Edward Troughton

Edward Troughton (born October 1753, Corney, Cumberland, Eng.—died June 12, 1835, London) was an English maker of scientific instruments. At age 17 Troughton joined his brother’s mechanician’s shop in London, where he applied himself singlemindedly to inventing. His new mode of graduating arcs of circles (1778) would later be called “the greatest improvement ever made in the art of instrument-making.” He constructed the first modern transit-circle in 1805, and in 1812 he erected a mural...