Lane, Jonathan Homer, 1819-1880

Jonathan Homer Lane (b. Aug. 9, 1819, Geneseo, N.Y.-d. May 3, 1880, Washington, D.C.), graduated from Yale in 1846, and soon after employed by the United States Coast Survey. In 1848 he was appointed as assistant examiner in the United States Patent Office, and in 1851 he was promoted to the position of principal examiner. Later on he again worked with the Coast Survey and then with the Office of Standard Weights and Measures, where he worked from 1869 until his death in 1880. In 1869 he was a member of the United States expedition that observed the total solar eclipse at Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1870 he was sent to observe another eclipse at Catania, Spain. Mr. Lane was known particularly for his mechanical and optical inventions.

From the description of Lane, Jonathan Homer, 1819-1880 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10600765