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 spectroscope was designed to be used with a telescope to study the light of the sun. It was made in Dublin in 1877 by the famous instrument maker Howard Grubb (1844–1931).
Description
This spectroscope was designed to be used with a telescope to study the light of the sun. It was made in Dublin in 1877 by the famous instrument maker Howard Grubb (1844–1931). It was used with the 9 ½ inch Alvan Clark & Sons refractor at Princeton University.
When the College of New Jersey at Princeton hired the astronomer Charles A. Young in 1877, they also gave him funds to equip the new John C. Green student observatory. One of his first purchases was this instrument. It was custom-made, and Young helped refine the design. (Grubb's company later advertised that this was the first such spectroscope that they had sold.) The most unusual feature of this instrument is the use of a complicated system of multiple prisms to disperse the light and produce a highly detailed view of the solar spectrum.
In use, the spectroscope was mounted at the eyepiece end of the telescope and light from the sun would be directed through it. As the light passed from one prism into the next, it would be increasing dispersed, or spread out. To make the instrument more compact, the beam of light was directed first through the upper portion of the prisms and then back through the bottom part. Depending on how it was configured, the light could thus be passed through either 2, 4, 6 or 8 prisms. A particular area of the solar spectrum could be viewed by turning a small chain that moved each prism by the same amount. Because of the large number of optical surfaces involved, the light loss in this instrument was almost certainly in the 90 percent range. This was an advantage when viewing the Sun, but it reduced the usefulness of this instrument for other purposes, such as measuring the spectra of stars. The success of this instrument in making precise measurements of the solar spectrum (and thus revealing information about the composition of the sun and its atmosphere) led to its wider adoption as an important astronomical tool.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1877
user
Young, Charles A.
maker
Grubb, Howard
ID Number
PH.328885
accession number
277637
catalog number
328885
The "W. & L. E. Gurley Troy, N. Y." inscription--with its v–shaped trenches and lines of varying weight--was clearly engraved by hand.
Description
The "W. & L. E. Gurley Troy, N. Y." inscription--with its v–shaped trenches and lines of varying weight--was clearly engraved by hand. That means that this surveyor's compass was made between 1852, when the Gurleys began in business, and before the middle of 1876, when their new engraving machine was up and running. There is a level vial on each arm, and an outkeeper on the south arm. The sides of the vertical sights have a series of divisions for reading angles of elevation or depression . The compass belonged to Bowdoin College. New, it cost $35.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N. Y., 1871), pp. 14–22.
W. Skerritt, "W. & L. E. Gurley's Engraving Machine," Rittenhouse 11 (1997): 97–100.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.329728
catalog number
329728
accession number
278336
The earliest domestic clocks in the American colonies were English-made "lantern" clocks, with brass gear trains held between pillars.
Description
The earliest domestic clocks in the American colonies were English-made "lantern" clocks, with brass gear trains held between pillars. Along with fully furnished "best" beds, looking glasses, sofas, silver, and case furniture, such clocks were the household objects consistently assigned the highest monetary value in inventories of possessions.
By the 18th century, the most common style of domestic clock came to look more like a piece of household furniture. A wooden case enclosed the movement, weights, and pendulum. Through a glass window the dial was visible.
In 1769, Pennsylvania clockmaker and millwright Joseph Ellicott completed this complicated tall case clock. On three separate dials, it tells the time and shows the phases of the moon; depicts on an orrery the motions of the sun, moon, and planets; and plays selected twenty-four musical tunes on the hour.
The musical dial on the Ellicott clock allows the listener to choose from twelve pairs of tunes. Each pair includes a short tune and a long one. On the hour only the short tune plays, but every third hour, both play. During a tune, automaton figures at the top of the dial appear to tap their feet in time to the music, and a small dog between them jumps up and down.
Joseph Ellicott moved from the Philadelphia area to Maryland in 1772 and, with his brothers Andrew and John, set up a flour-milling operation in what is now Ellicott City. The clock was a centerpiece in Ellicott family homes for generations.
Who else owned clocks in early America? Clock owners, like the American colonists themselves, were not a homogeneous group. Where a person lived influenced the probability of owning a timepiece. In 1774, for example, New Englanders and Middle Atlantic colonials were equally likely to own a timepiece. In those regions, roughly 13 or 14 adults out of 100 had a clock in their possessions when they died. Among Southern colonists at that time, only about 6 in 100 had a clock.
Date made
1769
user
Ellicott, Joseph
maker
Ellicott, Joseph
ID Number
1999.0276.01
accession number
1999.0276
catalog number
1999.0276.01
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer. John Phillips, an English geologist, introduced the form at the 1832 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1856 he showed an improved form made by Louis P. Casella of London.
Appleton's Encyclopaedia noted in 1860 that James Green of New York "appears to have removed the objections to the previous forms of the maximum thermometers, and produced a highly simple and perfect instrument." Henry J. Green, who was James Green's nephew and successor, also made instruments of this sort. This example has a grooved aluminum plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "No. 12701 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MAXIMUM" and is graduated every 5 degrees Centigrade [?] from -25 to +55 degrees. The bulb is spherical. The stem is marked "U.S. 12701" and graduated every degree from -29 to +57.
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 22.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317474
accession number
230396
catalog number
317474
This universal instrument is marked "A. Repsold & Sohne, Hamburg, 1874" and "U S C S No. 17." The U. S. Coast Survey bought it in 1874, just a few years after Cleveland Abbe had introduced Americans to the similar instrument that he had seen at the Pulkova Observatory in Russia.
Description
This universal instrument is marked "A. Repsold & Sohne, Hamburg, 1874" and "U S C S No. 17." The U. S. Coast Survey bought it in 1874, just a few years after Cleveland Abbe had introduced Americans to the similar instrument that he had seen at the Pulkova Observatory in Russia. Abbe noted that it "offers itself to us as an instrument equally applicable in all latitudes to the determination of latitude, and fit for the determination of time for secondary stations between 70 deg; of latitude and the equator, if accurately constructed as by Repsold, and used so as to eliminate constant or systematic errors. By reason of the ease with which it is put in position, and the brightness of the stars observed, as well as by the accuracy of its divided circles, level and microscopes, there is no time lost nor money expended in building stations, nor in waiting for nightfall, nor in tedious repetition of observations." The instrument that Abbe described had two vertical circles; the Coast Survey instrument has only one.
Johann Georg Repsold (1771–1830) established a small shop in Hamburg around 1799 and began making precision instruments for astronomy and geodesy. In 1831, shortly after Repsold's death, his sons Georg (1804–1885) and Adolf (1806–1871) began trading as A. & G. Repsold. In 1867, when Georg retired and Adolf's two sons joined the firm, the name was changed to A. Repsold & Sohne. In his 1882 price list of important astronomical instruments, Elias Loomis noted that "Astronomical instruments of the first class are made by several other manufacturers in Europe, particularly by A. Repsold and Son, of Hamburg, Germany; but the latter firm does not publish a catalogue, and it is necessary to make a special contract for such instruments as may be required." This problem notwithstanding, Repsold instruments were fairly well known in the United States. The Repsold firm came to an end in 1919.
Refs: Cleveland Abbe, "The Repsold Portable Vertical Circle," American Journal of Science 43 (1867): 207–216, 309–315.
Elias Loomis, An Introduction to Practical Astronomy (New York, 1882), p. 505.
J. A. Repsold, Vermehrte Nachrichten über die Familie Repsold (1896).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
A. Repsold & Sohne
ID Number
PH.316511
accession number
225703
catalog number
316511
This transit instrument inscribed "Thos Jones Liverpool" and “U.S.C.S. No. 12" is one of the earliest extant instruments of the U. S. Coast Survey.
Description
This transit instrument inscribed "Thos Jones Liverpool" and “U.S.C.S. No. 12" is one of the earliest extant instruments of the U. S. Coast Survey. The Thomas Jones who worked as an instrument maker and dealer in Liverpool during the period 1816–1831 should not be confused with the Thomas Jones of London who made the transit theodolite for the Coast Survey, which is also in the collections.
The vertical circle attached to one end of the slightly conical horizontal axis is graduated to 15 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. At the other end of the axis is a wooden lamp holder. The lattice work cast iron base has 3 leveling feet.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550–1851 (London, 1995), p. 154.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Jones, Thomas
ID Number
PH.316521
accession number
225703
catalog number
316521
Arthur J. Weed was a skilled mechanic who, as chief instrument maker of the U.S. Weather Bureau, built and maintained the seismograph that Charles Marvin had designed in 1895.
Description
Arthur J. Weed was a skilled mechanic who, as chief instrument maker of the U.S. Weather Bureau, built and maintained the seismograph that Charles Marvin had designed in 1895. Moving in 1920 to the Rouss Physical Laboratory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Weed gained access to resources that allowed him to go further in this field. With the aid of engineering students, Weed built a inverted pendulum seismograph with a 750-pound weight. Photographs of Weed with this massive instrument ran as an A.P. story in several newspapers. One headline read: “Trapping earthquakes has become a popular business at the University of Virginia, where one of the most unique and sensitive seismographs in the country keeps a twenty-four hour watch for tremors.”
Weed also designed a smaller inverted pendulum seismograph that could “be used in many places where a more elaborate installation is out of the question.” One account described a cylindrical steady mass of about six pounds resting on three wires placed in the form of an equilateral triangle to which an oil damping device is attached.” This is an instrument of that sort. It came to the Smithsonian in 1963.
When Weed died in 1936, the chief seismologist of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey noted that “the science of seismology has lost one who has given much thought to instrumental problems, an active worker and a true friend.” The American Geophysical Union noted the loss of “a member who has long been active in the field of instrumental seismology.”
Ref: “Seismograph is Homemade,” Washington Post (July 10, 1927), p. 12, and Salt Lake Tribune (July 10, 1927), p. 10.
“Something New In Seismographs,” The Telegraph (May 4, 1932).
N. H. Heck, “Arthur J. Weed,” Science 83 (1936): 404.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
ID Number
PH.323393
catalog number
323393
accession number
251562
By 1880, Keuffel & Esser was offering a "Y Level, Telescope 18–20 inch long, magnifying power 22 times, best make, guaranteed, in mahogany case, with Tripod complete" for $140.
Description
By 1880, Keuffel & Esser was offering a "Y Level, Telescope 18–20 inch long, magnifying power 22 times, best make, guaranteed, in mahogany case, with Tripod complete" for $140. But since Keuffel & Esser did not begin manufacturing surveying instruments until 1885, these early K&E instruments were probably made by others.This example is marked "Keuffel & Esser New York 303" and probably dates from around 1885.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue & Price List (New York, 1880), p. 102.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue of Transits, Levels, Etc. (New York, 1885).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333756
catalog number
333756
accession number
306012
In 1620 an English mathematician and astronomer named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall.
Description
In 1620 an English mathematician and astronomer named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall. By this design, one square chain equals 484 square yards, ten square chains equal an acre, and eighty chains equal a mile. Gunther's design proved extremely popular, especially in English lands. This example belonged to John Johnson (1771-1841), the Surveyor General of Vermont. It is made of steel, with round handles at either end, brass tallies every 10 links, and swivels every 25 links. Each link is joined to the next by three rings, and each unit (link and three rings) is 7.92 inches long.
Location
Currently not on view
owner
Johnson, John
originator
Gunter, Edmund
ID Number
PH.309548
accession number
95588
catalog number
309548
W. & L. E. Gurley began advertising solar compasses in 1858, acknowledging that these instruments had "come into general use in the surveys of U.S.
Description
W. & L. E. Gurley began advertising solar compasses in 1858, acknowledging that these instruments had "come into general use in the surveys of U.S. public lands, the principal lines of which are required to be run with reference to the true meridian." Gurley went on to state: "The invention, having long since become the property of the public, we have given our attention to the manufacture of these instruments, and are now prepared to furnish them, with important improvements of our own devising, at greatly reduced prices."
The earliest Gurley solar compasses that have yet come to light are dated 1859, and they differ in a few small ways from the 1858 illustration. Most notably, the tangent screws were moved closer to the arcs. This example, which the University of Georgia purchased shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, is of that type. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. The finish is anodized. The inscription reads: "W. & L.E. Gurley, Troy, N.Y." The words "G. A. Raymond Jan. 1860" are scratched on the underside of the plate. George A. Raymond joined Gurley in 1853. He was given responsibility for assembling and adjusting solar compasses in 1858, and was still with the firm in 1889.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, Manual of the Principal Instruments used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N. Y., 1858), pp. 64-93.
William H. Skerritt, "The Solar Surveying Instruments of the W. & L. E. Gurley Company," Rittenhouse 3 (1988): 15-22.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.326306
catalog number
326306
accession number
258980
This compass bears two distinct inscriptions: "G*CHANDLEE W." refers to the maker, and "J:J: WELSH" refers to the owner (as yet unidentified).
Description
This compass bears two distinct inscriptions: "G*CHANDLEE W." refers to the maker, and "J:J: WELSH" refers to the owner (as yet unidentified). Goldsmith Chandlee (1751-1821) was born in Nottingham, Md., and apprenticed with his father Benjamin Chandlee, a notable clock and instrument maker. Goldsmith moved to Stephensburg, Va., in 1775. The W on this compass refers to Winchester, Va., where Chandlee settled in 1783.
Some 22 Goldsmith Chandlee compasses are known today, and almost all have an L/T table. In this example, the table appears on the south arm. This L/T table converts links of a chain to tenths of perches, and vice versa, thus helping the surveyor determine the length of the line that had been run. A perch, in England and the United States, was equal to 16.5 feet.
All Goldsmith Chandlee compasses have an outkeeper (an attachment to keep a tally in chaining). In this example, the outkeeper appears at the south end of the face. Most Goldsmith Chandlee compasses were made to order, and the name of the original owner is engraved on the face.
Ref: Edward E. Chandlee, ed., Six Quaker Clockmakers (Philadelphia, 1943), pp. 105-146.
Richard Elgin, "On Goldsmith Chandlee," Professional Surveyor 21 (December 2001): 16-26.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Chandlee, Goldsmith
ID Number
1980.0809.01
accession number
1980.0809
catalog number
1980.0809.01
Eugene Elwin Haskell graduated from Cornell University in 1879 and spent a few years with the U.S. Lake Survey. He then joined the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and was assigned the task of plotting the currents in New York Harbor. Working with Edward S.
Description
Eugene Elwin Haskell graduated from Cornell University in 1879 and spent a few years with the U.S. Lake Survey. He then joined the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and was assigned the task of plotting the currents in New York Harbor. Working with Edward S. Ritchie, a leading navigational instrument maker in Massachusetts, Haskell developed a horizontal-axis, screw-type current meter with a direction-indicating facility, the results of which could be read electrically. By 1888, the Survey was favoring the Ritchie-Haskell form, noting that these new meters “combine, in one instrument, a means of registering by electricity the velocity of a current and the direction of its flow” and that the “registration is made on the vessels deck without removing the instrument from the water.”
This example is marked “E.S. Ritchie & Sons, Brookline, Mass. U.S.A.” The National Bureau of Standards, the organization that calibrated current meters for federal agencies and engineers in private practice, transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1959.
Ref: E. E. Haskell, “Ship’s Log,” U.S. Patent 384362 (1888).
Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ending June 1888 (Washington, D.C., 1889), p. 37.
“The Ritchie-Haskell Direction-Current Meter,” Engineering News 33 (1895): 27-28.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 64-67.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1888
maker
E. S. Ritchie & Sons
ID Number
PH.316590
accession number
225869
catalog number
316590
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
In 1620 an English mathematician named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall. By this design, one square chain equals 484 square yards, ten square chains equal an acre, and eighty chains equal a mile.
Description
In 1620 an English mathematician named Edmund Gunter described a surveyor's chain with 100 links, measuring 66 feet (22 yards or 4 poles) overall. By this design, one square chain equals 484 square yards, ten square chains equal an acre, and eighty chains equal a mile. Building on this work, an English mathematician named Vincent Wing (1619-1668) introduced a 2 pole chain with 40 links. This example is of that sort. It is, moreover, associated with the vernier compass marked "F. Heiseley Fredk: town" in the Museum collection.
Location
Currently not on view
originator
Wing, Vincent
owner
Heisely, Frederick
ID Number
1988.0793.03
accession number
1988.0793
catalog number
1988.0793.03
This compass is marked "B. Stancliffe - Philada Maker" and "Warranted." It has a variation arc on the north arm that extends 22 degrees to either side; the vernier is moved by rack and pinion and reads to 5 minutes. A spirit level is on the south arm.
Description
This compass is marked "B. Stancliffe - Philada Maker" and "Warranted." It has a variation arc on the north arm that extends 22 degrees to either side; the vernier is moved by rack and pinion and reads to 5 minutes. A spirit level is on the south arm. The signature refers to Benjamin Stancliffe (1782-1834) who was born in England, apprenticed with his uncle, John Stancliffe, a noted instrument maker in London, and worked for Edward Troughton making sophisticated geodetic instruments for the fledgling United States Coast Survey. Stancliffe then migrated to America, appearing in Philadelphia directories as early as 1817. In 1828 he went into partnership with his former apprentice, Edmund Draper. By 1832 Stancliffe was again in business on his own, advertising that he manufactured "all kinds of mathematical, optical, and philosophical instruments," including surveyor's compasses, theodolites, sextants, and quadrants.
Ref: Robert C. Miller, "Benjamin Stancliffe and His Successors: A Century of Mathematical Instrument Makers in Philadelphia," Rittenhouse 11 (1996): 1-13.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Stancliffe, Benjamin
ID Number
PH.336362
accession number
1977.0970
catalog number
336362
Two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each marked "Alvergniat Freres. 10 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris (Centigrade)." The one with the blackened bulb is also marked "47.171" and "153" and carries a scale that ranges from -26 to +80 degrees.
Description
Two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each marked "Alvergniat Freres. 10 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris (Centigrade)." The one with the blackened bulb is also marked "47.171" and "153" and carries a scale that ranges from -26 to +80 degrees. The one with the silver bulb is also marked "47.172" and "158" and carries a scale that ranges from -22 to +78 degrees.
Alvergniat Frères were precision instrument makers who began in business in Paris in 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1858-1890
maker
/Alvergniat Freres
ID Number
PH.334151
accession number
308253
catalog number
334151
This alidade belonged to Columbia University. Its vertical arc, which extends 35 degrees either way, is graduated to 30 minutes and read by vernier to 2 minutes. The base has a skeletal structure, making it light and stiff. There is a separate striding level and trough compass.
Description
This alidade belonged to Columbia University. Its vertical arc, which extends 35 degrees either way, is graduated to 30 minutes and read by vernier to 2 minutes. The base has a skeletal structure, making it light and stiff. There is a separate striding level and trough compass. The "BUFF & BERGER BOSTON 2157" inscription refers to a firm that traded, as such, from 1871 to 1898.
Ref: Buff & Berger, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers' and Surveyors' Instruments (Boston, 1890), p. 104b.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1871-1898
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.335213
catalog number
335213
accession number
317998
This brass alidade, with folding sights centered on the beveled edge, belonged to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md. A label in the box reads: "Lerebours & Secretan, Secretan Successeur, Optician de S. M. l'Empereur, de l'Observatoire & de la Marine.
Description
This brass alidade, with folding sights centered on the beveled edge, belonged to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md. A label in the box reads: "Lerebours & Secretan, Secretan Successeur, Optician de S. M. l'Empereur, de l'Observatoire & de la Marine. Magasins: 13, Rue Du Pont-Neuf, Ateliers: 9, Rue Mechain, Faubg St. Jacques Paris." The address of the atelier suggests a date of around 1870. The firm was still in business in 1930.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
maker
Secretan, Marc Francois
ID Number
PH.326109
catalog number
326109
accession number
257245
In 1880, Scientific American enthusiastically recommended Louis P. Juvet's time globe to its readers.
Description
In 1880, Scientific American enthusiastically recommended Louis P. Juvet's time globe to its readers. It was, the magazine found, "a fit ornament for any library, a valuable adjunct in every business office, and a necessity in every institution of learning." The clockwork-driven globe was undeniably useful for studying geography, determining world time, and illustrating the rotation of the earth. The basis of its appeal, however, was even broader. Prominently displayed in the parlors and drawing rooms of Gilded Age America, the elegant time globe clearly demonstrated the wealth and culture of its owner.
Available in a range of sizes and versions simple and ornate, the time globe consisted of three basic elements: a globe, a mechanism for rotating it, and a base. The globe most often featured a terrestrial map, but celestial globes were also offered. An equatorial ring indicated worldwide time and zones of daylight and darkness. A meridian ring supported a clock dial over the north pole.
Concealed within the globe was a four-day, spring-driven brass movement that drove the clock dial and rotated the globe once every twenty-four hours. Manufactured for Juvet by Rood and Horton of Bristol, Connecticut, the movements featured a lever escapement and a balance wheel. Turning the feather end of the arrow-shaped axis wound the movement.
Precisely when production of the globes began is uncertain. Juvet, a Swiss immigrant and a resident of Glens Falls, New York, first patented a mechanical globe in January 1867, and exhibited one at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Probably sometime in 1879, Juvet formed a partnership with James Arkell. By the early 1880s, Juvet and Company of Canajoharie, New York, was making more than sixty varieties of globes. In October 1886, fire consumed the factory where the globes were assembled, ending their manufacture there forever.
Pictured on the left. Overall measurements are 55 1/2 x 17 x 17 inches.
Location
Currently not on view (stand)
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1885
manufacturer
Juvet & Co.
ID Number
ME.308472
catalog number
308472
accession number
93248
The Geodimeter Model 76 is a short-range, laser-based EDM with automatic readout. It was introduced in 1972, cost $4,100, and was said to have been "Developed in America for the North American Market." Precision International, a firm with offices in Tullahoma, Tenn.
Description
The Geodimeter Model 76 is a short-range, laser-based EDM with automatic readout. It was introduced in 1972, cost $4,100, and was said to have been "Developed in America for the North American Market." Precision International, a firm with offices in Tullahoma, Tenn. and production facilities in Secaucus, N.J., developed the Model 76. The instrument was covered, in part, by patent #3,787,118 for "Compensation Means for Polarized Light Electro-Optical Modulator" granted on January 22, 1974, to Thomas Noacki, John Shipp, Robin Hines, and Thomas Broadbent, and assigned to AGA Corp.; and by patent #3,832,056 for "Distance Measuring Device Using Electro-Optical Techniques" granted on August 27, 1974, to Shipp, Hines, William Hollinshead, and Broadbent, and assigned to AGA.
Precision International had been established in 1971 by men who had worked at the Engineering Development Center at Arnold Air Force Base. They would later develop the Beetle EDM. This example is marked "AGA Geodimeter Model 76 AGA Corporation Secaucus, N.J. Serial No. 1073."
Ref: AGA, Model 76 Geodimeter Operator's Manual (1974).
Advertisement in Civil Engineering 42 (Feb. 1972): 35.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
AGA
ID Number
1997.0290.02
accession number
1997.0290
catalog number
1997.0290.02
This astronomical instrument belonged to Columbia College (now University), and dates from around 1837. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by verniers to 10 sec. The insription reads "Troughton & Simms, London."Ref: Frederick W.
Description
This astronomical instrument belonged to Columbia College (now University), and dates from around 1837. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by verniers to 10 sec. The insription reads "Troughton & Simms, London."
Ref: Frederick W. Simms, A Treatise on the Principal Mathematical Instruments Employed in Surveying, Levelling, & Astronomy (Baltimore, 1844), pp. 89–109, describes a similar instrument, but with two vertical circles.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1837
maker
Troughton and Simms
ID Number
PH.323689
catalog number
323689
accession number
249200
As Hurricane Katrina approached in August 2005, over 80 percent of the residents of New Orleans fled the city during the mandatory evacuation. Thousands of residents, however, could not or would not leave.Currently not on view
Description
As Hurricane Katrina approached in August 2005, over 80 percent of the residents of New Orleans fled the city during the mandatory evacuation. Thousands of residents, however, could not or would not leave.
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Date
2005
fabricator
New Orleans Department of Public Works
ID Number
2005.0284.01
accession number
2005.0284
catalog number
2005.0284.01
This unit is all that remains of a quartz clock dating from about 1955. The original clock consisted of additional components—a quartz oscillator, power supply and a frequency divider—mounted with this dial unit on an electronics rack.
Description
This unit is all that remains of a quartz clock dating from about 1955. The original clock consisted of additional components—a quartz oscillator, power supply and a frequency divider—mounted with this dial unit on an electronics rack. It was developed at the Naval Research Laboratory and installed at the U.S. Naval Observatory to monitor the accuracy of time signals sent to naval radio stations at Annapolis, San Francisco, Hawaii and Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone. The time signal started at the Naval Observatory, traveled by telegraph line to Annapolis and moved by radio relay to the remote stations. Similar transmitting quartz clocks were later installed at each of the stations, and the observatory’s role shifted from transmitting signals to monitoring the signal accuracy from the stations and providing published corrections based on comparisons with observatory standards.
This surviving component is an electromechanical clock with a twenty-four-hour dial, a synchronous motor, an elaborate system of oilers and a strobe system for checking radio signal accuracy. The grey-painted face plate has an identification tag reading: “TD-31/FSM-5/Clock/Serial 1/A UNIT OF TIME STANDARD AN/FSM-5 /MANUFSCTURED FOR NAVY BUREAU OF SHIPS/BY/U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY/WASHINGTON DC.” At lower left is a switch and a tape label marked: “PANAMA ONLY.” Nearby in pencil: “Amber.” On the lower right is a brass crank for resetting the clock and a five-digit counter. Above the crank is an eyepiece. The eyepiece gives a low-power microscopic view into the clock movement where a glass dial, engraved with a thousand divisions revolves once a second. It is possible to read the thousandth of a second from the flash provided by an adjacent strobe lamp. The lamp flashes are controlled by another clock or by radio signals.
Beginning in 1934, the U.S. Naval Observatory started to acquire quartz clocks to serve as time standards and to transmit time signals to navy radio stations. In this kind of clock, first built at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1927, a small crystal of quartz takes the place of a pendulum or balance wheel. The crystal vibrates between 50,000 to 100,000 times per second, with a rate that depends upon how the crystal is cut. Through an electric current, that frequency drives a clock with a synchronous motor. The clock’s gearing divides down the crystal vibrations to a rate that turns the hands. Similar to other observatories, quartz clocks replaced the best pendulum clocks as time standards from 1946 to 1966, when atomic clocks were accepted.
References:
1. Gebhard, Louis A. Evolution of Naval Radio-Electronics and Contributions of the Naval Research Laboratory, NRL Report 8300 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1979).
2. Dick, Steven. Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory 1830-2000. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1989.0581.01
catalog number
1989.0581.01
accession number
1989.0581

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