and wood simultaneously by many of the New England makers 

 in order to provide suitable instruments in a flexible price range 

 to meet the demands of the trade. Whereas today modern manu- 

 facturing methods make it possible to produce instruments in a 

 wide variety, both in quality and price, to suit the needs and capa- 

 bilities of every prospective purchaser, the production facilities of 

 the 18th century were much more limited. The constant factor of 

 skilled hand labor was costly. Metal was expensive. As evi- 

 denced in the records of Daniel Burnap, for instance, it was possible 

 to produce surveying compasses in brass in two grades, pre- 

 sumably one more elaborate than the other. Yet Burnap's prices 

 ranged between six pounds and four pounds for the metal instru- 

 ments, making them still well out of reach of many of the would-be 

 surveyors. Accordingly, Burnap — and presumably numerous 

 other instrument makers of the period — produced from wood an 

 economy model that sold for not more than two pounds, thus 

 placing the item within the reach of the nonprofessional surveyor. 

 This theory is supported amply by the discovery that several 

 of the instrument makers who worked in brass also made instru- 

 ments of wood during the same periods. In addition to the evi- 

 dence in the records of Daniel Burnap, there are the surviving 

 surveying instruments in brass and wood made by Samuel Thax- 

 ter, Thomas Greenough, and John Dupee, leaving little if any 

 doubt that the reason for producing surveying compasses and simi- 

 lar items of wood during the 18th century was to satisfy the need 

 for reasonably accurate yet inexpensive instruments. 



Surviving Instruments 



The fact that the surviving examples of the wooden instruments 

 were produced only in New England seems to indicate merely 

 that the New England instrument makers were more familiar with 

 the use of wood as a material, and had greater facility in working 

 with it. 



Undoubtedly other instruments produced by the 18th-century 

 American makers have survived in addition to those already found. 

 Quite likely examples of these wooden instruments still remain hid- 

 den in unexplored attics and other repositories. Yet, if the few 

 thus far discovered is any criterion, the number ultimately re- 

 coverable will probably be but a fraction of the great number pro- 

 duced by the 18th-century makers during the half century or more 



69 



