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 44 items.
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Non-ductile Tungsten Lamp
- Description
- Thomas Edison and others considered element number 6, carbon, ideal for lamp filaments in part because it has the highest melting point of any element. Element number 74, tungsten, has the next highest melting point but it then existed only as a powder. Attempts to make it into a workable form failed until early in the 1900s when a burst of invention occurred in Europe. A pressing technique called "sintering" (squeezing a material into a dense mass) was adopted by several inventors.
- The most commercially successful design proved to be that of Dr. Alexander Just and Franz Hanaman of Austria. Their work on sintering tungsten was based on a prior sintering process developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach for his filament made of osmium. Just and Hanaman made a tungsten and organic paste, squirted it through a die, baked out the organic material, then sintered the tungsten in a mix of gasses. The resulting filament gave about 8 lumens per watt and lasted 800 hours.
- Another Austrian, Dr. Hans Kutzel, used an electric arc to make a tungsten and water paste. He then pressed, baked, and sintered the tungsten in a manner similar to Just and Hanaman's procedure. Yet another pair of Austrians, Fritz Blau and Hermann Remane, adapted the osmium lamp process (they worked for Welsbach) by making a filament from an osmium and tungsten mix. They soon changed their "Osram" lamp filament to tungsten only. (The German word for tungsten is wolfram.)
- All three filaments were brittle and collectively known as "non-ductile" filaments. Individual filaments could not be made long enough to give the proper electrical resistance, so lamps needed several filaments connected end-to-end. U.S. companies quickly licensed rights to all of the non-ductile patents. This particular lamp was made under license by General Electric and sent to the National Bureau of Standards for use as a standard lamp.
- Lamp characteristics: Medium-screw base with glass insulator. Five single-arch tungsten filaments (in series) with 5 upper and 8 lower support hooks. The stem assembly features soldered connectors, Siemens-type press seal, and a cotton insulator. Tipped, straight-sided envelope with taper at neck.
- Date made
- ca 1908
- date made
- ca. 1908
- maker
- General Electric
- ID Number
- 1992.0342.16
- catalog number
- 1992.0342.16
- accession number
- 1992.0342
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Standard Tungsten Lamp
- Description
- Irving Langmuir received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1906 from the University of Göttingen. He studied under Walther Nernst, who had invented a new type of incandescent lamp only a few years before. In 1909 Langmuir accepted a position at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. Ironically, he soon invented a lamp that made Nernst's lamp (and others) obsolete.
- Langmuir experimented with the bendable tungsten wire developed by his colleague William Coolidge. He wanted to find a way to keep tungsten lamps from "blackening" or growing dim as the inside of the bulb became coated with tungsten evaporated from the filament. Though he did not solve this problem, he did create a coiled-tungsten filament mounted in a gas-filled lamp—a design still used today.
- Up to that time all the air and other gasses were removed from lamps so the filaments could operate in a vacuum. Langmuir found that by putting nitrogen into a lamp, he could slow the evaporation of tungsten from the filament. He then found that thin filaments radiated heat faster than thick filaments, but the same thin filament–wound into a coil–radiated heat as if it were a solid rod the diameter of the coil. By 1913 Langmuir had gas–filled lamps that gave 12 to 20 lumens per watt (lpw), while Coolidge's vacuum lamps gave about 10 lpw.
- During the 1910s GE began phasing-in Langmuir's third generation tungsten lamps, calling them "Mazda C" lamps. Although today's lamps are different in detail (for example, argon is used rather than nitrogen), the basic concept is still the same. The lamp seen here was sent to the National Bureau of Standards in the mid 1920s for use as a standard lamp.
- Lamp characteristics: Brass medium-screw base with skirt and glass insulator. Two tungsten filaments (both are C9 configuration, mounted in parallel) with 6 support hooks and a support attaching each lead to the stem. The stem assembly includes welded connectors, angled-dumet leads, and a mica heat-shield attached to the leads above the press. The shield clips are welded to the press. Lamp is filled with nitrogen gas. Tipless, G-shaped envelope with neck.
- Date made
- ca 1925
- date made
- ca. 1925
- ID Number
- 1992.0342.23
- accession number
- 1992.0342
- catalog number
- 1992.0342.23
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Shilling Gradienter
- Description
- This instrument is marked "Geo. Shilling Washn D.C." and "U.S.G.S." It was made after 1882 when George Shilling opened his business, and before 1907 when the U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian. The horizontal circle and vertical arc are silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by verniers to single minutes. A level vial sits atop the telescope; another level vial sits on the horizontal circle. The inside of the lens cap is marked "U.S.G.S. No 2."
- maker
- Shilling, George
- ID Number
- PH*247906
- catalog number
- 247906
- accession number
- 47736
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Shilling Gradienter
- Description
- This instrument is marked "Geo. Shilling Washn D.C." and "U.S.G.S. No 4." It was made after 1882 when George Shilling started out in business, and before 1907 when the U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian. The horizontal circle and vertical arc are silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by verniers to single minutes. A level vial sits atop the telescope; a circular level sits on the horizontal circle, obscuring most of Shilling's signature.
- maker
- Shilling, George
- ID Number
- PH*247907
- catalog number
- 247907
- accession number
- 47736
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fauth Heliotrope (telescopic)
- Description
- This Instrument consists of a refracting telescope surmounted by a round mirror that can reflect a beam of light along the optical axis of the telescope. A screw base allows it to be attached to any tree or post. Fauth advertised a heliostat of this sort in 1877, describing it "As made by us for the United States Coast Survey." This example was made before 1887 when G. N. Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments. New, it cost $30. The U. S. Geological Survey was established in 1879, and transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1907. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C." and "U.S.G.S. No 6."
- Ref: Fauth, Catalogue of Astronomical and Surveying Instruments (Washington, D.C., 1877), p. 43.
- maker
- Fauth & Co.
- ID Number
- PH*247922
- catalog number
- 247922
- accession number
- 47736
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Kübel Theodolite
- Description
- Edward Kübel (1820-1896) was born in Bavaria, moved to Washington, D.C. around 1849, and went to work as foreman for William Würdemann. He went into business on his own in 1875, advertising that he "continues to manufacture the class of Astronomical and Geodetical Instruments formerly made by Mr. Würdemann." According to an account written in 1884, Kübel employed seven or eight skilled workmen, and his business was principally for the U. S. government.
- This instrument was made for the U. S. Geological Survey, which was organized in 1879. It was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1907. The inscriptions read "No. 172 Edward Kübel, Washington, DC" and "U.S.G.S. 8 IN No. 1." The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes, and read by opposite verniers and magnifiers to 20 seconds. The vertical circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes of arc, and read by vernier and magnifier to single minutes.
- Ref: Silvio Bedini, "Edward Kübel (1820-1896) Washington, D.C. Instrument Maker," Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 85 (1998): 247-279.
- date made
- 1879-1896
- maker
- Kübel, Edward
- ID Number
- PH*247971
- accession number
- 47736
- catalog number
- 247971
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fauth Theodolite
- Description
- G. N. Saegmuller described this as a "Four inch Theodolite, As furnished to the U. S. Government Surveys," and priced it at $300. This example was made after 1887 when Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and before 1905 when Fauth & Co. went out of business. The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1929. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, and read, with opposite verniers and magnifiers, to 30 seconds. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. No 966" and "U.S.C.&G.S. No. 160."
- Ref: George N. Saegmuller, Descriptive Price List of First Class Engineering & Astronomical Instruments (Washington, D.C., 1903), p. 41.
- maker
- Fauth & Co.
- ID Number
- PH*309664
- catalog number
- 309664
- accession number
- 106954
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Würdemann Level
- Description
- This unusual instrument is probably best described as a precise level with a graduated horizontal circle. The telescope is provided with a long and graduated level vial, and an ingenious clamp and tangent screw moving against the silvered vertical arc controls its elevation. This arc extends 20 degrees either way, and is graduated to 10 minutes and read by vernier to 20 seconds. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 15 minutes, and read by opposite verniers with reflecting glasses and magnifiers to 30 seconds. A trough compass and a circular level are mounted above the horizontal circle. The signature reads "Wm. Würdemann, Washington, D.C. 565."
- The U. S. War Department transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1931, in a pine box marked "Capt. M. C. Meigs, Washington Aqueduct -Wurdemann--Grading Transit--1854." It was used by Montgomery C. Meigs, the captain in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers who was tasked with surveying the course of a new Washington Aqueduct in 1853. Since William Würdemann was the leading mathematical instrument maker in Washington at that time, it is reasonable that he was asked to make instruments for this important task.
- maker
- Würdemann, William
- ID Number
- PH*310299
- accession number
- 115960
- catalog number
- 310299
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Kahler Geodetic Transit
- Description
- This transit was made in 1877 for the new John C. Green Astronomical Observatory at Princeton University, and resembles the instruments that Stackpole & Brother had made for the 1874 transit of Venus. It has a "broken" telescope that is viewed through one end of the horizontal axis, a micrometer eyepiece, a cast-iron base, and a mechanism that is used to lift and reverse the telescope. The vertical circle is silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to 10 seconds.
- The signature reads "No 145 EDWD KAHLER WASHINGTON, D.C." Edward Kahler (1832–1890) was born in Germany, and is listed in Washington, D.C., directories from 1869. Charles A. Young, the newly appointed astronomer at Princeton, carried on a lengthy correspondence with Kahler, repeatedly modifying the design even as the instrument was being built for the university's new observatory.
- Ref: Charles A. Young Papers, Princeton University Archives.
- maker
- Kahler, Edward
- ID Number
- PH*328709
- catalog number
- 328709
- accession number
- 275579
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Fauth Theodolite
- Description
- This 8–inch theodolite "especially adapted for triangulation" was made between 1887, when Saegmuller began putting serial numbers on Fauth instruments, and 1905, when Fauth & Co. went out of business. It is marked "FAUTH & CO. WASHN D.C. No 1993." The edge of the horizontal circle is beveled, graduated, and read by opposite micrometer microscopes to single seconds. It belonged to the University of Missouri at Columbia. New, it cost $450.
- Ref: George N. Saegmuller, Descriptive Price–List of First–Class Engineering & Astronomical Instruments (Washington, D.C., 1894), p. 50.
- maker
- Fauth & Co.
- ID Number
- PH*333630
- catalog number
- 333630
- accession number
- 300659
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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