born June 10, 1793, Canaan, Conn., United States died April 20, 1868, New Haven, Conn. United States inventor and clockmaker. In 1824 he designed a popular bronze looking-glass clock and he formed a company that soon became the leading United States clockmaker. He invented the one-day brass movement, an improvement over the wood clock. Applying mass-production techniques, he flooded the United States with low-priced brass clocks, which quickly spread to Europe and so astonished the English that "Yankee ingenuity" became a byword