting the teeth of marine chronometer wheels, and an escapement and compensating pendulum for clocks, and constructed a clock for the steeple of Independence Hall. About 1828 he went to London, where he became associated with the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science, for which he constructed several mechanical toys. While there he also invented the first magnetic machine capable of producing a spark. He presented his machine in the presence of thousands of people in London and was honored by the presence of forty scientists. He returned to the US and superintended the making of machinery for the United States Mint and afterward had charge of the construction of standard weights and measures, accurate sets of which were furnished to national and State governments. He also invented an automatic machine for measuring the height of the tides; one for determining the temperature of the deep sea; an immersed hydrometer; and applied his reflecting pyrometer to the construction of measuring rods. He died in 1873 at the age of 74.
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