Before the nineteenth century, the works in many American clocks were assembled from imported brass parts and set into locally made cases. As the products of transatlantic trade and multiple specialist craftsmen, clocks were affordable to only an elite few. In 1816 the Connecticut inventor Eli Terry received a patent for a shelf clock with less-expensive, locally produced wooden works that revolutionized the clockmaking industry. He was able to market hundreds, even thousands, of clocks per year rather than only a few at a time, becoming one of the first manufacturers to use mass-production techniques and interchangeable parts in the fabrication of domestic goods. Shelf clocks were shipped across the United States and became fashionable alternatives to expensive tall case clocks.