Robert Ludlow Shaw (1813-1876) began in business in New York in 1836.
Boasting a large dividing engine "of the celebrated Ramsden construction,
the same as is used by the London manufacturers," he was among the first Americans to manufacture octants and sextants. In 1841, when Shaw won a gold medal at the American Institute Fair, the president of the Institute stated that "it was no longer necessary to send to a foreign country to procure Nautical Instruments, as they could now have them made at home as good, and at as low prices as they could be had from abroad."
Ref: Anne Preuss and Don Treworgy, "Robert Ludlow Shaw," Rittenhouse 2 (1988): 65-69.
