User:PJ at DM/The Massey family: clock, watch and nautical instrument makers

The Massey family: English clock, watch and nautical instrument inventors and manufacturers 

Overview
Through three or more generations between the late 18th and 19th centuries, a family of English Roman Catholics in various towns and cities made influential contributions to both the design and manufacturing of clocks, watches, chronometers and nautical instruments. . Examples of their work, in finished form or related documents are held in various national collections including the The National Maritime Museum, the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the British Museum, the National History Museum, and the Science Museum.

Their contribution
The Masey's principal distinctive contribution, to watchmaking, was through the design of new types of escapement, and, in nautical instruments, the first reliable and affordable ship's logs and depth sounders. Massey depth sounders were extensively used in the surveying of the North Atlantic for the laying of telephone cables. One of the Masseys, Edward (2) (1768-1852) is cited in academic studies of historical precedents for the fate of industries which fail to understand their customers' needs. Prodigious filers of patents, there are numerous entries in both the UK and USA patents office of their work.