| National Museum of American History

The Ritchie ledgers, now held by Ritchie Navigation, indicate that this compass was manufactured on August 11, 1877, and sold to T.S. & J.D. Negus, a New York firm that sold a variety of nautical and optical instruments. It later belonged to the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey.

Description: The Ritchie ledgers, now held by Ritchie Navigation, indicate that this compass was manufactured on August 11, 1877, and sold to T.S. & J.D. Negus, a New York firm that sold a variety of nautical and optical instruments. It later belonged to the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey. The inscriptions read "RITCHIE BOSTON U.S.A." and "PATENTED APL. 7. 1863. APL. 10, 1866. MAY 12, 1868. JULY 19, 1870" and "9786."; Ref: E. S. Ritchie & Sons, Ritchie’s Liquid Compasses and Nautical Instruments (ca. 1905).
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1877

maker: Ritchie

ID Number: PH.337138
catalog number: 337138
accession number: 1979.0361

There is no cartouche on this globe, but the texts on the horizon circle read: “IMPROVED GLOBE BOSTON” and “REFERENCES / Flamstead 46. Hevelius 24. Piazzi 180. LaCaille 1661. Nebulae. W. Herschell, J. Herschell, & J. Dunlop.” and “MANUFACTURED FOR H. B. NIMS & CO.

Description: There is no cartouche on this globe, but the texts on the horizon circle read: “IMPROVED GLOBE BOSTON” and “REFERENCES / Flamstead 46. Hevelius 24. Piazzi 180. LaCaille 1661. Nebulae. W. Herschell, J. Herschell, & J. Dunlop.” and “MANUFACTURED FOR H. B. NIMS & CO. / TROY N.Y.” and “THE EQUATION OF TIME” and “Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852 by Charles Copley, in / the Clerks office, of the District Court, of the Southern District, of New York” and “MAGNITUDES / First Magnitude. . . Ninth Nebulae” and “EXPLANATION. / Ancient Constellations . . . Modern . . .”; This globe has a short 4-leg wooden base, a wooden horizon circle and a brass meridian. The astronomical information on the horizon circle suggests that this element could be used for celestial as well as terrestrial globes.; Charles Copley (b. 1800) was a cartographer and engraver from England who became an American citizen in 1844 and lived in Brooklyn. He is best known for the pair of 16-inch globes that he introduced in 1852. Despite being extremely detailed, even to the point of obscurity, these globes won a gold medal at the 1852 fair of the American Institute in New York, and a first premium at the 1853 fair of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Copley’s globes would be revised from time to time, and marketed by other firms.; This example of Copley’s terrestrial globe contains revisions that would have been of particular interest to Americans: Alaska (1867) is shown, but Lake Victoria (1858) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (1848) are not. Other additions include isothermal lines, the Atlantic Cable, and various deep sea soundings which, as advertised, “are not laid down on any other globe.”; H. B. Nims & Co., the firm that marketed this example, was in business in Troy, N.Y., from 1869 to 1885 and again from 1890 to 1896, publishing and selling books and other school supplies. The globe was probably made by Gilman Joslin in Boston.; Ref: D. J. Warner, “The Geography of Heaven and Earth,” Rittenhouse 2 (1999): 54-55, 63-64, and 88-89.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1870

maker: Copley, Charles; Joslin, Gilman; H. B. Nims & Co.

ID Number: PH.327974
accession number: 270024
catalog number: 327974

A rectangular paulownia wood case has a red and white sticker on the right end marked: No. 45 (/) M. Inside the case are four bamboo rulers, three that are just over 12" (about 31 cm) long and one that is 2-1/4" (15.5 cm).

Description: A rectangular paulownia wood case has a red and white sticker on the right end marked: No. 45 (/) M. Inside the case are four bamboo rulers, three that are just over 12" (about 31 cm) long and one that is 2-1/4" (15.5 cm). A fifth rule is made of a darker wood, perhaps cherry.; The first rule is marked in Japanese: Made by Fujishima. It is also marked: 3000. The scales along both edges are identical, 30 cm long, divided to twentieths of a unit, and numbered by hundreds from 0 to 2,400. The back of the rule is stamped in red: METRE. It is also marked: 1 (/) 3000.; The second rule is made from a dark wood and is marked in Japanese: Made by Fujishima. The scales are identical and labeled: 1/16. They are divided to half-units and numbered by fives from 5 to 190. Each increment of five units is 5/16" (8 mm) long.; The third rule is marked in Japanese: Made by Fujishima. It is also marked: 1800. The scales along both edges are identical, 30 cm long, divided to single units, and numbered by tens from 0 to 540. The back of the rule is stamped in red: METRE. It is also marked: 1 (/) 1800. It is also marked: 5.; The fourth rule is marked in Japanese: Made by Fujishima. It is also marked: 1600. The scales along both edges are identical, 30 cm long, divided to single units, and numbered by tens from 0 to 480. The back of the rule is stamped in red: METRE. It is also marked: 1 (/) 1600. It is also marked: 6.; The scales on the fifth and shortest rule are 2" (5 cm) long, divided to single units, and numbered by tens from 0 to 40. The rule is marked on the back: 1/800. It is also stamped in red: 3.; These rules were likely used in engineering and architectural drawing. Compare to MA.261283, MA.261284, MA.261286, and MA.261287. The rules were exhibited by the Japanese Empire Department of Education at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. They then were displayed by the Museum of the U.S. Bureau of Education until 1906 and transferred to the Smithsonian National Museum in 1910. For more information, see MA.261298 and MA.261313.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: before 1876

maker: Fujishima

ID Number: MA.261285
catalog number: 261285
accession number: 51116

This watch, once owned by a woman, dates from about 1879.The Elgin National Watch Co. was founded in Elgin, Illinois, in 1864 at the end of the Civil War to compete with the American Waltham Watch Co.

Description: This watch, once owned by a woman, dates from about 1879.; The Elgin National Watch Co. was founded in Elgin, Illinois, in 1864 at the end of the Civil War to compete with the American Waltham Watch Co. In its early decades it helped to establish a robust American watch manufacturing industry, and, by the time it ceased operation in 1968, it had produced millions of watches.; The donor of this watch, George W. Spier, was custodian of the U.S. National Museum's watch collection. He was also founding president, beginning in 1921, of the American Horological Institute, an organization for professional watchmakers. Born in Germany, Spier was a well-known jeweler in Washington, D.C.; Details:; Movement: spring going barrel, ¾ plate, gilt finish, 6 size, 7 jewels hunting, stem wind and lever set, bimetallic compensation balance, straight lever escapement, regulator on bridge; marked: "Elgin National Watch Co./ Patent Pinion/ 597929"; Dial: white enamel with Roman numerals, blued steel hands, sunk Arabic numeral seconds at 6; marked “ELGIN” in decorative rectangle; Case: hunting style; monogrammed "C.H.S."; dust cap engraved: “Presented by her Brothers”; also marked with maker’s marks: “B.&T./18K/11105”
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1875

manufacturer: Elgin National Watch Co.

ID Number: ME.307399
patent number: 577929
catalog number: 307399
accession number: 68114

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

This compass–with six needles, and a flat card with central buoyancy–was Ritchie’s most successful design and was widely used by American merchant ships and the U.S. Navy. The Ritchie ledgers, now held by Ritchie Navigation, indicate that this example was manufactured on Jan.

Description: This compass–with six needles, and a flat card with central buoyancy–was Ritchie’s most successful design and was widely used by American merchant ships and the U.S. Navy. The Ritchie ledgers, now held by Ritchie Navigation, indicate that this example was manufactured on Jan. 5, 1873 and sold to one L. J. Sloane. The U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey acquired it in 1914, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1929. The inscriptions read "E. S. RITCHIE BOSTON. PATENTED SEPT. 9, 1862. APL. 7, 1863. MAY 12, 1868. July 19, 1870" and "6937" and "U.S.C.&G.S."; Ritchie’s patent of Sept. 9, 1862 (#36,422) described a liquid compass so designed that the liquid would not oxidize the magnet or card, and that the friction and wear of the pivot and its bearing was minimized. Ritchie obtained two patents on April 7, 1863. One (#38,125) described a needle enclosed in an air-tight metallic case; the other (#38,126) described a liquid compass that could be read at a distance so it would not be affected by any iron on or about the deck of a ship. Ritchie’s patent of May 12, 1868 (#77,763) described a paint that would not deteriorate in the liquid in the compass. His patent of July 19, 1870 (#105,492) described a way to hold the glass in place with a water-tight joint..; Ref: E. S. Ritchie & Sons, Ritchie’s Liquid Compasses and Nautical Instruments (ca. 1905).; T. S. & J. D. Negus, Illustrated Catalogue of Nautical Instruments (New York, n.d.), p. 204.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1873

maker: Ritchie, Edward S.

ID Number: PH.309656
catalog number: 309656
accession number: 106954

Benjamin Theophilus Moore, a British mathematician and engineer who conducted hydraulic experiments on the Nile in 1873, submitted this model of a water current meter to the U.S. Patent Office in 1875.Ref: Benjamin T. Moore, “Improvement in Ships’ Logs,” U.S.

Description: Benjamin Theophilus Moore, a British mathematician and engineer who conducted hydraulic experiments on the Nile in 1873, submitted this model of a water current meter to the U.S. Patent Office in 1875.; Ref: Benjamin T. Moore, “Improvement in Ships’ Logs,” U.S. Patent 169,024 (1875).; Benjamin T. Moore, On a Current Meter, a Deep-Sea Current Indicator, and an Improved Ship’s Log (London 1876).; Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), p. 68.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1875

ID Number: PH.308551
accession number: 89797
catalog number: 308551
patent number: 169,024

Wm. J. Young & Sons (fl. 1870-1881) used a simple transit instrument of this sort as their logo, placing it on their advertisements and on the front cover of their Manual and Price List of Engineering and Mathematical Instruments. The inscription on this example reads "Wm. J.

Description: Wm. J. Young & Sons (fl. 1870-1881) used a simple transit instrument of this sort as their logo, placing it on their advertisements and on the front cover of their Manual and Price List of Engineering and Mathematical Instruments. The inscription on this example reads "Wm. J. Young & Sons 4648 Philadelphia." The serial number dates from 1872. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated into 30 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers. One vernier reads to single minutes, and the other reads to 1/100 of a degree.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1872

maker: William J. Young and Sons

ID Number: 1985.0800.01
accession number: 1985.0800
catalog number: 1985.0800.01

In this curious instrument, a terrestrial globe sits inside a glass sphere on which the stars and constellations have been painted. This, in turn, is mounted on a decorative cast-zinc base.

Description: In this curious instrument, a terrestrial globe sits inside a glass sphere on which the stars and constellations have been painted. This, in turn, is mounted on a decorative cast-zinc base. The cartouche on the terrestrial globe reads: “IMPROVEMENT IN / CELESTIAL & TERRESTRIAL / GLOBES / PATENTED BY H. WILLIAMSON / NEW YORK. DEC. 3, 1867 / Sold by HARPER & BROTHERS / Franklin Square, N.Y.” The words “PATENTED / DEC. 3, 1867 / No 85” and “G. C. WESSMANN / NEW YORK / MAKER” appear on a brass band that circles the terrestrial globe. New, this item cost $75.; Hugh Williamson of New York City obtained a patent (#71,830) for a concentric globe in 1867, and a second prize at the American Institute fair of 1869.; Ref: Hugh Williamson, A Manual of Problems of the Globes, Designed as an Accompaniment to Williamson’s Patent Concentric Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (New York, 1868).; D. J. Warner, “The Geography of Heaven and Earth,” Rittenhouse 2 (1988): 134-135.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1870

maker: G. C. Wessmann
inventor: Williamson, Hugh

ID Number: 1989.0447.01
catalog number: 1989.0447.01
accession number: 1989.0447

This sextant is somewhat unusual in that it has a brass frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory (rather than metal) scale. This scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +125° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 30 seconds of arc.

Description: This sextant is somewhat unusual in that it has a brass frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory (rather than metal) scale. This scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +125° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 30 seconds of arc. The "Spencer Browning & Co., London" inscription on the arc refers to a firm that was in business from 1840 to 1870.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1840-1870

maker: Spencer, Browning & Co.

ID Number: 1981.0942.01
catalog number: 1981.0942.01
accession number: 1981.0942

In the late 1840s, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, a noted German mathematician and astronomer, designed a pendulum that was invariable and reversible.

Description: In the late 1840s, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, a noted German mathematician and astronomer, designed a pendulum that was invariable and reversible. Repsold in Hamburg began making pendulums of this sort in the early 1860s, and the International Association of Geodesy unanimously recommended their use. At the urging of Charles Sanders Peirce, the U.S. Coast Survey ordered one of these instruments in 1872. While in Europe in 1875, Peirce took possession of the pendulum, and swung it in Geneva, Paris, Berlin, and the Kew Observatory near London. Back in the United States, he swung it again at the Stevens Institute, in Hoboken, New Jersey.; The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as it had become) transferred the remains of this important instrument to the Smithsonian in 1955. They include three vertical rods of the tripod; the vertical member that once held a graduated scale; the vertical member that once held a telescope for viewing the scale; and one other small piece.; Ref: Victor Lenzen and Robert Multhauf, "Development of Gravity Pendulums in the 19th Century," United States National Museum Bulletin 240 (1965): 301-348.; [C. S. Peirce], "Measurements of Gravity at Initial Stations in America and Europe," Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Year Ending with June 1876, app. 15.; Joh. A. Repsold, Zur Geschichte der Astronomischen Messwerkzeuge von 1830 bis um 1900 (Leipzig, 1914), vol. 2, p. 27.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1875

maker: Repsold

ID Number: PH.314638
accession number: 208213
catalog number: 314638

Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +107° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc.The "R. L.

Description: Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +107° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc.; The "R. L. Shaw New York" inscription is that of Robert Ludlow Shaw (1813-1876), one of the first Americans to manufacture octants, sextants, and other nautical instruments. At the American Institute Fair of 1841 he won a gold medal for work done with his large dividing engine "of the celebrated Ramsden construction, the same as is used by the London manufacturers," the president of the American Institute intoning that "it was no longer necessary to send to a foreign country to procure Nautical Instruments, as they could now have them made at home as good, and at as low prices as they could be had from abroad."; Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "American Octants and Sextants: The Early Years," Rittenhouse 3 (1989): 86-112, on 108.; Anne Preuss and Don Treworgy, "Robert Ludlow Shaw," Rittenhouse 2 (1988): 65-69.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1845-1876

maker: Shaw, Robert Ludlow

ID Number: 1995.0035.01
accession number: 1995.0035
catalog number: 1995.0035.01

This transit marked "Stackpole & Bro. New York 1504" is one of eight identical instruments that the firm made for the United States expeditions to observe the 1874 transit of Venus across the face of the sun.

Description: This transit marked "Stackpole & Bro. New York 1504" is one of eight identical instruments that the firm made for the United States expeditions to observe the 1874 transit of Venus across the face of the sun. It has a "broken" telescope that is viewed through one end of the horizontal axis, a graduated vertical circle, a cast-iron base, and a mechanism for lifting and reversing the telescope.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1873

maker: Stackpole and Brother

ID Number: PH.327719
maker number: 1504
accession number: 283654
catalog number: 327719

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

The semicircle of this graphometer is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, numbered clockwise and counterclockwise, and read by verniers at either end of the alidade to single minutes.

Description: The semicircle of this graphometer is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, numbered clockwise and counterclockwise, and read by verniers at either end of the alidade to single minutes. An inscription reads "Secretan à Paris." 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.; Marc François Secretan (1804–1867) went into partnership with N. M. P. Lerebours in Paris in 1844, and became the sole proprietor of the shop in 1855. The shop offered a wide range of scientific apparatus, showed its wares at several international exhibitions, and was still in business in 1930.; Ref: Paolo Brenni, "Lerebours et Secretan," Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 40 (March 1994): 3–6
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1870

owner: Mount St. Mary's College
maker: Secretan, Marc Francois

ID Number: PH.326108
catalog number: 326108
accession number: 257245

Stillman P. Campbell was an itinerant doctor who invented several quite unrelated devices. While living in Buffalo in 1867, he obtained a patent (#66,791) for a hand-cranked orrery in which the Earth with its moon moved in an elliptical orbit around a gas-jet Sun.

Description: Stillman P. Campbell was an itinerant doctor who invented several quite unrelated devices. While living in Buffalo in 1867, he obtained a patent (#66,791) for a hand-cranked orrery in which the Earth with its moon moved in an elliptical orbit around a gas-jet Sun. The Tellurian Manufacturing Co. of Hartford obtained the rights for this patent and showed “the improved Campbell tellurian” at the American Institute fair of 1870. This tellurian was available in two sizes: 18 inches diameter with a 3-inch globe, and 36 inches diameter with a 6-inch globe.; This example is of the larger size. Its octagonal wooden box is marked “TELLURION / Patented July 16th 1867 / Dr. S. P. CAMPBELL”; Ref: An Epitome of Astronomy, Arranged to Assist in the Manipulation and Understanding of Campbell’s Tellurian (Hartford, 1870).; D. J. Warner, “The Geography of Heaven and Earth,” Rittenhouse 2 (1988): 52.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1870

maker: Campbell, Stillman P.; Tellurian Manufacturing Co.

ID Number: PH.334912
accession number: 315268
catalog number: 334912

This is one of eight dip circles that Edward Kahler made for the American expeditions sent to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the sun in 1874. It is marked "106." The vertical circle is graduated to 20 minutes.

Description: This is one of eight dip circles that Edward Kahler made for the American expeditions sent to observe the transit of Venus across the face of the sun in 1874. It is marked "106." The vertical circle is graduated to 20 minutes. The horizontal circle is graduated to 30 minutes and read by vernier to single minutes. Both are silvered.; Ref: Steve Dick, Sky and Ocean Joined (Cambridge, 2002), p. 250.
Location: Currently not on view

Date made: ca 1874

maker: Kahler

ID Number: PH.327714
catalog number: 327714
accession number: 283554

Henri Victor Regnault, professor of physics at the College de France in Paris, described this type of instrument in 1845.

Description: Henri Victor Regnault, professor of physics at the College de France in Paris, described this type of instrument in 1845. It consists of a brass stand; a silver tube into which ether is poured and through which air can be made to pass; a thermometer to take the temperature of the ether; and another to measure the ambient air.; This example has two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each of which has a milk-white back marked "Jas. Green. 175 Grand St. New York." The clear front of one is graduated every ½ degree Fahrenheit from -15 to +130. The clear front of the other is graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -10 to +120. It was made between 1849 and 1875 when James Green was working at this address in New York City. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.; Ref: H. V. Regnault, "Études sur l'hygrométrie," Annales de Chimie et de Physique 15 (1845): 129-236, on 196-201.; Negretti & Zambra, Treatise on Meteorological Instruments (London, 1864), pp. 104-105.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1849-1875

maker: Green, James

ID Number: PH.316419
accession number: 223721
catalog number: 316419

Most nineteenth century American clocks were cheaply made for the mass market and domestic use.

Description: Most nineteenth century American clocks were cheaply made for the mass market and domestic use. But a few firms made finely finished precision clocks for applications where accuracy was vital: determining the time of scientific observations, for example, or regulating other clocks and watches. One such firm was E. Howard and Company of Boston, specialists in quality clocks, watches and scales since 1842.; This high-quality clock, made by the firm in 1874, distributed Philadelphia time for the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company in that city. Subscribers to the firm’s service of telegraphed gold prices and stock quotations could also receive a time service to set their clocks. Fitted to the mechanical movement of this Howard timepiece are assemblies that interrupt an electric telegraph circuit to indicate every half minute, full minute, five minutes and the hour.; Before 1883, towns across the nation set their own times by observing the position of the sun, so there were hundreds of local times. Instead of Eastern Standard Time, for example, there was Philadelphia Standard Time or Charleston Standard Time. Beginning in the 1850s, railroads operated on regional times, each set to an agreed-upon, arbitrary standard time. By the 1880s, there were about fifty such regional railroad times.; In November 1883, most North American railroads voluntarily agreed to adopt a standardized railway time based on zones, a system from which the time zones in use today originated.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1874
associated date: 1874

associated institution: Allegheny Observatory; Gold and Stock Telegraph Company
associated person: Bentley, Henry
manufacturer: E. Howard & Co.

ID Number: ME.333468.01
catalog number: 333468.01
accession number: 294351

Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb, and scale that extends from -38 to +20 degrees Centigrade. The inscription on the milk-white back reads “Centigrade C. Gerhardt, Bonn No.

Description: Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb, and scale that extends from -38 to +20 degrees Centigrade. The inscription on the milk-white back reads “Centigrade C. Gerhardt, Bonn No. 1940.” There is a hinged, black paper case.; Carl Gerhardt began making laboratory apparatus in 1872. This thermometer was used by chemists at the Johns Hopkins University, and may date from soon after the establishment of that school in 1876.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: ca 1876

maker: C. Gerhardt

ID Number: CH.315873
catalog number: 315873
accession number: 221777

This is an incomplete example (the arms are missing) of an unusual 4–armed instrument. The needle rim is graduated to 30 minutes. The variation scale, at south, extends ± 20 degrees, and is read by vernier to single minutes. The “F.

Description: This is an incomplete example (the arms are missing) of an unusual 4–armed instrument. The needle rim is graduated to 30 minutes. The variation scale, at south, extends ± 20 degrees, and is read by vernier to single minutes. The “F. Arnold & Co.” inscription refers to Francis Arnold, an immigrant from Frankfurt, Germany, who signed naturalization papers in Philadelphia in 1854. After working briefly for William J. Young, Arnold went into business on his own, advertising as a manufacturer of surveying and engineering instruments. He settled in Chicago around 1860. By 1875, B. Kratzenstein was advertising as Successor to F. Arnold & Co.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1850-1875

maker: F. Arnold & Co.

ID Number: PH.335531
catalog number: 335531
accession number: 321714

How do you know you are running a temperature? Do you feel hot or do you feel cold? There are many ways to determine body temperature.

Description: How do you know you are running a temperature? Do you feel hot or do you feel cold? There are many ways to determine body temperature. A hand placed on the forehead can indicate someone is hot or "feverish." For a more accurate measurement of someone's temperature, you need a clinical thermometer. Mouth,axilla (armpit), ear, and rectal are some of the different types of clinical thermometers.; Clinical thermometers for measuring body temperature were introduced in the 17th century. But, they did not become an integral part of the physician's armamentarium until after the American Civil War.; Early clinical thermometers were thin tubes of glass containing mercury, mounted to a rectangular piece of ivory or wood. The calibration, or graduated scale, was engraved into the mount.; This axilla thermometer was sold by Francis Arnold, of Baltimore, Maryland. Arnold was listed as a surgical instrument maker on South Sharp Street in the Baltimore City Directory from 1845 to 1874.
Location: Currently not on view

Date made: 1845-1874

retailer: Arnold, Francis
maker: Arnold, Francis

ID Number: MG.302606.030
accession number: 302606
catalog number: 302606.030

This sextant belonged to Columbia University in New York, and probably dates from the 1870s.The frame is brass. The silvered scale is graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +175° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds of arc.

Description: This sextant belonged to Columbia University in New York, and probably dates from the 1870s.The frame is brass. The silvered scale is graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +175° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds of arc. The inscriptions read "Stackpole & Brother New York" and "1765."; The sextant also has a small bubble level on the index arm. William Harkness, the American astronomer who introduced this feature, said that it "proved a very great convenience and saved much time and trouble."; Ref: "Report of Professor William Harkness, U.S.N.," in B. F. Sands, ed., Reports on Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869 (Washington, D.C., 1870), p.30.; Deborah J. Warner, "American Octants and Sextants: The Early Years," Rittenhouse 3 (1989): 86-112, on 108-109.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1870s

maker: Stackpole & Brother

ID Number: PH.335212
accession number: 317998
catalog number: 335212

This chart represents the area around a group of small Japanese islands. The American squadron that sailed to the Far East under the leadership of Commodore Matthew C. Perry found these waters to be particularly treacherous.

Description: This chart represents the area around a group of small Japanese islands. The American squadron that sailed to the Far East under the leadership of Commodore Matthew C. Perry found these waters to be particularly treacherous. The United States North Pacific Surveying Expedition created a chart of the area in 1855. This Navy Hydrographic Office published this version of that chart in 1873.; This chart extends from 26°02' to 26°20' north latitude and from 127°07' to 127°43' longitude east from Greenwich. The texts read “U.S. NORTH PACIFIC SURVEYING EXPEDITION / Lieut. JOHN RODGERS, U.S.N., Comdg” and “By the /Vincennes, John Hancock and Fenimore Cooper. / 1855.” The texts at bottom read “Projected by E. R. Knorr. Views by Edwd M. Kern” and “Reduced by Louis Waldeker” and “Corrected March 1873 at the Hydrographic Office, Washington, D.C. / R. H. Wyman, Commo. U.S.N. Hydrographer to the Bureau of Navigation.” One inset view shows False Capstan Head; another shows False Capstan Head, North Fort and South Fort; and another shows Saki Fidja, Range Hill, and Capstan Head.; Ernest R. Knorr was the Chief Engineer Cartographer of the Hydrographic Office from 1860 to 1885. Edward Meyer Kern (1823-1863) was an artist who went on the North Pacific Exploring Expedition. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Von Egloffstein (1824-1885) was a German topographer who emigrated to the United States in 1849, worked for several major exploring expeditions, developed an early method of photomechanical printing suitable for relief maps, and received a patent on the process in 1865.; The text at bottom right reads “In preparing the topography from the curves and views on file, a plaster model was made and photographed. Maikirima and Assa Ids are heliographic etchings. The rest are transfers of photographs by hand. A tint was ruled over the whole to aid the high lights. Model and Engraving by Frhr F. W. von Egloffstein.”; 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 Frederick Wilhelm von Egloffstein,” Printing History 15 (1993): 12-24.
Location: Currently not on view

date made: 1873

ID Number: PH.317505
catalog number: 317505
accession number: 230397

Measuring & Mapping

Liquid Compass

Copley 16-Inch Terrestrial Globe

Set of 5 Japanese Scale Rules Signed Fujishima

Watch, Elgin National Watch Co.

MAP OF / EXPLORATION AND SURVEYS / NEW MEXICO AND UTAH / made under the direction of the / SECRETARY OF WAR / by / CAPT. J. N. MACOMB TOPL ENGRS / assisted by / C. H. DIMMOCK, C. ENGR / 1860

Ritchie Liquid Compass

Water Current Meter

Surveyor's Transit

Williamson 7-Inch Concentric Globe, Terrestrial and Celestial

Sextant

Gravity Pendulum

Octant

Geodetic Transit

Surveyor's Transit

Graphometer

Tellurian

Dip Circle

Regnault Hygrometer

Howard Regulator

Thermometer

Surveyor's Vernier Compass

Clinical Axila Thermometer

Sextant

AMAKIRIMA GROUP / WITH /PART OF LOO-CHOO