Young Ambrose Swasey had an interest in astronomy that, combined with his mechanical aptitude, would result in the development of telescopes for nearly two dozen observatories. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1846, Swasey apprenticed as a machinist at age 18 and met a fellow apprentice named Worcester Warner. The two friends moved on to jobs at Pratt & Whitney, where Swasey developed a new technique for making gear-tooth cutters. In 1880, they founded Warner & Swasey, specializing in the manufacture of machine tools, and based the new company in Cleveland.

In addition to industrial turret lathes and precision gunsights and rangefinders for the military, Warner & Swasey produced large telescopes and related equipment. (The two partners even built a 9.5-inch refracting telescope in a small observatory between their adjoining residences on Euclid Avenue’s Millionaires’ Row, later donating it to the Case Institute of Technology.) Swasey was a generous benefactor of higher education and Baptist missionary work, and funded various engineering research efforts. He died in 1937 in his birthplace.