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.

Graphometer

This graphometer belonged to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md., and was probably made in France in the nineteenth century. It has telescopic rather than open sights.
Description
This graphometer belonged to Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Md., and was probably made in France in the nineteenth century. It has telescopic rather than open sights. Its semicircle is graduated to degrees, numbered clockwise and counterclockwise, and read by a diagonal scale on one end of the alidade to 10 minutes.
Location
Currently not on view
owner
Mount St. Mary's College
ID Number
PH.326107
catalog number
326107
accession number
257245

Graphometer

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

Surveying Compass with Folding Sights

This is one of the earliest instruments made in the factory that Keuffel & Esser built in Hoboken, N.J., in 1880.
Description
This is one of the earliest instruments made in the factory that Keuffel & Esser built in Hoboken, N.J., in 1880. The face is marked "KEUFFEL & ESSER / NEW YORK / 183." The circumference of the face is graduated to 1 degree, and there are two bubble vials, one at north and one at east. The variation plate is on the outside of compass box. This originally had a ball joint and socket for mounting on a jacob staff. New, it cost $20.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York & Chicago, 1892), p. 236.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333757
catalog number
333757
accession number
306012

Abney Level

William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920), an English scientist who made many important contributions to spectroscopy and photography, devised this level in the 1870s while working for the School of Military Engineering at Chatham.The University of Missouri at Columbia gave this ex
Description
William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920), an English scientist who made many important contributions to spectroscopy and photography, devised this level in the 1870s while working for the School of Military Engineering at Chatham.
The University of Missouri at Columbia gave this example to the Smithsonian in 1972. It is marked "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO N. Y." and "12485" and was made around 1906. New, it cost $13.50; the sewed leather case cost an additional $1.25. Keuffel & Esser described it as "Abney's Reflecting Level or Pocket Altimeter, 5 in., improved, with arc graduated to degrees for 60° in both directions, vernier reading to 5 minutes, gradients 1:1 to 1:10."
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1921), p. 432.
C. Jones, "Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, K.C.B., D.C.L., D.Sc., F.R.S., Hon. F.R.P.S., etc.," The Photographic Journal 61 (1921): 296–311.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333658
catalog number
333658
accession number
300659

Dumpy Level

Gurley termed this an Explorer's Level, and described it as "a small, light model designed to meet the requirements of engineers for a compact and serviceable level for running preliminary lines in exploration work where it is not convenient to operate a large instrument." The de
Description
Gurley termed this an Explorer's Level, and described it as "a small, light model designed to meet the requirements of engineers for a compact and serviceable level for running preliminary lines in exploration work where it is not convenient to operate a large instrument." The design was introduced in 1914, and remained in production until 1934. This example is marked "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY, N.Y." and "151265." The serial number indicates that it was made in 1915. It belonged to the U. S. Department of Agriculture. New, it cost $110.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, Manual of the Principal Instruments used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N.Y., 1920), p. 70.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914-1934
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.333625
catalog number
333625
accession number
303692

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 probably belonged to Llewellyn N.
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 probably belonged to Llewellyn N. Edwards (1874-1952), a structural engineer. It has a silvered scale graduated every 30 minutes from -5° to +150° and read by vernier with swinging magnifier to single minutes of arc. The inscription reads "WARREN-KNIGHT CO. PHILADELPHIA. MADE IN ENGLAND." Warren-Knight began in business in 1912.
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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1912
dealer
Warren-Knight Co.
ID Number
PH.333796
catalog number
333796
accession number
296611

Hicks Solar Radiation Thermometer

Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a blackened bulb. The scale extends from -20 to +200 degrees Fahrenheit, and is graduated by degrees and marked every 10 degrees. The stem is marked "No.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a blackened bulb. The scale extends from -20 to +200 degrees Fahrenheit, and is graduated by degrees and marked every 10 degrees. The stem is marked "No. 30 Patent 3647." This refers to the British patent for “Testing vacuum of solar thermometer” issued to J. J. Hicks, a meteorological instrument maker in London, in 1873. The surrounding glass container is marked "J. CALL New York."
This may have been used by John William Draper, an American polymath who received the Rumford Prize in in 1875 for his long-standing work on solar radiation. It may also have been used by his son, Daniel Draper, a noted meteorologist.
Ref: James J. Hicks, Illustrated & Descriptive Catalogue of Standard, Self-Recording, and Other Meteorological Instruments (London, about 1874), pp. 60-61.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870s
maker
Hicks, J. J.
ID Number
PH.333988
catalog number
333988
accession number
304826

Mason's Hygrometer

This instrument consists of wet and dry bulb thermometers with a liquid vial (missing in this instance) in between, mounted on a wooden board. The inscriptions on the board read "MASON'S HYGROMETER" and "B. PIKE JR.
Description
This instrument consists of wet and dry bulb thermometers with a liquid vial (missing in this instance) in between, mounted on a wooden board. The inscriptions on the board read "MASON'S HYGROMETER" and "B. PIKE JR. 294 BROADWAY, NEW YORK." The scales for the thermometers are on the board. That for the dry-bulb thermometer is graduated every degree Fahrenheit from 0 to +135. That for the wet-bulb thermometer is graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -5 to +145.
John Abraham Mason, an English surgeon, described the form in 1836. Benjamin Pike Jr., a leading purveyor of instruments in New York between 1843 and 1864, claimed that the use of an instrument of this sort "in the sick chamber will be at once evident, as a fire kept up in a closed room naturally dries the air which the patient has to breathe."
Ref: John Abraham Mason, "Description of a New Hygrometer," Records of General Science 4 (1836): 23-35 and 96-111.
B. Pike Jr., Illustrated, Descriptive Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical and Philosophical Instruments (New York, 1856), vol. 2, pp. 135-138.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843-1864
maker
B. Pike, Jr.
ID Number
PH.333982
accession number
304826
catalog number
333982

Stadimeter

This stadimeter marked "LIEUT. FISKE'S STADIMETER PATENTED WESTERN ELECTRIC CO. NEW YORK" came to the Smithsonian from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The form was developed in the 1890s by Bradley Allen Fiske (1854–1942), a lieutenant in the U. S.
Description
This stadimeter marked "LIEUT. FISKE'S STADIMETER PATENTED WESTERN ELECTRIC CO. NEW YORK" came to the Smithsonian from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The form was developed in the 1890s by Bradley Allen Fiske (1854–1942), a lieutenant in the U. S. Navy who had access to a laboratory in New York City that was backed by the Western Electric Manufacturing Co.
The range finder was designed to determine the distance to an enemy warship, the masthead height of which was easily found in the naval literature. Like a sextant, the stadimeter uses a system of mirrors to measure the angular distance between two distant objects. If the distance to the objects is known, the stadimeter reads the actual distance between the two. If the distance between the objects is known, the stadimeter reads the distance to the objects.
Ref: B. A. Fiske, "Method of and Apparatus for Range Finding," U.S. patent #523,721.
Instructions for the Use and Care of the Fiske Ship–Telegraphs and Stadimeter (Published by Authority of the Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Department, 1896).
Paolo E. Coletta, Admiral Bradley A. Fiske and the American Navy (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1979), pp. 38–40.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PH.327901
catalog number
327901

Surveying Compass with Folding Sights

This instrument is marked “"KEUFFEL & ESSER CO NEW YORK." The raise rim around the face is graduated to degrees. A variation arc at the north end of the face extends 45 degrees either way, and reads by double vernier to 6 minutes.
Description
This instrument is marked “"KEUFFEL & ESSER CO NEW YORK." The raise rim around the face is graduated to degrees. A variation arc at the north end of the face extends 45 degrees either way, and reads by double vernier to 6 minutes. There are two level vials on the face, one at east and one at north. With polished mahogany case (here missing), this compass cost $18. K&E advertised compasses of this sort from the early 1900s through the 1940s. The company donated this example to the Smithsonian in 1972.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1906), p. 420.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333758
catalog number
333758
accession number
306012

Wye Level

By 1880, Keuffel & Esser was offering a "Y Level, Telescope 18–20 inch long, magnifying power 22 times, best make, guaranteed, in mahogany case, with Tripod complete" for $140.
Description
By 1880, Keuffel & Esser was offering a "Y Level, Telescope 18–20 inch long, magnifying power 22 times, best make, guaranteed, in mahogany case, with Tripod complete" for $140. But since Keuffel & Esser did not begin manufacturing surveying instruments until 1885, these early K&E instruments were probably made by others.This example is marked "Keuffel & Esser New York 303" and probably dates from around 1885.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue & Price List (New York, 1880), p. 102.
Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue of Transits, Levels, Etc. (New York, 1885).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333756
catalog number
333756
accession number
306012

Pocket Compass

This compass has one folding sight; a slit in the lid serves as the second sight. Since the lid is mirrored, the user can read the needle while sighting a distant object. The floating card is graduated to degrees and numbered every ten degrees to 360.
Description
This compass has one folding sight; a slit in the lid serves as the second sight. Since the lid is mirrored, the user can read the needle while sighting a distant object. The floating card is graduated to degrees and numbered every ten degrees to 360. There is also a second (inner) row of numbers in quadrants, reversed for reading in the mirror. The signature reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO NEW-YORK" and it probably dates from the period 1890–1910. Keuffel & Esser donated it to the Smithsonian in 1972.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1906), p.427.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333759
catalog number
333759
accession number
306012

Wye Level

This level is complex and unusual. With the telescope in its standard position, it can be used as an architect's level. With the telescope turned 90 degrees from its standard position, it can be used to measure horizontal angles.
Description
This level is complex and unusual. With the telescope in its standard position, it can be used as an architect's level. With the telescope turned 90 degrees from its standard position, it can be used to measure horizontal angles. To effect this, the telescope is turned so that the level is on top and a metal fitting falls below. There is some resemblance between this level and A. S. Aloe's Convertible Level. The signature reads "THE L. BECKMANN CO. TOLEDO, O. U.S.A 9065."
Louis Beckmann (1845–1914) was born in Germany. He arrived in the United States in 1870, settled in Toledo, Ohio. in 1874, and built his first dividing engine in 1878. A second dividing engine was designed in 1900, and yet another was begun in 1912. In a catalog, unfortunately undated, Beckmann wrote: "As the plates of my instruments are divided on one of the very best dividing engines of this country I can guarantee their graduation to be exact and accurately centered, both verniers reading the same." Sears, Roebuck advertised surveying instruments signed "L. Beckmann Co." during the period 1909–1911. Louis Beckmann Jr. continued manufacturing instruments until 1945, and repairing them until 1951.
Ref: L. Beckmann, Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Civil Engineers' and Surveyors' Instruments (Toledo, Ohio, n.d.).
Charles Smart, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Troy, N.Y., 1962), p. 6.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
L. Beckmann Co.
ID Number
PH.337207
accession number
1979.0635
catalog number
337207

Brunton Pocket Transit

The Brunton Pocket Transit was said to be "the most convenient, compact and accurate pocket instrument made for preliminary surveying on the surface or underground." It has a folding sight at north.
Description
The Brunton Pocket Transit was said to be "the most convenient, compact and accurate pocket instrument made for preliminary surveying on the surface or underground." It has a folding sight at north. The lid of the instrument, hinged at south and provided with sight line and small hole, serves as the second sight. Since the lid is mirrored, the user can read the needle while sighting a distant object. The needle ring is graduated to degrees. The western half of the face is graduated in degrees, in quadrants from west, and provided with a clinometer with vernier that reads to 5 minutes. The sides of the case and lid are flat, and so the instrument can be set up vertically when used for vertical angles. This example is marked "D. W. BRUNTON'S PAT. SEPT. 18, 1894 APR. 14, 1914 WM. AINSWORTH & SONS SOLE MANUFACTURERS PAT. OCT. 2, 12. MAY 27. 13. DENVER, COLO. U. S. A. 14711." It was owned by the University of Missouri at Columbia, and was probably made between 1915 and 1919.
David W. Brunton (died 1927), a Canadian–born surveyor working in Colorado, invented this instrument after growing tired of carrying heavy equipment through the Rocky Mountains. He obtained his first patent (#526,021) in 1894, and subsequent patents in 1912 (#1,042,079), 1913 (#1,062,582), and 1914 (#1,092,822). The Wm. Ainsworth Co. of Denver began marketing these instruments in 1896, and by 1899 had sold more than 200 units. The firm became Wm. Ainsworth & Sons in 1905. The Brunton pocket transit remains in production today in Riverton, Wyoming.
Ref: Wm. Ainsworth & Sons, Catalog BX of Precision Engineering and Surveying Instruments (Colorado, 1908), p. 62.
Peter von Gitter, "The Brunton Pocket Transit, A One Hundred Year Old North American Invention," Earth Sciences History 14 (1995): 98–102.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
William Ainsworth and Sons
ID Number
PH.333641
catalog number
333641
accession number
300659

Abney Level

William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920), an English scientist who made many important contributions to spectroscopy and photography, devised this level in the 1870s while working for the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. W. & L. E.
Description
William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920), an English scientist who made many important contributions to spectroscopy and photography, devised this level in the 1870s while working for the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. W. & L. E. Gurley described it as an English modification of the Locke hand level, noting that it gives angles of elevation "and is also divided for slopes, as 1 to 2, 2 to 1, etc."
The University of Missouri, Columbia, gave this example to the Smithsonian Institution in 1972. Since the main tube is square, it can be applied to any plane surface. The clinometer scale is graduated to degrees, and read by vernier to 5 minutes. The inscription reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY, N.Y." New, it cost $15.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N.Y., 1893), p. 228.
C. Jones, "Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, K.C.B., D.C.L., D.Sc., F.R.S., Hon. F.R.P.S., etc.," The Photographic Journal 61 (1921): 296–311.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.333657
catalog number
333657
accession number
300659

Geologist's Compass

This is an aluminum compass with brass sights that was designed for topographical work. The raised rim and beveled outer ring are graduated every degree and numbered every 10 degrees in quadrants from north and south.
Description
This is an aluminum compass with brass sights that was designed for topographical work. The raised rim and beveled outer ring are graduated every degree and numbered every 10 degrees in quadrants from north and south. The northeast quadrant of the face has a variation scale that extends 27 degrees one way and 43 degrees the other; this is graduated to degrees, and reads by folded vernier to 5 minutes. The southern half of the face is graduated to degrees, and equipped with a pendulum clinometer pivoted at the center. There are level vials on the SE and SW corners of the plate. The four beveled edges of the plate are graduated, one to inches and tenths, one to inches and eighths, and two as protractors. The back of the plate has a diagram showing the arrangement of township numbering. The signature reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO NEW YORK." Other marks read "U.S. INDIAN FOREST SERVICE. DEPT OF THE INTERIOR" and "1958." New, with ball joint and socket for mounting on a jacob staff, this compass cost $25. The University of Missouri at Columbia donated it to the Smithsonian.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Catalogue (New York, 1913), p. 420.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
PH.333652
catalog number
333652
accession number
300659

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

Pocket Compass

Dietzgen termed this an improved type of foresters' and geologists' compass, as made for the U.S. Forest Service. This example is marked "DIETZGEN 17252." It has a nickel-silver base, aluminum box, and brass sights.
Description
Dietzgen termed this an improved type of foresters' and geologists' compass, as made for the U.S. Forest Service. This example is marked "DIETZGEN 17252." It has a nickel-silver base, aluminum box, and brass sights. The raised rim and beveled outer ring are graduated every degree and numbered every 10 degrees in quadrants, and adjustable for variation. The western half of the face is graduated to degrees, and equipped with a pendulum clinometer pivoted at the center. A circular level vial is at NE. The four beveled edges of the plate are graduated, one to inches and tenths, one to inches and eights, and two as protractors. There is a ball and socket joint for mounting on a Jacob staff. The leather case is marked "DIETZGEN" and "CCC," the latter referring to the Civilian Conservation Corps. The University of Missouri at Columbia donated this compass to the Smithsonian.
Ref: Eugene Dietzgen Co., Catalogue (Chicago, 1938), p. 619.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Eugene Dietzgen Company
ID Number
PH.333653
catalog number
333653
accession number
300659

Repeating Circle

The circle is silvered, graduated to 5 minutes, and read by 4 verniers with magnifiers. A tag on the box indicates that it was used by the U.S. Topographical Bureau, as the mapping branch of the Army Engineers was known at that time.
Description
The circle is silvered, graduated to 5 minutes, and read by 4 verniers with magnifiers. A tag on the box indicates that it was used by the U.S. Topographical Bureau, as the mapping branch of the Army Engineers was known at that time. The "Gambey a Paris" inscription is that of Henri Prudence Gambey (1787–1847), the foremost maker of precision instruments in France in the first half of the 19th century.
Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "Gambey’s American Customers," Rittenhouse 4 (1990): 65–78.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gambey, Henri Prudence
ID Number
PH.325685
catalog number
325685
accession number
257193

Tell-Tale Compass

This compass has a turned wooden bowl and card that can be seen from above and below.
Description
This compass has a turned wooden bowl and card that can be seen from above and below. The inscriptions read "SYBRAND WITTEVEEN in Amsterdam" and "1793 SW." Sybrand Witteveen was born around 1769 in the Dutch province of Friesland, married in Amsterdam in 1794, and died sometime after 1813.
Ref: Sybrich ter Kuile and W. F. J. Mörzer Bruyns, "Amsterdamse kompasmakers ca. 1580 - ca. 1850. Bijdrage tot de kennis van de instrumentmakerij in Nederland (Amsterdam, 1999), p. 109.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1793
maker
Witteveen, Sybrand
ID Number
PH.326474
catalog number
326474
accession number
260031

Duplex Pendulum Seismograph

A paper label on this seismograph reads “Made from the Designs of Professor Ewing of Dundee, by the California Electric Works, 35 Market street, San Francisco; and recommended for use in California by Professor LeConte of Berkeley and by Professor Holden, Director of the Lick Obs
Description
A paper label on this seismograph reads “Made from the Designs of Professor Ewing of Dundee, by the California Electric Works, 35 Market street, San Francisco; and recommended for use in California by Professor LeConte of Berkeley and by Professor Holden, Director of the Lick Observatory.”
James Alfred Ewing was a young Scottish physicist/engineer who, while teaching in Tokyo in the years between 1878 and 1883, designed several seismographs. Among these was a duplex pendulum instrument that recorded the two horizontal components of earthquakes. It was, he claimed, “comparatively cheap and simple” and was “employed by many private observers in Japan.”
The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company in England began manufacturing Ewing’s several seismographs in 1886. The first examples in the United States were installed in the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and in the University of California at Berkeley. Edward Holden was then director of the former and president of the latter, and Joseph LeConte was professor of geology at Berkeley.
Enthusiastic about the new science of seismology, Holden and LeConte convinced Paul Seiler, head of an electrical apparatus supply firm in San Francisco, to manufacture duplex pendulum seismographs that would sell for $15 apiece (rather than the $75 charged by the English firm). Over a dozen examples are known to have been distributed across the country and around the world, some recording earthquakes as early as 1889. This one came to the Smithsonian in 1964, a gift of Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ref: Edward S. Holden, Handbook of the Lick Observatory (San Francisco, 1888), pp. 54-56.
Edward S. Holden and Joseph LeConte, “Use of the Ewing Duplex Seismometer” (1887), reprinted in Holden, “Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 1087 (1898).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1880s
maker
California Electrical Works
ID Number
PH.323669
catalog number
323669
accession number
251332

Transit Instrument

Heller & Brightly advertised this as an Improved Complete Combined Transit and Leveling Instrument For Civil Engineers and Surveyors. This example is marked "Heller & Brightly Makers 5512 Philadelphia." It was made around 1882 and cost $220 new.
Description
Heller & Brightly advertised this as an Improved Complete Combined Transit and Leveling Instrument For Civil Engineers and Surveyors. This example is marked "Heller & Brightly Makers 5512 Philadelphia." It was made around 1882 and cost $220 new. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by two verniers to single minutes; one vernier is covered by a level vial. The vertical arc, also silvered, is read by a single vernier to 30 seconds. The joints are sealed to keep dust out of the working parts. To reduce weight, the vertical standards are ribbed and braced. To reduce backlash, the tangent screw is provided with a fixed spiral spring and follower.
This instrument is equipped so that a surveyor can determine horizontal distances by observing a distant graduated rod. To that end, it has an exceptionally powerful telescope, and its eyepiece has two horizontal wires so arranged that they encompass a tenth of a foot on a rod placed at a distance of 100 feet. Stadia surveying, as this practice is known, originated in Europe in the late 18th century and was introduced to the United States in the 1840s. The box in which the transit is packed is equipped with springs to accommodate the instrument in any direction. A solar attachment designed by George N. Saegmuller, and marked "HELLER & BRIGHTLY MAKERS PHILA." and "PAT. May 3. 81," is included.
Ref: Heller & Brightly, Remarks on Surveying Instruments (Philadelphia, 1886).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Heller & Brightly
ID Number
PH.334889
catalog number
334889
accession number
315134

Seiko Quartz Wristwatch

The Seiko Quartz Astron 35 SQ was the first quartz wristwatch on the market. The first commercially available quartz watch went on sale in Tokyo on Christmas Day in 1969.
Description
The Seiko Quartz Astron 35 SQ was the first quartz wristwatch on the market. The first commercially available quartz watch went on sale in Tokyo on Christmas Day in 1969. With a limited production run of only about 100 pieces, these watches had analog dials and sold for 450,000 yen ($1250), roughly the same price as a Toyota Corolla. The watches were manufactured in Suwa City, Japan, by the firm Suwa Seikosha (now Seiko Epson) and were marketed by the parent company K. Hattori & Co., Ltd.
The case and band on the Smithsonian example are a reproduction of those that originally came with Seiko’s 1969 wristwatch. Inside is an original module that contains a hybrid circuit (a combination of circuits on a single substrate, an intermediate step between discrete circuits and integrated circuits), a quartz oscillator with a frequency of 8,192 cycles per second and a miniature stepping motor for moving the hands. Seiko claimed the new watches were accurate to within plus or minus 5 seconds a month, a minute a year.
At the time of the Astron’s introduction, Seiko produced more mechanical watches than any other firm in the world. But company officials had been experimenting with quartz timekeeping since the late 1950s. Beginning in 1959, a team of engineers, under Tsuneya Nakamura, started to develop a quartz wristwatch. Their first quartz timekeepers were battery-powered chronometers, one of which was used in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. By 1967, Seiko engineers had miniaturized the timekeeper to produce a wristwatch prototype. To develop manufacturing techniques required another two years.
The Astron was the first public indicator that the wristwatch was about to be completely reinvented, with all-new electronic components. When battery-driven quartz wristwatches like the Astron first hit the market, it seemed unlikely that the new-fangled gadgets would sell. But electronic watches won over the buying public in a few short years.
Reference:
Stephens, Carlene and Maggie Dennis. “Engineering Time: Inventing the Electronic Wristwatch,” British Journal for the History of Science 33 (2000): pp. 477-497.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
1998
manufacturer
Seiko Corporation
ID Number
1998.0248.01
catalog number
1998.0248.01
accession number
1998.0248

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

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