Measuring & Mapping

Vernier Compass

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.

Place: England

Box Sextant

A box (or pocket) sextant works like a traditional sextant, but here the mechanism is enclosed in a brass box of about 3 inches diameter. William Jones, a leading instrument maker in London, introduced the form in 1797.This example was probably made around 1900.
Description
A box (or pocket) sextant works like a traditional sextant, but here the mechanism is enclosed in a brass box of about 3 inches diameter. William Jones, a leading instrument maker in London, introduced the form in 1797.
This example was probably made around 1900. New, it cost $40. The silvered scale is graduated every 30 minutes from -5° to +150° and read by vernier with swinging magnifier to single minutes of arc. The inscription reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. N.Y. MADE IN ENGLAND."
Ref: William Jones, "Description of a New Pocket Box Sextant," in George Adams, Geometrical and Graphical Essays, 2nd ed. by William Jones, (London, 1797), pp. 283-285.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1906), p. 415.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
associated person
Keuffel, William J. D.
Esser, Herman
dealer
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333639
accession number
300659
catalog number
333639

Surveyor's Vernier Compass

This "Bate London" inscription on this unusual surveyors compass refers to the London instrument maker, Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847). The outer edge of the face is graduated to 10 degrees, and numbered from north and south.
Description
This "Bate London" inscription on this unusual surveyors compass refers to the London instrument maker, Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847). The outer edge of the face is graduated to 10 degrees, and numbered from north and south. The rim is graduated to single degrees, numbered counterclockwise from north, and read by vernier to 6 minutes.
Unlike most vernier compasses, this one has no variation arc. And unlike most surveyor's compasses, here the sight vanes are attached to the arms, and the arms screw onto the compass box. A level vial is also mounted below the compass box, and a socket, so that the compass can be used with a jacob staff.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Bate, Robert Brettell
ID Number
PH.319793.1
accession number
239772
catalog number
319793.1

Sir Sandford Fleming's Pocketwatch

This watch belonged to Sir Sandford Fleming, chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Description
This watch belonged to Sir Sandford Fleming, chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway. About 1880, Fleming devised a plan for worldwide time zones and had a complicated watch made to reflect both zoned time and local time.
The maker of Fleming's watch is the London firm of Nicole, Nielsen & Co. Successor to a business founded by Swiss immigrants Adolphe Nicole and Jules Capt in the late 1830s, the firm made high-quality timepieces. Fleming ordered the watch through retailer E. White, also of London.
Fleming's first notions about time reform emerged on a trip to Ireland in 1876, when he missed a train because he misread a timetable. His initial plan concentrated on replacing the two twelve-hour designations of the day, A.M. and P.M., with a twenty-four hour system. Almost immediately, though, he expanded his ideas about time reform to propose a system he called variously "Terrestrial Time," "Cosmopolitan Time," and "Cosmic Time"-a division of the globe into twenty-four zones, each one hour apart and identified by letters of the alphabet.
As the 1880s began there was no binding international agreement about how to keep time for the world. Traditionally, each country used its own capital city or main observatory for measuring time and designating lines of longitude on national maps. After publication of the British Nautical Almanac began in 1767, many nations came to use Greenwich time for navigation and some scientific observations. Local mean time served for all other activities.
Added emphasis on Greenwich had come from North America when the railroads there voluntarily adopted a standard zoned time in 1883. In that system, the zones were based on meridians counted west from Greenwich, England, at zero degree of longitude.
Fleming was not the first or only proponent of world standard time. Quirico Filopanti, an Italian mathematics and engineering professor, for example, published a scheme based on twenty-four zones counted from Rome as prime meridian in 1858.
Organized international support emerged slowly for fixing a common prime meridian. Not until October 1884 did diplomats and technical specialists gather to act on scientific proposals. The International Meridian Conference, held in Washington, DC, recommended that the nations of the world establish a prime meridian at Greenwich, count longitude east and west from the prime meridian up to 180 degrees in each direction, and adopt a universal day beginning at Greenwich at midnight. Although the International Meridian Conference had no authority to enforce its suggestions, the meeting resulted in the gradual worldwide adoption of a time-zone based system with Greenwich as zero degrees.
The military and some civilian science, aviation and navigation efforts still use alphabet identifiers for time zones. The time of day in Zone Z is known as "Zulu Time." The zone is governed by the zero degree of longitude that runs through Greenwich.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1880
maker
Nicole, Nielsen & Co.
ID Number
1990.0659.01
catalog number
1990.0659.01
accession number
1990.0659

Révy Water Current Meter

“Messrs.
Description
“Messrs. Elliott Bros., of London, made our meters, and are acquainted with all requirements: they charge about ten guineas for the complete instrument.” So wrote Julien John Révy, an Austrian civil engineer living in England, in his 1874 account of his survey of the Panama and Uruguay rivers in South America.
Elliott Bro. showed a Révy water current meter at the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Instruments held in London in 1876, noting that it was made “for measuring the velocity of currents in large rivers.” The firm went on to explain that “The spherical boss is so determined that it will displace just as much water, as to weight, as will balance the weight of all the parts which are fixed to the spindle, so as to reduce friction to a minimum. Although the apparatus is covered with glass, it has to be filled, before using it, with pure water to establish similarity of pressure inside and outside. After every experiment the water is removed and the spindle thoroughly dried.”
This example is marked “Elliott Bros. London.” The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916.
William Elliott began in business in London in the early 1800s, making and selling mathematical instruments. Following his death in 1853, his sons, Frederick and Charles, began trading as Elliott Brothers, and were soon offering a wide range of instruments for engineering and industry. The Elliotts’ involvement with water current meters probably began in 1856 when they acquired Watkins & Hill, a London firm that made meters according to the designs introduced by Joseph Saxton in 1836. Elliott Brothers was absorbed into what became BAE Systems in 1988. Its archives are now in the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.
Ref: J. J. Révy, Hydraulics of Great Rivers (London and New York, 1874), appendix, “The Improved Current Meter, and Its Applications.”
Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus (London, 1876), p. 77.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 50-51.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874-1916
maker
Elliott Brothers
ID Number
PH.289646
accession number
59263
catalog number
289646

Liquid Compass

This compass has a black metal bowl gimbal mounted in a mahogany box. The inscriptions read "DEAD BEAT" "C.B. PATENT" "No 11904" "HUSUN," and H. HUGHES & SON, LTD LONDON, PATD GT BRIT.
Description
This compass has a black metal bowl gimbal mounted in a mahogany box. The inscriptions read "DEAD BEAT" "C.B. PATENT" "No 11904" "HUSUN," and H. HUGHES & SON, LTD LONDON, PATD GT BRIT. No 127135."
Hughes trade literature describes this form as having been "especially designed for the navigation of Yachts and Motor Craft, the rapid movements of which demand a compass of exceptional steadiness and sensitivity." To that end, it has a special expansion chamber that "precludes the formation of bubbles in the liquid." The needles are short, and made of cobalt-steel. The card is printed "by a new photographic process that eliminates discoloration." And patented damping filaments ensure the steadiness of the card.
British Patent #127,135 describes an "Aperiodic Magnetic Compass" made by attaching to the magnetic needle filaments of glass, wire, or other suitable non-magnetic material. This patent was granted in 1919 to George Campbell and Geoffrey Bennett, both of the Compass Department of the British Admiralty.
H. Hughes & Son, Ltd. was in business, as such, from 1903 to 1947.
Ref: Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd., Husun "Dead-Beat" Compasses for Yachts (London, 1939).
H. L. Hitchins and W. E. May, From Lodestone to Gyro-Compass (New York, 1953), pp.150-152.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1919-1947
maker
H. Hughes & Son, Ltd.
ID Number
PH.337074
accession number
1979.0026
catalog number
337074

Zenith Telescope

Marked "Troughton & Simms, London, 1849" and "U. S. C. S. Z. T. No. 4,” this is the last of four zenith telescopes that Troughton & Simms made for the U. S. Coast Survey.
Description
Marked "Troughton & Simms, London, 1849" and "U. S. C. S. Z. T. No. 4,” this is the last of four zenith telescopes that Troughton & Simms made for the U. S. Coast Survey. It arrived in the United States in 1849, and was used for the determination of latitude by the Talcott method. .
When the Survey agreed join in the variation of latitude (polar motion) program organized by the International Geodetic Association, and found that no other instruments were available, it decided to have zenith telescopes No. 2 and No. 4 "remodeled at the Survey Office." Edwin Smith, chief of the Instrument Division, explained that "every precaution" was taken to make these instruments "as perfect as possible under the circumstances." The new features included: base and leveling screws; vertical axis; wyes for horizontal axis of telescope, with adjustment for level; larger horizontal axis for the telescope; new micrometer screw and reconstruction of micrometer box and slide; improved clamp to telescope; two fine levels attached to telescope; and a striding level for the telescope axis. The whole instrument was polished and bronzed, and provided with electric lamps and batteries "for illumination of telescope field, the reading of levels, etc." Zenith telescope No. 2 was used in Hawaii in 1891–1892, while zenith telescope No. 4 was used at Rockville, Md.
Ref: [E. Smith], "On the Variation of Latitude at Rockville, Md., as Determined from Observations Made in 1891 and 1892 in Cooperation with the International Geodetic Association," United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1892, Appendix No. 1, pp. 4–5, with illustration.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Troughton and Simms
ID Number
PH.316660
catalog number
316660
accession number
226636

Aneroid Barometer

The inscriptions on the face of this barometer read “J.W. Queen & Co. PHILADELPHIA” and U.S.G.S. No 197.” The U.S.
Description
The inscriptions on the face of this barometer read “J.W. Queen & Co. PHILADELPHIA” and U.S.G.S. No 197.” The U.S. Geological Survey was established in 1879.
The pressure scale around the circumference of the face of this barometer reads from 17.5 to 31 inches of mercury; the altitude scale reads from zero to 3,000 feet. Despite the inscription, this instrument was probably made in London. James W. Queen & Co., the Philadelphia firm that sold it, referred to it as a Pocket Mountain Aneroid compensated for temperature, with altitude scale to 3000 feet.
Ref: J. W. Queen & Co., Mathematical and Engineering Instruments and Materials (Philadelphia, [1880]), p. 179.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
PH.247926
catalog number
247926
accession number
47736

Maximum Thermometer

Phillips-type mercury-in-glass thermometer attached to a white porcelain plate on a wooden board that is designed to be hung horizontally. The plate is marked "MAXIMUM" and "L. CASELLA, Maker to the Admiralty & Ordnance, LONDON" and "12975" and is graduated every 5 degrees F.
Description
Phillips-type mercury-in-glass thermometer attached to a white porcelain plate on a wooden board that is designed to be hung horizontally. The plate is marked "MAXIMUM" and "L. CASELLA, Maker to the Admiralty & Ordnance, LONDON" and "12975" and is graduated every 5 degrees F. from -25 to +130. The thermometer has a spherical bulb; the back of the stem is milk white; the front of the stem is marked "12975" and is graduated (but not numbered) every degree (presumably Fahrenheit) from -26 to +130. Casella trade literature notes that this thermometer was designed "for registration of temperature in shade," that the thermometer was "engine divided on the stem," and that the "improved" porcelain plate "effectively resisted "frost and all effects of weather."
As in the form described in 1832 by John Phillips, a British geologist, this thermometer has a small air bubble near the top of the mercury column. As the temperature rises, the detached bit of the mercury is pushed up; and this bit remains in place when the temperature falls.
This example was owned by John William Draper or one of his sons, all of whom were accomplished men of science.
Ref: D. J. Warner, "Casella and Phillips' Maximum Thermometers for Meteorology and Medicine," Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 115 (2012): 36-38.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860-1897
maker
L. P. Casella
ID Number
PH.334276
accession number
304826
catalog number
334276

Mercury Barometer

In 1854, in the interest of safety and economy, the British Parliament authorized the establishment of a uniform system of meteorological observations at sea and the formation of a Meteorological Office within the Board of Trade.
Description
In 1854, in the interest of safety and economy, the British Parliament authorized the establishment of a uniform system of meteorological observations at sea and the formation of a Meteorological Office within the Board of Trade. Under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy, the Met Office issued a call for a barometer suitable for use by the Royal Navy. Patrick Adie got the contract, and the Kew Observatory tested each barometer before it was sent out. Matthew F. Maury, director of the U.S. Naval Observatory, reported in 1855 that he had ordered many barometers of this sort for the U.S. Navy.
This example is marked “ADIE, LONDON No 1711” and “SIGNAL SERVICE U.S. ARMY For Comparison of Barometers for International Simultaneous Meteorological Reports.” It may have been acquired by the Signal Service soon after the start of a weather service in 1870; it was last calibrated by the Weather Bureau in 1970.
Ref.: Sara Dry, “Fishermen and Forecasts: How Barometers Helped Make the Meteorological Department Safer in Victorian Britain,” Center for Analysis of Risk and Regulation Discussion Paper 46 (2007).
M.F. Maury, Explanation and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts (Philadelphia, 1855), p. 639.
Report of the Chief Signal Officer to the Secretary of War for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1881, p. 1128.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1854-1886
maker
Adie, Patrick
ID Number
PH.333823
accession number
304553
catalog number
333823

A New MAP / of VIRGINIA from the best authorities: / by T. Kitchin Geogr

Thomas Kitchin (1718-1784) was an English engraver and cartographer, many of whose maps were published in the London Magazine. This one appeared in the issue for November 1761. It extends from lat.
Description
Thomas Kitchin (1718-1784) was an English engraver and cartographer, many of whose maps were published in the London Magazine. This one appeared in the issue for November 1761. It extends from lat. 36°10' to 39°55' north, and from 75°40' to 82°25' west of London; and from 0° to 7° west of Philadelphia. The text at top reads “For the Lond: Ma;” It would have been of interest to readers following the course of the French and Indian Wars.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1761
ID Number
PH.317828
catalog number
317828
accession number
231759

Telescope

This telescope has an achromatic objective, a five-element erecting eyepiece, a ten-sided wood tube with brass couplings that breaks down into three sections, and a tin-plated case covered with leather. It was probably made in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Description
This telescope has an achromatic objective, a five-element erecting eyepiece, a ten-sided wood tube with brass couplings that breaks down into three sections, and a tin-plated case covered with leather. It was probably made in the second half of the eighteenth century. The inscription reads "Dollond LONDON."
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Dollond
ID Number
PH.325413
catalog number
325413
accession number
256202

Aneroid Barometer

This is a small brass instrument, 1¾ inches diameter. The silvered face is marked “R. & J. BECK’S / FARMER’S / BAROMETER / 31 Cornhill / LONDON / 582.” The scale around the circumference of the face reads from 25 to 31 inches of mercury, in fifths of an inch.
Description
This is a small brass instrument, 1¾ inches diameter. The silvered face is marked “R. & J. BECK’S / FARMER’S / BAROMETER / 31 Cornhill / LONDON / 582.” The scale around the circumference of the face reads from 25 to 31 inches of mercury, in fifths of an inch. The back is marked “Signal Service / U.S. Army, / No. 17.” There is also a dark leather case. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1954.
This was probably made after 1870, when the Signal Service was given charge of the national weather service.
R. & J. Beck was in business, as such, from 1865 to 1895, making and selling microscopes and other optical instruments. Although they sold aneroids, it is unlikely that they made them.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870-1890
ID Number
PH.314551
accession number
204612
catalog number
314551

Lantern Clock

Joseph Hall of London, England, made this clock about 1680. It is a weight-driven style of domestic clock made entirely of metal and named after its shape, which roughly resembles a lantern.
Description
Joseph Hall of London, England, made this clock about 1680. It is a weight-driven style of domestic clock made entirely of metal and named after its shape, which roughly resembles a lantern. English emigrants from Bermuda purportedly brought the clock to Massachusetts around 1700.
At that time, a brass lantern clock or a tall case clock with a brass movement would have been among the most expensive items its owners possessed. More important as status symbols than as precise timekeepers, the clocks often had only an hour hand. Most people did not require to-the-minute accuracy.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1700
ID Number
CL.334367
catalog number
334367
accession number
314557

Railroad Watch

This English watch was a part of a technical fix applied to U.S.
Description
This English watch was a part of a technical fix applied to U.S. railroads following accidents in the middle of the 19th century.
Back then timetables governed train arrivals and departures, established train priorities, and ensured that trains did not collide on single-track lines. Clocks in railroad stations and watches held by conductors and engineers helped to enforce the timetables.
But in the middle of the 19th century, timepieces in use on the railroads varied wildly in quality and availability to employees of the line. There was no single standard of quality for railroad timekeepers. After a horrific fatal accident on the Providence & Worcester Railroad in August 1853, caused in part by the inaccuracy of a conductor's watch, some railroads in New England responded to public criticism of their industry by tightening up running rules and ordering top-quality clocks and watches for their employees.
This is one such high-quality railroad watch.
An official representing the Vermont Central Railroad and three other New England lines, William Raymond Lee, ordered watches and clocks in late 1853 from William Bond & Sons, Boston, the American agent for Barraud & Lund of London. The English firm delivered the first of the timepieces in January 1855. The Vermont Central purchased fifteen watches for $150 each and one clock for $300.
Barraud & Lund, founded in 1750 by Huguenot watchmaker Francis-Gabriel Barraud, had a long-standing reputation for high-quality timepieces, including marine chronometers, clocks and watches. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the firm had extensive foreign markets and added John Richard Lund, a chronometer maker, to their business.
William Bond & Son, the firm named on the watch's dust cap, was one of the principal timepiece purveyors of nineteenth-century America. Intimately connected to navigation and commercial shipping, the firm rated and repaired marine chronometers for the busy port of Boston and supplied instruments of all sorts to agencies of the federal government-specifically, the coast survey, the topographical engineers, and the navy. The firm, whose original business provided time for navigating at sea, branched out with the railroad business to perform the same service on land.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1853
maker
Barraud & Lund
ID Number
1999.0278.01
catalog number
1999.0278.01
accession number
1999.0278

Tall Clock Case with Blue-lacquer Case, about 1760

The Ryerson family, prominent 18th-century landowners in Brooklyn, New York, purchased this clock about 1760.
Description
The Ryerson family, prominent 18th-century landowners in Brooklyn, New York, purchased this clock about 1760. The imported clock, made in England in the third quarter of the eighteenth century, was a rarity in its time and signaled the purchasers’ wealth, taste and status in colonial society.
The clock features an eight-day, weight-driven brass movement that strikes the hours. The brass dial features a date aperture, a silvered chapter ring with Roman hour numerals and silvered signature plaque signed “Isaac Rogers/London.” The case features a blue finish made to imitate the then-mysterious techniques of Japanese and Chinese lacquer work.
Isaac Rogers had a trade establishment and watchmaking business at White Hart Court, Lombard Street, London. Timepieces for the Ottoman market were among his specialties. His son, also Isaac Rogers, succeeded him in business and became a master in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, London.
Reference:
Rogers, Isaac. The Dictionary of National Biography, 1897.
Location
Currently not on view (case fragments)
Currently not on view (dial frame)
Currently not on view
Currently not on view (pendulum; weights)
date made
ca 1760
maker
Rogers, Isaac
ID Number
1987.0852.01
catalog number
1987.0852.01
accession number
1987.0852

Aneroid Barometer

This small barometer was probably made by Short & Mason in London, in the latter decades of the nineteenth century.
Description
This small barometer was probably made by Short & Mason in London, in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. The inscriptions on the face read “Compensated” and “MADE IN ENGLAND.” The scale around the circumference of the face extends from 21 to 31 inches of mercury, graduated to tenths, with indications for “RAIN,” “CHANGE” and “FAIR.” Another scale, which is moveable, indicates elevation from zero to 10,000 feet. The case is gilt.
Ref: Short & Mason, Ltd., Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of Barometers, Compasses, Air Meters, Self-Recording and Other Scientific Instruments (London, after 1900), pp. 9-10.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
PH.247927
catalog number
247927
accession number
47736

Telescope (Spyglass)

This telescope once belonged to Francis Asbury Bassett, an engineer who took part in the development of Route 50 through Ohio. It has an achromatic objective, a four-element erecting eye piece, and a three-draw brass body painted green and gold. The inscription reads "G.
Description
This telescope once belonged to Francis Asbury Bassett, an engineer who took part in the development of Route 50 through Ohio. It has an achromatic objective, a four-element erecting eye piece, and a three-draw brass body painted green and gold. The inscription reads "G. Bracher London for E. A. Kutz New York." George Bracher was an optician working in London between 1826 and 1840. Erasmus Kutz was an English immigrant to the U.S. who sold rules and other mathematical instruments.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, 1550-1851 (London, 1995), p. 36.
Charles Smart, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Troy, N.Y., 1962), pp. 99-100.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Bracher, George
ID Number
1998.0088.01
accession number
1998.0088
catalog number
1998.0088.01

Celestial Globe

This globe shows no constellation figures or contours, but only the brightest stars used for navigation. It has a brass horizon and meridian ring designed by a Lieut. English, that are used to identify the stars.
Description
This globe shows no constellation figures or contours, but only the brightest stars used for navigation. It has a brass horizon and meridian ring designed by a Lieut. English, that are used to identify the stars. The inscriptions read "CARY & CO Makers to the Admiralty 7 PALL MALL LONDON" and "CARY, LONDON. PATENT No 21540." The wooden case is stamped with the name of the owner: "J DAVIES / I R N SIGNAL STATION / ST CATHERINES POINT / NITON UNDERCLIFF / N R VENTOR / IOW"
John Cary began making globes in London in 1791. The firm became Cary & Co. in the early 1890s, and were at this Pall Mall address in the early 1900s.
Ref: Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (London, 1999), pp. 293-303.
English’s Patent Star Finder (n.p., n.d.)
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Cary & Co.
ID Number
PH.327570
accession number
267874
catalog number
327570

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame and flat brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +99° 40' and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame and flat brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +99° 40' and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc. There is also a back sight and a back horizon glass that can be used to measure angles greater than 90°. The "Spencer Browning & Rust London" and "SBR" inscriptions refer to a firm that was in business from 1784 to 1840.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1800
maker
Spencer Browning & Rust
ID Number
PH.326111
catalog number
326111
accession number
257245

Surveyor's Compass

This surveyor's compass, with a face reading clockwise, reflects a British rather than an American design. In Britain it would have been referred to as a “circumferentor.” The "W. & S.
Description
This surveyor's compass, with a face reading clockwise, reflects a British rather than an American design. In Britain it would have been referred to as a “circumferentor.” The "W. & S. JONES 30 Holborn London" inscription refers to an instrument firm that was in business from 1791 to 1859, and at this address from 1800 to 1859.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1995), p. 155.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & S. Jones
ID Number
PH.336705
accession number
1979.0770
catalog number
336705

Waywiser

This waywiser has a wooden frame, and a dial of silvered brass with the usual scales, one for poles and furlongs and the other for miles. The "J. Sisson LONDON" signature refers to Jonathan Sisson (c.
Description
This waywiser has a wooden frame, and a dial of silvered brass with the usual scales, one for poles and furlongs and the other for miles. The "J. Sisson LONDON" signature refers to Jonathan Sisson (c. 1690–1749) or his son, Jeremiah Sisson (1720–1783).
A waywiser consists of a large wheel that can roll along a level surface, and a dial that registers the distance traveled. The wheel usually measures 8.25 feet in circumference, such that 2 revolutions are equal to 1 pole. The larger hand on the dial makes one sweep per mile (320 poles or 8 furlongs). The shorter hand indicates the number of miles traveled. Waywisers became popular in England in the 18th century, and were still in use in the United States in the late 19th century. They were was also known as perambulators.
Ref: Jane Insley, "Odometer," in Robert Bud and Deborah Warner, eds., Instruments of Science (New York and London, 1998), pp.423–424.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Eighteenth Century
maker
Sisson, Jonathan
ID Number
PH.336995
catalog number
336995
accession number
1979.0217
catalog number
1979.0217.01

Telescope (spyglass)

This is an early achromatic telescope. The erecting eye piece has five glass elements. The draw tubes are pasteboard with brass ferules; the outer one is covered with green shagreen. The inscription reads "DOLLOND / LONDON."Currently not on view
Description
This is an early achromatic telescope. The erecting eye piece has five glass elements. The draw tubes are pasteboard with brass ferules; the outer one is covered with green shagreen. The inscription reads "DOLLOND / LONDON."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1750-1800
maker
Dollond
ID Number
PH.330320
catalog number
330320
accession number
290549

Aneroid Barometer

This small brass instrument, 2½ inches diameter, was owned by Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The silvered face is marked "R. & J.
Description
This small brass instrument, 2½ inches diameter, was owned by Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The silvered face is marked "R. & J. Beck / 51 Cornhill / LONDON / 516 / Compensated." The pressure scale around the circumference of the face extends from 15 to 31 inches of mercury. The altitude scale extends from 0 to 18,000 feet. The instrument is stored in a round, red leather case. R. & J. Beck was in business, as such, from 1865 to 1895.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-1895
maker
R. & J. Beck
ID Number
PH.284273
accession number
55865
catalog number
284273

Altitude and Azimuth Instrument

This astronomical instrument belonged to Columbia College (now University), and dates from around 1837. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by verniers to 10 sec. The insription reads "Troughton & Simms, London."Ref: Frederick W.
Description
This astronomical instrument belonged to Columbia College (now University), and dates from around 1837. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by verniers to 10 sec. The insription reads "Troughton & Simms, London."
Ref: Frederick W. Simms, A Treatise on the Principal Mathematical Instruments Employed in Surveying, Levelling, & Astronomy (Baltimore, 1844), pp. 89–109, describes a similar instrument, but with two vertical circles.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1837
maker
Troughton and Simms
ID Number
PH.323689
catalog number
323689
accession number
249200

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