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.

From its infancy, timekeeping has depended on astronomy. The motion of celestial bodies relative to the rotating Earth provided the most precise measure of time until the mid-twentieth century, when quartz and atomic clocks proved more constant.
Description
From its infancy, timekeeping has depended on astronomy. The motion of celestial bodies relative to the rotating Earth provided the most precise measure of time until the mid-twentieth century, when quartz and atomic clocks proved more constant. Until that time, mechanical observatory clocks were set and continuously corrected to agree with astronomical observations.
The application of electricity to observatory timepieces in the late 1840s revolutionized the way American astronomers noted the exact movement of celestial events. U.S. Coast Survey teams devised a method to telegraph clock beats, both within an observatory and over long distances, and to record both the beats and the moment of observation simultaneously. British astronomers dubbed it the "American method of astronomical observation" and promptly adopted it themselves.
Transmitting clock beats by telegraph not only provided astronomers with a means of recording the exact moment of astronomical observations but also gave surveyors a means of determining longitude. Because the Earth rotates on its axis every twenty-four hours, longitude and time are equivalent (fifteen degrees of longitude equals one hour).
In 1849 William Cranch Bond, then director of the Harvard College Observatory, devised an important improvement for clocks employed in the "American method." He constructed several versions of break-circuit devices—electrical contracts and insulators attached to the mechanical clock movement—for telegraphing clock beats once a second. The Bond regulator shown in the forground incorporates such a device. Bond's son Richard designed the accompanying drum chronograph, an instrument that touched a pen to a paper-wrapped cylinder to record both the beats of the clock and the instant of a celestial event, signaled when an observer pressed a telegraph key.
Location
Currently not on view (unidentified components)
Currently not on view (weight (?))
Date made
ca 1868
maker
William Bond & Son
ID Number
ME.318759
catalog number
318759
accession number
230288
This telescope, with an achromatic objective, erecting eye piece, and brass tube covered with leather, was probably made in England. The "E. & G. W. Blunt, New York, Day & Night" inscription indicates that it was made between 1824 and 1868. The "U. S.
Description
This telescope, with an achromatic objective, erecting eye piece, and brass tube covered with leather, was probably made in England. The "E. & G. W. Blunt, New York, Day & Night" inscription indicates that it was made between 1824 and 1868. The "U. S. Navy" inscription suggests that it might have been used during the Civil War.
Edmund March Blunt (1770-1862) opened a nautical shop in New York in 1802. His sons, Edmund (1799-1866) and George William (1802-1878) opened their own shop in 1824, trading as E. & G. W. Blunt and offering nautical books, charts, and instruments. The firm became Blunt & Nichols in 1866, and Blunt & Co., in 1868.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PH.322755
catalog number
322755
accession number
251009
Victor Beaumont was a mechanic in New York City with at least six patents to his name. The patent issued on June 14, 1859, described a gauge for measuring the pressure of steam or other fluids.
Description
Victor Beaumont was a mechanic in New York City with at least six patents to his name. The patent issued on June 14, 1859, described a gauge for measuring the pressure of steam or other fluids. When he realized that Lucien Vidie, in France, had used a similar mechanism to construct the first practical aneroid barometer, Beaumont began making instruments of this sort. At the American Institute Fair of 1859 he was awarded a diploma for a “Cheap Barometer” that was “likely to prove of importance to the agricultural community, because it is cheap, costing only $4, and as effective as the most expensive kind and not likely to get out of order, and can be transported as easily as a watch, with as little danger of injury.”
This example is marked “Beaumont’s Barometer / 175 Center Street / NEW YORK / Patented June 14, 1859.” The scale extends from 18 to 31 inches of mercury, and is graduated in tenths.
Ref: Victor Beaumont, “Gage for Measuring the Pressure of Fluids,” U.S. Patent 24,365 (1859).
“A Cheap Barometer,” 18 (1859-1861): 180-181.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
maker
Beaumont, Victor
ID Number
PH.313693
catalog number
313693
accession number
192408
This instrument consists of wet and dry bulb thermometers with a liquid vial (missing in this instance) in between, mounted on a wooden board. The inscriptions on the board read "MASON'S HYGROMETER" and "B. PIKE JR.
Description
This instrument consists of wet and dry bulb thermometers with a liquid vial (missing in this instance) in between, mounted on a wooden board. The inscriptions on the board read "MASON'S HYGROMETER" and "B. PIKE JR. 294 BROADWAY, NEW YORK." The scales for the thermometers are on the board. That for the dry-bulb thermometer is graduated every degree Fahrenheit from 0 to +135. That for the wet-bulb thermometer is graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -5 to +145.
John Abraham Mason, an English surgeon, described the form in 1836. Benjamin Pike Jr., a leading purveyor of instruments in New York between 1843 and 1864, claimed that the use of an instrument of this sort "in the sick chamber will be at once evident, as a fire kept up in a closed room naturally dries the air which the patient has to breathe."
Ref: John Abraham Mason, "Description of a New Hygrometer," Records of General Science 4 (1836): 23-35 and 96-111.
B. Pike Jr., Illustrated, Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), vol. 2, pp. 135-138.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843-1864
maker
B. Pike, Jr.
ID Number
PH.333982
accession number
304826
catalog number
333982
This map extends from Pueblo, Colorado, in the east to the conjunction of the Colorado and Flax Rivers in the west, and from north of Breckenridge, Colorado, to south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, or, from about 34°45' to about 39°20' north latitude, and from about 104°50' to about
Description
This map extends from Pueblo, Colorado, in the east to the conjunction of the Colorado and Flax Rivers in the west, and from north of Breckenridge, Colorado, to south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, or, from about 34°45' to about 39°20' north latitude, and from about 104°50' to about 112° longitude west of Greenwich. The scale is 12 miles to the inch. A text in the lower right corner pertains to the “CENTRAL GOLD REGIONS.” It also states “A delicate tint was ruled over the whole plate to give the effect of a plaster model of the country. Constructed and engraved by BARON F. W. VON EGLOFFSTEIN Topographer to the Surveys under the 35th and 38th parallels. Frémont’s, Beckwith’s, and Ives’ Expeditions.” The texts at bottom read “Lettering by John L. Hazzard” and “Ruling by Samuel Sartain” and “[GE]OGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE, BARON F. W. VON EGLOFFSTEIN, NO. 164 BROADWAY, N. YORK. 1864”
Baron Freidrich Wilhelm Von Egloffstein (1824-1885), the topographer who compiled this map, was a German immigrant who came to the United States in 1849. He went with John C. Frémont on a winter trek from St. Louis to the Great Basin (1853-1854), seeking a rail route to the west. He joined Edward G. Beckwith on a railroad reconnaissance from Salt Lake City to California (1854). And he travelled with Joseph C. Ives up the Colorado River and across the Southern Plateau (1857-1858), on an expedition organized by the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He had not gone on the 1859 expedition led by John N. Macomb-a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and member of the Corps of Topographical Engineers-that aimed to locate a practicable route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the military outposts in the southern part of Utah. But he did have access to notes compiled by those who had.
This map incorporates several important and somewhat related technological innovations, all of which Egloffstein had used, to some extent, on his chart of the “AMAKARIMA GROUP WITH PART OF LOO-CHOO” (cat. PH*317505). In order to produce a landscape that appeared remarkably realistic, Egloffstein made topographical models of plaster, and photographed them while lit from one side. In order to reproduce these images, he used the technique known as heliographic etching. Following the lead of the French photographic pioneer, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Egloffstein coated his steel photographic plates with a substance (such as bitumen of Judea) that hardened when exposed to light. After taking a picture, he washed away the still-soft parts of the substance, used an acid to eat away those parts of the plate that could now be seen, and printed the result. By inserting a fine mesh (or grid) between the model and the plate, he was able to print halftone images. Egloffstein was not the first to develop a photomechanical printing process-Paul Pretsch in England had organized a company for that purpose in 1854-but his contributions were important nonetheless.
Egloffstein was working on this map in 1860 and asking people in Washington about particular geographical details. He joined the Union army at the start of the Civil War, and was wounded in battle in 1862. He then established a Geographical Institute in New York. It was here that he completed the map, dated it 1864, and distributed some copies. In 1876 the map was published with the official Report of the Exploring Expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Junction of the Grand and Green Rivers of the Great Colorado of the West.
Egloffstein included on this map information about several expeditions in addition to the above mentioned ones led by Frémont, Beckwith, Ives, and Macomb. These included a chain survey in eastern New Mexico conducted by J. C. Brown from 1825 to 1827; William W. Loring’s 1858 trek through the San Luis Valley in Colorado; Randolph B. Marcy’s 1858 trek from Utah to New Mexico; Oliver Shepherd’s trek through Arizona in 1859; John S. Simonson’s 1859 trek along the San Juan River; John G. Walker’s 1859 trek through Navajo country south of Four Corners; and Amiel W. Whipple’s 1853 trek to find a route for a transcontinental railroad.
The map is also a clear statement of American interest in and involvement with the area. Utah and New Mexico had become territories in 1850. Colorado became a territory in 1861, in the wake of the gold rush that brought prospectors and settlers to the area around Pike’s Peak. Arizona became a territory in in 1863, at a time when Southerners, who had hoped the area would be hospitable to slavery, had seceded from the Union. Some land in eastern New Mexico and Colorado had been laid out in square townships, 6 miles on a side, according to the procedures of the General Land Survey. The Mormon Settlement is shown in Utah—and, indeed, it was fear of further conflicts with the Mormons that had led the army to sponsor Macomb’s expedition.
Egloffstein also included the path taken by Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a priest who in 1776 sought a trail from Santa Fe to the missions in California. Other Spanish names on the map include the Spanish Trail, the San Francisco Mountains, and the Sierra Abajo mountains.
Evidence of Native Americans on the map includes Mesa Verde; Moquis Pueblo (the Anglo term for Hopi) in the Painted Desert; Navajo Valley to the east of the Painted Desert; Navajo Mesa (now known as the Black Mesa) in northern Arizona; Ildefonso, Pojoaque, Zandia (aka Sandia), Zuni, and other pueblos in New Mexico; and the ruins at Chaco Canyon and elsewhere.
Evidence of military presence in the area (in addition to the paths of military surveys) includes Fort Union (in northern New Mexico), Fort Defiance (in eastern Arizona), and Fort Hill (in southwestern Colorado).
The map also shows the paths of rivers and the positions of mountains (some with elevations) and mountain passes. Geological features include the Painted Desert in Arizona, the Needles in Utah, the Leroux cold springs and the Pagosa hot springs, the Mines in the Animas River valley (site of a major gold rush in 1860), the Dolores mines of Colorado, and the Burning Coal Bed (now the Lava Beds National Monument) in northern Arizona.
Ref: Imre Josef Demhardt, “An approximation to a bird’s eye view, and is intelligible to every eye . . . Friedrich Wilhelm von Egloffstein, the Exploration of the American West, and Its First Relief Shaded Maps,” in E. Liebenberg and I. J. Demhardt, eds., History of Cartography. International Symposium of the ICA Commission, 2010 (Dordrecht, 2012), pp. 57-74.
David Hanson, “Baron Frederich Wilhelm von Egloffstein,” Printing History 15 (1993): 12-24.
Steven K. Madsden, Exploring Desert Stone: John N. McComb’s 1859 Expedition to the Canyonlands of Colorado (Logan, Utah, 2010).
Stevan Rowan, The Baron in the Grand Canyon: Friedrick Wilhelm von Egloffstein in the West (University of Missouri, 2012).
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Date
1860
1864
1876
ID Number
PH.317493
catalog number
317493
accession number
230397
During the Civil War Army physician Dr. G. D. O'Farrell received this watch as a gift from grateful patients.In the 1850s watchmakers at what would become the American Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, developed the world's first machine-made watches.
Description
During the Civil War Army physician Dr. G. D. O'Farrell received this watch as a gift from grateful patients.
In the 1850s watchmakers at what would become the American Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, developed the world's first machine-made watches. They completely redesigned the watch so that its movement could be assembled from interchangeable parts made on specialized machines invented just for that purpose. They also developed a highly organized factory-based work system to speed production and cut costs.
In its first decade, the firm's work was largely experimental and the firm's finances were unsteady. The name of the company changed repeatedly as investors came and went. Operations moved from Roxbury to Waltham in 1854, and the Panic of 1857 brought bankruptcy and a new owner, Royal Robbins. Reorganization and recovery began, and output reached fourteen thousand watches in 1858.
Renamed the American Watch Company the next year, the firm was on the brink of success from an unexpected quarter. During the Civil War, Waltham's watch factory designed and mass-produced a low-cost watch, the William Ellery model. Selling for an unbelievable $13.00, these watches became a fad with Union soldiers. Just as itinerant peddlers had aroused the desire for inexpensive clocks, roving merchants sold thousands of cheap watches to eager customers in wartime encampments. By 1865, the year the war ended, William Ellery movements represented almost 45 per cent of Waltham's unit sales.
This William Ellery model watch was a gift to Army surgeon G. D. O'Farrell from his patients at White Hall, a Civil War hospital near Philadelphia. The inscription on the dust cover of O'Farrell's watch reads: "White Hall USA Gen'l Hospital, Feb. 15, 1865 Presented to Dr. G. D. O'Farrell, USA by the patients of Ward C as a token of regard & respect for his ability as a surgeon and unswerving integrity as a man."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1864
presentation
1865
maker
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
1987.0853.01
catalog number
1987.0853.01
accession number
1987.0853
This watch, made about 1870, was manufactured at what eventually became known as the Waltham Watch Company, Waltham, Mass. The movement bears the serial number 520977 and “Crescent Street,” a grade named for the firm’s address.
Description
This watch, made about 1870, was manufactured at what eventually became known as the Waltham Watch Company, Waltham, Mass. The movement bears the serial number 520977 and “Crescent Street,” a grade named for the firm’s address. The Crescent Street was advertised as a railroad watch, “specially recommended to railway engineers and constant travelers.” [advertisement, The Missionary Herald 67(June 1871), n.p.]
In the 1850s, watchmakers at the firm began to develop the world's first mass-produced watches. They completely redesigned the watch so that its movement could be assembled from interchangeable parts made on special machines. They also developed a highly organized factory-based work system to speed production and cut costs of watches. Although it would be well into the 20th century before the watch industry achieved a very high level of interchangeability, the Waltham designers started the innovations that would eventually lead there.
Launched in 1849 in a corner of the Howard & Davis clock factory in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the company’s early years were financially unsteady. The company name changed repeatedly as investors came and went. Operations moved from Roxbury to Waltham in 1854, where the company settled, optimistically poised for expansion, on a tract of land with nearly 100 acres. The watchmakers at Waltham helped spawn an American industry that by 1880 had ten firms making nearly three million watches a year.
Details:
Movement: factory identification--model 1870, spring going-barrel, full plate, gilt finish, 18 size, key wind and set from the back, bimetallic compensation balance, C.V. Woerd patent regulator (US 110614); marked: American Watch Co/Crescent Street/Patent Pinion/No 520977/WALTHAM, MASS.”
Dial: white enamel, Roman numerals, blued hands (hour hand missing), separate sunk seconds at 6; marked: “American Watch Co”
References:
Henry G. Abbott, History of the American Waltham Watch Company (Chicago: American Jeweler Print, 1905).
Charles Moore, Timing a Century: History of the Waltham Watch Company (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945).
Donald Hoke, Ingenious Yankees: The Rise of the American System of Manufactures in the Private Sector (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1867
maker
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.271558
serial number
520977
catalog number
271558
accession number
53268
This elegant set consists of five brass liquid measures with handles. A stamp on the lip of the smallest reads: B.S. No. 333, and another stamp on the side reads: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/16 GALLON. The next largest measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 334, and on the side: U.S.
Description
This elegant set consists of five brass liquid measures with handles. A stamp on the lip of the smallest reads: B.S. No. 333, and another stamp on the side reads: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/16 GALLON. The next largest measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 334, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/8 GALLON. The middle-sized measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 335, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/4 GALLON. The fourth measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 336, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) 1/2 GALLON. The largest measure reads on the lip: B.S. No. 458, and on the side: U.S. STANDARD (/) GALLON. The seal of the National Bureau of Standards also is stamped on the four smaller measures.
The United States Constitution explicitly grants the federal government the power to regulate weights and measures. Most colonies used weights and measures based on British custom, and the first U.S. standard measures were in units such as pounds, yards, and gallons. The first standards, which were weights, were delivered to the states in 1838. By 1856, Alexander Dallas Bache could report that the Office of Weights and Measures he headed had completed full sets of weights, measures and balances for the states. Customhouses also were being equipped, with that task completed in about 1866.
These five liquid measures appear to be examples of these standards. However, they are numbered with “B.S.” numbers, and in four cases stamped with the seal of the Bureau of Standards. The Bureau was not established until 1901. The objects came to the Smithsonian in 1929.
Reference:
Rexmond C. Cochrane, Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards, [Washington, DC]: National Bureau of Standards, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1966, esp. pp. 20-47.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
maker
United States Office of Weights and Measures
ID Number
CH.309583
catalog number
309583
accession number
103830
Small aneroid barometer in a silvered case, 1¼ inches diameter, and ⅞ inches deep. The circumference of the face is marked “SEMMONS OCULIST OPTICIAN, 687 BROADWAY, NEW YORK” and “S. M. R. R. C. F. S. F. V.
Description
Small aneroid barometer in a silvered case, 1¼ inches diameter, and ⅞ inches deep. The circumference of the face is marked “SEMMONS OCULIST OPTICIAN, 687 BROADWAY, NEW YORK” and “S. M. R. R. C. F. S. F. V. D.” The altitude scale reads from –1,000 to +12,000 feet, in increments of 100 feet. The pressure scale reads from 19 to 31 inches of mercury, in fifths of an inch. There is a leather case that also holds a mercury thermometer and a magnifying lens.
Semmons began in business in New York in 1859, selling optical and other instruments imported from Europe. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1954.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860s
ID Number
PH.314550
accession number
204612
catalog number
314550
This instrument was made by Stackpole & Brother in the 1860s, and sold to Benjamin S. Olmsted, an engineer in Rye, N.Y. A. J. Kirby of Westchester County, New York, acquired it around 1870 and used it for many years.
Description
This instrument was made by Stackpole & Brother in the 1860s, and sold to Benjamin S. Olmsted, an engineer in Rye, N.Y. A. J. Kirby of Westchester County, New York, acquired it around 1870 and used it for many years. His son gave it to the Smithsonian in 1930.
The instrument is unusual in several ways: the telescope is transit-mounted but too long to transit, and an adjustable strut at the objective end holds the telescope at a fixed angle of elevation. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to 20 seconds. A magnetic compass in the center of the circle is suitable only for rough orientation, and a hanging level is below the telescope. The inscription reads "Stackpole & Brother, New York 939."
F. E. Brandis, who was working for Stackpole at the time this instrument was made, later incorporated some of its features--most notably the long transit mounted telescope and the adjustable strut--in what he called his Improved City Transit.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
ca 1865
maker
Stackpole and Brother
ID Number
PH.309850A
maker number
939
accession number
110078
catalog number
309850A
Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds. The inscription reads "E. & G. W.
Description
Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds. The inscription reads "E. & G. W. Blunt, New York." Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason (1848-1899), a career naval officer, probably acquired this sextant in 1865 when he graduated from the Naval Academy at Newport, R.I. Mason's sister Cassie (Mrs. Julian) James, a Washington socialite, gave it to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1856-1866
user
Mason, Theodorus B. M.
maker
E. & G. W. Blunt
ID Number
PH.275100
catalog number
275100
accession number
70138
This sextant is inscribed "J. Nixon. Commercial Road. London" and "U.S.
Description
This sextant is inscribed "J. Nixon. Commercial Road. London" and "U.S. NAVY 8608." It was probably made by the John Nixon who worked in London from 1850 to 1869, and advertised as a "Real Maker of Mathematical Instruments." The silvered scale is graduated every 15 minutes from -5° to +125° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 15 seconds of arc.
This sextant may have been lent to the U.S. Navy for use during World War I. It came to the Smithsonian in 1930.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1895), p. 201.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1900
date made
1850-1869
maker
Nixon, John
ID Number
PH.309888
accession number
110828
catalog number
309888
This watch, made about 1862, is among the earliest watch movements manufactured in the United States at what eventually became the Waltham Watch Company. It is part of the firm’s output during the Civil War, a time that unexpectedly brought successful sales.
Description
This watch, made about 1862, is among the earliest watch movements manufactured in the United States at what eventually became the Waltham Watch Company. It is part of the firm’s output during the Civil War, a time that unexpectedly brought successful sales. The movement bears the serial number 34,660 and “P. S. Bartlett,” a grade named for Patten Sargeant Bartlett, foreman of the plate and screw department until 1864.
In the 1850s, watchmakers at the firm began to develop the world's first mass-produced watches. They completely redesigned the watch so that its movement could be assembled from interchangeable parts made on special machines. They also developed a highly organized factory-based work system to speed production and cut costs of watches. Although it would be well into the 20th century before the watch industry achieved a very high level of interchangeability, the Waltham designers started the innovations that would eventually lead there.
Launched in 1849 in a corner of the Howard & Davis clock factory in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the company’s early years were financially unsteady. The company name changed repeatedly as investors came and went. Operations moved from Roxbury to Waltham in 1854, where the company settled, optimistically poised for expansion, on a tract of land with nearly 100 acres. The watchmakers at Waltham helped spawn an American industry that by 1880 had ten firms making nearly three million watches a year.
Details:
Movement: factory identification—model 1857, spring going-barrel, full plate, gilt finish, 18 size, key wind at back and key set at front, steel three-armed balance, regulator with index on back plate; marked: “P. S. Bartlett/34660/WALTHAM, MASS.”
Dial: White enamel dial, Roman numerals, blued hands (second hand missing), separate seconds at 6, marked: “American Watch Co”
References:
Henry G. Abbott, History of the American Waltham Watch Company (Chicago: American Jeweler Print, 1905).
Charles Moore, Timing a Century: History of the Waltham Watch Company (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1945).
Donald Hoke, Ingenious Yankees: The Rise of the American System of Manufactures in the Private Sector (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1862
manufacturer
American Waltham Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.252965
catalog number
252965
accession number
49576
This two-sheet map was issued by the Engineer Department of the U.S. Army. It is dated March 1867 and extends from above 38° to about 50° latitude and from below 95° to above 105°30' longitude west of London.
Description
This two-sheet map was issued by the Engineer Department of the U.S. Army. It is dated March 1867 and extends from above 38° to about 50° latitude and from below 95° to above 105°30' longitude west of London. Based on several military surveys of the area, it was compiled by Gouveneur K. Warren (1830-1882), a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who served in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, led a command in the Union Army during the Civil War, and returned to the Engineers in 1865.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1867
ID Number
PH.317494
accession number
230397
catalog number
317494
Made about 1869, this watch was the product of the short-lived (1864-1869) Newark Watch Company, Newark, N.J., a company formed at the end of the Civil War to tap into the market for American-made watches created by the American Waltham Watch Co.Details:Movement: spring-driven, f
Description
Made about 1869, this watch was the product of the short-lived (1864-1869) Newark Watch Company, Newark, N.J., a company formed at the end of the Civil War to tap into the market for American-made watches created by the American Waltham Watch Co.
Details:
Movement: spring-driven, full plate, gilt finish, 18 Size, 15 jewels, key wind at back and key set at front, bimetallic compensation balance, level escapement; marked: “THE NEWARK WATCH/FULL-JEWEL’D/10609/Patent/Newark, N.J.
Dial: White enamel w/Roman numerals, blued steel hands (second hand missing), sunk seconds at 6; marked “Newark Watch Works”
References:
Urquhart, Frank J. A History of the City of Newark, New Jersey. Vol. 3. 1913: Reprint. London: Forgotten Books, 2013.
Henry G. Abbott, The Watch Factories of America, (Chicago: G. K. Hazleitt & Co., 1888).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
maker
Newark Watch Co.
ID Number
1984.0416.242
serial number
10609
catalog number
1984.0416.242
accession number
1984.0416
Edward S. Ritchie of Boston developed the first successful liquid compass in 1862 and introduced several improvements over the course of the next two decades. This is the model for Ritchie’s third patent (#38,126) of April 7, 1863. Three features should be noted.
Description
Edward S. Ritchie of Boston developed the first successful liquid compass in 1862 and introduced several improvements over the course of the next two decades. This is the model for Ritchie’s third patent (#38,126) of April 7, 1863. Three features should be noted. The magnetic needle is enclosed in an air-tight metallic case and, with the card, is very nearly the same specific gravity as the liquid. The needle float is in the form of crossed cylinders. An elastic chamber compensates for the unequal expansion of the liquid and the bowl.
The U.S. Patent Office transferred this compass to the Smithsonian in 1926. An attached Patent Office tag reads: "No. 38,126 E. S. Ritchie. Mariner’s Compass. Patented Apl 7th 1863."
Ref: "Improved Ship’s Compass," Scientific American 11 (1864): 52.
"The Liquid Compass," Journal of the Franklin Institute 85 (1868): 218-221.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1863
maker
Ritchie, Edward S.
ID Number
PH.308535
catalog number
308535
patent number
38,126
accession number
89797
Theodore Ruggles Timby (1822-1909) was an American inventor with several hundred patents to his name, the most famous of which pertained to the rotating gun turret as used on the “Monitor” during the Civil War.
Description
Theodore Ruggles Timby (1822-1909) was an American inventor with several hundred patents to his name, the most famous of which pertained to the rotating gun turret as used on the “Monitor” during the Civil War. The first of his two barometer patents, issued in 1857, described an instrument in which the expansion of mercury with increase of temperature would not burst the tube. Scientific American praised Timby for having “succeeded in rendering this instrument perfectly portable,” going to predict “a speedy and universal adoption, especially among agriculturists, they more than any other class (save the mariners), need the counsel of this faithful monitor which leaves nothing to conjecture, but tells with promptness of the coming storm long before a threatening is visible in the sky.”
This example is marked “ALEXR MARSH SOLE PROPRIETORS and Manfs. For the UNITED STATES, OFFICE UNION BLOCK Worcester, Mass. TIMBY’S PATENT, Nov. 3rd 1857” as well as “The fall of the mercury indicates a STORM. The rise of the mercury indicates fair WEATHER.” The barometer scale extends from 27 to 31 inches of mercury. The attached alcohol-in-glass thermometer is graduated from -40 to +185 degrees Fahrenheit. It was probably made in the early 1860s.
Ref: Theodore R. Timby, “Barometer,” U.S. Patent 18,560 (1857).
“Another Important Step in Science,” Scientific American 14 (1858): 101.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860s
maker
Marsh, Alexander
ID Number
PH.329178
accession number
280311
catalog number
329178
Arthur Wadsworth received U.S. patent 55,750 for a stem-winding device for a watch on June 19, 1866. The Newark Watch Co., a short-lived firm operating between 1864 and 1869, made a small number of watches on Wadsworth’s design.
Description
Arthur Wadsworth received U.S. patent 55,750 for a stem-winding device for a watch on June 19, 1866. The Newark Watch Co., a short-lived firm operating between 1864 and 1869, made a small number of watches on Wadsworth’s design. Stem-winding and stem-setting watches gradually became practical and replaced those wound and set with a separate key.
Details:
Partial movement: regulator, plate engraved: “New York/1202/Arthur Wadsworth”; Partial silver case (no back) marked: “4470” on covers
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1866
patent date
1866-06-19
licensee
Wadsworth, Arthur
inventor
Wadsworth, Arthur
ID Number
ME.309022
catalog number
309022
patent number
55,750
accession number
89797
Spyglass used by the Confederate Army Signal Corps during the American Civil War. One inscription at the eye end reads “Negretti & Zambra Instrument Makers to Her Majesty, London.” Another reads “Signal Service / C. S. A. / NO. 6.”
Description
Spyglass used by the Confederate Army Signal Corps during the American Civil War. One inscription at the eye end reads “Negretti & Zambra Instrument Makers to Her Majesty, London.” Another reads “Signal Service / C. S. A. / NO. 6.”
date made
ca 1860
maker
Negretti & Zambra
ID Number
1988.0739.01
catalog number
1988.0739.01
accession number
1988.0739
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing four fish species in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images wer
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing four fish species in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images were engraved by W. H. Dougal after Joseph Drayton.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting four species of fish documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The illustrations were to be published in Volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1849
1862
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Drayton, Joseph
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
author
Agassiz, Louis
ID Number
1999.0145.435
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.435
Railroad managers learned that to have their lines run on time, they needed to issue accurate timepieces to their employees. This watch was made in 1869 by Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., under contract to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Description
Railroad managers learned that to have their lines run on time, they needed to issue accurate timepieces to their employees. This watch was made in 1869 by Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., under contract to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Outside case back is engraved "449," the number of the locomotive on which the watch was used. The "449" was a Baldwin 10-wheeler delivered to the railroad in July 1869.
The watch is an 18-size, 15-jewel key-wind movement in silver case. Movement marked: "B.W. Raymond / Patent Pinion / No. 69170 / Elgin, Ills." The B. W. Raymond model was named for Elgin’s first president, who also had been mayor of Chicago twice and president of the Elgin and State Line Railroad Co. Inside of dust cap marked: "7431." Inside of case back stamped: "J. R. Reed & Co. / Pitts / Coin / 7431." Dial reads: "PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO." Its steel winding key survives.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
manufacturer
Elgin National Watch Co.
ID Number
1982.0517.01
accession number
1982.0517
catalog number
1982.0517.01
serial number
69170
Following in his father’s footsteps, Edwin Kendall (b. 1812) manufactured thermometers in New Lebanon, New York. By the 1850s he was making aneroid barometers as well, and aiming his advertising at farmers. This example has a paper plate marked “ANEROID BAROMETER / E.
Description
Following in his father’s footsteps, Edwin Kendall (b. 1812) manufactured thermometers in New Lebanon, New York. By the 1850s he was making aneroid barometers as well, and aiming his advertising at farmers. This example has a paper plate marked “ANEROID BAROMETER / E. KENDALL / NEW LEBANON SPA. / N.Y.” The scale around the circumference extends from 24 to 32 inches of mercury, and is graduated to .02 inches. One hand indicates the current pressure, and the other a previous one.
Ref.: S.C. Turner, "The Kendall Family: Thermometer and Barometer Makers," Rittenhouse 7 (1992): 16-27.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860s
maker
Kendall, Edwin
ID Number
1990.0230.01
catalog number
1990.0230.01
accession number
1990.0230
This small clock from the early 1850s is unsigned, but its movement is likely from a Connecticut clock factory and its case is likely a product of the Litchfield Manufacturing Co., Litchfield, Conn.
Description
This small clock from the early 1850s is unsigned, but its movement is likely from a Connecticut clock factory and its case is likely a product of the Litchfield Manufacturing Co., Litchfield, Conn. The Litchfield firm was America’s first paper-mâché factory, founded by English immigrants in 1851 and eventually employing about 50 men and women. The firm used a patented British process for mother-of-pearl inlay to decorate an array of goods in addition to clock cases, including tables, card cases, fire screens, boxes, vases and ornamental hinges and clasps. The Litchfield firm failed after a merger in the mid-1850s that bankrupted its major supporter, showman P.T. Barnum.
This clock’s base is made of wood, the body is made of black papier-mâché, with mother-of-pearl inlay and painted images on front and gilt edge paint. The white enamel dial features Roman numerals. The brass movement has steel mainsprings, and the entire clock is covered with glass dome.
References:
DeVoe, Shirley Spaulding. "The Litchfield Manufacturing Company, makers of
japanned papier mache." Antiques, August 1960, 150-153.
Palmer, Brooks in “The Litchfield Manufacturing Company,” American Antiques
Journal, November 1949, 26-28.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850-1860
maker
Litchfield Manufacturing Co.
ID Number
1984.0416.095
catalog number
1984.0416.095
accession number
1984.0416
Edmund Brown (1800-about 1867) spent 20 years with Richard Patten in New York, as an apprentice in the shop at the Sign of the Compass Card, and then as a journeyman. In 1835, when Patten withdrew from the business, Brown and another employee took over the shop.
Description
Edmund Brown (1800-about 1867) spent 20 years with Richard Patten in New York, as an apprentice in the shop at the Sign of the Compass Card, and then as a journeyman. In 1835, when Patten withdrew from the business, Brown and another employee took over the shop. In 1841, Brown joined with Bush G. Brown, and began trading as E. Brown & Son. This partnership lasted until 1863. This vernier compass marked "E. Brown & Son, New York" dates from that period.
The compass has a variation arc on the north arm that extends 20 degrees either way. The vernier, moved by a tangent screw on the south arm, reads to single minutes. A level vial is on the south arm. The tangent screw and the decoration of the face (a circle of flowers and leaves) are typical features of New York compasses. The compass has two sets of vertical sights. The plain ones are probably original with the instrument. The others, which are graduated so that vertical angles can be read, are probably not.
One label in the box reads "E. BROWN & SON, MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENT MAKERS No. 27 Fulton Slip NEW YORK." The other label is that of Wm. J. Young & Sons of Philadelphia, a firm that may have repaired the compass and supplied the graduated sights.
Ref: Charles E. Smart, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Troy, N.Y., 1962), pp. 16-20.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841-1863
Associated Name
William J. Young and Sons
maker
Edmund Brown and Son
ID Number
PH.328752
catalog number
328752
accession number
308252

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.