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. |
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