Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

This unusually precise mercury-in-glass thermometer measured temperatures over a very small range, especially near the melting and freezing points of substances.
Description
This unusually precise mercury-in-glass thermometer measured temperatures over a very small range, especially near the melting and freezing points of substances. Ernest Otto Beckmann, a physical chemist who worked with Wilhelm Ostwald in Leipzig, described the form in 1888.
This example has a long cylindrical bulb at the bottom, an s-shaped tube with auxiliary bulb at the top, and a porcelain plate carrying a scale that ranges from -.04 to +1.1 degrees Centigrade and that is graduated to 0.002 degrees. The back of the plate is marked “Centigrade” and “Thermometer n. Beckmann.” The whole is enclosed in a cylindrical glass tube with brass cap.
This thermometer was used at the Johns Hopkins University, perhaps by Harry C. Jones, a chemist who received his PhD from Hopkins in 1892, spent two years working in the laboratories of Ostwald and other important European chemists, and then returned to Hopkins to teach physical chemistry. It may have been made by F. O. R. Goetze, a Leipzig firm that specialized in thermometers of this sort.
Ref.: Wilhelm Ostwald, Manual of Physico-Chemical Measurements (London, 1894), pp. 180-182.
Harry C. Jones, The Elements of Physical Chemistry 4th edition, revised (New York, 1915), pp. 228-230.
John Servos, Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling (Princeton, 1990).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
CH.315870
catalog number
315870
accession number
221777
Brass instrument, 5½ inches diameter and 2¼ inches deep, with a printed paper face that reads “BAROMÈTRE DE PRÉCISON / POUR STATIONS MÉTÉOROLOGIQUES” and “ALVERGNIAT FRES 10. R.
Description
Brass instrument, 5½ inches diameter and 2¼ inches deep, with a printed paper face that reads “BAROMÈTRE DE PRÉCISON / POUR STATIONS MÉTÉOROLOGIQUES” and “ALVERGNIAT FRES 10. R. de la Sorbonne” and “BREVETÉ S.G.D.G.” The latter indicates that this instrument, or some part thereof, was covered by a French patent. The pressure scale reads from 700 to 790 cm of mercury, by centimeters. There are also words for weather conditions, in French.
This came to the Smithsonian in 1910, a transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior. It had probably been collected by the short-lived federal Bureau of Education.
Alvergniat Frères were in business in Paris from 1858 until after 1900, manufacturing a wide range of scientific instruments.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
/Alvergniat Freres
ID Number
PH.261256
accession number
51116
catalog number
261256
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a tube marked “18181 Baudin à Paris (1912-10).” The scale extends from -40.2 to +40.2 degrees, graduated in fifths. The long cylindrical bulb has been broken off.Currently not on view
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a tube marked “18181 Baudin à Paris (1912-10).” The scale extends from -40.2 to +40.2 degrees, graduated in fifths. The long cylindrical bulb has been broken off.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Baudin
ID Number
PH.317452
catalog number
317452
accession number
230396
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass collar at the lower end of the tube. The milk white scale is marked “Centigrade” and “J. Salleron 24 Rue Pavee (au Marais) Paris” and carries a scale extending from -20 to +82 degrees Centigrade.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass collar at the lower end of the tube. The milk white scale is marked “Centigrade” and “J. Salleron 24 Rue Pavee (au Marais) Paris” and carries a scale extending from -20 to +82 degrees Centigrade. The protective glass tube is marked “1 26.”
Jules Salleron began manufacturing precision instruments in 1855, moved to the address on this thermometer in 1860, and won top honors, especially for his meteorological instruments, at international exhibitions in the 1870s. Now trading as Dujardin-Salleron Laboratoires, the firm specializes in precision instruments applied to oenology.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870-1900
maker
Salleron, Jules
ID Number
PH.317458
catalog number
317458
accession number
230396
Alcohol-in-glass thermometer with a long cylindrical bulb. The milk white back of the tube is marked “Thermomètre Baudin No.
Description
Alcohol-in-glass thermometer with a long cylindrical bulb. The milk white back of the tube is marked “Thermomètre Baudin No. 15774 gradué d’apres l’Échelle Normale Internationale (1902.9).” The scale on the front of the tube extends from -70.0 to +30.0 degrees, graduated in fifths. There is a safety bulge at the top of the tube.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Baudin
ID Number
PH.317453
catalog number
317453
accession number
230396
Rutherford-type alcohol-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb, black dumbbell index, and double tube. The back of the tube is marked “Patent No. 4434” and [symbol of the Kew Observatory] and “10085” and “No.
Description
Rutherford-type alcohol-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb, black dumbbell index, and double tube. The back of the tube is marked “Patent No. 4434” and [symbol of the Kew Observatory] and “10085” and “No. 84120.” The front of the tube carries a scale that extends from -25 to +130 graduated in degrees Fahrenheit. A milk-white plate inside the tube facilitates reading.
The referenced British patent, issued to James Webster of London in late 1875, described a clinical thermometer enclosed in a transparent glass tube designed to protect “the divisions, figures, and markings from injury or obliteration.” This example was probably made in Britain, and probably designed for meteorological or chemical use. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Weather Bureau.
Ref: Great Britain Patent Office, Chronological and Descriptive Index of Patents Applied For (London 1876), p. 926.
Great Britain Patent Office, Abridgements of Specifications. Class 92 (London, 1904), p. 125.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875-1900
ID Number
PH.317469
catalog number
317469
accession number
230396
Joseph Saxton, an accomplished scientist, inventor, and mechanician, joined the staff of the U.S. Coast Survey in 1844 at the request of the new Superintendent, Alexander Dallas Bache, and began developing instruments for measuring terrestrial phenomena.
Description
Joseph Saxton, an accomplished scientist, inventor, and mechanician, joined the staff of the U.S. Coast Survey in 1844 at the request of the new Superintendent, Alexander Dallas Bache, and began developing instruments for measuring terrestrial phenomena. Among the first was a metallic thermometer for use in deep water. Bache described this in 1848, saying that it proved “decidedly the most convenient” of the several forms tried. The thermometer coil was “like that of Breguet, only of much stouter material, and of two metals, silver and platinum, soldered together.” And the “plan of registering resembles that adopted by Jurgensen of Copenhagen, and by Montandon of Washington, in their metallic thermometers.”
Several Saxton thermometers were made in the Coast Survey’s instrument shop, and still in use at the start of World War I. This example came to the Smithsonian in 1929. Here the thermometer is held in a brass cylinder that is encased in a hexagonal frame. The cap of the cylinder is marked “SAXTON’S / METALLIC THERMOMETER / 17.” The scale around the circumference of the thermometer extends from -40 to +174 degrees Fahrenheit; one of the two pointers registers the lowest temperature to which the thermometer was exposed.
Ref: [A. D. Bache], Report of the superintendent of the coast survey, showing the progress of the work during the year ending November, 1848, p. 39.
Bache, “Lecture on the Gulf Stream, prepared at the request of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,” Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey during the Year 1860, pp. 165-176, on 166.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850-1900
Inventor
Saxton, Joseph
ID Number
PH.309672
catalog number
309672
accession number
106954
A box (or pocket) sextant works like a traditional sextant, but here the mechanism is enclosed in a brass box of about 3 inches diameter. William Jones, a leading instrument maker in London, introduced the form in 1797.This example was probably made around 1900.
Description
A box (or pocket) sextant works like a traditional sextant, but here the mechanism is enclosed in a brass box of about 3 inches diameter. William Jones, a leading instrument maker in London, introduced the form in 1797.
This example was probably made around 1900. New, it cost $40. The silvered scale is graduated every 30 minutes from -5° to +150° and read by vernier with swinging magnifier to single minutes of arc. The inscription reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. N.Y. MADE IN ENGLAND."
Ref: William Jones, "Description of a New Pocket Box Sextant," in George Adams, Geometrical and Graphical Essays, 2nd ed. by William Jones, (London, 1797), pp. 283-285.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1906), p. 415.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
associated person
Keuffel, William J. D.
Esser, Herman
dealer
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333639
accession number
300659
catalog number
333639
Uriah Atherton Boyden was a consulting engineer in Boston whose water wheels and turbines brought riches and fame. He also introduced a hook gauge for determining the depth of water flowing over a weir or dam. James B.
Description
Uriah Atherton Boyden was a consulting engineer in Boston whose water wheels and turbines brought riches and fame. He also introduced a hook gauge for determining the depth of water flowing over a weir or dam. James B. Francis, the engineer who designed most of the water power systems used at Lowell, Mass., in the mid-nineteenth century, described this hook gauge as “an instrument of inestimable value in hydraulic experiments.” Francis went on to say that “All other known methods of measuring the heights of the surface of still water, are seriously incommoded by the effects of capillary attraction; this instrument, on the contrary, owes its extraordinary precision to that phenomenon.”
Several American firms offered instruments of this sort. The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals at Lowell donated this unsigned example to the Smithsonian in 1956. It may have been used by Francis.
Ref: James B. Francis, Lowell Hydraulic Experiments (New York, 1855), pp. 18-19.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1913): 461.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 19th century
ID Number
PH.314775.01
accession number
211155
catalog number
314775.01
Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and telescopic sight. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +111° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The "E. & G. W.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and telescopic sight. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +111° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The "E. & G. W. BLUNT, New York" inscription may indicate that it was made after 1857 when the Blunts began offering nautical instruments "of American manufacture," and before 1866 when the firm became Blunt & Nichols.
The inscription on the brass nameplate reads: "George Davidson. Philadelphia, Pa." George Davidson (1825-1911) was a surveyor, geodesist and astronomer affiliated with the U.S. Coast Survey.
Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "American Octants and Sextants: The Early Years," Rittenhouse 3 (1989): 86-112, on 91-92.
"George Davidson," American National Biography, vol. 6, pp. 143-144.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 19th century
maker
E. & G. W. Blunt
ID Number
PH.314492
catalog number
314492
accession number
204107
This nautical dry-card compass has a turned wooden bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. It probably dates from the middle decades of the nineteenth century. The inscription reads "C. R. SHERMAN & Co. NEW BEDFORD." Charles R. Sherman (fl.
Description
This nautical dry-card compass has a turned wooden bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. It probably dates from the middle decades of the nineteenth century. The inscription reads "C. R. SHERMAN & Co. NEW BEDFORD." Charles R. Sherman (fl. 1865-1905) sold instruments and other items for nautical use.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-1905
maker
Sherman, Charles R.
ID Number
1995.0035.02
accession number
1995.0035
catalog number
1995.0035.02
Nathaniel M. Lowe, the manufacturer of Edson's Hygrodeik, patented a similar but somewhat simpler instrument for showing relative humidity. In this example, the chart is marked "LOWE'S Graphic Hygrometer or Hygrodeik" and "N. M.
Description
Nathaniel M. Lowe, the manufacturer of Edson's Hygrodeik, patented a similar but somewhat simpler instrument for showing relative humidity. In this example, the chart is marked "LOWE'S Graphic Hygrometer or Hygrodeik" and "N. M. LOWE, BOSTON, Mass." and "Patented April 9, 1878."
Ref: N. M. Lowe, "Psychrometers," U.S. Patent 202276 (1878).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Lowe, Nathaniel M.
ID Number
PH.325390
catalog number
325390
accession number
254284
In this apparatus which came to the Smithsonian in 1923, a walnut base holds two circular instruments, each 3¼ inches diameter and 1½ inches deep. One is a clock. The other is an aneroid barometer with two pointers.
Description
In this apparatus which came to the Smithsonian in 1923, a walnut base holds two circular instruments, each 3¼ inches diameter and 1½ inches deep. One is a clock. The other is an aneroid barometer with two pointers. The pressure scale on the barometer extends from 27 to 31 inches of mercury, read to tenths of an inch. It is also marked “STORMY MUCH RAIN RAIN CHANGE FAIR SET FAIR VERY DRY.” A wooden pillar between these two instruments holds a mercury-in-glass thermometer with an enameled back and a metal plate with temperature scale.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
PH.307962
accession number
69572
catalog number
307962
Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +175° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 30 seconds of arc. The inscriptions read "Lorieux, A. Hurlimann succr à Paris" and "C. & G.S. 307." The U.S.
Description
Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +175° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 30 seconds of arc. The inscriptions read "Lorieux, A. Hurlimann succr à Paris" and "C. & G.S. 307." The U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey acquired this instrument in 1907 and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1929.
A. Hurlimann was a mathematical instrument maker in Paris who took over Lorieux's shop in the early 1890s. He was succeeded by Ponthus & Therrode a few years later.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1907
maker
Hurlimann, A.
ID Number
PH.309660
accession number
106954
catalog number
309660
This watch-pattern pedometer was used by Dr. Leonard Stejneger (1851-1943), a Norwegian-born ornithologist and herpetologist who worked for the Smithsonian. It has two scales, the larger reading to 1760 yards and the smaller reading to 50 miles.
Description
This watch-pattern pedometer was used by Dr. Leonard Stejneger (1851-1943), a Norwegian-born ornithologist and herpetologist who worked for the Smithsonian. It has two scales, the larger reading to 1760 yards and the smaller reading to 50 miles. A mark on the back reads “FWR.” The rim is inscribed “ENG. DPT. U.S.A. 1905 #246.”
Ref: Queen & Co., Manual of Engineers’ and Surveyor’s Instruments (Philadelphia, 1898), p. 101
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue of Drawing Materials, Surveying Instruments, Measuring Tapes (New York, 1921), p. 394.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
ID Number
PH.320249
catalog number
320249
accession number
241910
The inscriptions on the face of this barometer read “J.W. Queen & Co. PHILADELPHIA” and U.S.G.S. No 197.” The U.S.
Description
The inscriptions on the face of this barometer read “J.W. Queen & Co. PHILADELPHIA” and U.S.G.S. No 197.” The U.S. Geological Survey was established in 1879.
The pressure scale around the circumference of the face of this barometer reads from 17.5 to 31 inches of mercury; the altitude scale reads from zero to 3,000 feet. Despite the inscription, this instrument was probably made in London. James W. Queen & Co., the Philadelphia firm that sold it, referred to it as a Pocket Mountain Aneroid compensated for temperature, with altitude scale to 3000 feet.
Ref: J. W. Queen & Co., Mathematical and Engineering Instruments and Materials (Philadelphia, [1880]), p. 179.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
PH.247926
catalog number
247926
accession number
47736
Keuffel & Esser termed this a "high grade" sextant as made for the U.S. Navy. The frame is gun metal. The scale is silvered, graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to 155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 10 seconds of arc.
Description
Keuffel & Esser termed this a "high grade" sextant as made for the U.S. Navy. The frame is gun metal. The scale is silvered, graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to 155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 10 seconds of arc. The inscription reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER Co NEW YORK 4652." The serial number indicates that it was made in 1900. New it cost $120.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1906), p. 414.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
2003.3107.01
catalog number
2003.3107.01
nonaccession number
2003.3107
This watch, made about 1907, has a special dial and other precision features tailored to the accuracy requirements of railroaders.Established in 1877 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Hampden Watch Company relocated to Canton, Ohio, in 1888.
Description
This watch, made about 1907, has a special dial and other precision features tailored to the accuracy requirements of railroaders.
Established in 1877 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Hampden Watch Company relocated to Canton, Ohio, in 1888. The firm merged with a watch case manufacturer in the same city in 1923 to become the Dueber-Hampden Watch Co. and failed in 1927. The Soviet Union, through its trade representative in the United States, Amtorg Trading Corporation, purchased the firm’s machinery in 1929, shipped it to Moscow and began making watches shortly thereafter.
Details:
Movement: Signed: "Hampden Watch Co."; Serial #2191954; Nickel finish, face, full plate, 18 size, stem wind and lever set, regulator on bridge, bimetallic balance, lever escapement, factory ID series IV, 23 jewels, adjusted to 5 positions, movement marked: “NEW Railway 2191954/PATENT PINION/[logo]/23 JEWELS ADJUSTED/Canton, Ohio.”
Case: replacement, gold-filled, open face, back is engine-turned with central blank cartouche; back screws on and off, marked: “Kingston/GUARANTEED/20 YEARS/2409028”
Dial: white enamel, double sunk, heavy Arabic hour numerals, outer red ring of Arabic minutes and minute marks, seconds in black at 6, marked: “Hampton Watch Co.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1907
manufacturer
Hampden Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.317058
catalog number
317058
accession number
230383
serial number
2191954
Uriah Atherton Boyden was a consulting engineer in Boston whose water wheels and turbines brought him riches and fame. He also introduced a hook gauge for determining the depth of water flowing over a weir or dam. James B.
Description
Uriah Atherton Boyden was a consulting engineer in Boston whose water wheels and turbines brought him riches and fame. He also introduced a hook gauge for determining the depth of water flowing over a weir or dam. James B. Francis, the engineer who designed most of the water power systems used at Lowell, Mass., in the mid-nineteenth century, described this hook gauge as “an instrument of inestimable value in hydraulic experiments.” Francis went on to say that “All other known methods of measuring the heights of the surface of still water, are seriously incommoded by the effects of capillary attraction; this instrument, on the contrary, owes its extraordinary precision to that phenomenon.”
Several American firms offered instruments of this sort. This unsigned example came to the Smithsonian in 1956, a donation from the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals at Lowell. It may have been used by Francis.
Ref: James B. Francis, Lowell Hydraulic Experiments (New York, 1855), pp. 18-19.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1913): 461.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 19th century
ID Number
PH.314775.02
accession number
211155
catalog number
314775.02
Sextant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +140° and read by vernier with tangent screw to 30 seconds of arc. It belonged to the University of Alabama, and probably dates from the mid-nineteenth century.
Description
Sextant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +140° and read by vernier with tangent screw to 30 seconds of arc. It belonged to the University of Alabama, and probably dates from the mid-nineteenth century. A trade card in the box reads: "CASA FUNDADA EN 1837 PRECIO FIJO GRAN ESTABLECIMIENTO DE Instrumentos de D. JOSÉ ROSELL BARCELONA Plaza de Palacio, Numero, 13." The inscription on the instrument reads "JOSÉ ROSELL BARCELONA."
José Rosell began in business in Barcelona in 1837, offering a wide variety of mathematical, optical, and philosophical instruments. In 1905 the shop was known as Antigua Casa Rosell.
Ref: José Rosell, Prospecto del Nuevo y Grandioso Establecimento de Instrumentos Científicos (Barcelona, n.d.).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
maker
Rosell, Jose
ID Number
PH.325958
catalog number
325958
accession number
317854
This compass has a wooden bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. The paper card has an ornate American eagle with a ribband in its mouth reading "E PLURIBUS UNUM" at north. The inscriptions read "Wm Helffricht. Philadelphia" and "W. H. C.
Description
This compass has a wooden bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. The paper card has an ornate American eagle with a ribband in its mouth reading "E PLURIBUS UNUM" at north. The inscriptions read "Wm Helffricht. Philadelphia" and "W. H. C. RIGGS, Front near Dock St." This card was probably made for William Davenport. It was used by his successor, William Helffricht. The overlaid signature is that of W. H. C. Riggs, a clock and watch maker in Philadelphia whose firm became W. H. C. Riggs & Son in 1863. On the side of the box is a trade card of Riggs & Brother, who were in business from 1865 to 1901.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
maker
Riggs & Brother
ID Number
PH.330471
catalog number
330471
accession number
291268
Several members of the religious group the United Society of Believers, or Shakers, were known for their skill as woodworkers. From March of 1877 until 1900 (at least), the Shakers of West Gloucester (later Sabbathday), Maine sold demonstration metric grain measures like these.
Description
Several members of the religious group the United Society of Believers, or Shakers, were known for their skill as woodworkers. From March of 1877 until 1900 (at least), the Shakers of West Gloucester (later Sabbathday), Maine sold demonstration metric grain measures like these. The objects were first marketed by the American Metric Bureau of Boston and then by the Library Bureau.
The set consists of seven copper-soldered wooden volumetric measures. These are marked with the volume represented. The sizes include, from largest to smallest, 1 dekaliter (a dekaliter is 10 liters), 1/2 dekaliter (5 liters), 2 liters, 1 liter, 5 deciliters (a deciliter is 1/10 of a liter or 100 cubic centimeters), 2 deciliters, and 1 deciliter. All of the measures are stamped: Sealed. The two largest also are stamped: United Society (/) W. Gloucester, Me.
Reference:
P.A. Kidwell, "Publicizing the Metric System in America from F. R. Hassler to the American Metric Bureau," Rittenhouse, 5 #4, pp. 111-117.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1877-1900
maker
Shakers
ID Number
CH.322102
catalog number
322102
accession number
246882
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This is one of those instruments. The inscription reads “THE VEEDER M’F’G CO.
Description
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This is one of those instruments. The inscription reads “THE VEEDER M’F’G CO. / PATENTED / Veeder / OCT. 22, 1895 / HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A.”
Curtis Hussey Veeder (1862-1943) was a mechanical engineer who, in 1895, patented a “Cyclometer” for measuring the distance traveled by bicycles, and established the Veeder Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Ct. The firm later made other sorts of counters as well. It merged with the Root Company to form Veeder-Root, in 1928.
Ref: Curtis Hussey Veeder, “Cyclometer,” U.S. Patent 548,482 (Oct. 22, 1895).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
maker
Veeder Manufacturing Company
ID Number
PH.247957
catalog number
247957
accession number
47736
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This is one of those instruments. The inscription reads “THE VEEDER M’F’G CO.
Description
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This is one of those instruments. The inscription reads “THE VEEDER M’F’G CO. / PATENTED / Veeder / OCT. 22, 1895 / HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A.”
Curtis Hussey Veeder (1862-1943) was a mechanical engineer who, in 1895, patented a “Cyclometer” for measuring the distance traveled by bicycles, and established the Veeder Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Ct. The firm later made other sorts of counters as well. It merged with the Root Company to form Veeder-Root, in 1928.
Ref: Curtis Hussey Veeder, “Cyclometer,” U.S. Patent 548,482 (Oct. 22, 1895).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
maker
Veeder Manufacturing Company
ID Number
PH.247958
catalog number
247958
accession number
47736

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.