CARVER, Isaac (fl.1668-1713) — London
Mathematical instrument maker & watchmaker. Known for slide-rules, sectors, and a globe sundial of 1708. Thomas Everard, ‘Stereometry made easie, or, the description and use of a new gauging-rod or sliding-rule : by which the content of any tun, copper, cask or other vessel, may be readily found’ 1683 advertises that “The instruments describ’d in this book are only made by Isaac Carver, at the sign of the Globe Dial in Horsly-Down”, a statement repeated in a revised edition published in 1689. Taylor reports his authorship of ‘The description and use of a new sliding rule’ 1687, but no copy has been traced. He has been suggested as the author of ‘A practicable method for finding the longitude at sea, by a marmeter, or instrument, for measuring the exact run of the ship’ 1714, although this would appear to have been the work of John Coster.
Admitted as a Brother to the Clockmakers’ Company in 1668, although declining to take the oath and was perhaps a non-conformist. He paid no quarterage in the Clockmakers after 1691, although appearing on the oath rolls as a member in 1696. Probably to be identified with the Isaac Carver of Rotherhithe Wall, who was buried at St. Mary Magdalen Bermondsey 26 Oct 1714. Succeeded by his son Jacob Carver.
Sign of the Globe Dial, Horsleydown — 1683-1708
Apprentices: Charles Saunders 1672 (t/o from Henry Wynne); Jonathan Wells 1676 (t/o from Henry Wynne); Nathaniel Smith 1680 (t/o from Samuel Davis); Jacob Finch 1686 (t/o from Henry Wynne); William Hargrove 1688 (t/o from Johnson Weekes).
Atkins. Calvert. Clifton. Evans (2012). Loomes. Taylor (1954). Webster.