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.

These cylindrical brass weights are part of a set of standards prepared by the United States government. They weigh one pound Troy, one pound, two pounds, three pounds, four pounds, five pounds, ten pounds, and twenty pounds.
Description
These cylindrical brass weights are part of a set of standards prepared by the United States government. They weigh one pound Troy, one pound, two pounds, three pounds, four pounds, five pounds, ten pounds, and twenty pounds. A knob at the top of each weight makes it easier to lift. The set also includes a weight lifter.
All the knobs are stamped with an image of an American eagle. Those in this set, except for the Troy weight, are marked: 69. A mark on the knob for the Troy weight reads: 9.
The weights fit into cavities in a velvet-lined wooden case. The amount of each weight is indicated on a paper tag attached to the base of the corresponding cavity.
The United States government began distributing weights to the states in about 1845. When these weights were transferred to the Smithsonian from the Bureau of Standards in 1929, correspondence in the files suggests that they were of the type distributed before the Civil War.
Reference:
Accession File.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1850
maker
United States Office of Weights and Measures
ID Number
CH.309590
accession number
103830
catalog number
309590
This instrument is a specialized timekeeper designed for finding longitude at sea. Its form is that of the standardized 19th-century marine chronometer.
Description
This instrument is a specialized timekeeper designed for finding longitude at sea. Its form is that of the standardized 19th-century marine chronometer. Parkinson & Frodsham, a firm trading in high-quality chronometers, clocks and watches, was established in 1801 by William James Frodsham (1778-1850) and William Parkinson (d. about 1842). From 1801 to 1890, the firm’s business address was 4 Change Alley, and thereafter at other addresses until 1947.
Mechanism details:
Escapement: Earnshaw, spring detent
Duration: 56-hour
Power source: Spring drive with chain and fusee
Balance spring: Helical, blued steel, Earnshaw type
Inscription: "Parkinson & Frodsham." on backplate, "Change Alley / London" on barrel bridge
Bowl details:
Brass bowl
Brass gimbals
Bezel screwed and milled
Crystal convex and chamfered
Dial details:
Engraved and silvered brass
Indicates hours, minutes, seconds, winding level up and down
Hands: blued steel, early spade
Inscription: "Parkinson & Frodsham / Change Alley London. 2349"
Case details:
Box: solid wood, three-part, glazed center section
Brass corners, cartouche and key escutcheon
Roundel in bone
Inscriptions: none
References:
1. Gould, Rupert T. The Marine Chronometer. Essex: Holland Press, 1960.
2. Mercer, Tony. Chronometer Makers of the World. London: NAG Press, 1991.
3. Mercer, R. Vaudry. The Frodshams. The Story of a Family of Chronometer Makers. London: Antiquarian Horological Society monograph 21, 1981.
4. Whitney, Marvin,E. The Ship's Chronometer. Cincinnati: American Watchmakers Institute Press, 1985.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1840
maker
Parkinson & Frodsham
ID Number
ME.336641
catalog number
336641
accession number
1978.0161
catalog number
1978.0161.02
Very delicate mercury-in-glass thermometer probably made in 1881. It has a blackened spherical bulb. The milk white back of the tube is marked “Tub. Non cyl div rectify. Syst.
Description
Very delicate mercury-in-glass thermometer probably made in 1881. It has a blackened spherical bulb. The milk white back of the tube is marked “Tub. Non cyl div rectify. Syst. Baudin (1881-8)” and “Centigrade 9014” and it carries a scale from -20 to +72 degrees, graduated in fifths. A cylindrical metal case protects the instrument from harm.
J. N. Baudin opened a shop in 1852, and his son, L. C. Baudin, was still in business at the turn of the century. In his report on the International Exhibition held in Vienna in 1883, an American scientist noted “Thermometers of extreme delicacy are also constructed by Baudin in Paris but I am unable to give either his address or list of prices. He constructs thermometers only to order, and his prices vary from twenty to fifty francs.”
Ref: Wolcott Gibbs, “Physical Apparatus and Chemical Materials Suitable for Scientific Research,” American Chemist 7 (1876): 147.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1881
maker
Baudin, L. C.
ID Number
PH.322764
catalog number
322764
accession number
251560
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
This waywiser--an instrument used to measure distances--has a counter attached to the axle instead of the customary dial. The box behind the wheel can be used to hold supplies. The U. S.
Description
This waywiser--an instrument used to measure distances--has a counter attached to the axle instead of the customary dial. The box behind the wheel can be used to hold supplies. The U. S. Geological Survey was established in 1879, and transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1907.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late nineteenth century
ID Number
PH.247953
catalog number
247953
accession number
47736
Azimuth compass with a "John Bliss & Co. New York" inscription. This might have been made any time between the formation of John Bliss & Company in 1857 and the demise of the firm in 1967.Currently not on view
Description
Azimuth compass with a "John Bliss & Co. New York" inscription. This might have been made any time between the formation of John Bliss & Company in 1857 and the demise of the firm in 1967.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
John Bliss & Co.
ID Number
PH.317360
catalog number
317360
accession number
230277
This consists of a white plastic planisphere with the northern sky on one side and the southern on the other, seven clear plastic templates centered at 10° intervals of latitude, and a cardboard container.
Description
This consists of a white plastic planisphere with the northern sky on one side and the southern on the other, seven clear plastic templates centered at 10° intervals of latitude, and a cardboard container. The United States Hydrographic Office transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1957.
An inscription reads "H.O. NO. 2102-B / HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE / RUDE / STAR FINDER AND IDENTIFIER / (WITH HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE MODIFICATIONS) PRICE $1.00 / Published at the Hydrographic Office, Washington, D.C. Oct. 1940 under the authority of THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY"
Ref: Gilbert T. Rude, "Star Finder and Identifier," U.S. Patent #1,401,446 (Dec. 27, 1921).
Henry M. Jensen, et. al., "Navigational Instrument," U.S. patent #1,919,222 (July 25, 1933).
“Captain Rude, Naval Inventor,” Washington Post (Dec. 5, 1962), p. B13.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940
maker
Rude, Gilbert T.
ID Number
PH.315071.2
accession number
214422
catalog number
315071.2
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a constriction in the stem above the cylindrical bulb. The milk-white back is marked "J. HICKS. 8 Hatton Garden. LONDON" and "-No.217967-." The clear front is marked "FAHRT" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -65 to +150.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a constriction in the stem above the cylindrical bulb. The milk-white back is marked "J. HICKS. 8 Hatton Garden. LONDON" and "-No.217967-." The clear front is marked "FAHRT" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -65 to +150. It was made after Hicks began working at 8 Hatton Garden in 1864 and before the expansion of his business to 8, 9, & 10 Hatton Garden in the 1880s.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
J. J. Hicks
ID Number
PH.317450
accession number
230396
catalog number
317450
Here, a wooden box with a split lid opens to reveal two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each on its own metal plate. The plate holding the wet bulb thermometer is marked "H.J. GREEN B'KLYN, N.Y." and "No. 4137 U.S.
Description
Here, a wooden box with a split lid opens to reveal two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each on its own metal plate. The plate holding the wet bulb thermometer is marked "H.J. GREEN B'KLYN, N.Y." and "No. 4137 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU." The plate holding the dry bulb thermometer (the bulb is broken) is marked " H.J. GREEN B'KLYN, N.Y." and "No. 4135 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU." On the base of the box is a paper card that reads "DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WEATHER BUREAU Correction Ca. . .ercurial Thermometer."
Location
Currently not on view
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317477
accession number
230396
catalog number
317477
In 1913 Leonard Hill, a British physiologist interested in the relationship between atmosphere and health, described a Kata thermometer (Hill’s term) that represented the humidity in terms of the time it took for the enclosed liquid to fall a certain amount.
Description
In 1913 Leonard Hill, a British physiologist interested in the relationship between atmosphere and health, described a Kata thermometer (Hill’s term) that represented the humidity in terms of the time it took for the enclosed liquid to fall a certain amount. This example is an alcohol-in-glass thermometer with a large cylindrical bulb and enlargements at the lower and upper ends of the stem. The alcohol is violet-colored (mostly faded to orange). The milk-white back of the stem is marked “J. Hicks 8 9 & 10 Hatton Garden London No 261 F531.” The front is marked “Fahrt” and has a scale reading from 100 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, in tenths.
Ref.: Leonard Hill, et. al., “The Influence of the Atmosphere on our Health and Comfort in Confined and Crowded Places,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 60 (1913), #23.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913-1920
maker
J. J. Hicks
ID Number
PH.317457
catalog number
317457
accession number
230396
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy flat plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1868." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -75 to +90. The stem is marked "No. 1868 Signal Service U.S.
Description
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy flat plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1868." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -75 to +90. The stem is marked "No. 1868 Signal Service U.S. Army" and graduated (but not numbered) every degree Fahrenheit from -82 to +98. It was made between 1885 and 1890 when Henry J. Green was in business on his own in New York.
John Rutherford, a Scottish country doctor, devised this form in 1790. Green stated in 1900 that it was "the only one in general use." It has a black index inside the tube. "On a decrease of temperature the alcohol recedes, taking with it the glass index; on an increase of temperature the alcohol alone ascends the tube, leaving the end of the index farthest from the bulb indicating the minimum temperature."
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 23.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317463
accession number
230396
catalog number
317463
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer. John Phillips, an English geologist, introduced the form at the 1832 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1856 he showed an improved form made by Louis P. Casella of London.
Appleton's Encyclopaedia noted in 1860 that James Green of New York "appears to have removed the objections to the previous forms of the maximum thermometers, and produced a highly simple and perfect instrument." Henry J. Green, who was James Green's nephew and successor, also made instruments of this sort. This example has a grooved aluminum plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "No. 12701 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MAXIMUM" and is graduated every 5 degrees Centigrade [?] from -25 to +55 degrees. The bulb is spherical. The stem is marked "U.S. 12701" and graduated every degree from -29 to +57.
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 22.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317474
accession number
230396
catalog number
317474
Nicolas Jansz Visscher (1618-1679), an accomplished Dutch cartographer, published an important map of the Dutch lands in North America. This is a copy of that map. The text at bottom center reads “A CORRECT COPY & IMITATION OF THE ORIGINAL DUTCH MAP in the possession of S.
Description
Nicolas Jansz Visscher (1618-1679), an accomplished Dutch cartographer, published an important map of the Dutch lands in North America. This is a copy of that map. The text at bottom center reads “A CORRECT COPY & IMITATION OF THE ORIGINAL DUTCH MAP in the possession of S. CONVERSE, PUBLISHER, NEW YORK. Engraved by THOS STARLING, WILMINGTON SQUARE, LONDON, 1833.” As in the Visscher original (which was actually published in 1655), an inset below the title depicts “NIEUW AMSTERDAM / op t’Eylant Manhattans.”
This map extends from 37° to 46°10' north latitude and from 297° to 312° longitude measured from west to east.
Sherman Converse, the one-time owner of the Visscher map, was a Yale graduate who was friendly with Noah Webster and published Webster's first dictionary. Converse moved from New York to Quebec in 1838, returned to the United States around 1844, and died in Boston.
Ref: Wilberforce Eames, “The First Three Engraved Views of New York,” New York Times (Feb. 16, 1901), p. BR 13.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1833
ID Number
PH.317824
catalog number
317824
accession number
231759
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a tube marked “18181 Baudin à Paris (1912-10).” The scale extends from -40.2 to +40.2 degrees, graduated in fifths. The long cylindrical bulb has been broken off.Currently not on view
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a tube marked “18181 Baudin à Paris (1912-10).” The scale extends from -40.2 to +40.2 degrees, graduated in fifths. The long cylindrical bulb has been broken off.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Baudin
ID Number
PH.317452
catalog number
317452
accession number
230396
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a small bend in the stem just above the cylindrical bulb. The stem has a milk-white back; the front is marked "B22580" and carries the N/Z monograms; and is graduated (but not numbered) every degree F. from -50 to +125.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a small bend in the stem just above the cylindrical bulb. The stem has a milk-white back; the front is marked "B22580" and carries the N/Z monograms; and is graduated (but not numbered) every degree F. from -50 to +125. The thermometer is mounted on a white porcelain plate marked "B22580" and "NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, LONDON" with the N/Z monogram of the firm. The plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -50 to +120. This, in turn, is mounted on a wooden base with metal guards protecting the bulb, and two metal loops so that it can be hung horizontally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1850
maker
Negretti & Zambra
ID Number
PH.317475
accession number
230396
catalog number
317475
This early example of a transit theodolite was made for the U. S. Coast Survey in the 1840s.
Description
This early example of a transit theodolite was made for the U. S. Coast Survey in the 1840s. The "Thomas Jones, 4 Rupert St London" inscription refers to Thomas Jones (1775–1852), an instrument maker who worked for Jesse Ramsden, and who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1835.The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, and read by verniers and magnifiers to 30 seconds.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550–1851 (London, 1995), p. 154.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840s
maker
Jones, Thomas
ID Number
PH.314634
accession number
208213
catalog number
314634
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb. The tube is graduated from -10.2 to 108.0 degrees (Centigrade?), and marked, in red, “Tonnelot à Paris (1884.5) 4289.” It is probably one of the very precise thermometers with a tube of extra-hard glass that was made by Tonnelot for the International Committee of Weights and Measures, tested at the Bureau International at Sèvres, and distributed to government organizations around the world.
Ref: J. A. Hall, “The International Temperature Scale Between 0 Degrees and 100 Degrees C,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 229 (1930): 1-48.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1884
maker
Tonnelot, Jules
ID Number
PH.317449
catalog number
317449
accession number
230396
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a spherical bulb. The milk-white back is marked “L. Golaz à Paris 725” and has a scale reading from -14 to +69 degrees centigrade, which seem to be done by hand rather than by machine.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a spherical bulb. The milk-white back is marked “L. Golaz à Paris 725” and has a scale reading from -14 to +69 degrees centigrade, which seem to be done by hand rather than by machine. The inscription indicates that this thermometer was made after 1891 (when Lucien Golaz took charge of the firm that his father had begun in 1830) and before the demise of the firm in 1919.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870-1888
ca 1891-1919
maker
L. Golaz
ID Number
PH.317446
catalog number
317446
accession number
230396
The Proprietors of the Locks & Canals in Lowell, Mass., used this theodolite to lay out the canals that provided transportation and power for the textile mills in that city.
Description
The Proprietors of the Locks & Canals in Lowell, Mass., used this theodolite to lay out the canals that provided transportation and power for the textile mills in that city. It was probably made soon after 1826, when John Troughton took William Simms into partnership and began trading as Troughton & Simms. Exceot for its lack of magnifiers, it is identical to the theodolite described in F. W. Simms, A Treatise on the Principal Mathematical Instruments (London, 1836). The horizontal circle and vertical arc are silvered, and read by verniers to 20 seconds.
The scale for "Diff. of Hypo. & Base" on the back of the vertical arc is used to correlate the angle of elevation or depression with horizontal distances when surveying sloping ground. The inscription reads "Troughton & Simms LONDON."
maker
Troughton and Simms
ID Number
PH.314774
accession number
211155
catalog number
314774
Montrose W. Hayes joined the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1892, and became Chief of the River and Floods Division in 1929. He developed a water stage indicator in the early 1920s, while working in St. Louis.
Description
Montrose W. Hayes joined the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1892, and became Chief of the River and Floods Division in 1929. He developed a water stage indicator in the early 1920s, while working in St. Louis. The Weather Bureau transferred prototype to the Smithsonian in 1954.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PH.314543
accession number
204612
catalog number
314543
This modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter is marked “BUFF & BERGER / BOSTON” and thus was made between 1871 and 1898. The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals in Lowell, Mass., donated it to the Smithsonian in 1956.This was probably designed by Arthur T.
Description
This modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter is marked “BUFF & BERGER / BOSTON” and thus was made between 1871 and 1898. The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals in Lowell, Mass., donated it to the Smithsonian in 1956.
This was probably designed by Arthur T. Safford, a hydraulic engineer who was associated with the Locks and Canals for over fifty years. Safford’s modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter, available by 1911, had fewer vanes than the original (five rather eight), a larger rotor (5 inches diameter rather than 3.5-inch), and a somewhat heavier frame. This example has six vanes, a 5-inch diameter rotor, and a heavier frame. A paper in the box shows that it was rated in 1911.
Ref: Hector Hughes and Arthur T. Safford, A Treatise on Hydraulics (New York, 1911), pp. 254-257.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), p. 60.
“Arthur T. Safford,” Boston Globe (April 4, 1951), p. 25.
"Arthur Truman Safford," Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers 38-39 (1951).
Hunter Rouse, Hydraulics in the United States, 1776-1976 (Institute of Hydraulic Research).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1871-1898
inventor
Safford, Arthur T.
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.314771
accession number
211155
catalog number
314771
Negretti & Zambra introduced this type of instrument in 1874. The stem is U-shaped, with a small U-shaped bend just above the cylindrical bulb. In use, the thermometer would be hung with the bulb down.
Description
Negretti & Zambra introduced this type of instrument in 1874. The stem is U-shaped, with a small U-shaped bend just above the cylindrical bulb. In use, the thermometer would be hung with the bulb down. Rotating it one full turn causes the mercury in the first half of the tube to flow into the second half, thereby recording the temperature at that moment. In use, it might be connected to a clock that would rotate it at a scheduled time.
In this example, the mercury-in-glass thermometer is mounted on an ebony plate marked "NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA LONDON" and "RECORDING THERMOMETER." A white porcelain strip on the plate is marked "NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA'S PATENT" and graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from 0 to 120; a second graduation runs from 20 to +120. The back of the stem is milk white. The front, on the side nearer the bulb, is marked "PATENT No. 28" and graduated (but not numbered) every degree Fahrenheit from 0 to +120; the other side is graduated (but not numbered) every degree from +15 to +120.
Ref.: Negretti and Zambra, Encyclopaedic Illustrated and Descriptive Reference Catalogue (London, after 1878), pp. 101-103.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Negretti & Zambra
ID Number
PH.317478
accession number
230396
catalog number
317478
This compass has a brass bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. The paper card was made for Robert King (c.1789-1868), a mathematical instrument maker from England who spent most of his career in New York City. The instrument bears two marks, "ROBERT KING NEW YORK" and "S.
Description
This compass has a brass bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. The paper card was made for Robert King (c.1789-1868), a mathematical instrument maker from England who spent most of his career in New York City. The instrument bears two marks, "ROBERT KING NEW YORK" and "S. THAXTER & SON. MAKERS. State Street. BOSTON." The Thaxter inscription appears on a paper disc laid over the center of the card, obscuring the King signature. The instrument was used by Capt. Andrew McWha of St. Stephen, N.B., Canada, and probably dates from the middle decades of the nineteenth century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1850
maker
S. Thaxter & Son
ID Number
PH.314852
catalog number
314852
accession number
211303
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb. The back of the stem is milk glass. The clear front is marked "J. & H. J. Green. N.Y. No. 734" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -40 to +125.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a cylindrical bulb. The back of the stem is milk glass. The clear front is marked "J. & H. J. Green. N.Y. No. 734" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -40 to +125. James Green worked in partnership with his nephew Henry between 1879 and 1885.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879-1885
maker
J. & H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317443
accession number
230396
catalog number
317443

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