Young & Sons

Burt solar compass made by Wm. J. Young, Philadelphia, used in Wisconsin surveys 1840–1850

William James Young (1800 – July 4,1870), probably born in Philadelphia, was indentured as an apprentice to instrument maker Thomas Whitney of Philadelphia for seven years beginning on January 30, 1813.[1]: 172  By the 1840s, he was Philadelphia's leading creator of mathematical instruments.[2]: 294 

Young opened his first shop at 130 South Front Street in Philadelphia in 1825.[3] Young was first listed in the 1825 Philadelphia directory as a mathematical instrument maker.[4] He exhibited his surveying Y-level and vernier surveying compass in 1827 at the Franklin Institute Fair and these instruments were awarded an honorable mention by the judges.[3]

Young was the first to build a meridian circle that had its mechanical parts constructed by a craftsperson in the United States. He built these circles for several observatories including those at Haverford College and Vassar College.[5] Young made the patent model for inventor William Austin Burt's solar compass.[6]

He continued in business by himself until 1867 when Thomas N. Watson and Charles S. Heller joined him and the firm became known as William J. Young & Co. Young's son Alfred later took over the company and it became known as Young & Sons.[1] It produced surveying and other precision devices until Keuffel and Esser of New York City acquired the company in 1918. Even then, K&E continued to offer a separate line of instruments with the Young & Sons name so as to maintain the customer base that had been built over the years. K&E moved the Young operation to Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1922.

References

  1. 1 2 Smart, Charles E. (1962). The makers of surveying instruments in America since 1700. Troy, N.Y.: Regal Art Press.
  2. ↑ Warner, Deborah Jean (1985). "Optics in Philadelphia during the Nineteenth Century". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 129 (3): 291–299. ISSN 0003-049X.
  3. 1 2 Warner, Deborah Jean (1985). "William J. Young from Craft to Industry in a Skilled Trade". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 52 (2): 53–68. ISSN 0031-4528.
  4. ↑ Philadelphia Directory and Stranger's Guide for 1825. 1825. p. 157. Young Wm. J mathematical instrument m'r
  5. ↑ Bell, Trudy E. (2023). "Circles, Clocks, Ships, and Wires: Meridian Circles within Innovative Assemblages in 19th-Century America". Cahiers François Viète. 3 (14). doi:10.4000/cahierscfv.3950. Retrieved 2026-08-01.
  6. ↑ "Curio". The Wisconsin Magazine of History. 90 (3): 56–56. 2007. ISSN 0043-6534.
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