Amongst his most important inventions are a hemp-spinning machine for the production of cordage, and a method of constructing cannon from wrought iron and steel.
[1] In 1825 he was employed by the city of Boston to make a survey for the introduction of water, and in 1826 he devised a system of turnouts for railway transportation on a single track.
From 1841-1845 he devised a method for making built-up guns which resembled the process that was subsequently introduced by Sir William Armstrong.
He patented it in 1844 through an agent[2] and received government contracts, but the great cost of his cannon prevented a demand for them.
Also, theology was one of his interests; he is fictionalized as the theologian of Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.