BUELL, Abel, mechanic, born in Killingworth, Connecticut, about 1750; died in New Haven about 1825. His youth was spent as an apprentice to a gold-and silver-smith, and his skill in engraving led him, before he became of age, to alter ingeniously a colonial note. This act was detected and punished. The first lapidary machine is believed to have been constructed by him. Later he established a type-foundry, and, unaided, completed several fonts of long-primer type. He then removed to New Haven, and was employed by Bernard Romano in the construction of a map of North America. For this purpose he surveyed the coast about Persacola, and afterward engraved the map that was published during the revolutionary war. In consideration of his various services to the public he was restored to his civil rights by the legislature. Subsequent to the war he was employed by the state in coining, for which he devised all of his own apparatus. He then visited England, where he acquired some knowledge of the machinery used in the manufacture of cloth, and on his return erected a cotton-factory in New Haven, one of the first in the United States.