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Young\'s influence on the instrument business extended beyond his directdescendants to several other important makers. Knox & Shain, who establisheda business in 1850, had worked for Young, Charles J. Shain as an apprentice,and Joseph Knox as Young\'s shop foreman. Another Young apprentice was ThomasTennant, who became the proprietor of the leading instrument shop and warehousein San Francisco. Charles Heller, one of the founders of the firm of Heller& Brightly in Philadelphia worked for Young for ten years before becoming apartner for another five, then leaving to establish his own firm.
Young joined with Charles S. Heller and Thomas N. Watson in January 1866and began trading as William J. Young & Co., the partnership disbanded onJune 27, 1870. Heller, who went on toform Heller & Brightly, later noted that serial numbers 4100-4400 were usedduring this period.
After Young\'s death in 1870 his son Alfred operated the business for afew years as Wm. J, Young & Sons and then, probably in 1875, he changed the name to Young& Sons. After Alfred\'s death in 1882 his son Allred C. Young managed thebusiness under the same name until it was incorporated in 1917. On his death in1918 Keuffel & Esser obtained control of the business, and continuedoperations in Philadelphia. In 1921 the business was reorganized, becoming theY &S department of K&E. Sometime before 1927 (probably 1922) all Y&S operations were moved to the K&E factory in Hoboken, New Jersey. These Y&S Dept instruments were advertised in all K&E catalogues from1921 to 1944.
Signature Dates Observed serial numbers I
W. J. YoungMaker 1825?-40? none
W. J. or Wm. J.Young Patent 1832-46 none
Will. J. YoungMaker 1840?-53? none
Will. J.YoungMaker 1853?-66 3155-4082
Wm. J. Young& Co. Makers 1866-70 4151-4335
Wrn. J. Young& Sons 1870-75? 4630-4899
Young &Sons Patent Aug 17 1875 1875-89 5106-5790
Young &Sons 1875?-1917 5807-8788
Young &Sons Inc. 1917-21 9939-12024
Y&S DeptKeuffel & Esser 1921-22? 12178-12668
The signature\"Young & Sons Patent Aug 17 1875\" appears only on vernier transitsand compasses. The patent refers to an improved vernier that provided\"increased accuracy in reading graduations, a reduced size of instrument,and a reduction in weight.\" Since patcnts
ill thc latteryears of the 19th centur~\' were valid for 14 years, this signature probablyremained in effect until 1889. The serial number and date at which thesignature changed from Wm. J. Young & Sons to Young & Sons is not wellestablished. The oldest instrument yet found with a Young & Sons signatureis a Y level, #5807, now in NMAH.. This level has an improved telescope forwhich Alfred Young and John W. Nystrom received a U .S. patent in 1874.
The completesignature on the post-1921 instruments is \"Young & Sons / TradeMark / Made by / Y &S Dept / Keuffel & Esser Co. /NewYork.\" The last instrument yet found with such a signature is anengineer\'s transit, #88090, made in 1944, and now in the Gurley museum. Sincerelatively few Y&S Dept instruments are known, this serial number isunreasonably high--unless we assume that it belongs in the K&E sequence.Other evidence occasionally allows us to match specific serial numbers withspecific dates. Alfred C. Young provided three correlations: 3366 (about1855), 3448 (about 1856), and 3545 (about 1856). He identified these as shopnumbers--presumably assigned when the instrument was ordered, and engraved as a serial number on the finished piece. Twomore correlations come from testimonials in Young & Sons, Price List 0/Engineering. Mining and! Surveying Instruments (issued sometime after1892): \"12/16/1886 The 18 inch Y level No. 5664 purchased of you nearlytwo years before\" and \"4/21/92 Mining transit, No. 6509 received onthe 18th.\"
Transits 4891 and 4892 were usedon the Wheeler expedition in Utah in 1876.7 Transit 7584 has a Smith Solarpatented in 1902. In 1908 W. J. Lightfoot, Examiner of Surveys in SanFrancisco, wrote to the General Land Office in Washington, D.C.: \"The instrument (Young &Sons Solar Compass No. 8232) was sent to me at Meeker, Colo. about Sept. 1, 1907,Alfred C. Young received a patent (#879,605) for a transit head in 1908. All instruments examinedwith serial numbers greater than 8174 have this feature, and all with numbersless than 7821 do not. These points were plotted, with error bars showing the estimateduncertainty for each point. The points were fitted to a cubic equation (solidcurve). The fit is good--the standard deviation is only 0.84 years, and the largestdeviation is only It years. Nevertheless the table should be used withcare. The datais limitedand has been smoothed so that thefluctuations which would be executed due to varying economic conditions havebeen wiped out. The serial numbers for every other year, read from the curve,are as follows:
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