Benjamin Dearborn (1754–1838) was an American printer and mechanical inventor in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on ...

and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His inventions include the gold standard balance,

spring scale A spring scale, spring balance or newton meter is a type of mechanical force gauge or weighing scale. It consists of a Spring (device), spring fixed at one end with a hook to attach an object at the other. It works in accordance with Hooke's law ...

, grist mill, candlestick, ballot box, perspective drawing machine, letter-press, "musical board for the instruction of the blind," thermoscope, vibrating

steelyard balance A steelyard balance, steelyard, or stilyard is a straight-beam Weighing scale, balance with arms of unequal length. It incorporates a counterweight which slides along the longer arm to counterbalance the load and indicate its weight. A steelyard i ...

, and perpendicular lift.

Brief biography

Portsmouth 1754-ca.1791

Dearborn was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Ruth Rogers (d.1791) and Benjamin Dearborn (1725-1755), a Harvard-educated doctor and descendant of Cornelius Van Ness Dearborn. He trained as a printer with Daniel Fowle in Portsmouth. In May 1776, he became the publisher of the Freeman's Journal, or New Hampshire Gazette. While in Portsmouth he also ran a school; organized an "intelligence office;" sold Beverly Corduroy, India goods, real estate; and attempted a singing group.

Boston ca.1791-1838

In the early 1790s he moved to Milk Street, Boston, where he continued inventing. Along with

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

Jeremy Belknap Jeremy Belknap (June 4, 1744 – June 20, 1798) was an American clergyman and historian. His great achievement was the ''History of New Hampshire'', published in three volumes between 1784 and 1792. This work is the first modern history written b ...

and others, he founded "The Committee on Machines" of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society in 1794. The same year he was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. In 1797 Dearborn advertised as a surveyor and planner. In 1818 he "invented a mode of propelling wheel carriages by steam, well calculated for the conveyance of the mail and any number of passengers, and which will be perfectly secure from robbers on the highway." He exhibited a "perpetual diary" in the first exhibition of the

Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (est.1795) of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence." Founders included Paul Revere, Jonathan Hunnewell, ...

in 1837. He was a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

and the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association; and a benefactor of the

Boston Dispensary The Boston Dispensary (est.1796) or Boston Medical Dispensary provided for "medical relief of the poor" in Boston, Massachusetts, from the late 18th century through the mid-20th century. It was one of the first hospitals in the United States. In ...

(now Tufts Medical Center). Dearborn died on February 22, 1838, in Boston. His children included John M. Dearborn, the engraver Nathaniel Dearborn, and Fanny Dearborn Hanman.

Works by Dearborn

* The pupil's guide. Being a collection of the most useful rules in arithmetic. Portsmouth, N.H., 1782. * A Description of a Pump-Engine, or an Apparatus to Be Added to a Common Pump. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 1, (1783), pp. 520–522. * A scheme, for reducing the science of music to a more simple state: and to bring all its characters within the compass of a common fount of printing-types; especially calculated for the convenience of learners. Portsmouth New-Hampshire, 1785. * The Columbian grammar : or, An essay for reducing a grammatical knowledge of the English language to a degree of simplicity which will render it easy for the instructor to teach ... Accompanied with notes, critical and explanatory. Boston: Printed by Samuel Hall, for the Author, 1795. * The patent balance compared with other instruments for weighing. Philadelphia: Printed by Robert Cochran, 1803. * Dearborn's system for weighing with ease, dispatch, and precision : purchased for half the cost, and used with half the labor, of scales and weights. Boston, 1804. * Description of the manner of using Dearborn's Facility for casting interest. Boston: Gilbert & Dean, 1805. * Remarks on the Construction of the Common Scale-Beam, with a Description of the New Gold Standard Beam, Invented by the Author. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1809), pp. 40–50. * Directions for using the gold standard balance invented by Benjamin Dearborn of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston, 1817. * A lenient system for adjusting demands and collecting debts without imprisonment : uniting justice with clemency in coercive measures, for stimulating debtors to fulfil their contracts. Boston: John H. Eastburn, 1827. * Singularity. Boston: B. Dearborn, 1830.

References

External links

* WorldCat
Dearborn, Benjamin 1754-1838
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearborn, Benjamin 18th-century American inventors 19th-century American inventors 1754 births 1838 deaths People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire People from Boston Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 19th century in Boston Inventors from New Hampshire