Daniel Davis Jr.(1) was born in Princeton, Mass. At the age of twenty he moved to Boston and was employed by William King, who made lightning rods and electrical machines. By 1837 Davis had become known as a skilled instrument  maker and he went into business for himself making electrical machines. He was the first maufacturer of educational apparatus in the United States(2) and possibly the first American to specialize in only making electrical devices. He was the first American maker of  mechanical machines that generated constant  electrical current for electrochemical experiments. Davis made instruments for local scientists, one of which was a physician named Dr. Charles Grafton Page. Page was an experimentor and a  prolific inventor of electromagnetic devices, many of which Davis produced and sold.(2)   Davis was recognized not only for his workmanship but also for conducting his own experiments in electricity and for his understanding of the rationale behind the instruments he built and displayed.   Davis retired from instrument making in 1852. Click here for a more detailed history of  Page and Davis.

Catalogue of Apparatus, by Daniel Davis, Boston, 1848.

1. Unless otherwise noted the source of  above information was found at  http://www.radiantslab.com/quackmed/  under "A Biographical History of Induction Coils"

2. From the Smithsonian Joseph Henry Papers Project http://www.si.edu/archives/ihd/jhp/joseph21.htm