SMITHSONIA N STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOG Y • NUMBER 40 

=A= 

United States Standards of 

Weights and Measures 

THEIR CREATION AND CREATORS 

^V5 

Arthur H. Frazier 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS 

City of Washington 

1978 
ABSTRAC T 

Frazier, Arthur H. United States Standards of Weights and Measures: Their 

Creation and Creators. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, number 

40, 21 pages, 10 figures, 1978.—Establishment of standard weights and measures 

in the United States necessitated the solving of technical and mechanical problems of instrumentation and the establishment of a government agency to carry 

out this mission. This study considers the contributions and relationships of the 

principal contributors, Joseph Saxton, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler and his son 

Edward, and Alexander Dallas Bache, to each other and to the tasks they were 

dedicated to fulfill. 

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

Frazier, Arthur H. 

U.S. standards of weights and measures, their creation and creators. 

(Smithsonian studies in history and technology ; no. 40) 

Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Supt. of Docs, no.: SI 1.28:40 

1. Standardization—United States—History. 2. Weights and measures—United States—History. 

3. Scientists—United States. I. Title. II Series: Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian studies in 

history and technology ; no. 40. 

QG100.U6F7 389M6'0973 77-608246 
Contents 

Page 

Introduction 1 

Problems at the Philadelphia Mint 1 

America's First "Standard" Weight 1 

Search for a Better Balance 3 

Joseph Saxton's Contribution 3 

Advent of the U.S. Office of Weights and Measures 6 

The Hassler Era 6 

Acquisition of Shop and Office Space 9 

Growing Pains 10 

End of the Hassler Era 11 

The Bache-Saxton Relationship 13 

Saxton and the State Balances 14 

Production of the Balances 14 

International Recognition 15 

Notes 19 

Index 21 

i n 
=A= 

United States Standards of 

Weights and Measures 

THEIR CREATION AND CREATORS 

V

s 

Arthur H. Frazier 

Introduction 

Perhaps the most difficult problem which the 

early Congresses of the United States had to solve 

was that of selecting standards of weights and measures that all of the original thirteen states would 

be willing to accept. Article 1, section 8, clause 5 

of the United States Constitution states in part 

that "the Congress shall have power .. . to .. . fix 

the standards of weights and measures." For many 

years after 1789, Congress took practically no action 

toward asserting that authority. While everyone 

agreed that fixing such standards was indeed desirable, it was rendered practically impossible by 

international problems (European standards were 

also undergoing changes) and, particularly, because of local political rivalries. The local difficulty 

was the decision that had to be made as to which 

lengths, which weights, and which volumes should 

become the national standards.1 All of the original 

thirteen states had been operating with standards 

of their own choosing and to which they had long 

since become accustomed, but no two sets were 

exactly alike. In fact, a few of them differed quite 

drastically from those of the others, and changing 

them would have entailed serious local hardships. 

Arthur H. Frazier, Honorary Research Associate, Museum of 

History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. 

No Congressman who hoped to be reelected dared 

vote in favor of changing his constituent's standards. Much time elapsed, therefore, before any uniform set of national standards could be adopted. 

Problems at the Philadelphia Mint 

America's First "Standard" Weight 

Prior to 1828, officials in charge of the national 

currency were faced with a closely related problem, 

that of knowing exactly how much gold should be 

put into their coins. Appeals for guidance were 

made to Congress, but to no avail. Finally, on 19 

May 1828, that body passed an "Act to continue the 

Mint at the City of Philadelphia, and for other 

purposes," section 2 of which provided that 

for the purpose of securing a due conformity in weight of 

the coins of the United States . . . the brass troy pound 

weight procured by the minister of the United States at 

London, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 

twenty-seven, for the use of the mint, and now in the 

custody of the director thereof, shall be the standard troy 

pound of the mint of the United States, conformably to 

which the coinage thereof shall be regulated.2 

Although no longer considered to be an official 

national standard, this weight has remained in the 

possession of the Philadelphia Mint. Carefully 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

guarded, it is now on view at the mint's present 

location at the eastern boundary of Independence 

Mall. Inscribed on it are the words: POUND TROY/ 

1824/BATE LONDON. Robert Brittell (also spelled 

"Brettell," "Bretsell," etc.) Bate, who made this 

weight, was a prominent optician and mathematical 

instrument maker, whose shop was at 17 (later 

20-21) Poultry Street, London. In 1824, he had 

supplied five weights identical to this one to the 

eminent British scientist Captain Henry Kater 

(1777—1835), who had been commissioned by his 

government to adjust them to match the official 

British imperial troy pound of 1758. Subsequently, 

Dr. Samuel Moore, director of the U.S. Mint in 

Philadelphia from 1824 to 1835, asked the United 

States minister at London, Albert Gallatin, to obtain for him a weight exactly equal to the imperial 

troy pound. Gallatin negotiated with these same 

Messrs. Bate and Kater to furnish it. Figure 1 

shows a drawing of the imperial weight and a copy 

of the one they produced for Dr. Moore.3 

Since the date "1824'' appears on Moore's weight, 

Bate may have provided him with a leftover from 

the earlier lot or perhaps with a newly cast model 

from the original pattern. When Bate delivered this 

new weight to Captain Kater, it weighed slightly 

less than the required amount. All such weights had 

a hole drilled and threaded in them to accommodate the "button" by means of which they were 

handled with a special wooden fork. The hole was 

slightly deeper than the button. To correct the 

weight's deficiency, Captain Kater placed three tiny 

pieces of wire, one weighing 0.2 grain, the second 

weighing 0.02 grain, and the third weighing 0.01 

grain into the hole before screwing in the button.4 

presumably these bits of wire still remain within 

the weight at the Philadelphia Mint. 

Soon after this new troy pound arrived in Philadelphia, it was unpacked (12 October 1827) with 

appropriate ceremonies in the presence of President John Quincy Adams. The ceremonies included 

making public a document from Captain Kater 

a 

FIGURE 1.—British and American standard troy weights: a, the British imperial troy pound 

of 1758 (from C. G. Evans, History of the United State Mint of Philadelphia, 1885) ; b, the 

pound troy of the Philadelphia Mint, America's first official standard weight, adjusted to match 

the weight of the imperial troy pound by Captain Henry Kater in 1827 (photograph by the 

author). (Actual size) 
NUMBER 40 

certifying that it deviated less than 0.0012 grain 

from the 1758 British Parliament's imperial troy 

pound.5 Several months later, as indicated above, 

Congress declared this weight to be the United 

States' official standard, the first such national 

standard of weight or measure to be officially 

adopted in this country. 

Search for a Better Balance 

Although this Congressional action may have 

solved the mint's most pressing problem, it created 

another—and it was at this point Joseph Saxton 

became involved. It seems that the new weight was 

of a considerably higher order of precision than 

any of the mint's balances. Accordingly, a need 

arose for new and better balances. That, however, 

was only one need among many. During Moore's 

tenure as director of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, 

he wanted the organization to have the best possible equipment and to be operated in keeping with 

the most advanced methods. By a fortunate coincidence, early in 1833, he received a letter from 

Franklin Peale (1795-1870), son of the famous 

artist, Charles Willson Peale, asking for a job.6 It 

occurred to Moore that Peale might be a good man 

to send to Europe to gather information about the 

equipment and methods used in mints there. Accordingly, he wrote to Dr. Robert M. Patterson 

(who was better acquainted with Peale, and who 

later succeeded Moore as director of the mint) asking about Peale's qualifications for such a mission. 

Patterson replied that his skill, perseverance, and 

"address" all eminently fitted him for such an 

errand, and that his knowledge of the mechanical 

art would undoubtedly help him gather valuable 

information from European mints on the subject of 

coining.7 Moore subsequently employed Peale, who 

proceeded to Europe on 8 May 1833.8 An item on 

his itinerary that became unexpectedly important, 

was a visit with his old friend, Joseph Saxton, who 

was then in London. 

Joseph Saxton's Contribution 

Seldom has any American whose formal education came to an end at the age of twelve and whose 

vocation was that of a "mechanician" (i.e., one 

skilled in the theory and construction of machines) 

ever attained distinctions such as membership in 

the American Philosophical Society or in the National Academy of Sciences. Joseph Saxton (Figure 

2) was an exception, for he was to become a member of both. 

During his youth, he had become obsessed with 

improving the precision of his workmanship. In 

pursuit of that unusual objective, he left his native 

town of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, to work at 

prominent scientific centers—first Philadelphia, then 

London had the world's best, and his obsession 

he and Isaiah Lukens had installed a new tower 

clock of their own construction in the steeple of 

Independence Hall. Saxton felt that, while Philadelphia had America's best instrument makers, 

London had the world's best, and and his obsession 

with precision workmanship impelled him to go 

there. His combined workshop and residence was 

located at 22 Sussex (now Huntley) Street, one 

block west of University College. Before Peale arrived in 1835, Saxton had become acquainted with 

London's leading engineers and scientists and had 

done work for many of them. 

Two examples of that work are especially worthy 

of attention. The first was the apparatus he built 

for the famous British engineer, Thomas Telford. 

It enabled Telford to conduct an important study 

on the resistance canal boats encountered when 

traveling through water at various speeds. The second was an electric generator and an electric 

motor, which he constructed after hearing Michael 

Faraday announce the principle of electromagnetic 

induction. The generator was finished just in time 

for him to take it to Cambridge, England, and 

demonstrate it to members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science who had assembled there late in June 1833, for their third 

annual meeting. As to the electric motor: his diary, 

which is preserved in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution, contains a sketch, dated 4 January 1835, of what must have been his first concept 

of the motor. Apparently he constructed a considerable number of them, as evidenced by their 

having been listed as "Saxton's Magneto-Motive 

Machine" (at £4 each) in Watkins and Hill's popular 1836 catalog. 

What Peale saw of Saxton's work no doubt made 

a strong impression on him, because in his Janu-
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 2.—Joseph Saxton, 1799-1873, age 61, after Schussele, "Men of Progress." 

(Courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Saxton Pendleton) 
NUMBER 40 

ary 1836 report to Dr. Moore, Peale mentioned that 

he had decided to employ Saxton to make a balance for the mint, "which in simplicity of construction and excellence of workmanship . . . will 

possess all that is required in an eminent degree . . . " 9

 Peale's decision met with Moore's 

prompt approval, and Saxton proceeded to build 

the balance—probably the first he had ever made. 

It was finished in time for Peale to take with him 

when he returned to Philadelphia. 

Although neither that balance, nor even a full 

description of it, are known to still exist, it could 

not have been a very large one, because Saxton 

charged only £26 for it in comparison with the 

approximately £140 he later charged for a larger 

balance (Figure 3). In any event, the gold content 

of the coins at the Philadelphia Mint could now 

be maintained with greater accuracy than had been 

possible previously. 

Unfortunately, Dr. Moore died suddenly in July 

1835 and never saw the new balance. He was succeeded by Dr. Robert M. Patterson, who conducted 

the examination of the new balance. The following 

letter attests to his satisfaction: 

Philadelphia, Nov. 5, 1835. 

Dear Sir: 

I wish you to make, for the Mint of the United States, 

five Assayer's balances, after the model of that which you 

made for us while Mr. Peale was with you while in London. 

One of those balances is for this Mint, two are for the 

Branch Mint at New Orleans, one for the Mint in North 

Carolina, and one for the Branch in Georgia. You will not, 

of course, allow the price to exceed that of the balance in 

our hands, which I understand, was £26. It is expected that 

they are to be in no respect inferior to the model. 

We are also in want of several other Beams, viz Four for 

Gold, to weigh up to 25 lbs. and Two for Silver to weigh 

up to 80 lbs. I do not give an order for these, but would 

be glad to know if you could undertake them. 

Will you allow me to take this occasion of communicating 

FIGURE 3.—The large balance built for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia by Joseph Saxton in 

1838; its base is about 6i/£ feet long by 2 feet wide. (Photograph by the author) 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

to you the wish of many of your friends, that you should 

return to Philadelphia. You see that we shall at once give 

you a good job to begin with, and I have no doubt that 

you will find your situation here better than in England. I 

am not, therefore, without some hope of seeing you here in 

the course of two or three months. 

Very respectfully, your friend and servant, 

R. M. PATTERSON 

Director 

To Mr. Joseph Saxton.10 

Here, at long last, Saxton had been offered the 

kind of a job for which his lifelong devotion to precision workmanship had eminently qualified him. 

Moreover, it afforded him an opportunity to associate with men who fully understood and appreciated the merits of such workmanship. In his 

response, dated 15 January 1836, Saxton accepted 

both the order for the balances and Dr. Patterson's 

offer of a "good job" in America. He indicated that 

he would try to return to Philadelphia during July 

or August.11 As it finally turned out, Saxton did 

not begin his return journey until the first week 

in May 1837, but the "good job"—constructing and 

maintaining the balances at the mint—was still 

waiting for him. As evidence of his superb workmanship, there is still on display at the present mint 

in Philadelphia (Figure 3), a large ''mint balance 

built by Joseph Saxton, 1838, . . . one of the finest 

he built while serving the United States Mint."

 12 

Soon after his return to America, Saxton renewed his earlier affiliation with the Franklin Institute. He became a life member in 1838 and 

served on at least two of its permanent committees, one that dealt with its monthly meetings and 

another that dealt with its cabinet of arts and manufactures.13

 The May 1839 issue of the Institute's 

Journal (page 304) shows that he had exhibited 

one of his balances at its previous (1838) fall exhibition, and received the highest award, a silver 

medal. On 18 August 1837 Dr. Patterson and Saxton's old friend Isaiah Lukens nominated him for 

membership in the American Philosophical Society,14

 and he was promptly elected. 

These events constitute the first of a series which 

culminated in Saxton being placed in charge of the 

Office of Weights and Measures in the United States 

Coast Survey. Before Peale had visited him in London, his work had consisted largely of constructing 

scientific equipment for British engineers and 

scientists. Practically every item was for a different 

purpose, and seldom were any two of them alike. 

In consequence of Peale's visit, however, he focused 

his attention predominently on the design and construction of high-precision balances. Yet, before he 

could assume that duty with the Office of Weights 

and Measures, there were obviously two major requisites: the position had to become available and 

someone had to appoint him to it. 

Advent of the U.S. Office of Weights 

and Measures 

All of the earliest presidential messages to Congress included an appeal for legislation for standardizing the nation's weights and measures. Yet, 

with one exception, such legislation was extremely 

slow in forthcoming. The exception occurred in 

1799, when the fifth Congress, at its third session, 

passed an act ordering the surveyor of each United 

States port of entry "from time to time examine 

and try the weights and measures, and other instruments used in ascertaining the duties on imports 

with standards to be provided by each collector at 

the public expense for that purpose."

 15

 This was 

the first Congressional act regarding national 

weights and measures, but since it failed to specify 

just which weights and measures should represent 

those standards, the persons responsible for enforcing that legislation were at a loss as to how it 

should be done. 

The Hassler Era 

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, the remarkable 

Swiss mathematician, surveyor, and metrologist 

(Figure 4) was the person primarily responsible for 

prescribing the first standard weights and measures 

in the United States. He had arrived in Philadelphia in September 1805 on a chartered 350-ton ship, 

the Liberty, accompanied by his wife, four children, 

96 large pieces of baggage, and a company of 120 

Swiss farmers, laborers, artisans, and craftsmen, 

whom he had recruited with the aid of a new 

partner, Jacques Marcel of Lausanne. They had intended to purchase a large tract of land in one of 

the southern States and establish a Swiss colony 

there. Upon arriving in America, however, Hassler 
NUMBER 40 

FIGURE 4.-Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, 1770-1843. 

(Courtesy Library of Congress) 
8 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

learned that Marcel (who had sailed earlier) had 

mishandled the money for this enterprise, and lost 

it all.16 Within a year Hassler himself was looking 

for a job. Fortunately, he had made influential 

federal government to undertake a complete 

sophical Society. They had recognized in him an 

outstanding and unusually gifted scientist—a type 

badly needed in the still immature nation. Moreover, they started a campaign to persuade the 

Federal Government to undertake a complete 

trigonometric, topographic, and hydrometric survey 

of the entire east coast of the nation with Hassler 

in charge of it. On 10 February 1807, Congress responded by appropriating $50,000 for such a survey 

and appointing Hassler as its first superintendent. 

Before Hassler had come to this country, he had 

procured (with financial aid from his indulgent 

father) a large assortment of replicas of the best 

European standards of weights and measures. His 

possession of them, together with his thorough 

knowledge of their purpose and use, made him the 

foremost metrologist in America at that time. 

On 29 May 1830 (some 31 years after the passage 

of the ineffective 1799 act) Senator Levi Woodbury 

of New Hampshire presented a resolution similar 

to that first one. It called upon the Secretary of the 

Treasury to see that a comparison would be made 

of the standards of weights and measures used at 

the principal United States customhouses.17 Since 

Hassler was not then occupied with Coast Survey 

work, Samuel D. Ingham, President Jackson's Secretary of the Treasury, employed him ,to conduct 

that investigation.18 During Jackson's administration, the average tenure for a Secretary of the Treasury was only one year. It was therefore a new 

secretary, Louis McLane, who, on 27 January 1832, 

received Hassler's report and forwarded it to the 

Senate. 

Senator Woodbury's resolution, like the Act of 

1799, failed to specify which weights and measures 

should represent the appropriate standards for 

checking those in use at the customhouses. Before 

Secretary Ingham left office, however, he had concluded that under the old 1799 act, he was vested 

with adequate authority to select those standards 

himself, and he chose those which Hassler had prescribed. Moreover, with President Jackson's consent, 

he actually authorized Hassler to begin making 

them for the customhouses. That authorization, in 

effect, was responsible for the establishment of the 

office later known as "Weights and Measures."

 19

 It 

also resulted in the first tangible progress toward 

solving the nation's weights and measures problem. 

The standards that Hassler had prescribed closely 

resembled those already in effect in England, consisting of the following basic items: (1) A standard 

yard amounting to the 36 inches between the 27th 

and 63d inch graduations on a brass bar, commonly 

designated as an "82-inch bar," prepared for the 

Coast Survey by Troughton of London. Hassler had 

brought this bar to the United States in 1815, 

after he had been detained in Europe for several 

years by the War of 1812. (2) The avoirdupois 

pound derived from the troy pound of the mint 

according to the equivalent, 1 avoirdupois pound 

equals 7000/5760 pounds troy. This was the accepted 

relation in both this country and England. (3) A 

wine gallon comprised of 231 cubic inches. It represented the average of the capacity measures in 

use in the United States during Hassler's time. (4) 

A Winchester bushel comprised of 2150.42 cubic 

inches, for the same reason expressed above. The 

two volumetric standards varied just slightly from 

those of the British at the time Hassler made his 

determination. At present the American gallon is 

smaller than the British by about 17 percent, and 

the bushel by about 3 percent as a result of subsequent British legislation.20 

Although facilities for fabricating the new customhouse standards were immediately made available to Hassler at the U.S. Arsenal (then located at 

what is now Greenleaf Point at the confluence of 

the Anacostia and Potomac rivers), actual production was slow at getting started. Plans had to be 

formulated for the entire operation, and drawings 

had to be prepared for the casting patterns as well 

as for each finished part. In some instances special 

tools and entire new machines had to be designed 

and built. Figure 5, for example, is a sketch from 

among Hassler's papers at the National Archives, 

showing a treadle-operated lathe presumably intended for the special purpose of machining the 

weights.21 

On 10 July 1832, when Congress reactivated the 

Coast Survey, Hassler found himself in possession 

of two titles, "Superintendent of the Coast Survey" 

and "Superintendent of the Office of Weights and 

Measures." He had already been working from 9:00 
NUMBER 40 

0 = 4 

pM 

M y. 

FIGURE 5.—Treadle-operated lathe, presumably drawn by 

F. R. Hassler, for machining the brass castings for the standard weights supplied to the customhouses. (Courtesy National 

Archives) 

A.M. until 1:00 at night, seven days a week,22 but 

with his extraordinary ego, he truly believed that 

he was the only person in America sufficiently competent to handle either job. As a matter of fact, he 

could not bear the thought of either activity being 

placed under the supervision of someone else. It is 

not surprising, therefore, that little was accomplished. Thus, three years later, in March 1835, 

after waiting in vain to see some tangible results 

from the new Office of Weights and Measures, Congress passed the following resolution: 

Resolved, that it is highly expedient that the Treasury 

Department should complete with as little delay as practicable the fabrication of standards of Weights and Measures 

for the supply of the different customhouses of the United 

States, upon the principles set forth in the reports of the 

Secretary of the Treasury to the Senate, on the 3d March 

1831, and 20th June 1832.23 

Levi Woodbury, the senator who had started the 

customhouse investigation in 1830, had by this 

time been appointed President Jackson's fifth Secretary of the Treasury. Woodbury lost no time in 

bringing this resolution to Hassler's attention.24 

Thenceforth, events progressed at an accelerated 

rate. Hassler replied the very next day, asking 

Woodbury to appoint his son, Edward Troughton 

Hassler, as his assistant. Woodbury did so on the 

following day, 12 March.25 

ACQUISITION OF SHOP AND OFFICE SPACE 

During the early days of the Coast Survey, office 

space for the organization was limited to Hassler's 

famous yellow carriage, in which he "carried his 

wardrobe, surveying instruments, cooking utensils, 

and camp equipage. He frequently ate and slept in 

it."

 2fi

 When not in the field, his office was wherever 

he happened to hang his hat. With the advent of 

the weights and measures project, more adequate 

housing facilities had to be provided. Characteristically, Hassler took that responsibility upon himself, not bothering with governmental procedures. 

He rented an office on 13th Street, N.W., from the 

Bank of the Metropolis. Nobody paid attention to 

this until his next expense account showed $250 in 

rent due the bank as of 30 June 1835. When this 

was brought to Secretary Woodbury's attention, he 

wrote a sharp note to Hassler, telling him no further payment would be allowed for such rental unless an acceptable justification were furnished.27

 At 

the same time Woodbury took the matter up with 

the Commissioner of Public Buildings. Apparently 

the commissioner responded with alacrity, because 

on 18 September 1835 Hassler wrote to Woodbury: 

The house procured upon Capitol Hill, by the commissioner of public buildings, will be well adapted to the whole 

of our operations; the repairs directed by him are just 

finished, and the so very necessary process of cleaning, 

scrubbing, and whitewashing may perhaps be finished in 

about two days. 

I intend next Monday to begin to move the whole estab-
10 

J 

SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

_J J. 

CAPITOL 

GROUNDS 

Constitution Ave. 

[ SUPREME 

COURT 

jast Capitol Street 

'LIBRARY 

OF 

ICONGRESS 

RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 

1 ILQNGWORTHM 

^ ^ ^ 

\ , 

CANNON 

.HOUSE OFFICE 

\ BUILDING 

(NOT TO SCALE; 

Independence Avenue 

JAMES MADISON 

MEMORIAL 

LIBRARY 

C Street SE 

FIGURE 6.—Location of the Coast Survey and Office of Weights and Measures 

(cross-hatched) on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., ca. 1836. 

lishment, which will occupy several days; the work benches 

are making ready to be put up there.28 

These new quarters consisted of a three-building 

brownstone row-house complex on the north side 

of C Street, S.E., with the most easterly of the three 

occupying the northwest corner of C Street and 

New Jersey Avenue. 

Less than a year after Hassler had become settled 

in these new quarters, he further consolidated his 

operations by moving the equipment and crew from 

the arsenal to other lots on C Street, just across 

from his office.29 The cross-hatched area in Figure 6 

shows the location of the entire establishment after 

that change had taken place. 

It had apparently been a regular practice of Edward Hassler to sleep in one of the Survey office 

buildings. The elder Hassler also slept there between the periods when he had been in the field 

surveying. His explanation was that it was done 

for security and fire protection purposes.30 Although 

no official records have been found to support it, 

the probability seems great that for the first six 

years during which Saxton succeeded Edward at 

the Office of Weights and Measures (1844 to 1850), 

he too slept there.

 31 

GROWING PAINS 

Federal standards of weights and measures are 

not items that can be mass-produced. Each one must 

be adjusted to the final prescribed weight, length, 
NUMBER 40 11 

or volume by the most painstaking and time-consuming handwork of a highly competent expert in 

that field—in this case, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler 

himself. Many Congressmen of that period failed 

to appreciate the need for such meticulous refinement and kept demanding a faster rate of production. On 28 July 1836, the first six sets of standard 

weights were ready for distribution to a like number of customhouses. Each set contained one each 

of the following sizes of pounds avoirdupois: 1, 2, 

3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, and 1 pound troy. Those for 

the remaining customhouses were already in various 

stages of completion. At the rate of production then 

taking place, however, it would require a few more 

years before they would all be finished.32 

As if by increasing Hassler's workload he might 

speed up the operations, Congress passed two more 

resolutions calling for additional equipment to be 

fabricated. The first was passed 14 June 1836, specifying that a complete set of standards be furnished 

each state in the Union; and the second, on 7 June 

1838, called for a standard balance to be built for 

and delivered to each of them.33 

By the time the second of those resolutions had 

been passed, Hassler's son Edward was in charge of 

all of the operations at the office except that of 

performing the final adjustments on the standards, 

a job which the elder Hassler reserved for himself. 

Most of the increased work accordingly fell upon 

the younger man's shoulders. Undaunted, however, 

by those ever-increasing demands, Edward ventured 

to almost triple the amount of work involved by 

offering to provide balances in sets of three, instead 

of one, for every state. He contended that while this 

change might not conform to the wording of the 

resolution, it was necessary for carrying out its 

spirit. "Experience,' he explained, "has proved that 

[an exact comparison of weights] cannot be secured 

with sufficient accuracy by less than three balances."

 3i And so he proceeded on that basis. The 

largest balance was to have a 50-pound capacity; 

the intermediate, 25 pounds; and the smallest, 10 

pounds. 

It took almost five years to accumulate sufficient 

parts to permit the assembly of just the first balance, and that turned out to be a special one. A 

devastating fire had taken place in London on 16 

October 1834. It had destroyed both Houses of 

Parliament, and with them, the authentic British 

standard weights and measures. On 3 March 1843, 

in a gesture of sympathy and good will, Congress 

passed a joint resolution authorizing a complete 

set of the American standards and one of the large 

standard balances to be sent to that country.35 The 

shipment left Washington on 1 June 1843. Its receipt was asknowledged in behalf of Her Majesty's 

government by Sir George Clerk on 24 July. The 

following items were contained in that shipment: 

one standard yard consisting of two pieces; one set 

of large standard brass weights, 10 pieces; one full 

set of ounce brass weights, 27 pieces; one full set of 

liquid capacity measures, with glass plates, 10 

pieces; one half-bushel standard with glass plate, 

two pieces; and one large balance. The design and 

most of the assembly work on the balance had been 

performed by the younger Hassler, and his name, 

"E. Hassler," was prominently inscribed in a flat 

area just above the central column.36 Some time 

during the 110 years or so that the balance was in 

Great Britain's possession, it came into the custody 

of the British Board of Trade Standards, and in 

October 1952 the board offered to return it to the 

United States for exhibit purposes in an American 

museum. Frank A. Taylor, then head curator, 

Department of Engineering and Industries at the 

Smithsonian Institution eagerly accepted the offer. 

The balance (Figure 7) arrived on 25 October 

1954, and is presently on exhibit at the National 

Museum of History and Technology. 

END OF THE HASSLER ERA 

As it finally turned out, this was the one and only 

"State Balance" ever completed by the Hasslers. It 

is true that they had made several other balances 

for special testing purposes in the Office of Weights 

and Measures. But, when Congress decreed that 

each state should receive a balance, Edward Hassler 

designed a special model for that purpose, and the 

one that was sent to England was the only one 

which this father-and-son team completed. Edward 

started to assemble additional models from the parts 

remaining in that first lot, but due to a family 

tragedy, he never completed any of them. The first 

phase of that tragedy was the death of his father, 

who had gone to New Jersey in mid-October 1843 

to carry on field work for the Coast Survey, and 

was caught in a severe hail storm, which ultimately 

resulted in his death. Years later, his daughter, 
12 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 7.—Hassler's balance (#314,495) at the National Museum of History and Technology, 

Smithsonian Institution; its base is 5 feet 4 inches long by 1 foot 4 inches wide. (Photograph by 

the author) 

Rosalie (Hassler) Norris described the circumstances. That which follows is a considerably abbreviated version of her description: 

When we arrived at the Hotel in Philadelphia, we found 

him suffering from a very severe cold. In his effort to save 

his instruments from destruction when the wind took the 

tents off, he fell on a pointed rock and hurt his chest. 

Besides, he had to remain in the cold wind for several 

hours. The next morning at the Hotel he said he felt so 

oppressed that he could not breathe. It was a cold, raw, 

damp morning—unfit for an invalid. Yet he insisted on 

taking a ride in the open air in an effort to find relief. 

Upon his return, he looked ghastly. Despite his sufferings, 

he sat down to write the annual report of his work to 

Congress. He wrote until late in the evening. Although 

worse the next day, he went on writing until he said, 

"I have finished my report, and Congress cannot help being 
NUMBER 40 13 

satisfied with that." He sealed and dispatched it to Washington, and continued to write in his journal until within 

twenty-four hours of his death—until the writing was no 

more legible.37 

Hassler died in Philadelphia on 20 November 1843, 

thereby bringing to an end his brilliant career as 

superintendent of both the Coast Survey and the 

Office of Weights and Measures. 

The second phase of the tragedy centered around 

the internal affairs of the Office of Weights and 

Measures. 

The Bache-Saxton Relationship 

On 12 December 1843, President Tyler selected 

Alexander Dallas Bache, Benjamin Franklin's 

grandson, as superintendent of both the Coast Survey and the Office of Weights and Measures. Bache 

(Figure 8) entered upon his new duties at the 

Office of Weights and Measures in January 1844.38 

It has often been assumed that this change in administration took place smoothly, but the facts do 

not justify that assumption. Almost immediately 

FIGURE 8.—Alexander Dallas Bache, 1806-1867. 

(Courtesy Albert Stanley) 
14 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

after Hassler's death, two factions emerged, each 

having a different view as to whom his successor 

should be. One was headed by no less a dignitary 

than John Canfield Spencer, Secretary of the Treasury, under whose jurisdiction the Coast Survey 

was operating. Spencer strongly favored promoting 

either Hassler's son or one of his other assistants 

to that position. The other faction was composed 

of several scientific organizations, such as the 

American Philosophical Society. They overwhelmingly endorsed Bache, and no doubt it was their 

influence that caused President Tyler to select 

Bache.39 

The position held by Edward Hassler in the Office of Weights and Measures was next to receive 

attention. If any change were to be made in that 

position, presumably the secretary would have jurisdiction over the appointment, and there is little 

doubt but that he strongly favored retaining Edward. In fact, on 27 December 1843, even before 

Bache had taken over that office, Spencer wrote 

Edward, asking for a complete report of the status 

of his work.40 Obviously he had become aware of 

Bache's preference for Saxton in that position, and 

Spencer was seeking ammunition with which to 

support Edward's retention. That report ultimately 

came into Bache's possession, and he included it in 

a progress report he submitted to the secretary on 

26 February 1845.41 

Nevertheless, Bache succeeded in getting Saxton 

appointed as his assistant in the Office of Weights 

and Measures. As a gesture of good will, Bache assured Edward that he could continue working in 

the office, but under Saxton. Edward, whose sensitivities and ego were probably fully equal to those 

of his father, and who obviously had hoped to 

succeed his father as the organization's superintendent, refused the offer. Becoming despondent, he 

went to New York to visit a brother. There, on 14 

June 1844, he committed suicide.42 His remains 

were buried next to his father's in Philadelphia's 

Laurel Hill Cemetery. 

Bache and his new assistant Saxton had been 

friends for a long time. They complemented each 

other very well. Bache, a scholar, was not particularly adept as a mechanic whereas Saxton, a mechanician, was far from being a scholar. Both, 

however, were active and enthusiastic members of 

the Franklin Institute, the American Philosophical 

Society, and later, the National Academy of Sciences. In fact, in each of those organizations they 

often served on the same committees. The following are just two of the many historically interesting events which they previously had shared 

together. 

During the late 1830s Bache was perhaps the earliest Philadelphian to have learned of Daguerre's 

process for taking photographs. He described it to 

Saxton, who promptly improvised a daguerreotype 

camera and, with it, took a daguerreotype of Philadelphia's first Central High School, the school at 

which Bache was then the principal. It is the oldest 

extant daguerreotype in America.43 

Another joint venture concerned instruments for 

use at Girard College in Philadelphia which was 

being constructed during the 1840s. It was planned 

that Bache would become its president when that 

work had been completed. In the interim Bache' 

had arranged for a small observatory for the study 

of magnetism to be built on the campus and had 

procured several instruments from England for use 

in measuring the variations in the earth's magnetic 

field. One of those instruments, procured from 

Lloyd's of London, failed to perform satisfactorily. 

Upon learning of that circumstance, Saxton built 

a new instrument for Bache. Its performance was 

so satisfactory that Bache took it to an American 

Philosophical Society meeting in January 1841 and 

explained its several advantages.44 

In 1842, Bache, after having established a series 

of major improvements in Philadelphia's school 

curriculums, decided not to wait any longer for the 

Girard College buildings to be completed. He resigned his positions both as principal of the high 

school and president of Girard College, and returned to his former chair of natural history and 

chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.45 It 

was just a little more than a year after this that 

President Tyler appointed him superintendent of 

both the Coast Survey and of the Office of Weights 

and Measures. 

Saxton and the State Balances 

PRODUCTION OF THE BALANCES 

The elder Hassler's death marked the end of the 

Hassler era and the beginning of the Bache era at 

the Coast Survey. It also marked a new era in the 
NUMBER 40 15 

life of Joseph Saxton. Since balances were the main 

item with which the Office of Weights and Measures was then concerned, Bache, who was well acquainted with Saxton's extraordinary talent at 

making them, appointed him chief of that office in 

February 1844, a position he kept until his death 

in 1873. His first and most important task was to 

accelerate production of the state balances. 

As already explained, only the model that had 

been shipped to England had been completed by 

this time. However, practically all of the parts for 

the first six sets (18 balances in all) had reached 

the assembly stage. On the basis of Saxton's past experience with building them, the temptation was 

great to change numerous features in their design. 

To do so with this lot, however, would be costly 

and would entail considerable delay. After consultation with Bache, it was decided that only a few 

changes, aimed at increasing instrumental sensitivity, would be made on the balances of these first 

six sets.46 As soon as they were completed, Saxton 

personally delivered one set each to the following 

state capitals: Trenton, New Jersey, April 1845; 

Albany, New York, April 1846; Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1846; Dover, Delaware, April 1847; Columbus, Ohio, July 1847; and Annapolis, Maryland, 

March 1848.47 Saxton also set them up and instructed the operators on how to use and care for 

them. Recent inquiries have revealed that none of 

the models delivered to New York or Ohio appear 

to have survived, but each of the other four states 

has at least one model, and both Massachusetts and 

Maryland have all three. Figure 9a shows a drawing made by Saxton of the smallest model in this 

first set, and 9b is a photograph of the one he delivered to Annapolis. 

When the subsequent lots were fabricated, Saxton incorporated all of the changes he felt were 

needed to further increase their sensitivity, and 

particularly to simplify their construction. Bache 

referred to them in a later annual report: "In the 

alterations, 612 pieces were replaced by 264, which 

proves that Mr. Saxton's changes have simplified 

the construction."

 48 

In 1845, the instrument shop in which the parts 

were machined and assembled employed twelve 

mechanics and laborers. It had been started simply 

as a shop for producing standards for the customhouses, but turned out to be the main shop for the 

the Coast Survey's highly sophisticated instruments. 

In fact, it is still a highly important facility for that 

organization. An example of the perfection of the 

work performed in the shop while under Saxton's 

supervision may be found in the change that he 

and one of his skilled mechanics made in a circular 

dividing engine. That device, purchased in 1841 

from Troughton and Simms of London by Hassler, 

was intended to be hand operated. Its function was 

to engrave degrees and fractions thereof onto a 

circular disk with high precision. It was found, 

however, that the body heat of the operator could 

measurably distort the spacings between successive 

graduations.49 Saxton and his assistant William 

Wiirdemann made a few changes in its design that 

enabled it to be driven by a remote water turbine 

without any operator in its immediate vicinity and 

with appreciably greater speed. With it, the instrument shop could produce astronomical and geodetic instruments which equalled, if not surpassed, 

those obtainable from England. That dividing 

engine is now in the custody of the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution.50

 In an expression of appreciation 

for this and for many other of Saxton's fine achievements, Professor Bache, in an address before a scientific group, declared that he was "the greatest 

mechanical genius" the world had ever seen.51 

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION 

Between the years 1844 and 1873, while chief of 

the Office of Weights and Measures, Saxton not 

only designed and supervised the construction of 

the balances that Congress had authorized his office 

to build for each of the states, he also built additional balances, which the Federal Government displayed at several international exhibitions. 

One of his large state balances was sent to London for display at the Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in 1851. It was awarded a 

gold medal for the "highest class that an instrument 

not claiming to be an invention" could receive.52 

This exposition was followed by a similar one in 

New York in 1853-1854.53 Prominent among the 

U.S. Government displays at New York were those 

of the Coast Survey and its subsidiary, the Office of 

Weights and Measures. Here, for the first time, 

many of the devices designed by Saxton were assembled for American examination. Descriptions 

and, in some instances, illustrations of them are 
16 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 9.-State balances: a, Saxton's drawing of the smallest balance as he had redesigned it; 

b, the smallest of three balances Saxton delivered to the State of Maryland in March 1848; its 

base is 21 inches long by 7 inches wide. 
NUMBER 40 17 

contained in a book entitled The World of Science, 

Art, and Industry Illustrated from Examples in the 

New-York Exhibition, 1853-54, edited by the wellknown Professor Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and C. R. 

Goodrich, Esq. The balances brought forth the 

following praise from Professor Silliman: 

The standard balances are among the finest products of 

American skill. Among all the tools, implements, utensils 

and machines in the Crystal Palace, the critical observer 

will hardly find anything superior in point of workmanship 

to the four standard comparing balances, standing in the 

Coast Survey space.5* 

Other items which Saxton had designed and which 

were on exhibit there were a reflecting pyrometer 

or comparator, a metallic deep-sea thermometer, 

and a self-registering tide gage. They, too, received 

high praise from Silliman. 

In November 1850, one of the largest and one of 

the smallest state balances, together with a set of 

the standard weights and measures, were shipped 

to the Conservatory of Arts and Trades in France. 

J. C. Silberman, the superintendent of that establishment, was later asked to express his opinion 

about them. He did so in a letter dated 6 March 

1852, parts of which follow: 

. . . all these articles are of irreproachable execution; the 

two balances particularly are the object of universal admiration ... . In testimony of the esteem in which I hold these 

balances, I cannot say more than that I used the small one 

to adjust the platinum kilogram which was exhibited at 

the World's Fair in London. It is very delicate and especially most constant. I was able to make all my weighings with 

certainty to within half a milligram. The form adopted for 

these balances is at once simple, well adapted to use, and 

distinguished by that taste which is only to be found in 

instruments made by master hands. These are justly to be 

termed instruments of precision. 

What I have just said with regard to the small balance, 

I may repeat with still more propriety respecting the large 

one; it is not inferior to the former in precision. In fact, I 

have tested it with 10 kilograms in each scale, and it 

promptly indicates a difference of one half a milligramme 

between the two weights, that is to say, one unit in twenty 

millions, in each scale. I have been obligated several times 

to repeat this experiment in the presence of incredulous 

persons, and it has always given the same result.66 

Later these balances were placed in the French Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, and received a complimentary medal.56 

Further international recognition of Saxton's 

craftmanship came when, in 1854, Commodore 

Matthew C. Perry, as part of his gifts to the emperor 

of Japan, presented him with a series of U.S. standard weights and measures and a medium-sized balance, all made by Saxton.57 

During the 1850s Saxton reached the zenith of 

his career, when his balances were winning the highest awards in world-wide competition. Further proof 

of this recognition is seen in his portrait's inclusion 

in a painting by Christian Schussele of the most 

celebrated American inventors and industrial innovators of the times. Entitled "Men of ProgressAmerican Inventors," there are two versions of it. 

The earlier (1861) is in the custody of the Cooper 

Union School for the Advancement of Science and 

Art, in New York. The later version (1862) is in 

the custody of the National Portrait Gallery of the 

Smithsonian Institution. (Figure 10). This painting, a gift from Andrew Mellon, was hung in the 

White House at President Truman's request in 

1947, and remained there for eighteen years before 

it was returned to the National Portrait Gallery.58 

Probably the crowning glory of Saxton's career 

occurred in 1863, when President Lincoln signed 

the bill establishing the National Academy of 

Sciences and Saxton was made one of its fifty 

charter members. Although he had the least formal 

education of any of the members, he was asked to 

serve on several of its special committees. In the 

opening remarks of Joseph Henry's biographical 

memoir of him, Henry pointed out that Saxton's 

"positive additions to the sum of human knowledge . . . will fully justify the distinction [i.e., membership in the Academy], which was confirmed upon 

him."59 

Saxton suffered a partial paralysis about 1858. He 

made a fair recovery from it, but a second stroke 

about 1868 left him quite helpless. Nevertheless, 

he remained chief of the Office of Weights and 

Measures until his death on 26 October 1873. His 

only survivors were his wife and one daughter, both 

named Mary. 

A major, although little publicized, success, for 

which the Office of Weights and Measures deserves 

greater recognition, was the general acceptance of 

the national standards by all of the states in the 

Union while Saxton was in charge. In 1789, when 

Congress had received constitutional authority to 

establish such standards, the difficulties involved in 

implementing it were too formidable for the initia-
18 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 10.—"Men of Progress—American Inventors," by Christian Schussele, 1862, Left to right: 

William T. G. Morton (etherization), James Bogardus (iron architecture), Samuel Colt (revolver) , Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Joseph Saxton (mint machinery), Charles Goodyear 

(vulcanized rubber), Peter Cooper (steam locomotive), Jordon L. Mott (iron and fuel), 

Joseph Henry (electric motor), Eliphalet Nott (management of heat), John Ericsson 

(caloric engines and the Monitor), Frederick E. Sickels (steam cut-off), Samuel F. B. Morse 

(telegraph) , Henry Burden (horse shoe machinery), Richard M. Hoe (rotary press), ErastUs 

B. Bigelow (carpet loom), Isaiah Jennings (friction machines), Thomas Blanchard (eccentric 

lathe) , Elias Howe (sewing machine). (Courtesy National Portrait Gallery) 

tion of any positive action. During the Bache-Saxton era, however, that goal was quietly achieved. It 

had been started, to be sure, with the initiative 

taken by Hassler, but if that had not been followed 

by Saxton's quiet competence and Bache's patient 

diplomacy, that highly difficult transition would 

never have been accomplished so soon nor so satisfactorily. 
Notes 

I

 Other technical difficulties are described in Ralph W. 

Smith's "The Federal Basis for Weights and Measures" 

National Bureau of Standards Circular, 593 (5 June 1958), 

pages 4-5. 

8

 The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of 

America, volume 4, (Boston, 1846), page 278. This act remained in effect until 1911, when a "standard troy pound 

of the Bureau of Standards" was adopted. 

8

 The Journal of the Franklin Institute, new series, volume 

13 (April 1834), pages 302-304, contains a report by Dr. 

Samuel Moore, director of the mint, describing how the mint 

acquired the pound troy standardized by Captain Kater. 

* Captain Kater's certificate dated 30 June 1827, London, 

is in Record Group 104: Records of the Bureau of the Mint, 

National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

8

 Loc. cit. [note 3]. 

9

 JAMES L. WHITEHEAD, "The Mission of Franklin Peale to 

Europe, 1833 to 1835," Pennsylvania History (January 1951), 

pages 198-199. 

7

 SISTER ST. JOHN NEPOMUCENE, "Franklin Peale's Visit to 

Europe in the U.S. Mint Service," The Numismatist, volume 

71, number 12 (December 1958), page 1473. 

8

 Ibid., page 1475. 

"Ibid., page 1477. 

10

 A rough draft of this letter, signed by Patterson to 

Saxton, 5 November 1835, is in Record Gorup 104: Records 

of the Bureau of the Mint, National Archives, Washington, 

D.C. 

II

 Letter from Saxton to Patterson, 15 January 1836, Record Group 104: Records of the Bureau of the Mint, National 

Archives, Washington, D.C. 

12

 This quotation is an abbreviated copy of the information on a card headed "Mint Balance Built by Joseph Saxton, 

1838," in the same case with the balance at the Philadelphia 

Mint. 

13

 Journal of the Franklin Institute, volume 1 (Philadelphia, 1841), page 268-269. Alexander Dallas Bache was also 

on some of these committees. 

" Nomination No. 1074, American Philosophical Society. 

15

 Public Statutes, volume 1 (Boston, 1845), 5th Congress, 

3rd session, 1799, page 643. 

18

 FLORIAN CAJORI, The Chequered Career of Ferdinand 

Rudolph Hassler (Boston: The Christopher Publishing 

House, 1929), page 31. 

17 Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, 

21st Congress, 1st session, 7 December 1829 (Washington, 

D.C: Printed by Duff Green, 1828), page 342 (serial 191). 

18

 Public Documents Printed by Order of the Senate of 

the United States, 22nd Congress, 1st session, volume 3, 

document 168, page 2 (serial 214). 

"Ibid, page 1. 

20

 LEWIS V. JUDSON, "Weights and Measures of the United 

States: A Brief History," National Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication, 247 (Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, October 1963), pages 6-8. 

21

 This drawing was found among Hassler's papers in Record Group 167: Records of the National Bureau of Standards, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

23

 FERDINAND R. HASSLER, Documents Relating to the Construction of Standards of Weights and Measures for the 

Custom-Houses from March to November, 1835 (New York: 

William Van Norden, printer, 1835), page 7. 

23

 Ibid, pages 3 and 4. 

21

 Ibid., page 3. 

25

 Ibid., pages 4 and 5. 

29

 JEANNIE TREE RIVES, "Old Families and Houses—Greenleaf's Point," Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 

Washington, D.C, volume 5 (Washington, D.C: Columbia 

Historical Society, 1902), page 59. 

27

 HASSLER, op. cit. (note 22), page 20. 

23

 HASSLER, op. cit. (note 22) , page 24. 

28

 FERDINAND RUDOLPH HASSLER, Third Volume of the Principle Documents Relative to the Survey of the Coast and the 

Construction of Uniform Standards of Weights and Measures 

for the Custom Houses and States, from November 1835 to 

November 1836 (New York: John Windt, 1836), page 81. 

30

 FERDINAND RUDOLPH HASSLER, Investigation upon the 

Survey of the Coast of the United States, and the Construction of Standards of Weight and Measure, by a Select 

Committee of Congress in 1842. (F. R. Hassler, publisher, 

1843) , page 39. In a letter dated 23 March 1842, which Saxton wrote to the Honorable Francis Mallory, chairman of the 

Select Committee of Investigation of the Coast Survey, he 

stated in part, "In every one of the three buildings, which 

connect all through with one another, two persons at least 

sleep; these are assistants, clerk, workmen, and I myself, so 

that the buildings are well watched at night." 

31

 The belief that Edward Hassler and, later, Joseph Saxton 

slept in the Coast Survey Office buildings is supported by 

the fact that neither of their names appeared in the Washington city directories during their periods of residence there. 

32

 Ibid., page 80. 

33

 JUDSON, op. cit. (note 20) , page 8. 

34

 JUDSON, op. cit. (note 20), page 8. 

35

 The joint resolution to which this refers is extremely 

difficult to find in the official documents, but the following 

copy thereof was located in die National Archives: 

JOINT RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS NO. 46 , MARCH 2, 1843. 

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives: 

That the President be requested (if in his opinion it be 

expedient) to cause to be presented to the government of 

Great Britain a set of the U.S. Standard weights and 

19 
20 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

measures, to replace those which are understood to have 

been destroyed in London by accidental fire. 

30House Document No. 94, 28th Congress, 1st session, 

1844, page 7 (serial 442) . 

37

 FLORIAN CAJORI, op. cit. (note 16) , page 234. 

^ House Document No. S4, 30th Congress, 1st session, 1848, 

page 2 (serial 522) . 

39

 BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD, "Address in Commemoration 

of Alexander Dallas Bache," American Association for the 

Advancement of Science Proceedings, volume 17 (1867) , 

pages 22, 23. 

10

 Senate Document No. 149, 28th Congress, 2nd session, 

1845, Appendix A, page 23 (serial 457) . 

11

 Ibid., page 4. 

42

 EMIL ZSCHOKKE, Translation from the German of the 

Memoirs of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler. Aarau, Switzerland, 

1877. (Supplementary Documents, Nice, 1882, pages 552-553) . 

43

 ARTHUR H. FRAZIER, "Joseph Saxton and His Contributions to the Medal Ruling and Photographic Arts," Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, number 32 (1975) , 

pages 9-12. The daguerreotype is presently in the possession 

of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

44

 ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE, "Saxton's Magnetometer for 

Measuring the Changes in the Vertical Component of Terrestrial Magnetism" [Abstract], Proceedings of the American 

Philosophical Society, volume 1, number 14 (1840) , pages 

320-325. See also Senate Document No. 97, 28th Congress, 

2nd session, 1844, volume 4 (Washington, 1845) , page vii of 

"Preface." 

45 GOULD, op. cit. (note 39) , pages 19-20. 

40

 The changes Saxton made (with Bache's approval) in 

the first lot of state balances are described in Senate Document No. 73, 30th Congress, 1st session, 1848, pages 16 to 19. 

47

 Senate Document No. 6, 35th Congress, 2nd Session, 1858. 

Appendix No. 8, page 257 (serial 980) . 

48

 Senate Document No. 483, 29th Congress, 1st session, 

1845, volume 9, page 23 (serial 478) . 

4U

 Journal of the Franklin Institute, 3d series, volume 12 

(Philadelphia, 1846), pages 258-261. See also Proceedings 

of the American Philosophical Society, volume 4, number 33 

(May-August 1845), page 160. 

50

 This "Circular Dividing Engine—Troughton & Simms, 

1841" is cataloged as number 309,643 in the records of the 

National Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian 

Institution. 

51

 "An Eminent Scientist," Citizen and Gazette (Urbana, 

Ohio) , Joshua Saxton, editor, 6 November 1873, page 3, 

column 3. 

52

 Senate Document No. 6, 35th Congress, 2nd session, 1858, 

page 243 (serial 980) . 

53

 B. SILLIMAN, JR., AND C R. GOODRICH, ESQ., editors, The 

World of Science, Art, and Industry, Illustrated from Examples in the New-York Exhibition, 1853-54 (New York: 

G. P. Putnam and Company, 1854) . 

r,

» Ibid., subject 120. 

'•^'Senate Document No. 27, 34th Congress, 3rd session and 

Especial Session of 1857. 1856-1857, Appendix 17, page 139 

(serial 879) . 

m

 Loc. cit. (note 52) . 

:,T

 ROGER PINEAU, editor, The Japan Expedition 1852-1854: 

The Personal Journal of Commodore Matthew C. Perry 

(Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968) , 

page 233. See also Senate Document No. 6, 35th Congress, 

2nd session, 1858, Appendix no. 8, pages 257-258. 

58

 FRANCES M. WILSON, "Men of Progress" (unpublished 

study in the files of the Department of Education, National 

Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C, 

16 August 1971) . 

5

" JOSEPH HENRY, "Memoir of Joseph Saxton," Biographical 

Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 1 

(Washington City, 1877) , page 289. 
Index 

Adams, Pres. John Quincy, 2 

Albany, (N.Y.), 15 

American Philosophical Society, 3, 8, 14 

Anacostia River, 8 

Annapolis (Md.), 15 

Arsenal. See U.S. Arsenal 

Bache, Alexander Dallas, 13, 14, 15, 18 

balances, 3, 5, 6, 11, 14, 15, 17 

Bank of the Metropolis, 9 

Bate, Robert Brittell, 2 

British Association for the 

Advancement of Science, 3 

British Board of Trade Standards, 11 

British Imperial Troy Pound of 1758, 2 

bushel, Winchester, 8 

Cambridge (England), 3 

Cambridge (Mass.), 15 

canal boats, 3 

Capitol Hill, 9 

Central High School (Philadelphia) , 14 

Clerk, Sir George, 11 

Coast Survey. See U.S. Coast Survey 

Columbus (Ohio) , 15 

Commissioner of Public Buildings, 9 

Comparator, 17 

Congress. See US. Congress 

Conservatory of Arts and Trades 

(France), 17 

Cooper Union School for the 

Advancement of Science and Art, 17 

daguerreotype, 14 

diary, Saxton's, 3 

dividing engine, 15 

Dover (Del.), 15 

England, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15 

Exhibition of the Industries of All 

Nations, 17 

Faraday, Michael, 3 

Franklin, Benjamin, 13 

Franklin Institute, 6, 14 

Franklin Institute, Journal of, 6 

Gallatin, Albert, 2 

gallon, 8 

generator, electrical, 3 

Girard College (Philadelphia), 14 

Goodrich, C R., Esq., 17 

Great Exhibition of the Industry of 

All Nations (1851), 15, 17 

Greenleaf Point, 8 

Hassler, Edward Troughton, 9, 10, 11, 14 

Hassler, Ferdinand Rudolph, 

6,8,9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18 

Hassler Rosalie, 12 

Henry Joseph 17 

housing, 9, 10 

Huntingdon (Pa.), 3 

imperial troy pound, 3 

Ingham, Samuel D., 8 

instrument shop, 15 

Jackson, Pres. Andrew, 8, 9 

Japan, Emperior of, 17 

Journal of the Franklin Institute, 6 

Kater, Capt. Henry, 2 

lathe, 8 

Laurel Hill Cemetery, 14 

Lausanne (Switzerland), 6 

Liberty, 6 

Lincoln, Pres. Abraham, 17 

London, 1,2,3,6,8, 11, 14, 15 

Lukens, Isaiah 3, 6 

magnetism, 14 

"magneto-motive machine," 3 

Marcel, Jacques, 6 

McLane, Louis, 8 

mechanician, 3 

medals, 15 

Mellon, Andrew, 17 

"Men of Progress—American 

Inventors," 17 

mint, 3, 5, 6 

Moore, Samuel, 2, 3, 5 

motor, electrical, 3 

National Academy of Sciences 3, 14, 17 

National Archives, 8 

National Museum of History and 

Technology, Smithsonian 

Institution, 11, 15 

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian 

Institution, 17 

New Jersey, 11 

Norris, Mrs. Rosalie (Hassler), 12 

Office of Weights and Measures, 

6,8,9,10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17 

paralysis, 17 

Parliament (British), 11 

Patterson, Dr. Robert M., 3, 5, 6 

Peale, Charles Willson, 3 

Peale, Franklin, 3, 5, 6 

Pennsylvania, 3 

Perry, Commodore Matthew C, 17 

Philadelphia, 1, 3, 5, 6, 13, 14 

Philadelphia mint, 1, 2, 3, 5 

pound (avoirdupois) , 8 

pound (troy), 1,2, 8, 11 

Potomac River, 8 

pyrometer, 17 

Saxton, Joseph, 3, 5, 6, 10, 14, 15, 17 

Saxton's workshop (London), 3 

Schussele Christian, 17 

Secretary of the Treasury, 8, 9, 14 

Silberman, J. C, 17 

Silliman, Prof. Benjamin, Jr., 17 

Smithsonian Institution, 11, 15, 17 

Spencer, John Canfield, 14 

standard balance, 11 

standard liquid capacity measures, 11 

standard weights and measures, 11, 17 

standard yard, 11 

standards, 1, 3, 8, 9, 11, 17 

"State" balances, 11, 17 

Taylor, Frank A., 11 

Telford, Thomas, 3 

thermometer, 17 

tide gage, 17 

tower clock, 3 

Trenton (N.J.) , 15 

Troughton, Edward, 8 

Troughton and Simms, 15 

troy pound, 1, 2, 8, 11 

Truman, Pres. Harry, 17 

Tyler, Pres. John, 13 

U.S. Arsenal, 8, 10 

U.S. Coast Survey, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17 

U.S. Congress, 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 17 

U.S. Constitution, 1 

U.S. customhouses, 8, 9, 11 

U.S. Department of the Treasury, 9 

U.S. Office of Weights and 

Measures, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17 

U.S. Senate, 9 

University College (London), 3 

University of Pennsylvania, 14 

War of 1812, 8 

Watkins and Hill, 3 

weights and measures, 8, 9, 10, 17 

White House, 17 

Winchester bushel, 8 

wine gallon, 8 

Woodbury, Levi, 8, 9 

World's Fair, London, 1851, 17 

Wurdemann, William, 15 

21 

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973 O - 248