26 Facts About Eli Terry

Eli Terry received a United States patent for a shelf clock mechanism.

Eli Terry introduced mass production to the art of clockmaking, which made clocks affordable for the average American citizen.

Eli Terry is considered the first person in American history to actually accomplish interchangeable parts with no government funding.

Eli Terry became one of the most accomplished mechanics in New England during the early part of the nineteenth century.

Eli Terry was the son of Samuel and Huldah Eli Terry, born in what is South Windsor, Connecticut.

Eli Terry began his career as an apprentice under Daniel Burnap.

Eli Terry relocated to Northbury Connecticut in 1793, and helped incorporate Plymouth, Connecticut in 1795.

Eli Terry was appointed the town Sealer of Weights and Measures.

Eli Terry boarded girls like Candace Roberts to work in his shop painting clock dials.

In 1801, Eli Terry was granted a patent on an equation clock.

In 1795, Eli Terry invented his first Milling machine to produce interchangeable parts.

In 1802 or 1803, Eli Terry purchased a mill to produce wooden clock wheels, which still had to be finished by hand by skilled journeymen clockmakers.

Eli Terry purchased a grain mill and used the water wheel and main shaft to run saws and lathes, which helped speed the production of parts.

Eli Terry later created jigs and fixtures to produce a large number of interchangeable clock parts.

Eli Terry sold his manufactory to two of his assistants Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley and retreated to his workshop to create the first machine in the world to be mass-produced using interchangeable parts.

Eli Terry envisioned a new kind of clock, intended for mass production from machine-made parts that would come from water-powered machines ready to go into clocks without any additional hand cutting by skilled workmen.

The mass-produced wooden clocks manufactured from interchangeable parts that poured from Eli Terry's factory beginning in 1814 were the world's first mass-produced machines made of interchangeable parts.

Eli Terry is credited with the design of the pillar and scroll case.

Eli Terry produced wooden-movement tower clocks, such as those found in the steeples of churches and meeting houses, one of which is still operational today in the town of Plymouth.

Eli Terry's first, made entirely of wood, was donated to the Center Church on the Green at New Haven in 1825.

Between 1808 and 1833, Eli Terry focused the majority of his time and effort on the production of standardized wooden clocks, which helped him accumulate a modest fortune.

Eli Terry spent considerable time helping along the businesses of his sons.

Eli Terry continued with this small-scale clock production until his death on the last day of February 1852.

Eli Terry's shop represents one of the last Connecticut clock shops in which there was both pride in workmanship and a high level of personal skill and aptitude.

Silas B Terry had many financial difficulties in his time, but was eventually a founding member of the Terry Clock Company.

Eli Terry was born to Samuel and Huldah Burnham at East Windsor.