born Jan. 26, 1810, Warren, R.I., U.S.
died July 23, 1876, Isles of Shoals, N.H.
U.S. inventor and manufacturer.
He perfected and produced a highly accurate linear dividing engine in 1850, and then developed a vernier caliper and also applied vernier methods to the protractor . With Lucian Sharpe he founded the Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Co. His micrometre caliper appeared in 1867. He invented a precision gear cutter to produce clock gears, a universal milling machine, and (perhaps his finest innovation) a universal grinding machine, in which articles were hardened first and then ground, thereby increasing accuracy and eliminating waste.