James William Hunter of Thurston FRSE (May 1783 – 3 December 1844) was a Scottish landowner, inventor and agricultural improver. His main claim to fame is the improvement to the mechanical Odometer in 1827, creating a single-handed and single-wheeled device, setting a series of three 100 tooth cogs against 101 tooth cogs, attached to a wheel of circumference either 6 or 10 feet. This created a very convenient apparatus for land measurement, and is still the basis for modern day mechanical surveying odometers. The larger version was attached to the rear of a carriage and was the first known instrument calculating total vehicle distance travelled in a precise and visually clear way.