Measuring & Mapping - Overview
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.
"Measuring & Mapping - Overview" showing 13 items.
Page 1 of 2
Universal Magnetometer with Dip Circle
- Description
- This instrument is marked "D.T.M. C.I.W. N° 19." Designed and built by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1912, it incorporates an astronomical telescope and magnetometer for the determination of magnetic declination and horizontal intensity, and a dip circle with a Lloyd-Creak attachment for the determination of inclination and intensity. It is relatively light and easy to manipulate. It was used for a few years and then set aside when the universal magnetometer with earth inductor came into use.
- This magnetometer was probably transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey after the Carnegie Institution closed its geomagnetic program. The U.S. Geological Survey acquired it in 1973, when it took over the geomagnetic program of the federal government, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1982.
- Ref: J. A. Fleming, "Two New Types of Magnetometers Made by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington," Terrestrial Magnetism 16 (1911): 1-12.
- Carnegie Institution of Washington, Land Magnetic Observations, 1911-1913 (Washington, D.C., 1915), pp. 7-8.
- Date made
- 1912
- maker
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- ID Number
- 1982.0671.03
- accession number
- 1982.0671
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Earth Inductor
- Description
- As scientists discovered that even the best dip circles gave unreliable results, they began using earth inductors to determine magnetic dip. In 1912, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington developed a new earth inductor for use at sea. It has three key elements: an improved gimbal stand, a means for rotating the coil without disturbing the gimbal rings, and a sensitive galvanometer.
- This example is marked "D.T.M. C.I.W. E.I. N° 3." It is the third Carnegie marine earth inductor. When the Carnegie closed its program in terrestrial magnetism, it was lent to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The U.S. Geological Survey acquired it in 1973 when it took over the geomagnetic program of the federal government, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1982.
- Ref: J. A. Fleming, "Description of the C.I.W. Marine Earth
- Inductor," Terrestrial Magnetism 18 (1912): 39-45.
- C. W. Hewlett, "Report on the C.I.W. Marine Earth Inductor," Terrestrial Magnetism 18 (1912): 46-48.
- Date made
- 1912
- maker
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- ID Number
- 1982.0671.05
- accession number
- 1982.0671
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Universal Magnetometer with Earth Inductor
- Description
- This instrument was designed and produced by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Unlike the Carnegie's original universal magnetometer, this one is equipped with an earth inductor to determine dip. It is marked "DEPARTMENT TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM Carnegie Institution of Washington E.I. - M. No. 28." It was completed in 1914 and used in many locations around the world. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey used it in South and Central America in the early 1940s. The U.S. Geological Survey acquired it in 1973, when that agency took charge of the federal program in geomagnetism, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1982.
- Ref: J. A. Fleming and J. A. Widner, "Description of the C.I.W. Combined Magnetometer and Earth Inductor," Terrestrial Magnetism 18 (1913): 105-110.
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Land Magnetic Observations, 1911-1913 (Washington, D.C., 1915), pp. 9-12.
- U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Magnetic Observations in the American Republics 1941-44 (Washington, D.C., 1946), p. 16.
- Date made
- 1914
- maker
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- ID Number
- 1982.0671.07
- accession number
- 1982.0671
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Chaumont HQ Battle Map
- Description
- Gen. John J. Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. When he arrived in France, he established his headquarters at Chaumont, where his war room included this large situation map. During the course of operations, the map was regularly replaced by another map peeled from a block of identical maps. Identical updated maps were distributed to all subordinate commands, allowing a degree of coordination never before achieved. This map sheet shows troop dispositions on the Western Front the day the war ended, November 11, 1918.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- associated date
- 1918
- user
- Pershing, John J.
- American Expeditionary Force
- ID Number
- AF*35016
- catalog number
- 35016
- accession number
- 182935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Vannevar Bush's Profile Tracer
- Description
- This experimental instrument for land surveying consists of a mechanism in a wooden box that is suspended between two wooden wheels with rubber tires. The wheels are aligned as in a bicycle, with the box in between. There is a roll of paper mounted on top of the box. If one runs the wheels over a surface, the combined action of a servo-mechanism and an integrator produce a profile of the land traversed which is plotted on the paper. The engineer Vannevar Bush received a patent for this instrument in 1912, and it was the subject of the master's degree dissertation he wrote at Tufts University the next year. Servo-mechanisms, integrators, and the graphical display of results played a major role in several computing instruments Bush later designed. He also is remembered for ideas about information retrieval that inspired later thinkers to develop what is now called hypertext.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1912
- maker
- Bush, Vannevar
- ID Number
- MA*317853.01
- accession number
- 317853
- catalog number
- 317853.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Universal Magnetometer with Earth Inductor
- Description
- This instrument is marked "DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM Carnegie Institution of Washington E.I. - M No 26." It was designed and produced by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Unlike the Carnegie's original universal magnetometer, this one is equipped with an earth inductor to determine dip. It was completed in 1914, compared with standard magnetic instruments at the Kew and Greenwich observatories in England, and at the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Surveys observatory at Cheltenham, Md., and used in many locations around the world.
Ref: J. A. Fleming and J. A. Widner, "Description of the C.I.W. Combined Magnetometer and Earth Inductor," Terrestrial Magnetism 18 (1913): 105-110.
Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Land Magnetic Observations, 1911-1913 (Washington, D.C., 1915), pp. 9-12.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1914
- maker
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- ID Number
- PH*320627
- accession number
- 2003.0312
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Universal Magnetometer with Dip Circle
- Description
- This instrument, marked "D.T.M. C.I.W. No 21," was designed and built by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1912. It incorporates an astronomical telescope and magnetometer for the determination of magnetic declination and horizontal intensity, and a dip circle with a Lloyd-Creak attachment for the determination of inclination and intensity. It is relatively light and easy to manipulate. It was used for a few years and then set aside when the universal magnetometer with earth inductor came into use.
This instrument ended up in the hands of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, which transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1959.
Ref: J. A. Fleming, "Two New Types of Magnetometers Made by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington," Terrestrial Magnetism 16 (1911): 1-12.
Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Land Magnetic Observations, 1911-1913 (Washington, D.C., 1915), pp. 7-9.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1912
- maker
- Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
- ID Number
- PH*316504
- accession number
- 225703
- catalog number
- 316504
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
John Deere
- Description (Brief)
- A tape measure in a celluloid case of cream celluloid with yellow and green on the front and back. Advertising copy for the John Deere Company includes a profile portrait of John Deere with the message, "He gave to the world the steel plow," underneath. The other side bears the John Deere logo.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1917
- advertiser
- Deere & Company
- depicted
- Deere, John
- maker
- Parisian Novelty Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0927
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0927
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
C. L. Berger & Sons Transit
- Description
- This instrument is marked "C. L. Berger & Sons Boston, USA." The firm termed it a Universal Mining Transit with Duplex Telescope Bearings, noting that C. L. Berger had designed it on June 10, 1889, in order "to meet the requirements of the Mining Engineer, who must have the exact location of every shaft and tunnel in a mine" and who needed to get "the closest results under the most trying circumstances." It could measure horizontal angles between points, "one of which may be depressed as much as eighty or ninety degrees below the horizon, while the other may be as much elevated above the horizon; and also to measure with equal accuracy angles of elevation or depression above or below the horizon." The distinctive feature of this transit is that the telescope can be mounted in the center of the instrument, as usual, or, for extreme angles, it can be moved to the front of the instrument, with a counterweight attached to the back.
- The Berger records indicate that C. Elliott of Pittsburgh ordered this instrument in February 1917. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 30 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. With lamp, two tripods, and two plumb bobs, the instrument cost $620.
- Ref: C. L. Berger & Sons, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers' and Surveyors' Instruments of Precision (Boston, 1912), pp. 172-177.
- Chicago Steel Tape-Berger Instruments (Document Management Systems, 1995), Book 36, p. 64.
- date made
- 1917
- maker
- C.L. Berger and Sons
- ID Number
- PH*334893
- catalog number
- 334893
- accession number
- 315134
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Abbe Refractometer
- Description
- Bausch & Lomb began making refractometers when World War I limited the import of European instruments coming into the United States. This Abbé-type refractometer is marked "Bausch & Lomb Optical Company Rochester N.Y. Ser. No. 77381 USA Pat. No. 2,080,841." Miles E. Hess Jr. donated it to the Smithsonian. The referenced patent, issued to Harold Straat in 1937 and assigned to Bausch & Lomb, described a new prism system and box for refractometers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1937
- maker
- Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
- ID Number
- 2000.0128.01
- catalog number
- 2000.0128.01
- accession number
- 2000.0128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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